June 30, 2023-All in One (Disney, Beach Camp, Seaside, and Dennie Family Trip)

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Dennie 4 at home: I am not sure how much they did today. I actually never heard from the boys at all. I just wrote to ask about how much school they had accomplished-I am certainly not holding my breath on that answer.

Reagan did go out to eat with her friends and then did a bit of shopping. We did chat with Campbell while she was opening the mail for Robby. I believe that their scheduled supper for tonight was "OYO"-on your own. 

We didn't eat our scheduled supper, but I'll get to that in a bit. Robby was up pretty late working on his work so I tried my best to stay up until he finished. I almost made it, but after helping him drive all day I was tired. (I'm just moral support, a distraction, and sometimes I do say things like "they are all slowing down.")

We pulled out of Walmart in Tifton (I'm not sure what city I said last night) around 7:30. Keaton and Whitman both slept in the loft, so Robby and I had plenty of room to move around this morning while getting ready. Usually we have to be quiet and don't have much room since people are still sleeping everywhere.

I thought we stopped twice for gas today, but Robby thinks it was just once. Either way, we definitely stopped in Orlando to fill up one last time. Then it was on to Fort Wilderness Campground. Our spot wasn't ready, and they didn't act like they had seen Robby's requests. He asked for a certain loop, and we are right across from the spot we had in May. This might actually be a bit shadier. 

However, when you have just been camping at Petit Jean and other places that have just concrete pads plus gravel spots for your tent then you get a bit spoiled. This site, like last time, has enough room for our tent behind the camper (not beside since it is fairly foilage-y), the camper and then we have to squeeze the car on the site. There are other longer sites and even some with more concrete, but not where we are. That doesn't change at all how much we love the Fort though.

And when we were here in May, there were tons of campsites empty. Today we saw one empty campsite. There are golf carts everywhere, over flow parking on the grass on one spot that is new, tons of security driving around, and people everywhere. It is going to certainly be a 4th of July party! We were expecting all of this so it is fun to us.

It was super hot when we set up camp. Robby unhooked the car and then backed in perfectly. We weren't in a hurry nor did we get a lot of things out, but it was just hot out there. Keaton and Whitman rode a look on their bikes, and then she went to buy a drink cup at the swimming pool. (Usually Campbell would have rode her bike down there with her, so I bet that she might be missing her sister some.)

Whitman and Keaton did go and put some Disney slap bracelets on some of the golf carts near here. We put out our pin board and had some people trade with us. And Keaton went to the shop to trade pins, and to check out the pretzel food truck that was parked near the boat. We were fairly busy this afternoon.

Before too long, it was nearly 5 so we cleaned up and headed to Epcot. Our first stop was to pick up our passholder magnets. Then it was to Club Cool to drink lots of cucumber Sprite from Russia. This is one of Whitman's favorite things about Disney World.

Then we walked to take our picture with Mickey and Goofy before finding the passholder lounge-just tables but they had free drink cups so this made Keaton's day. Then we went to the American pavilion to watch their show. I surprisingly stayed awake for the whole thing. My eyes did get a little heavy, but I tried to stay awake by naming all of the famous people to Whitman.

Our next stop was Italy. Everytime we have come lately, we have looked around Italy for the pizza by the slice window. It has always been closed-but not today! We had ourselves two slices of pepperoni pizza which was enough for our suppers. That was fun. We can now mark that off of our list-the pizza was actually better, to me, that it was when we ate at the Italian restaurant right next door.

We thought about riding the Frozen ride, but their 35 minute wait sign did not look like it would be accurate since the line was way out the door. So we headed to Mexico to ride Reagan's favorite ride-the 3 Cabelleros. We then left the park during the fireworks tonight and made the long trek back to the car. And by long trek, I mean long trek, we couldn't have parked any further away and still parked at Epcot. 

By the time we made it back to the camper, it was nearly 10. We walked Bentley and had a snack. Right now Whitman is in bed on his ipad, and Keaton is on hers on the couch. Tomorrow we get our golf cart and go to Magic Kingdom so I am sure it will be a busy day!

June 29, 2023-All in One (Disney, Beach Camp, Seaside, and Dennie Family Trip)

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As Robby and I usually do when we plan to leave the next morning, we were up early. He was up earlier than I was, and even woke up in the middle of the night to start a load of towels. There were dishes, laundry, more laundry, and loading a few last minute things in the camper. 

I woke up Keaton and Whitman at 9. Keaton just asked me why I had woken her up so early, but within 45 minutes we were driving down the road. Robby and I had to tell the other sleeping kids bye-I did take Bentley with me so I was probably better received than he was. She is their favorite.

Getting to Memphis took a little bit, and that was probably the worst traffic that we did have all day long. After that, there was one detour that we had to take because of the traffic, but I think that we did pretty well. 

We stopped at both Buccee's while on the way, but we did only get out at the first one. Keaton got a coke and some chocolate candy, while Whitman just opted for a slushies. Robby also bought a drink along with candied pecans for us to share. While we were at the check out, I grabbed a praline pecan thing for me and one for Robby.

Bentley did get sick on the way here. I discovered it on the hard floor so that was good and easy to clean. She did fine though on the route except for her refusal to go to the bathroom at one of our stops. I stood outside forever in the heat waiting on her. Eventually, I told her tough-she potties less at home than on trips so she didn't seemed to concerned with missing her potty stop. 

There was some gas stops, but nothing really too exciting on the trip down which was wonderful. I did pick out a good audiobook that we both listened to on the drive (Thunder Dog). We have tried to listen to books before, but it is hard to find one that is a winner for both of us. I am currently listening to a book about a lady from Paris who is a dress designer. The book is 15 hours long, and I was pretty sure that Robby didn't want to listen with me for that one.

We had planned to get to Valdosta tonight, but it was getting late, and Robby had some work to do so we stopped about 45 minutes earlier than planned in Tifton, Georgia. That means that we have 4 hours to drive tomorrow, but that is certainly doable since I bet that we will get an early start.

Reagan and Campbell did get out to go to Hobby Lobby today, and even did a bit of window shopping at the Promanade. Reagan did come home and buy a pair of jean shorts when she came home. She found a better deal on line

June 28, 2023-Petit Jean 2023

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On the day that we go home from a trip, Robby and I are always focussed on getting home. This morning was no different probably because we knew that we had a big day ahead of us. We had intended to wake up at 8 and leave at 9, but we were up around 7 and left around 8.

The drive home didn't take any time at all. Even though we stopped to get gas, we were still home and had the camper unloaded before any of the kids woke up. Robby was on a phone call in the mud room and that did wake Campbell up-just enough for her to text me to ask if she could turn off her alarm. Her alarm was set just in case they had to go and pick up Keaton and Whitman.

I was actually able to unload the camper and completely clean it before I did have to leave to pick up Keaton and Whitman. I stopped at the library and then picked them up from church. They both had a really good time at Impact. 

Keaton's favorite part was playing basketball while Whitman said that he really enjoyed the cinnamon rolls. While Keaton was disappointed that they weren't able to take the 5th graders to get snow cones because the power was out, it didn't bother her too much. Whitman said that his least favorite thing was when you were finished eating, you had to stay there until it was time to clean up. He is the same way at home-always ready to leave the table. He does ask to be excused at home, but most of the time is denied.

We ran to Sam's to pick up an order. Then came home to unload-my Sam's run wasn't a complete success since they gave me pita bread that was moldy. Once we made it home, they unloaded their suitcases, and we through their clothes in the washer. We had Whitman take a shower so I could also wash the clothes that he was wearing. Pretty soon after this, Keaton went upstairs to start packing for tomorrow, but she fell asleep and slept until supper time.

