Mmmmm, that "New Car" smell!

Well, we finally said goodbye to our old Honda (12 yrs with 135,000 miles) and hello to our new Ford Fusion. We had been talking about getting a new car for a little while and Carl and I always take our annual drive to Vegas and this year he said the Honda may not make it, so... We took a test drive with the kids in tow and they enjoyed the car so much we decided that with Ford's $1,000 rebate for trade ins we would do it. Our Honda's paint job was in really bad shape and we knew it wouldn't bring in too much, so with the value of the car (about $800) and the incentive of $1000, we did pretty good! So today I get to pick the kids up in the "new car". The Honda was known to the kids as the "Black Car", don't know what this one will be called after it is no longer new. So there you have it. Carl and my 3rd new car since we have been married. First the Honda, then the Excursion and now this one! Yay!

End of the Year-Spring Band Concert

So last night was Kaleigh's final band concert. They did a nice job and at the end of the program they all got certificates. Well, after they gave everyone their certificates, the Music teacher explained that each group voted for one of their own to get a special award for an outstanding job in band. Someone who is diligent and works well with others etc. Well, out of about 25 band members they voted Kaleigh as the most outstanding and she got a trophy! Yay, Kaleigh! She got to do a bit of a solo too. But we enjoyed the evening of band music and the choirs. Her two best friend are in choir so we stayed for the whole thing. Not too long, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. So, that is the end of band for this year. Kaleigh is still debating on whether or not she wants to do it next year. We are encouraging her to, but not forcing. She will still be swimming in the fall and band requires part of lunch each thursday which she may not be willing to give up.

Ah...well. She has the summer to make a decision.

Roar and Snore Part 3 - Some Cool Animals

So, here are some more photos. There are so many more! But these are some of my favs. Kaleigh of course had a great time even though at first she was a little bothered by what her two best friends got (they were in the premium tents), but soon she took it in stride and even went on to say she thought our tent was more camping, less hotel roomy, which is what she wanted. One of the moms was really nice and gave Kaleigh one of the 3 travel mugs she and her girls got. She figured they didn't need three of them! I had given her a 2 for 1 coupon for one of the attractions in the park so she was nice enough to return a favor. They try...sometimes. Mostly I was disappointed by the leaders, that they would allow the troop to be separated like this. You would think that Girl Scouts should see each other as equal, playing on an even field. This just pointed out to the girls that some have and some have not. There were even a couple of the girls bragging about their cool tents and treats they received. This is something that would really make me want to pull Kaleigh out, but that would do more damage than if I bite my tongue and let her continue. So we are signed up for next year. She will be a cadette and from what I understand, the leaders will be communicating directly with the girls and the girls will have more control over certain things. I am curious to see what will happen. I think there will be some girls that are still overly influenced by their moms, but then their moms make poor choices, so I don't really expect too much change. At least I can let Kaleigh fight for equality vs me!

If anyone wants to see more photos, let me know, I will post more! : )

Roar and Snore part 2

So, here comes the part where I explain a few things about this troop. The top photo is of a premium tent. They have a bed, a water cooler, lights, bedding, a fan and a gift bag with travel mugs for everyone. Ok, we all got t-shirts, but this was a big difference between the "haves" and the "have nots". Unfortunately, our troop decided that it was ok to have some of the girls that had wealthy parents stay in the premium tents and those that did not have wealthy parents stay in the other tents. Out of the girls that came, only 4 out of the 9 girls stayed in the regular tents, the other girls not in the count were siblings of girls in the troop. There were two that stayed in the premium and one that stayed in our area. The only reason the premium tents were offered to begin with was because one of the moms required electricity for her breathing machine that she wears to sleep. Thus began the division. My second complaint was that when we were supposed to meet at 6:15 with the tour guide, only about 8 of the 21 were there on time. We didn't get going until 7pm! Now I may be a little less laid back than most people, but I figure that girl scouts should be punctual especially if it is an inconvenience to someone if they are not! Ok, so that rant is over. So then we went on our little tour and some of the moms noticed my little clip on "off" fan. They thought it was pretty funny that I was so bug paranoid, but hey, it was dusk and there was a lot of water area we were going through! Those of you who know me know that I am the first one the bugs migrate to, and I wasn't about to sleep with bug bites, so sue me! Anyway, by the end of our little hike/tour, they were all standing by me! Kaleigh had one too and all the girls were hovering around her too! : ) hehe.

So the tour was cool we saw a lot that we normally wouldn't see so well, and it was interesting.

So on to the last part of our adventure!

