The Annual Party We Can't Wait For!

Because of the traditional family commitments many of our buddies have on the actual Fourth of July, we've made a tradition of gathering together on the third of July. I guess I should have made the sign say that - but, I figured it could stick around with that written on a little bit longer. In contrast to the ribs and corn on the cob of years past - this year we opted for foods that would be easier to prepare and could be made ahead of time - as we wanted to spend our time prior to the party on the lake vs. in the kitchen. That being said, I had a fun time going all "Martha Stewart" in trying to make things look festive....


The menu was hamburgers/hot dogs, raspberry pretzel "salad", fruit kabobs and coconut dip, baked beans, chips, and for dessert: s'mores, rice krispie treats, and s'mores brownies. We dished up the kids first and they dined on the trampoline:





Next up, the adults got to indulge:


Wait....Ellie's not an adult - how did she escape the cage, er, I mean netting around the trampoline?

Onto some looks of adoration:


And, the annual twin pose - given this day - and then again, our hot tub reading at Christmastime in Sunriver, our two of our favorite days of the year.

Now, on to our injured crew of invitees. Travis, with the beginning of that shiner below his right eye:

And Lisa. Poor Lisa. Notice the hospital bracelet on her wrist? Yes, less than an hour before this picture was taken, Lisa was in Urgent Care due to a case of extreme vertigo (brought on by an ongoing sinus infection). Normally, that would confine a person to home for the rest of the evening, but Lisa, like Michele and I, loves this annual gathering - and refused to miss it. When I first greeted her, the only thing she wanted was a serving of her beloved raspberry pretzel salad, and to stay stationary and keeping her head facing the same direction. As the evening wore on, it was great to see her health improve dramatically - between the prescription and getting some food into her stomach, she had done a 180 by the time she left.

A few more shots of the evening:





And as the evening wore on, the fire produced more of those perfect s'mores making coals, and the sun set (giving us the beautiful post-parting picture)....indicating time had nearly come to start our spectacular street-side fireworks extravaganza. (This is said with sarcasm, fyi). Pictures and details of that are on their way in the next post.*







* Fellow bloggers, as you can imagine, all these pictures: downloading from John's camera, sorting, sending to my computer, downloading again, and uploading to my blog - well, it's taking all of my Independence Day morning. It's giving me good "spurts" of time (while my 5 pictures at a time upload onto the blog) to get the house cleaned up, stuff set out, and our family prepared for our actual day-of "The Fourth of July" activities. Ahh, the cost of preserving memories....but, oh so worth it!

Taking the Party to the Lake

When the Schillings come down in the summer, we really try to take advantage of any time together to get them out on the lake. This time, Michael stayed behind doing "homework" (a house he had to design for work) - which was fine as, with the Whites included, it was a pretty full boat. That's why we had to kick all five kids onto the tube:





In reality, the water was super, super choppy yesterday. It was a bummer for those of us wanting to do something more than tube, but with the beauty of the blue sky and the awesome company, it was hard to complain too much.







John really encouraged Brayden to get out on his board this time as so often he's inclined to just tube. The thing is, Brayden actually has skills...his first time out he actually flipped the direction of the board, which is something I've never been able to accomplish (at least when trying to do it on purpose). On his second run, we encouraged him to pose a bit - what a little stud.....



Natalia was next up. Her and Brayden were far and away the wild kids yesterday, wanting the most bumps and twirls on the tube. She was over-thinking getting up, but once she relaxed and remembered how little work actually needs to be done vs. letting the boat do the work, she got right up - and had a lot of fun - crossing the wake etc. Given how horrible the water quality was, it was really impressive.


Mikayla also gave it a run this time. Way to go sweetheart. She didn't have much of a problem at all getting up, but at just 50 or so pounds, once she got up she was literally being tossed by the waves. Brayden snapped these pics of her and caught the second one as she was nearly swept into the air by the force of the water. You can see how little surface of the board was actually touching the water. Needless to say, she wasn't able to stay up very long - just too little.


Travis took a run on the wakeboard and proved to me, it wasn't worth my effort. No pictures of him in motion this time, but in the next post I put up, you'll see evidence of what happened at the end of the run. Travis flipped the board horizontal to the boat (as he's skilled at doing) - but, this time, the edge caught the water, and tripped him with such force he did a nasty face plant in the water. The poor guy was sporting the beginning of a below the eye shiner last night - and I expect even more color to emerge when we see him this afternoon. Sadly, that eye wasn't even the one that hurt the most....yikes! Yup, no need for me to consider boarding....(good choice, huh Mom?) =)

However, my die-hard sister couldn't pass the chance up to go out on slalom - the trip from the one side of the lake to the dam was horrendous (water-wise), but once we reached the dam, that stretch of water smoothed out and Michele felt like the decision was well worth it. She was having the time of her life - singing to the music as she cut rooster tails.


So, all in all, it was a very fun trip. Due to all the "twisties" we did in whirling the boat around (with everyone safely on board) - we took in SO MUCH water. When we parked the boat in the garage, it drained water for a good half hour....