I spent the day going in and out of the camper and checking and double checking my lists. By 5, pretty much everything had been finsihed so I crashed on the couch for a little bit. I am just a mite bit sore from our hikes yesterday too!

Robby did all the things to switch the camper from trip 1 to trips 2 and 3. We had to wait on him to shower before we all sat down to eat supper together. We won't all be together again until next Friday. The kids will have been at camp all week, so I am sure that they will be pretty tired that day.

After supper, everyone did help do a few things around the house. Then Robby, the girls, and I all went to Walmart. Reagan was looking for a book while our main mission was finding socks for Anderson. I was able to find socks but there were no books to be found. 

There is one load of clothes in the dryer right now, and one more load of things to take to the camper, but after that I think I am done for the evening. Actually, I don't have any intentions of walking back to the camper today. When we built our camper shed, we really debated where to put it. I had wanted beside the kitchen near the tire swing, the other option was in the front and cady corner to the front of the house, and then finally where it is. After walking to the camper at leasts 30 times today, I am so glad that we chose to put it as close to the house as possible.

June 27, 2023-Petit Jean 2023

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The Impact kid update: From the pictures it looks like Keaton and Whitman are continuing to stay busy. I saw pictures of both of them outside working. I believe that today was the day that they were taking the 5th graders, Keaton's group, to go get snow cones. However, I also saw pictures of Whitman at Sonic so it looks like everyone had a treat. 

Traci plans the food on this trip so I believe that breakfast this morning was cinnamon rolls and from the pictures it looked like supper was hamburgers, but I could be getting my days confused. I will try to upload a video of those sweet little kids worshiping tonight if it will load as well.

The other kids at home update: Reagan is running a tight ship there. Around 11, she wrote on the text string that they were leaving at 11:40 and were going to stop at Hobby Lobhy. She added "so prepare yourselves." When it was almost time to leave, there was another text from her reading, "we leave in 4 minutes."

They had lunch with the students from church at Lost pizza. We were a bit surprised at the bill (Robby can see what goes through the credit cards). We were surprised at how inexpensive their lunch seemed-Campbell had pasta while the other 3 split a large and small pizza. This must have meant that they had water to drink-again those Dave Ramsey videos are paying off! I actually just rewatched the church's instragram stories to see if I could tell if the kids were in fact drinking water, but I could not.

Tonight Cambpell made orange chicken for everyone. There was a new rice that she heated up with it, and I am trying to get a report right now about how it was.

The Petit Jeaners Update-We were up before 8 so we could meet the park ranger at the Seven Hollows trail at 8:30. This was the same trail that we walked with the Wilsons and all of our kids in November of 2008. Even though this trail was 4.5 miles long, we took off then in the middle of the day with lots of little kids. On that hike, Tony walked with all of the big people at the front of the line, Shannon brought up the middle wtih little Campbell, while Robby and I were in the back with Keaton and baby Whitman. We both had to hold them as they napped during part of the trail.

Today was a little easier than that, but I am 8 years older and probably a little more out of shape. The walk with the ranger was the first mile. We then made it to the natural bridge where he talked some. He was interesting so that was good. He also told us all about the 6 poisonous snakes in the US which 5 of those live in Arkansas.

After we had left the ranger, to start on the rest of the hike, I saw one of those poisonous snakes. Tony, Annie and Robby had already walked by a rock, and I was right behind them. I was about to put my hand on the copperhead crawling around the rock. I got myself out of the way pushing Shannon back as well. She let out a scream so vicious that we were afraid the ranger was going to come running in our direction to help us. 

Shannon and I stood at an impass for a while trying to figure out-turn around and go back to the car or walk past the snake. We did neither-we climbed over a boulder so we could avoid that snake. They say that the snakes are more afraid of us than we are of them, but I am not so sure that is the case for Shannon. 

It took us a little over 3 hours to walk the trail. There were some parts that seemed to be pretty uphill, but for the most part it was just walking on a rocky trail. Of course by the time that we finished the trail, we were all pretty sweaty-that is why we did get an early start.

After the walk, we came back to eat lunch, clean up, and regroup. We then drove the 45ish or so minutes to Mt. Nebo. On the way, we did stop at Sonic for a drink. At Mt. Nebo we stopped at the visitor's center to look around. Then we went out back to take a picture over the beautiful overlook. By this time though there was a storm rolling in-and it was rolling in for real. I stood there waiting on Robby to set up the phone to take our pictures wondering which tree was going to fall on us first. Thankfully, no trees did fall on us, but Robby was never able to set his camera up to take a picture since the wind kept blowing it over.

We drove around that state park for a bit looking at their cabins, before going back down the hill to go back up the hill to Petit Jean. By this time it was raining-more of a steady drizzle so we stayed in the camper for a bit. 

Around 4:30, we loaded up to go and look at the CCC Overlook and to hike the Bear Cave Trail. It was a short trail, but it had a super neat slot canyon to walk through. You would never know that you were in Arkansas walking through that canyon. 

Then Shannon and Tony made supper for us. We sat outside and fought the flies while we ate. Though because of the rain, the weather was super comfortable. It was so pleasant outside, that we decided to walk the CCC Trail which was 1.75 miles each way tonight. On this trail, we did take Bentley. She did great going and didn't really pull on the leash, but on the way back, she must have known that she was going home and pulled like a crazy dog. We barely made it back to the campground before it was dark even with Bentley dragging us along.

Robby took a quick shower, and then we headed to the Wilson's camper to eat some ice cream and play a quick game of Farkle. Tony won on the last roll beating Robby. I was so far behind in the score that it didn't even matter what I rolled. 

We came back to the camper to put a few things away, and while I worked on the blog, Robby worked on tomrorow's grocery lists. I plan to have my shower next...

And hot water heater update: it worked well last night. Robby has decided that maybe he doesn't know exactly how a hot water heater should work, so after the first night when he did push in a loose wire, he thinks that he fixed it. If not, he does have a few parts coming that we will have at the ready.

June 26, 2023-Petit Jean 2023

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Impact update: From what I can tell from the many pictures-Keaton and Whitman are having a big time. Of course, I don't worry at all when sending Keaton away for anything. She would have done great 4 years ago, but Whitman is another story. He did have on new clothes this morning and another pair in this evening's pictures. I assume that means that he went swimming. Also his backpack has appeared in a few pictures meaning that he has kept up with it-maybe I don't need to be so worried about him!

Home update: I know for sure that Anderson did finish his school work today. I also heard that he had done his chores while Reagan was going to do hers later tonight. Jason mentioned that Campbell told him that she had not even looked at her chore sheet today. However, Campbell certainly looked at the mail-she has been anxiously awaiting a credit card in her name to arrive. Robby got it so she wouldn't have to carry as much cash to Beach Camp. Though she was a bit disappointed when it did arrive because her name was spelled wrong. That won't be a big deal though. 

The big 4 ate supper at Nonna and Pops' house this evening. They had hamburgers and all of the fixings along with dessert. That was their outing today-tomorrow they go to lunch with the church group. 

And finally the Petit Jean update: Robby had a work call at 9 so we didn't really do anything until 10ish. We drove around for a little bit before stopping at an overlook trail. We checked out the lodge and restaurant. At the visitor's center, I received a sticker for having been to 5 state parks. We are close to 20 actually, but I haven't picked up my sticker yet. Of course, we were just talking about how we don't have room for many more stickers on the camper-then I got that one and minutes afterwards, we bought another one at the lodge. We used to collect Christmas ornaments from our travels, but after filling more trees than we have, we have had to move on the camper stickers. Since the camper sticker spot is almost full, I am not sure what we are going to do next!