Roar & Snore May 2010 Part 1

Ok, so here is part one of the Roar and Snore event with the Girl Scouts. This is the start of the saga so to speak. The photos are pretty obvious. We got there, entrance, we saw "Monty the Meercat", we took a photo once inside and the last is a photo of our tent. If they end up showing up in that order on my blog. Sorry if it doesn't. We started out well, took a 1 hour 45 minute drive from home and got there in plenty of time. Unfortunately that meant we were waiting for quite a while for something to happen. The girls had fun and so did the moms. We chatted about anything and everything. Finally, everyone was there and we gave the staff the luggage to be brought to our tents. We then waited some more in the waiting area, where they had a girl with a lizard (blue tongued skink to be precise) and she told the girls about the animal for about 15 minutes. Then it was more waiting...about 30 minutes or so. The park closed at 5:00 and we were then escorted into the park and moved to the area where we were staying. We did not have time to go to our tents to check them out because it was dinner time! So, we sat down and ate our dinner ( the line was long and troops allowed all their girls and mothers to cut in with them, which was pretty ridiculous! Then, after dinner we were to go meet at 6:15 to meet with our tour guide. We ended up sitting to eat at 5:50 so it didn't give us much time to eat! I ended up getting my long pants on and getting my "Off" insect repellant fans for K and me, just in time to come back and still be on time! Too bad no one else was! But more on that later. We had a long 2 1/2 hours or so walking around the park where our tour guide "Candy" was explaining that the girls would be learning about animals and also using their wits to figure out the Mystery Animal. So we saw many animals while walking and the girls were pretty attentive. The best were the cheetahs that were becoming more active since the tour was in the evening. We got good photos (later) and the girls were the only ones at each location so they were able to see all they wanted of the animals. It was a might tough for me since I had worked that morning and I did the driving. The walking was fine, the standing started making my back ache a bit and I was relieved when we got back to sit down at the campfire. The girls all got s'mores and hot chocolate and then they started singing and whatnot. I stayed to get K settled and then ran back to the tent to make sure the stuff in our tent was ours and to kind of unpack. I found some other peoples stuff in our tent, but they were part of our troop and next to us. Then I unpacked the sleeping bags and went back down in time to see the troop perform for the rest of the group.

After that it was close to 10pm and we all dashed off to the restrooms to wash faces and brush teeth and go potty. Then it was bedtime. It was wonderfully dark and quiet...for about 20 minutes. Then our tent mates fell asleep. The mom that was in our tent snored...LOUD. I am not talking loud, loud, I am talking train, bear and jackhammer all in one! I was wearing ear plugs ( I usually do, because Carl snores) and I could hear quite clearly through the earplugs! So to be clear, when I wear ear plugs at home and Carl snores, I do not hear a sound. This woman snored so loud that I not only could hear her through the earplugs she was louder than any of the elephants, lions and birds that were making noise right outside our tent! So, I got about 2 hours of sleep. Dozed in and out the rest of the time...but still exhausted the next day. I think K faired better because she fell asleep before the mom did. Now, I figured not too much sleep would occur so I do not blame this mom, she is very sweet. But I think I was a little disappointed because I figured lack of sleep would come from discomfort or the animal noises, both of which I was more prepared to deal with! But to continue...

Cole's "Buddy Club" Birthday Party

Today was Cole's birthday party with his best friends. They call themselves the buddy club and they are all very sweet very nice boys. We started out with Pizza and drinks and then went outside to do the Obstacle course. This was a big hit! We had a chalk track with wooden blocks and cardboard cars that they had to crush like a monster truck, with monster feet walkers. Then the boys played a game of "Hot Monster Truck" (like hot potato) so that the helpers could remove the obstacle course items. Then we got Cole's RC truck out and the boys all got a turn to drive the truck around and generally have a good time on the back hill and running around. After that, we came inside to open gifts. Cole was very happy with his presents and the boys were all very excited! Then came cake and ice cream. I must say I am very proud of my cake. The last post showed Grandma's cake and I did my cake similar but a little different. The parents that came thought the cake was totally cool! I was happy, Cole was happy, and his friends were happy! I think the parents just really appreciate the work that went into the things we put together, so yay! Then after the cake and ice cream the boys got to race their monster trucks they got in their goodie bags and then were able to paint the leftover white cars that we had used for the obstacle course! Thanks to Spencer, who made all the cars, they were a giant hit! I think that was the favorite part of the obstacle course! So a good day. I am exhausted but happy everything went well! I think this was probably the least expensive party we have done so far! Yay!