Summer's Sunset

Some days you're the boss of the whole wide world

Some days you are totally triumphant

Some days are just smooth sailing

Some days you're flying high

And some days you just FEEL like you are!

Some days everyone is smiling

And then before you know what happened, its over!

Done...

Kaput!

Some days it's better to just dive in and admit defeat

Because none of us can control the seasons, and summer can't last forever.  

Wave goodbye to this years sunny fun

Because no matter how hard you hold on

It's time for this summer's sunset

Momma Always Said...

"If your friends jumped off a cliff would you?" Come on, admit it, your mom said it to you too!   The obvious and correct answer was always no.  

Not long ago I turned that one on it's head, when my friend Kerri and I took our kids up to Dinky Creek to meet another friend who was staying there for the week.  The activity of choice was cliff jumping into the icy cold creek!   

This mom actually said,"Your friends and brothers are doing it, why don't you?!" Actually it didn't take much convincing at all, although I did capture a few nervous faces before they made the plunge.  

The younger boys started out small and then got a little braver.

The older boys just went straight to the top.  

Little Drew has no fear!
How refreshing it was to leave the heat of the valley and head to this beautiful place for a bit of daring fun!

Finders Keepers...

For 8 days we watched and waited for someone to come and claim the massive towable sitting on the shore of Bass Lake at the beach where we spent our days.  It was the highly desirable HO Molecule. Sold out at many stores, and with a hefty price tag of up to $500.   It was faded by the sun, but still fully inflated.  There was a tear from one end to the other on the outside cover.  Nothing a burley upholstry machine couldn't handle.

As we loaded and unloaded kids from the boat to the beach Jason and I looked longinly at it.  No one at the beach knew who it belonged to, and those who had arrived before us had seen it sitting there long before we came.  For all intents and purposes it was broken and abandoned.  On our last night at the lake, when we were all sleepy and more than a little silly, someone suggested we go get the molecule from the beach.  We giggled and laughed and hopped into the car.

We laughed even harder but much more quietly as we caught ourselves tip toeing over to where it was.  Jeff, who had not been with us all week,  kept asking, "Are you absolutely sure its abandoned?   Would any reasonable person believe it's abandoned?"  We were all adamant in assuring him that yes, it was without a doubt abandoned, but still wanted to carry out our mission in stealth mode.  We snickered and giggled as we laid across it to let the air out and then quickly shoved it into the back of the Rickard's car.

We arrived back into camp and proudly showed off our aquisition.  Just as the last of the pictures were being taken, two headlights started heading into camp.  Without a second thought, Jason and I grabbed the Molecule and scrambled into the bushes like a couple of kids caught with our hands in the cookie jar.

Yes, absolutley it was abandoned.  Tara and Jeff laughed at us as my cousin Rebecca and her husband Pete stepped out of their car after a long day at Yosemite.  Jay and I just looked at eachother and shrugged.  Still resolved that any reasonable person would believe that it was abandoned, but now feeling a bit foolish for hiding in the bushes.  Especially when we realized that the tube had slipped out of the cover,  as we had headed for the hills.

$65 and 3 days later, we had ourselves the most fun towable around.  The adventure of the aquisition was half of the fun, but what do you think? Should we have left it there on the shore, and if so would it still be there?  My concience is clear.  Finders keepers, loosers weepers!

Happy Aquisitions

I feel like a grown up.  Not for the first time mind you, however this is one of the few times I have actually liked it!   We bought a boat.  We have been talking about it for a while.  In fact we had planned on  buying one in the spring, but after a few changes in the court calendar it looked like we would have to wait until next summer.  But a few weeks ago we decided to rethink things.   We decided that it would be better to get something smaller and not quite as nice as we had wanted,  rather than wait.  Patience, as we all know, is not one of my strong points.

I found a clean little boat that is in excellent shape for way less money than we thought we would need to spend.  Jeff happily indulged me and bought it.  He has been consumed by finding just the right tower and racks for the boards,  and the speakers he ordered for my music came this week.  I've lost track now, but I know that I spent 9 of the first 14 days we owned the boat out on the lake.

The result has been a permanent grin on my face, and my children telling me I am too tan. I have mastered hooking up the boat, backing up with the trailer, unloading it into the lake and loading it back up again...all by myself!  In fact last week I took my friend Brandi and four kids out to the lake for a few hours.  After loading everything back up to go home she grinned at me and proudly stated, "Jen, you da man!!"  I took it as a compliment...

Jeff has come out with us as often as he can,  but his day job doesn't include entertaining a bunch of young boys and mine does.   Needless to say this is MY toy, and I spend as much time out in it as I can.  Usually behind the drivers seat, but I have snuck in a handful of rides on the wakeboard!

Already we have created so many memories. 

 Countless hours of family fun are awaiting us and we can't wait to take advantage of it!

Heavy Hearts

Looks can be deceiving.  You might look at these pictures and see scenes that look just like most of our summer nights this year.

A bunch of friends BBQing for the 3rd,4th, or even 5th night in a row and cooling down in the Rickard's pool.  You might see all the smiles and imagine all the laughter that was definitely there.  

You'd see what is obviously several families, but probably not know that we have become just like one big family.  

 You'll notice packs of boys all the same ages who wrestle around like brothers. 

Groupings of little girls who giggle and play and squabble just like sisters.  

 If you look very closely though  you'll see behind the smiles are more than a few red rimed eyes. 

You won't be able to see the heavy hearts, or the ones that are slightly cracked or in the process of breaking, but it's true, they were.  This wasn't just like every other summer night, as much as we tried to make it be.  

This was the last night our big family had together before saying "see ya later" to the Poulsens.  Goodbyes are too hard and too sad.  South Dakota is a bit far for a weekend at the beach, a birthday lunch, or a morning run,  a round of golf, mat time at Bad Donkey Wrestling or a session at the batting cages, a kid swap for sleepovers on Friday nights, or dinner and a movie just to get out of the house with the grown ups.  Two years isn't forever but to young best friends it sure can feel like it.  

For old ones, we just know that a lot can change in two short years, and all we can do is hope that the plan doesn't change course. 

 Lucky for us South Dakota isn't too far for regular phone calls, silly texts, sending yummy treats, or planning fun vacations.  We also know that when seeds of love are planted in our hearts it doesn't take proximity for them to grow or flourish!