Then it was back to the campground for some lunch. Tony made a chopped BLT sandwich for me which was very good. After lunch, it was pretty hot out so we went back to the campers. I had myself a nap and read some while Robby did some work on his computer. 

Around 4 we walked around our loop and another loop. When we came many years ago with the Wilsons, we camped just about 4 spots down from where we are. However, this loop has been completely redone so it all looks very different. 

We hiked the little short trail to the cave. It was a short trail, but back uphill for sure. The rock formations were so interesting especially the ones that looked like turtles. By the time we climbed the rocks back to Tony's truck, we were all feeling our ages!

We ate at the lodge tonight-it was pretty good. I had a chicken bacon ranch sandwich, and Robby had chicken fried chicken. The portions were huge, and the view was really nice. We didn't sit by the window because the sun was blazing in.

After supper, we came back to the campground and walked the dogs a little bit. We ended up walking past the visitor's center, and by the time that we came home, it was dark outside. Bentley didn't go on too many walks today, but she is definitely worn out! We put her back in the camper and visited outside with the Wilsons unitl 10, and then came inside.

Last year, we went on a little trip while all of the kids were on their mission trips. It was not a complete disaster of a trip, but close. That is when the toilet broke, and Robby spent hours working on it. Well, not to be outdone on this trip, but the hot water heater is causing some problems. I guess it does give Robby something to work on-a part has been ordered, but most of our nights on the upcoming trips, we will be near a bathhouse if we can't handle cooler water. (My shower last night was pretty chilly and therefore pretty quick. Though, for me, it was still better than going to a bathhouse.)

June 25, 2023-Petit Jean 2023

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The morning started off with Bentley licking my face. She does this on the mornings that she wakes up before Robby and I when she decides that she is ready to go to the living room. She wants me to open the bedroom door so she licks my face-of course I have to be sleeping on the edge of the bed for her to get to me which is probably a good reason for me to start sleeping closer to Robby. Because when a dog licks your face at 6 in the morning, it takes a little bit of time to go back to sleep.

The kids woke up fairly well this morning-well, I did have to go upstars twice with Robby going up another time. Reagan did tell us that she had a fright in the middle of the night when she came down for water. She heard Bentley's new water bowl which sounds like a fountain in the corner and thought the house had sprung a leak. She didn't see the new water bowl when she came in last night so she was quite surprised by all the noise it was making.

Though I don't know how the kids can hear anything when they come downstairs in the middle of the night-their main goal is to get water. The open the fridge and then fill their water bottles with ice-but they do none of this quietly. You can not imagine how loud ice can be at midnight, 1, 2 and 4 in the morning.

We all went to Sunday school and then to church. Campbell and Reagan sat upstairs for the service. During the sermon, Reagan text me to tell me that Hughey's sermon sounded like a Dave Ramsey video. The boys later agreed which means they are listening to something on those videos!

At home, we didn't have too much time before we had to leave again. Keaton and Whitman headed off to Impact at 3. This is their mission trip/camp for 3rd through 5th graders. They are staying and working at the Arkansas Baptist Children's Home in Monticello. This is their second year to go there.

Of course, Keaton has been so excited, but Whitman is a little bit harder to read. When we did get there, he finally said something that made me think that he was excited. He was determined to carry most of his things himself-a suitcase, backpack and bedding. Of course, bedding is so much to carry-a sleeping bag, an air mattress and a pillow is a lot even though it is packed in bag. We have seen a few pictures from them, but not too many yet, but I am sure that they are both having a good time. 

After Robby and I dropped off Whitman and Keaton, we drove on to Petit Jean. We found our campsite and backed in. Robby had just about hooked everything up when we received alerts on the phone encouraging people to seek shelter due to 3 inch hair. A camper and hair do not mix so we were a bit stressed.

Thankfully, we didn't get any hail. We did get a good storm and a bolt of lightning and thunder that was so loud that Bentley, Robby and I all jumped. The power at the campground went out and stayed off until the Wilsons arrived near 9. No power is fine for us-turn on the generator and it is life as normal.

The Rock Creek goers went to church tonight with Brett. I had urged them to make supper and see if Brett wanted any, but when I text Reagan about what they ate for supper, I was told that they were eating spaghetti at Brett's house. They stayed and played until almost 10. 

We had supper for the Wilson's when they arrived here. Now, in between storms, we thought we had enough time for Robby to grill the hamburgers. We set up the tent and he went to work. The burgers were about half done but the wind was blowing so hard and the lightening was starting up again, that we abandoned the grill. By the time we made it inside we were drenched. We probably could have finished, but I told Robby that I had no intentions of standing outside holding the metal tent so it didn't fly away.

Despite the difficulty cooking the burgers, they were still delicious-or maybe we were hungry-or maybe it was the fancy buns we had. Plus we had chips, salsa, cheese dip, baked beans and Shannon's cheese ball. After eating, we went to their house and played Yahtzee before a walk around the loop and bed!

Well, not really bed yet. Robby is taking a shower, and I am going to take one next-then I hope to be awake for a little bit of reading before I do go to bed!

June 24, 2023

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• I made up for my early mornings this week with a little bit of extra sleep this morning. Then I went to work packing up my things for the camper. I have packed enough clothes, books, and medicine that I could not be gone for at least a month.
• Robby and I did a bit of work in the kitchen-dishes, laundry and making a dip before we left the house for a few errands. When we left, Whitman was the only one awake when we left this morning-he told me that he woke up at 6, but I am not sure that I believe that.
• Robby and I went to Lowes, Walmart, Fed Ex, Costco, and Kroger. While we were at Costco we certainly enjoyed all of the samples. But we also laughed at all of the people with super full buggies. Then we relized that if we were to combine our buggies from the last 4 days from Costco into one buggy, then we would have had a super full buggy as well.
• Back at home, I helped Whitman pack his things for his 3 nights on the Impact mission trip to Monticello. Keaton, of course, has been packed for days. Whitman wasn't hard to pack, but after I packed him up, I did quiz him on where things were located in his suitcase. (Where is your toothbrush? Where is your Bible? etc.)
• Robby cleaned the potties, I cleaned the showers, Campbell cleaned the dog, and the rest of the kids did nothing at all today. Reagan has spend the day driving him from her week long trip in Florida with Kennedy. 
• It was an on your own supper for tonight, and now we are settled in on the couch watching baseball and tracking Reagan on her way back into town.

June 23, 2023

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• This morning was the last morning of cooking camp. I did have to wake up Keaton and Whitamn up, but they did wake up pretty quickly for me. 
• While they were at camp, I finally walked on the treadmill this week. That made my watch happy. I even had time to make manicotti for while we are all gone. Making manicotti, for me, is like eating chips and dip-you have too much dip or too many chips and things never come out equally. Today, I had to make more pasta shells to finish my filling. 
• Campbell and Robby joined me to pick up Keaton and Whitman today from their cooking camp. Each group had a table full of sample sized treats to enjoy-salad and steak, chicken and rice, all kinds of bread, peanut butter balls, cookies, cupcakes, veggies and so many more things. 
• We made lunch out of the visit, and then headed home. On the way, I had asked Whitman what they enjoyed more-Camp Geyer or Cooking Camp. They both agreed cooking camp to which I was a little bit surprised. Whitman's teacher came up to me and asked if he had enjoyed it. She was so nice and even brought him his leftover food from today.
• Honestly, I can't remember what we did this afternoon. Oh, wait, it is coming back to me. Keaton, Campbell and I went to Sams to pick up a few shirts for Robby. Then we went to Walmart to grab a few more things off of the list. (Of course the list right now is just as long as what it was when we went to the store.) 
• Campbell has been wanting a new Bible for a good while-even though she did just get a new Bible last year. Anyway, who can say not to a new Bible, so we bought her one at Mardels and had her name put on it before meeting Robby at Costco.
• We grabbed a few things at Costco and filled up both cars with gas. Then I hurried home so Anderson could have a car to go and meet some friends at Freddys and then go swimming at someone's house. 
• Reagan, I assume, is still having a great time at the beach-fishing, go carts, the beach, the pool-I haven't yet heard from her today though. 
• We tried pizza from the new restaurant down the road: Joshs's (nope, I didn't mispell it-that is what the sign says.)  It was decent, but the fries remain exceptional. Graham said that the little restaurant should really sell some milkshakes. I agree wtih that for sure.
• Robby and I are watching Castaway-Whitman stayed with us, but he is mostly watching his ipad instead of the movie-though I am actually looking away during a good bit of it. 