"Transformers 3" and PF Chang's

My first experience with the "Transformers" movie franchise came by chance, when one of Brayden's buddies asked if he could take the group of boys that were attending a soccer camp with him to that movie - as he had never really done an activity for his birthday and this would be it. I love this kid (Jack) - and his mom, Kristin even more - so I offered to go with her to help keep these eight or so eight year olds in line. I learned three things that day:

1) Going to an action movie with Kristin did not disappoint, love her. But, with that being said, I was glad she was the "responsible mom" that initiated the outing and not me. Because....

2) there was some very uncomfortable "coming of age" dialogue among "Sam's" family in the middle of the movie that literally had Kristin and I sinking into our seats, mortified that these boys were listening and hoping beyond hope that the content was flying way over their heads.

3) That being said, I surprisingly really enjoyed the movie - so much more so than I had anticipated with only the 1980's cartoon jingle in my mind going into it..."Transformers, more than meets the eye - Transformers, robots in disguise"

So began our attachment to this movie series (along with the rest of the family including the Whites who all ended up seeing it with me when I repeated watching the movie on my birthday that year).

These days, our boys have (sadly) heard and been exposed to way worse content than what is in this movie in the halls of their middle schools, so it was not a concern to have them in attendance.

They loved it, I loved it. In fact, while I try to keep my blog ranting at a minimum, I'm really getting irritated with the critics absolutely bashing on movies I enjoy. There needs to be a whole different "critique" system with summer/action/blockbuster/adventure movies - because they are not designed to win academy awards - they are designed to entertain - to keep movie-goers on the edge of their seats. This one did that for me - despite it earning one star.... (And, don't even get me started on the critic's views on "Green Lantern" or last summer's "Knight and Day" or "Salt"....if it weren't for said critics, I might have a chance to view some of these in sequels, but at this point - probably not....grrrr!)

I will say, the movie is long. Go to the bathroom before going into the theater. But, man on man, the special effects - woah - the combination of Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg truly make you believe that Transformers exist. (Gotta say, though, while I'm glad the "leading lady" from the first two of the franchise was let go....not really sure what inspired them to pick this one...well, I do know....but, had it been left to me, I would have picked the actress based on different "qualifications" if you know what I mean....)

Alright - enough on that fun experience that took place with the Schillings and Whites and us - later on in the evening we re-convened at PF Chang's - taking advantage of some gift certificates and the opportunity to have a "July Birthday Dinner" - as Michele and I's - as well as Travis' birthdays will land on days that the whole group can't get together.

Do you see that blue sky? I did not enhance this picture at all - it was a PERFECT weather day....it really does prove that Oregon basically waits until July to get it's summer weather act together. Highs in the 80' with a perfect breeze, deep blue sky with not a cloud around. (And we in Oregon don't even grasp the concept of humidity) Ahhhhh!

Onto many pics of the folks we dined with - we were seated outside on the patio which gave access to the fountain in front of the restaurant. It certainly worked as a good kid diversion for us. =)






These two were especially chummy last night - our "Double Trouble" pair. Nati is officially taller than Brayden despite being a year behind him in age - we're holding on to hope that someday he'll flip it back his way!


While I think Steph liked the other picture better - I liked this one because you could see the kids playing in the background while they posed....plus I just think they look great in it!

The July birthday trio...

Finally, it should come as no surprise to you that I take no stock in the reliability of "Fortune Cookies" (but I sure like to eat 'em!). However, this fortune (that was actually in Mikayla's) pretty much summed up both her - and our whole family (Whites included).....

Deeply attached indeed....

And the Winner Is.....

Literarygirl! Aka...Jodi. I just drew her name out of the bowl from the ten of you who left a comment on my blog post.

This is quite serendipitous as Jodi is the one who introduced me to blogging to begin with, and, as a result of her blog - eventually I began my own. So, Jodi - who is currently as the beach, hopefully loving life - you'll have to email, facebook, text or whatever social media you'd like to use - your preference for a gift card!

Thank you for all of you who left a comment - and how fun it was to "meet" April and Susan - Susan, I'm eager to continue reading your blog and April, if you ever decide to "take the plunge" and start a blog of your own, please leave me a comment so I can find it and leave a comment for you!

As for some of the other comment-ers, I'll give you a quick 411. Sara and Tiffany are my "friends" from Arkansas and Georgia respectively - I talk to my family all the time about things that they write about and I am honored by the prayers they've said on my behalf...even though we've never met. Friends made through blogging - how awesome is that!

Stephietoo is Stephanie White - wife of Travis and our family's bffs. Ladybug Grandma is Steph's mom. Their family just grew by one today as Stephanie's sister had a baby girl just a few hours ago! =)

Shanna is a sweetheart that worked as a bookkeeper for John a LONG time ago, when John ran "Riles Audio" - he installed phones, stereos, and security systems in cars.

Darcy is a UO graduate - who will be returning to the Trinity House this year to be one of the "House Moms". Darcy is truly one of the dearest people I know - and spent much of last year in England, Ireland, and South America with YWAM.

Lydia and I go back the farthest - we went to college together and I spent my last year and a term living with her. We are quite similar in personality, and she's someone I've cried with, laughed with, prayed with, despaired with, and rejoiced with. I'm so thankful that, though we have spent far too little time together over the years, whenever we do get together, we pick up right where we left off. Love you Lydia.

Today is July 1st - the fun has begun folks! I'm currently watching "Unknown" with the Schillings - and the days ahead offer so much promise of fun! Yippee!