Sea Lions, Kayaks, and Photos-Oh my!

Last Christmas, I bought a voucher for my husband for a kayak trip for two.   I had noticed when I first printed the certificate back in December that it mentioned something about some pictures on the beach but I didn't really think much of it...

Well, when it came time to book, I quickly realized that I was dealing with more of a photography business and not so much a kayaking business. In the recesses of my brain, I'm thinking about the fact that I will be wearing a swimsuit in these pictures and FAT CHANCE that I will be wanting/purchasing any pictures. I declined the special package they were offering to pre-purchase my pictures and hoped that we would just enjoy the kayaking.

On the day of our adventure, we walked down to the launch site, and that's where the photography session began.  Our dear, sweet, enthusiastic photographer explained that we would begin the shoot with us running down the beach, we were to jump at one point, and then kiss. Super natural, right?  We are doing this on a crowded beach- and did I mention that we are IN OUR SWIMSUITS!  I was cracking up and totally could not follow directions and my ham of a husband was posing and being goofy.  Needless to say those pics will not see the light of day.
After the "baywatch gone bad" shots, we were allowed to get into our kayak and paddle out!  We saw a group of sea lions and got to go into a cave. Our photographer was a ton of fun, knowledgeable and creative and I would totally book her for my next event that I host on a kayak. After about an hour, we returned to the office to see our pictures.

OH AWKWARD! Let me count the ways:

Gee, hon, wouldn't be fun to have some professional photos taken of us on the beach in our swimsuits, and then let's go view them for the first time with some total strangers on a big screen TV, and then be pressured to buy a package of those pictures of us for as little as $99!

I know!

I'm sure you say that every day.

All in all, it was a fun day.  I will leave you with this little gem.

We're naturals, right? What!?  That's not how you kayak?
Oh.

You ain't never caught a chicken...

This picture was taken a while ago...it cracks me up.  He had soooo much fun chasing, holding, feeding, and playing with my friend's chickens.

Well, add that one to my list..

...of things I never thought I would hear the librarian say!

Let me paint the picture for you.

Ahem.

We spend a lot of time at our local library. Being homeschoolers and all.  And we check out a ton of books.  I try to be good about getting them back in on time but we have paid our share of fines.  My husband likes to say that I rent books from the library as opposed to borrowing them.  A bit of an exaggeration in my opinion...but  in all fairness I have had to replace lost books, and ask for grace to find that missing CD from the 12 CD kit  that we borrowed to help us learn French...you get the idea.

So yesterday, we were at the library which is small enough that the children can be in their section and I can be over in my section browsing and it feels perfectly safe.  And that's what we were doing, happily searching, reading, wandering the aisles etc. when I hear my name announced over the intercom beckoning me to the front desk.  A couple of things went through my head...


Why does the library have an intercom system?


Is my five year old misbehaving and now I am really in trouble!


Maybe he got hurt!!! 


Maybe they just found one of my cards that was missing!


Wow...they actually know my name here.  Such a cute small town feel.


I quickly make way over to the front desk, to be greeted by the librarian that had just paged me.  I was not prepared to hear this....

LIBRARIAN: Yes. I was just checking in the books you returned and I found this sock in this book and I wanted to know if you wanted it back.

ME: Um.  Why, yes.  Thank you.

I should note that he held up said sock and a piece of scrap paper was dangling from the sock.  You know, attached, so that leads me to believe that sock was dirty too. Perfect.

My kids and I had a good laugh about that one.

I 'm just glad it was a sock....

I would really love to win one of these!!!

You can try to win one too!! Click on the picture and it will show you how....

Fall Scavenger Hunt

I have a habit of putting off the "fun"  until all the school work gets done or all the messes get cleaned up.  Well, as you can imagine with those parameters it seems lately that we never get around to the fun!  I was determined to have a little fun with the kids this Monday so we set off on a fall hike at a nature preserve near our home. I printed off a scavenger hunt and the kids divided into teams and off we went. 

 My youngest son has a knack for finding snakes.  It wasn't on the list but it was a thrill for all anyway.

 Have you letterboxed?  We weren't even on the hunt for one, but my older son found this hidden behind some rocks.

 Gotta climb some rocks.

Beautiful!

Mamas Don't Let Yer Babies Grow up to be Cowboys...

...even though they look so dern cute in their chaps! 
Last weekend we drove to the small town that my husband grew up in for their annual Fort Verde Days celebration.  After the parade, we had some delicious BBQ and then headed to the rodeo grounds for the mutton bustin competition.  My husband talked me into this last year and my 6 year old took home the buckle!  Well, of course we had to go and defend the title.  In our many conversations regarding this  rodeo my little one was concerned about not winning, so I did what any good mother does and promised him food. Who can pass up a funnel cake when you are at the fair?  Not me! So he didn't win, but was all smiles after his turn and asked if we could go get his "cuddle cake"!
Here are a few pictures...

 Love those little guys with their hats off during the prayer which was unashamedly and earnestly prayed in the name of Jesus!

 Since that little lump...under the sheep?  Yup, that's my boy.

Here he is after his 1.3 second ride, wiping the dirt off his teeth and getting some encouragement from the rodeo clown who also happens to be the local high school principal.
Ain't that America?

Zoo!

I took the kids to the zoo today with my dad. This guy cracked me up. He waited like this forever. A door opened behind us and a zookeeper walked out and the chimp ran over to see her walking by and started banging on the glass to get her attention. It was clear, then, that he had been waiting for her. Still not sure why, but it was funny!