June 22, 2023

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• Day 198 (or so it seems) of cooking camp. I was talking and possibly a bit exhausted on our drive there this morning causing me to miss the entrance so we had to circle around. That was fine though, and we were back with just a few minutes. 
• The kids at camp have a pretty big breakfast each morning, but my Keaton and Whitman don't eat too much. Keaton opted out of the breakfast casserole today while Whitman just chose grapes. 
• Today they made home made pita bread (Whitman made a ton which he even used to make a homemade pizza tonight). They also grilled chicken and made taziki sauce. All of today's food has already been eaten.
• This afternoon I mostly napped instead of being productive. I was able to finish a few things off of my list, but my list is getting shorter but also a bit harder to mark off. I did start on making some maniotti to freeze before our trip.
• This evening the big 4 went to Raymar to hang out with the youth group. They hung out playing kickball for about 2 hours before coming home. While they were gone, Keaton made cookies at home since her and Whitman were home alone.
• Robby and I went with the Wilsons to help them do some of their beach camp shopping. It was lots of fun watching them fill their buggies. We filled up their van with all of their purchases and the little bit that we bought.
• When we made it home, Robby and I had supper beore settling on the couch to watch one tv show before bed.

June 21, 2023

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• Day 3 of cooking school. I felt like Keaton might have had a cold/felt bad yesterday, so I doped her up last night. This morning, however, she was feeling just fine though I am the one now trying to not get her cold.
• Whitman is usually super hard to wake up in the mornings, but the last few mornings he had gotten up without too much prompting. Now, it is getting more difficult each day though. I don't have to walk inside to check in, but Keaton told me that she wanted me to today so that is what we did.
• When I went in to pick them up, neither one of them were there. I eventually found them through a window-they were both working hard. Little Whitman was wearing his apron and finishing his task.
• Keaton was with her group, and they worked until after 12:05. When they did finish, they both came out with their hands loaded down. We went to Nonna and Pops' hosue to start sampling today's food.
• They had made gnocchi with pasta sauce along with foccacia bread. Since they are in different groups each of their food tastes a little bit different. All of the food from today was really good. When we came home, Robby was cooking some meat on the gridle, and he even heated up Campbell some steak from Keaton and Whitman's meals yesterday.
• Other than cooking school, and my one errand to Lowe's to pick up one more brick to complete our last night's project, there wasn't much that happened today. I intended to walk on the treadmill, but I never got that far. I did take Bentley on a walk, but that wasn't the treadmill.
• This evening, Keaton and Whitman had their Impact meeting since they leave for camp on Sunday. This meeting also came with a packing list so Keaton just brought her completely packed suitcase down to sit by the door. 

June 20, 2023

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• Cooking school day 2-we left a few minutes later today which was nice. Then I came straight home and went to work on a few things around the house. 
• One of the things I worked on for a good while was the big kids transcripts. I was trying to update them for this next year-and did quite a bit of work, but eventually I just gave up and will work on them some more another day.
• Before I knew it, it was time for us to pick up the camper and then pick up Keaton and Whitman. Today's meal was homemade tortillas, steak, and rice. It was all pretty good-Whitman actually took his plate into the living room to eat his food.
• Graham, Campbell, and Anderson had lunch at David's Burgers with the rest of the youth from the church house. Graham even got his food paid for, but he and Campbell also enjoyed some ice cream before they came home. 
• It didn't take too long after lunch for Keaton to fall sound asleep. Whitman curled up on the floor and vegged out on his ipad. I even laid my head down for a little bit this afternoon.
• Once it was cooler outside, Robby and I worked on the rocks in front of the shed. We laid a brick border, moved the rocks, laid down cardboard and a weed barrier before moving the rocks back. It looks much cleaner, and hopefully the weeds will not grow back. If the weeds do grow back, then Robby and I will be very unhappy!
• While we were working, Anderson and Graham headed to Rock Creek to play some basketball. Not only did they play basketball, but they also ended up eating another hamburger. 
• Reagan had a big day at the beach-I believe that she said that she was pretty sunburnt so I guess that her weather is better, 

June 19, 2023

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• It was a super early morning because today was cooking camp for Keaton and Whitman. Drop off and pick up are a bit different this year along with the kids getting breakfast. Their breakfast this morning was scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon, cinnamon rolls and fruit. That was not a shabby breakfast at all!
• After dropping them off, I went to Walmart to pick up a few things for the next few weeks. Then I stopped at Kroger before waiting to meet Robby for gas. He dropped off the camper to get it aligned so I then brought him home.
• Since Robby was off today, he went right to work on the yard while I didn't have very long at home working on my chores. I was soon headed to get Keaton and Whitman.
• They both were carrying hot fritatas-Keaton only used 2 veggies in hers while Whitman used all 5. They are both in culinary 1, but they are in different groups. Keaton said that they both still see each other though-she washed a fork for him and he washed a fork for her.
• The worked on knife skills-Whitman said that he cut himself twice, but I didn't see any scars. Then they had a tour of the kitchen before working on their fritatas and starting a dough for tomorrow. They both seemed to really have a good day. And yep, neither one of them even tried their fritatas.
• Campbell and Keaton went to the pool with Traci and her crew. They swam for 2 hours and had a blast. While they were gone, I worked with Whitman with spelling and when the girls came home, they also did some of their school.
• The big boys are doing some Dave Ramsey stuff this summer. They were both super talkative about credit vs. debit cards on the way home today so I guess they are learning something.
• Late this afternoon, Robby took the boys to get their hair cut while I took the girls to buy snacks for their trips. Then we met for gas, and I took the boys to get their snacks. 
• Since Reagan is at the beach she missed out the snack shopping. I did buy her a few things though-she will have to get hers later. The weather had been bad for Reagan so the one good thing is that she is not sunburned. They have been able to go to the beach at least to sit by it and play some volleyball.

June 18, 2023

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• Reagan update-she is living it up with Kennedy on the beach. I do believe that the weather wasn't too great today, but they were able to play some volleyball on the beach, walk some, and go out to eat where she split chicken tenders.
• The rest of us woke up early for church this morning. First is Sunday school for all of us and then big church. When I went to big church, I didn't see Anderson-he is usually the first one there and holds our seats for us. After receiving texts from Campbell and Graham saying that they were upstairs for worship, I text Anderson to see if he was up there as well.
• So after church it did take us a bit to find everyone. We then headed over to Grannymom and Grandpa's house for Sunday lunch with the fam. Dana and her crew were there so we were able to catcu up since we hadn't seen them in a while.
• When we came home, I had the kids help with the laundry and fill out their forms for Beach Camp. Then Robby and I were off to Nonna and Pops' house so he could work on their tv. We stayed there for a bit and when we came home, we grabbed the kids and headed to Rock Creek.
• Tonight with the Beach Camp meeting so we have turned in all of our forms and are paid up. Then it was home for Sunday Supper with the Wilsons. This was a new recipe for us-I do believe that none of our kids that were here enjoyed the meal, but Robby and I did. And Layne even asked for the recipe so at least someone liked it!
• Not is it 10-Whitman and Keaton are in their beds with their clothes laid out beside them ready for their big day tomorrow.

