I call your Cliffs of Moher...and raise you one!

This is Dan "guest writing" on Rebekah's blog one last time before she gets home.

Today was Landon's birthday, and the day started off poorly for super dad. I failed in a store return attempt, and got a call from a good friend (who was watching the kids for a couple hours) that Simon needed a change...and I failed to leave diapers...twice!

However, while the kids were being watched, I was able to complete everything I needed to get done in preparation for Landon's bday surprise...but more on that later. First, I made a sweet find at the grocery store

...Super Mario...Landon's favorite!!!!

We were able to video chat with mom in Dublin while we sang happy bday, blew out the candles, and opened presents. Then it was off to play with my second sweet find

 ...Lincoln Logs are cool enough, but the name of the set is the "Big L(andon) Ranch"!

Now for the big finale/surprise of the day

...a backyard fire with some neighbor kids (ignore the time stamps...it was late, but not that late).

This is where the title of the blog comes into play. Rebekah thought it would be hilarious to post a video of her peaking over the edge at the Cliffs of Moher when we had discussed that as being strictly off limits before she left. Well, I felt it very appropriate to use Landon's birthday to fight fire with

...FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!  Nothing like having your boys play with fire to get mom all wound up :)!

My little photographer (Annika) captured what we spent the rest of the night doing

...goofing off

...throwing sticks in the fire

 ...catching fireflies (I think the camera actually illuminated their "lights" in this picture!)

but most importantly, my birthday boy had a great night, and couldn't stop smiling.  Happy birthday my big boy...thanks for helping me get back at your mom ;)!

World Trail

This is Dan hijacking (I mean "guest writing" on) Our Plain Life.  Rebekah isn't the only one traveling the world...we took our own trip on the "World Trail" today!

I've attempted to stay on top of things, but already on day 2 I have had my first failure.  I thought I was checking the website often enough, but apparently minutes after I started getting the kids ready, swim practice was canceled due to thunderstorms.  We showed up to an empty pool.

Well, my first failure was followed closely by my first quick-thinking moment of brilliance!  After killing only 10 minutes at the nearby play ground (the rain had let up) Landon said he was bored.  We decided to go on a nature walk, and I ran into a trail sign like this

 
Each sign had an apparatus by it and instructions for exercises to do. We actually ran into the second one, which was located right by a little pond. I thought "ok...this will be great, we can do this little thing, and the kids seem into it"; however, we missed the introduction sign (like the one above), which would have told us how long the trail was. The trail took an immediate left (away from the pond) "ok it can't be that big" (wrong). Here we are after completing about 8 exercise stations and .5 miles

Here we are at the 1 mile bridge

Notice Annika in her swimsuit...proof I did have her ready for practice :).
Well, we did the whole thing (all 2 miles!) and Simon only asked to go back once!  Notice the playground in the background...I couldn't help but think about this Seinfeld bit (The link is supposed to skip to the :40 mark...thanks to ads, it fails to jump...sorry).

Well...until the next moment of brilliance,
Dan

Catching Fireflies

I don't like bugs. I don't like beetles. I don't like creepy. I don't like crawly.  There are few exceptions. One of these exceptions is the firefly. Especially catching fireflies on a perfect evening in the summer. I didn't grow up in an area where there were fireflies, apparently fireflies aren't west of the Rockies (sorry SoCal family). But, I have very vivid memories of chasing them around my grandparents' Midwest yard when we would visit them on summer vacation. I think we called them "Lightening Bugs." If my kids can't grow up by the beach, at least they have fireflies.

Each child approaches "the hunt" differently. Annika spends most of her time planning the habitat and kinda forgets about the actual catching of fireflies (regardless of the fact that we let them go before we go in for the night). Taryn usually catches most of them. I think she gets a bit competitive. Landon zones in on one firefly and follows it around, even if that means wandering through the neighbors' yards and ending up 5 houses away. At one point our firefly hunt turned into a Landon hunt. For those of you that know Landon this doesn't surprise you one bit. Simon was the most excited, even though at one point he forgot what we were hunting for.





In the end, we caught quite a few.

This picture wasn't set up at all. ;)

There is a short window when we can see fireflies (when it doesn't get dark too late and it's comfortable to sit outside), and we are glad we have had a few nice nights to chase a firefly or two. Good times and good memories.

Camping

We have a bucket list for the summer and I have my goals for this year. On both of these lists is "Camping!"  I have been looking forward to crossing this off our list for a very long time. I LOVE camping. I especially love to do something that I know my kids will love too. When we told them we were going camping, it was like how those wacko kids react when their parents tell them that they going to Disney. There were screams of joy, exhiliration, and backflips. Okay, maybe not backflips, but I totally think they would've if they could've. Then the "are we going camping today?" question started. Thankfully, we only told them a week before, so we didn't have to deal with that for too long.

The problem around here is that you never know what the weather will be like from day to day so we didn't want to make a promise we couldn't keep. The weather on Friday night was rainy and stormy, but Saturday afternoon shaped up to be perfect camping weather.  So we loaded up and headed out... 30 minutes away. :) Hey, we were excited but not crazy. We figured if everything went to you-know-where in a hand basket we wouldn't have too far to go home. 

And, as I suspected, and, not gonna lie, kinda dreamed, my kids loved every minute. Every minute. Landon kept asking to go to bed because he was so excited to sleep in the tent. :) We had fun camping food like tacos in a bag (aka walking tacos) which made some happy campers (literally!)...

And, of course, s'mores...

Dan showing Annika the art making perfect roasted marshmallow

There was also a lot of dust... 

Last minute moment of mommy brilliance...bringing a few plastic construction trucks...

I lasted as long as I could, but, finally, right before bed we loaded up the kids and drove over to the showers. I just couldn't do it. Dirty feet and bodies covered in bug spray crawling into in sleeping bags make me cringe (I am kinda hyperventilating right now just thinking about). 

As Dan and I were sitting by the fire when the kids were settled down in the tent, he asked me "Why? Why do you like camping?"  And to be honest, I couldn't really put my finger on it. My family and I camped during every summer vacation since I can remember. There is the smell of the trees, the fire and, the food.  Even the quiet whirring of a propane lantern brings me back. The sound of crunching gravel underfoot while walking to the bathroom guided by a dim flashlight and looking up to see millions of stars. Then there was waking up to a view similar to this every morning: 

My dad tinkering around the picnic table, cooking up some scrambled eggs in bacon grease. :) Other than Sunday nights after church, the only time I remember my dad doing most, if not all, the cooking is when we were camping. He was in his element. I could tell he loved it all. The coolness of the morning, the dampness of the dew on the tables and chairs. Listening to nature slowly waking up. It helped that we camped in some of the most beautiful campgrounds in the West. I have just good, good memories. I am sure my mom could tell you all the work it was getting ready. Trust me, I felt it when we got back and we only camped for one night! But, I hope she knows that the memories my brother and sisters have of our family camping trips make it totally worth it. I really, really hope to do the same for my kids. For now, I am happy with some big "thumbs up!!" 

School's Out for the Summer! (Part 2)

We are ALL finally out for the summer!! Landon finished up his year last Thursday.  We are super glad to be done with pencils, books and teacher's dirty looks! Just kidding, we had fantastic teachers this year!  Just glad to be DONE!

Since I did it with the girls, I have to do it with Landon too...

Here is his picture from the 1st Day of School...

And here's his picture from the last day of school!

Wowee!! He totally looks older! 

Now that we are done we can start working through our Summer Bucket List which Annika typed up for us.

Just this weekend we crossed a few things off our list (watch for my next post), and we have some other things already on the calendar. It's going to be a fantastic summer!!