June 17, 2023

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• This morning we went to the fishing day at Raymar. We do have two fishing poles, but Campbell was the only one who was interested in fishing. However, she wasn't interested enough to go and get the fishing pole from the camper.
• Well, it just so happened that we ended up winning not one, but two, fishing poles at Raymar today so she was able to fish. When we did get there, Whitman really wanted to fish, but after a little bit of fishing, he was done.
• It was pretty hot out there, so we still really didn't stay long. Anderson drove one car home with Whitman while the other car went to Lowe's to pick up a few things for next weeks project. Then we went to Kroger to pick up a cart full of things.
• Reagan wasn't in either cars today, because she was spending the day in a car on the way to the beach. She is at the beach with Kennedy this week-I do know that they ate at Cracker Barrel for lunch, and Reagan had chicken and dumplings. They also picked up Crumbl cookie for dessert.
• Once we all came back home, Robby worked some outside while I did some reading and napping-it is Saturday after all! 
• At 6, we dropped Campbell off at the McGuires to spend the night, and we went out to eat with them. We ate at Camp Taco-the food was pretty good except it did take an hour for us to get our food. We were very thankful that we had ordered lots of appetizers which held us off until we did get our dinner.
• Back at home, Keaton spent the day in the kitchen-she made homemade oatmeal cream pies along with homemade peanut butter cups. She is getting ready for her cooking camp next week.

June 16, 2023

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• Another morning of VBS for Campbell so it was another morning of waking up early. Gracious-how do people do it? Actually, today I climbed back into bed and went back to sleep for a good while. 
• This just meant that when I did wake up, I had to scurry around to walk Bentley before it became too hot. There was a bit of thunder while we were walking which caused Bentley to want to head home immediately.
• I worked on restocking the camper today along with changing out where I put my make up in the camper. I guess it is the little things that are exciting to me. I had planned on spending a good amount of time reading my book today, but I haven't gotten too far at all.
• We had originally planned on going to the pool at 1 but it was pushed back until 3. Then we had to wait another hour at the pool before the kids were able to go swimming. They still had fun though and enjoyed the 2 hours that we were able to swim.
• We came home around 6, and Robby was working on changing the oil, but he had also put supper in the crock pot. I made some bread to go along with our supper. The new recipe was a supper hit.
• As soon as we finished supper, Robby and I took Reagan to Kennedy's house. Reagan is headed to the beach with their family early in the morning. 
• Now we are back home eating ice cream and watching tv for a bit before bed.

June 15, 2023

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• Campbell had signed up to work Rock Creeks VBS today and tomorrow so she was out the door this morning at 7:20 thanks to Layne and Brett. Robby was already at his Dgroup at ChickFilA with some guys. I jumped up a little bit before 7, but before I could turn off my alarm clock, Campbell had already text me that she was awake.
• I still did get up to make sure that I heard her moving around upstars. While she waited on her ride, I did the dishes and started on the laundry. When Campbell did leave, I tried to lay back down. I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, and I was not which meant that I just got up and started on my list.
• By 11, most everyone else here had woken up. None of the kids were moving to quickly at all today. I am not even sure that anyone finished their school and few chores that they have each day. We will have to do better on that stuff next week because after that, the kids will be gone for the next 3 weeks...and then it will be just about school time for the crew.
• The big activity this afternoon was cleaning and putting the clean things back in the camper. Cleaning the camper is a task that I dread; however, it takes about 15 minutes to clean that thing from top to bottom. 
• Tomorrow I will restock it with all of the things that we used up while on the trip. I enjoy this chore much more than cleaning.
• When we finished, I wasn't able to get anyone to go to Defy, so instead Robby and I left the house and spent some money. Our first stop was Costco were we bought a standing freezer for the garage. Then it was on to Academy, Kohls and the Nike store looking for a specific pair of socks for the girls. We also stopped at Kroger and Sams on our outing, and surprisingly we were only gone for a little over 2 hours.
• We also through in a stop at Sonic on the way home-this was so we could properly bribe the kids! We had them all come outside to help us with moving around most of the shelves outside to make room for the freezer.
• Everyone helped so things went smoothly. This still took a while, but by 9 most folks were finishing with their suppers (pizza, fish sticks, edemame, corn bread, fetticini alfredo, and salad-quite the buffet tonight). I am finishing the blog and with the three littles and Robby watching a tv show before bedtime.

June 14, 2023-Camp and Camping for all the Dennies

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There was quite a bit of rain, and possibly hail, last night, but that was wonderful for us since we have been sleeping perfectly well on our new camper mattress. Also we think that our new camper mattress is what caused Whitman to fall off of the top bunk the other night. We had moved our old mattress to the top bunk since it fit there fairly well. However, it does hang off just a little bit so possibly that is what helped him roll on off. Though tonight Whitman was convinced that he rolled off of the couch and not the loft-maybe he did hit his head!

Also another fact about our new camper mattress-I'm going to have to get a stool to get into the bed. Last night I tried 2 times to get into bed and finally had to grab a hold of Bentley's leg to help pull myself into the bed. The mattress had gotten a bit scooted so it was hanging off the bed about an inch so when I put my new on it, it just sunk which didn't help me climb out. I thought briefly that I was going to have to give up and go and sleep with Whitman-but I was worried about falling off of his bed.

There wasn't a whole lot that we did today. Robby and I did take Bentley on a walk this morning. When we came back, Keaton had returned from Traci's camper. We started loading up and within 25 minutes we were on the road. Whitman was still seeping soundly when Robby pulled out.

I was in the minivan so I headed on towards home. We both had to fight traffic the entire way home causing our trip to be well over an hour. My plan was to stop by the church before the kids made it home from Collide and put their phones in the car so I could track them on their way home. However, the church vans took a detour and beat me back. I stayed around for a bit but only saw Reagan and Campbell so I headed on home.

When I came home, Robby already had the first 2 loads of laundry going. We have washed probably 10 loads of laundry this afternoon and evening. This afternoon was fairly quite-Anderson and Graham both had naps. This is the second nap that Anderson has taken since he has been 5.

We ate supper at Nonna and Pops' house tonight. Robby picked up pizza, and Nonna had made a candy bar cake. We ate and hung out for a little bit before coming home. The boys have woken up a little bit and are playing on their xboxes while some of us are all downstairs watching one tv show before bed. 

June 13, 2023-Camp and Camping for all the Dennies

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We thought for sure that today was going to be a complete wash out; however, we were pleasantly surprised. It did start raining this morning, but when it did finish Robby and I took Bentley on a walk.

Then we sat outside and ate our breafasts. Soon after we finished breafast, it did start raining again. Traci, the girls and I all sat under the tent outside and played Catch Phrase, Mancala, and Five Crowns. The Five Crowns game takes a good while, and this was probably the first time that we have played the entire game. 

When the rain finally did stop, we moved on to a Baggo tournament. I believe that Robby and Gabe were the winners. It did help that we moved Gabe's line up pretty close. Whitman and I, I think, came in second place. 

After this, we cleaned up a little bit-pretty much everytime that we leave the campsites, we have been putting everything away under the tent so it will not get wet. The weather says that it will not rain, and then 10 minutes later, it is predicting heavy showers. For some reason, they just can't decide what the weather is going to do, so we are trying to be prepared and avoid having wet chairs.

We walked on the Island Trail this afternoon. It is just a mile, but there was a spot right near the lake that the kids were able to wade into and throw rocks. Now, Whitman is just like his brothers and wanted to be the first one on the trail so that he was.

After the trail, the kids played on the playground for a bit. Then we took all of the kids to Sonic for a drink-we drove through OBU on the way back to the campground, and then drove through a few loops here.

We soon heated up supper-we had so much spaghetti from last night that I just heated it up again. However, Keaton and Whitman didn't look too pleased about that so I offered up some pizza crackers which they were very happy with. 

We were eating outside while the girls were playing another round of baggo when it did start raining again. We hurried putting everyting away, for good this time. Then moved into the camper. It has since stopped raining, and Keaton ended up in Traci's camper where she will stay until the morning. They are even going to go to OBU tonight to watch some of the camp competitions, but that isn't until much later.

Robby is catching up on some work while Whitman is on his ipad. I am reading a little bit and will soon start on on my shower.

June 12, 2023-Camp and Camping for all the Dennies

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Even though this day had plenty of rain, we still got all the major lake day items marked off of the list: swimming at the lake, bike riding, and campfire. What more could we ask for?

But let's begin with the middle of the night. I had drank about 10 water bottles yesterday, so I was up about every hour going to the bathroom. One of those trips, I saw Whitman's hand was hanging off the loft bed that he was sharing with Owen.

I shoved him away from the edge and went back to sleep-until I heard a kerplunk. I found him still in his sleeping bag, but on the floor. I asked, "Buddy, what did you hit?" He groggily replied, "the floor." I asked again while touching his head and back but received the same reply. I figured that he was ok enough to crack a joke, then I didn't have to worry if he was hurt.

He did crawl back onto the couch and not loft bed and slept soundly for the rest of the night. Owen and Whitman were both sound asleep when Robby and I got up to get ready to take Bentley on her morning walk.

The weather was very overcast this morning, but after a bit we decided to load up and head to the lake. Now, by the time we had loaded everything up, it was sprinkling. It continued to sprinkle as the kids played in the water. 

With the rain and wind, it was chilly. I had on my jacket and started in a chair watching the kids, but soon ended up in the car. They played in the water for more than an hour despite the rain. When they did come out of the water, they were all freezing. 

We went back to the camper were Whitman showered and we turned on the heater. Keaton went to Traci's camper and stayed there while Traci had to run home to pick up something. We had our lunch, and then I read until it was my naptime. I slept until it stopped raining.

When it did dry up a bit, we took Bentley on another walk. Then Robby and I sat outside until I played a few games of baggo with the girls. Whitman was itching to make a fire again (this is the most fires we have ever had camping), so we gathered wood. Of course most everything was wet, but Whitman and Robby were able to get a pretty decent fire-it lasted long enough for us to eat by it, make s'mores and sit for a bit.

Tonight, it was a bit after 9 that we cleaned everything up and came inside. That is an early night for camping. We were able to do some straightening in the camper. Keaton is sleeping next door so Whitman is all alone tonight. He is sleeping in the loft bed again, but this time, we will add a few pillows so he doesn't fall out!

June 11, 2023-Camp and Camping for all the Dennies

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I was up for a little bit this morning when I did get a text from Keaton asking if her and Sophia could go outside. It seemed to take them a good while to get themselves ready to go outside, but Whitman never stirred.

A bit later Robby and I left to go and take Bentley on a walk. Of course we had to get ready and stir around, but Whitman never stirred.

When we came back from our walk, we made our breakfasts, but Whitman never stirred. That boy was exhausted! Eventually, we did really start making noise so he would go ahead and wake up. 

Today was a good bit warmer than yesterday, but we didn't have to deal with any rain which was super nice because it looks like the rain is coming for us tomorrow or more certainly the next day. This morning we sat around while the kids rode bikes and scooters. 

When I was asking Keaton what she wanted for breakfast, she opted to eat Traci's pancakes since we weren't cooking anything this morning. We plan on doing that another day. Around 11 or maybe a little bit before, we all started to get ready to head to the lake.

The lake was pretty crowded today, but we found a spot in the shade for our chairs and things. The kids immediately started swimming-Keaton even forgot about sunscreen. She is a little bit pink, but hopefully that will go away.

Robby left once to go and get our chairs. He left another time to go and get lunch, and then he left a third time to go and move the camper out of our old spot and into the new spot. Moving the camper is a little bit of trouble, but really we are in the perfect spot now so it is all good.

We stayed at the lake until after 3 and maybe closer until 4. The kids all had showers when we came back, and the grown ups started on supper. Traci had a ton of taco meat, Robby made chicken, plus we all had a ton of fixings so we had ourselves a Mexican supper-except I left the stinking cheese dip in the microwave. I guess we can eat it tomorrow!

We went on a fairly long walk after supper. When we did come back, Whitman helped Robby make the fire. Whitman usually says that the fire is one of his favorite parts of camping-I am not too sure if that should concern me our not. 

The fire was nice, and we pulled out the s'mores stuff. Then we cleaned everything up, and put all of our things under the tent just in case it does rain tonight. Usually doing that causes it not to rain which is the goal.

Keaton is sleeping in Traci's camper while Owen has joined us, so it is really pretty quiet in this camper!

June 10, 2023-Camp and Camping for all the Dennies

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This morning started with some pretty good rain and thunder which scared Bentley. She hopped in our bed pretty quickly and shoved her head up near our heads. Then this morning we all woke up early. Graham was taking a shower while Robby and I were still laying in bed, and Reagan was texting me about a suitcase way earlier than she usually wakes up.

The kids were anxious to get to church so they could get to camp, and Robby was anxious to get on the road so he could beat the rain. Robby was the first one to leave the house with Keaton and Whitman. Both of them were anxious to get into the camper.

Robby almost made it to Lake Degray before he hit the rain. He said that it rained pretty hard on them for a good ways. By the time that he made it to the campground, it did stop raining and he was able to dump without getting wet.

However, he found our site (not the one he thought it was), and by this time the rain had begun again. The site was incredibly muddy, and he couldn't get the power to work. He was a wet, muddy mess! He did use Andrew's car to go down to the office to see about chaning spots. So they put us in a spot up the hill for tonight, and then we will move to Andrew's spot tomorrowm and be next to Traci.

At 11:30, Reagan, Anderson, and Graham left for camp. They were so excited to leave that they didn't even fuss about taking a picture before they got into the car. That just left Campbell and I at home. We sat in the living room without any lights on-she was watching tv and I was reading. Soon we realized that it was dark-that is when the storm came through.

Campbell and I both found blankets, so I did set my alarm just in case we fell asleep. Well, I did fall asleep, but Campbell sure did not. At the last minute, we were both scurrying around the house-folding towels, adding things to her bag, and grabbing drinks for the road.

When I went to church, I walked in with Campbell and turned in her form. Then she left-I was able to briefly say bye before she walked away. My people don't seem to mind leaving on a trip! So I climbed in the car, turned on my book and headed to Lake Degrey.

I fought the rain some, but it wasn't ever horrible thankfully. When I showed up, the kids were all out playing. We sat outside for a bit-I guess the rain has made the weather so very pleasant. Tonight, I needed a jacket and leggings (more the pants so I didn't get bit). 

Whitman and Keaton have ridden bikes, caught fireflies, walked on trails, and played with friends. We did drive to a trail head and walk on it. I wanted to walk on 12 trails this year as part of my New Year's resolution. Well, the quarter mile trail today was the first one that I have done. 

Robby made hamburgers for supper tonight. They were pretty delicious. I guess I did have a hamburger last night too for supper, but eating a hamburger while camping is different than a hamburger in a restaurant. 

We spent most of the night sitting with the adults visiting while the kids played around. There were quite a few fireflies out tonight which was neat-not nearly as many as the Smokies. So far, this has been a pretty perfect day-even with all of the rain. 

June 9, 2023

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• I was able to sleep in a little bit later this morning, but Whitman had a birthday party so he left the house at 9. This was a bike riding party-like we had to practice riding his bike with his helmet on since we rarely do that.
• Now, I asked Whitman what his favorite part of the party was-he said the hamburger! The zipline that he rode in Michael's backyard was not his favorite. He did say that he had fun riding bikes, but that he was the very last one the entire time. I asked him if he tried to catch up, but he said that he just couldn't. His daddy told him that he might buy him an electric bike (not really.) I did later ask if he got frustrated during the ride, and he said no so overall, I think that he had a good time.
• While he was gone, I did some shopping with Campbell, Graham, and Keaton. We picked up my contacts, stopped at Academy to buy shorts for the big boys, tried to find an orange shirt at Goodwill with no luck, and bought quite a few snacks at Walmart for all of the camp-goers and even some snacks for the camping-goers.
• Reagan didn't have to go back to work today so I guess she is now officially off for the summer. When we came home, she was already packing for camp. Most of the afternoon was spent packing people up for camp and for camping. 
• Robby and I did go to get gas and ran into Costco and Kroger. We found only one thing to buy at Costco. Later in the evening, Robby and I went to eat with the Wilsons. We ate down the road at Josh's grill-it was pretty good surprisingly. 
• Then we headed to Costco again-and yep, we found more things to buy there. Maybe it helped having other people shopping with us. 
• Tonight I briefly cleaned the kitchen before we put the kids into bed. Actually, the big boys aren't really in their beds-I can hear them screaming at the people that they are playing the xbox with. It is a bunch of boys who will be without all of their screens this next week at camp so I guess they are trying to get all the screen time in that they can. 

June 8, 2023

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• There were 10 people in my van this morning on the way to Camp Geyer. I had told everyone that we needed to leave at 7:40, but my real goal was 7:50 so when we did leave about 8 minutes later than planned, we were still early.
• Keaton and her friends helped gather my ingredients from the fridge for me. I then put Whitman and his buddy to work counting out cups for me to fill with garlic powder, cheese, and pizza sauce.
• I watched some of the opening before going down to our class. Soon it was time for our group to come. We made our garlic bread and mini pizzas, and as soon as everyone was out the door, we started cleaning up our messy room.
• Robby helped me load up the car with all of my things, and then we met the kids down in the pit. Lunch was hot dogs, chips and snow cones. Whitman was happy to eat my snow cone as well as his own-I think that he loves snow cones as much as his dad.
• Reagan went to work after the picnic, and then this evening she went to a freind's house to do some more Collide planning. Graham went to play basketball again tonight at Rock Creek-he even managed to eat supper at Texas Roadhouse with all of the people that he was with. Anderson could have gone, but he skipped out. Anderson never naps, but today he took a nap and thought it was the next day when he woke up. 
• Robby and I went to Sams and Walmart this afternoon. We were trying to buy some things for our camping trip plus there was a list of things for the camp going kids. Now, tomorrow morning I am planning on making another run to the store to pick up more camp things.

June 7, 2023

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• This was day 3 of Camp Geyer, and everyone is still in a decent mood in the mornings. Though it is still pretty difficult to wake everyone up and get them out the door each morning. I am expecting tomorrow to be the most difficult day to get the people up and out the door for sure.
• Keaton was in the worship arts track so her group performed two songs this morning during the opening. The beat on trash cans, smashed lids togethers and banged brooms on the floor. She really enjoyed that track. Now, she is in cooking so I hope that she likes it as well-especially since I am in charage of the cooking track.
• We were back to our first cooking rotation day so the day went super quickly. Tomorrow we have our slower day so we will be able to clean up as well.
• Keaton had lunch at church with the student ministry so her group could get to know the student workers. I took everyone else home, and Reagan headed to work. After a bit, I went to pick up Keaton and two more of her friends with another one coming later in the evening.
• I went to work on some shirts-a few for Dana, 2 for Campbell and Reagan helped me make a shirt for Anderson. This was my first time to use my cricut and heat press since I have had them in their new spots-it was so nice to have everything right where I could use it well.
• Jason dropped by for a few minutes to drop something off. The big bos were already at Rock Creek when he dropped by. They spent the evening playing basketball and going to get ice cream.
• I did a bit of ice cream as well because Robby and I took the girls and Whitman to Sonic to get a few drinks. The kids played on the playground at Sonic while I read a bit of my book and Robby played on his phone.
• We came home, and the girls finally settled into the bonus room and began getting ready for bed. Toorrow is another early morning for us-but our last super early morning.

June 6, 2023

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• Day 2 of Camp Geyer-we left right on time this morning. The goal was to leave at 7:50, and we did. Weeks like this also remind me why we do not go to real school-we would not be able to do it. Actually, we could; our lifestyle would have to be quite a bit different though. 
• We were at church in plenty of time this morning for Keaton and Whitman to help me get a few things ready. I am sure glad that they, especially Keaton, enjoy helping prepare things.
• Everyone is still having a great time this week. It is just so good for the big 4 to be able to help this week-I enjoyed watching Graham keep his kids in line this morning. And I sure did put Reagan to work heating up our pizzas during my cooking track.
• Robby picked up our lunch today, and then met me at church. He left his car with Anderson who had a Collide meeting this afternoon. Their meeting was pretty short, so Anderson was home fairly early.
• Reagan left as soon as we came home so she could go to work, and I headed to the pool with Whitman, Campbell and Keaton.
• We stayed there and swam for 3 hours. The kids enjoyed staying-I enjoyed some quite time with my book and some chatting time with the other mommas. 
• When we came home, I worked on a shirt with Anderson. Then it was time to leave again-Campbell had a Collide meeting. Robby, Keaton and I took her there-we did stop at Newks for a quick bite to eat. Then we ran into Kroger and Walmart before picking up Campbell. 
• I worked on some shirts, and then I joined the others on the couch to watch a tv show before putting the kids into bed. 

June 5, 2023

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• We stayed up late last night watching the end of the Razorback game, and then for some reason I could not go to sleep-that does seem to be happening a little bit more lately. (However, I am fairly confident that I won't have a problem sleeping tonight.)
• To go to sleep, I finally had to make my list of things that I needed to do this morning. My alarm started going off at 6:50 this morning, but I did lay in bed until 7:10. Then I had to start moving pretty quickly to wake everyone up (we had one extra last night so 7 kids). 
• We were out the door by 7:50 which was a few minutes later than I would have liked, but still very good. Once we were at church, Anderson, Graham and Reagan went to their areas. They are all guides for Camp Geyer. Anderson has 6th grade, Reagan has 5th, and I think that Graham has 2nd graders. Campbell wanted to be with the little kids in Camp Geyer Jr. so she is with 3 year olds.
• Keaton and Whitman hung out with me for about 15 more minutes. They gathered my food from the fridge. Whitman opened boxes of stuff for me while Keaton spooned sugar and then cinnamon into cups for the tables.
• I believe my sleeping problem stems from me being a tad bit stressed about Camp Geyer. I am doing the cooking craft-and gracious, I am not really a person that spends a lot of time in the kitchen. Thankfully though, today could not have gone any better. Today was breakfast day, and we made poptarts which we baked and they came out perfectly. While those were baking, we made no bake cinnamon rolls which were good to. It really could not have gone any better-I was so relieved.
• After my part, we cleaned things up and got our room as ready as we could for tomorrow. Then I headed up to get Keaton and Whitman. It was absolutely crazy picking up the kids. I left the line and just came back later after the line was much shorter.
• We had lunch at Nonna's house today. We weren't there very long before we had our dentist appointments. Now who in the world would schedule dentist appointments on the very first day of Vacation Bible School? (Me. And guess who just scheduled appointments in June for next year? me! At least I did schedule them for Tuesday and not Monday.)
• The kids and I all had appointments today. Graham is the only one who has to go back for more work. He would want me to make this point very clear-his is NOT a cavity. It is just a "depression" that they need to fill before it gets worse. This is the second time that he has had to have work for things that are NOT cavities.
• Since we had already made the day long, we decided to make it even longer with stops at Academy, Hobby Lobby, and Sonic on the way home. That left us getting home at almost 5.
• Graham had a party to get ready for Collide this evening so Robby and I took him there. While we were waiting to pick him up, I tried to stay busy because I am afraid that I am going to fall asleep if I stay still too long.

June 4, 2023

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• This was our first Sunday back in church in what seemed like a while. I think we had missed 2 Sundays while we were on our trip, and the next Sunday back was at Raymar so it did feel like this was the first time in good bit that we had been to church. Though with church in Sander's Hall, it doesn't feel exactly like church. 
• After church, we dropped by the house for a second before going to the Wilson's house to celebrate Brett's high school graduation. Shannon had tacos and the fixings for everyone-and after eating supper at their house as well, our dishwasher is pretty empty tonight (which I good because I will need all the help I can get tomorrow.)
• I did sneak in about a 50 minute nap during the Razorback game this afternoon. Then I was up and headed to church with Campbell, Keaton, Graham, and Reagan. They all wanted to help me set up my classroom. With all of the help, it didn't take me too long at all. 
• The big kids had to go to meeting at 4 so they left, but Keaton stayed with me. We thought that we had a few more minutes and started on one last project, but ran out of time. We should have time to finish though early in the morning. 
• Keaton and I thought that we had a few more minutes before their meeting was finished, but Campbell text saying that she was done. She knew she was going to be a little bit late to Rock Creek, but still wanted to do so Keaton and I drove her there.
• The others, plus Kennedy, came in from the meeting just a bit after I did. I read for a minute before we headed to the Wilson's house once again. We watched some of the Duggar documentary and then the ball game.
• Robby, Campbell and I stayed until the end of the ballgame so we did get in pretty late tonight. While we were gone, Kennedy did trim Keaton's hair. If I would have been here, I might have let her do my hair as well!...or maybe not.

June 3, 2023

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• I am not really sure whta time we did get out of bed this morning. Campbell had already made a few dozen muffins for everyone else that was awake and cleaned up by the time we did start our morning.
• After I did a few of our chores, I decided that I would try walk Bentley since it was kind of cloudy. Thankfully, it wasn't too sunny and hot, so we were able to walk a good bit while I listened to my book. Though I think that Bentley may not like me listening to my book because without my book, I probably talk to her a bit more.
• When I came back home, I left with Campbell and her friend to go and pick up Keaton. Then we went to Target because Campbell wanted to walk around.
• And walk around we did and walk around and walk around. I do believe that I spent the least amount of money-all of the girls spent more that I did.
• We dropped off Campbell's friend on the way home, and when we did make it home, Robby was still outside cleaning his shed. I eventually helped him work on the garage, but I did spend most of the afternoon working on the pantries.
• Robby and I picked up pizza this evening-it took a little longer than it should, but we did get a free pizza out of it. After eating, we played the third round of our Monopoly game. Anderson is just about out of the game. I did buy some property from him, so I might possibly have a chance if I can hang on long enough to buy some houses.  Monopoly is a game that I really don't like-I am more of a short game player.
• And right now, this is what is happening-Keaton is running around the house wearing my watch so I can reach my activity goal which will help me reach my monthly goal. And yes, I am sitting on the couch tying my blog and eating ice cream. Yep, that is how we roll around here.

June 2, 2023

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• I guess that I could say this has been a pretty perfect Friday, but I really don't feel like I have done that much, but maybe I have.
• This morning I hurried to do my chores so I could take Bentley on a walk before it became too hot. We walked a mile while I listened to my audio book. This is a new thing for me-an audio book on a walk-but it was fun. (Especially since the audio book has Dolly Parton reading some parts.)
• After our walk, there were a few more chores. Then Robby and I ran to Costco where I bought some tennis shoes and chocolate chips. Next up was gas for the cars that we were driving, and then we ran into Kroger to use some coupons. 
• While we were in Kroger we used one coupon for a free Ben and Jerrys. Our plan was to eat it on the way home, but we had forgotten that we were in two different cars. I reminded him that I did have the spoons in the car I was driving, but we opted to wait until we came home-however, that was hours ago, and we haven't gotten into that Ben and Jerry's pint just yet.
• Campbell, Keaton, Anderson, and Whitman went with me to Defy at about the same time that Reagan went to work. They jumped for an hour, and then we stopped by Sonic for our Friday drinks on the way home. Graham opted not to go wtih us because he was busy watching baseball.
• Campbell had a friend come over to spend the night. They have watched tv, played outside, baked pasta and even made cookies this evening. Keaton went to swim with the Crafts, and then she ended up spending the night over there. Whitman had a birthday party this evening that he went to-I just had to pick him up and drop some of his friends off. 
• Right now, it is almost 10-and maybe, just maybe we will have our ice cream tonight. Or maybe we will save it for tomorrow.

June 1, 2023

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• This morning started off with Graham driving Campbell, Keaton, and I to church. I went there to quickly get a lesson on how to turn on the oven (I am a very educated person so I figure that I could figure it out, but I just wanted to be sure.) Also, I received a lesson on the dishwasher which I could not have figured out!
• Then Graham drove us to the library and then to Nonnas. At Nonna's Graham and I had some chocolate pudding, She also made quesadillas for the kids to eat for their lunch. She had some of our laundry that we had thrown at her as we were pulling out of the driveway before our trip, and I had a shirt to give to her for her to work her magic on.
• Our driver, Graham, did very well. When I ride with other people, I never think "Oh, I wonder if he is going to brake, I better remind him." Like tonight as we went through the big curve on Lawson, Robby didn't brake until he needed to. When I ride with Graham, I start clenching when I can see the curve and begin reminding him before he really should brake. 
• He did excellent though. He is a bit jerky, but that will come with practice. Really, today was the longest that he had driven.
• Reagan had spent the night with Camryn and Kennedy. This afternoon, Kennedy and Reagan went to Target for some browsing, and then she came home. 
• Anderson went to Raymar to clean out the line painter machine. It didn't take him too long at all, and he was home well before I was.
• Keaton and I went to the pregnancy center for little bit this afternoon. I was dealing with text messages most of the time that we were there so Keaton did quite a bit of work. 
• By the time that we made it home, Anderson had left again. This time Graham was with him. They met some boys at Rock Creek to play basketball. I would have to assume that they had a good time since there were gone for over 3 hours.
• While they were gone, Robby and I took Keaton and Whitman to Defy. It was Member's night so it was 90s theme. They had fun little glasses for the kids plus pizza and a drink.
• We tried to bake some self rising crust pizzas for supper, but they tasted like they had not been cooked even though we cooked them for the time it said. Now, they did kill hungry, and Graham finished off what we didn't eat when he came home. 
• Keaton and I worked on her Disney pin book. We couldn't find one at Disney plus the ones on the internet were crazy expensive. So we made one ourselves-foam sheets to put the pins in with felt sheets between in. I bought a tool to put grommets (maybe that is the word) where it would be punched for a 3 hole punch to put in a binder. What would have cost us over 40 dollars or more, costs us about 15 or less! Though we did have to hammer the grommets in causing the people in the house to go a little bit crazy.
• It is now almost 10, and we are about to get our bedtime snacks and watch one little tv show before we head to the beds.