While the family is away, mom will...

This has been an interesting week.  I just came off a 6 day work trip and my family left the following morning.  The girls went up to Grandma and Papa's house for their annual 'what happens at grandma's week...'.  Kevin decided to head to Montana with Terrell.  You guessed it, I was left home by myself for an entire week. 

 

To start off the adventure, I should mention that while I was on my trip the girls' shower door shattered.  My whole family claims that they were not in the bathroom.  They all just heard a crazy shattering noise and arrived to see this.  Thankfully, no one was actually in the bathroom.  The bathtub and floor were full of glass.  Instead of sensibly waiting until Kevin was back home, I decided to replace the shower door myself.

 

 

 

What do you think?  I did good, eh?  I will admit, I called the neighbor over to help me carry the box up the stairs.  After all, it had two shower doors in it.  Once unpacked, I could totally manage one at a time.  My neighbor was astonished when I sent him the picture,  He said, "I could have helped you."  My reply, "Oh, but then I could not say that I had done it all by myself."  Cue the Mia Hamm versus Michael Jordan commercial.  Oh, and yes, I did wear my safety glasses and leather gloves...just in case.

 

The girls had been hinting that they were ready for an updated 'older' bathroom.  So, I decided to redecorate while I was at it.  It turned out pretty cute.

 

Once I got that out of the way, I was free to take endless long walks with Bailey and binge watch Netflix.  I am sure there are more productive things to do, but I was pretty satisfied with this approach!

 

While I was goofing off at home, the girls wasted no time maximizing their time with grandparents.  They both decided to get their noses pierced.  Sidney actually thought I would believe these were real.  Seriously?  If I am not allowed, how could she possibly think she is allowed:)

Kevin also decided to be a bit crazy.  He is in the top right corner of this picture.  For most healthy people, this would not be a big deal.  For Kevin, this was a VERY big deal.  When he told me he had done this, I just about freaked.  He admitted that he had even scared himself.  He is not very sure of foot and the trek to the top nearly caused a coronary.  I guess you could say he is "living life to the fullest".  I say, he is certifiably crazy!

I look at this picture and think of the scene in Grown Ups when all of the guys pee in the pool.  I could not find that one specifically, so this one will have to do.

I just want to know...how many full grown men can actually fit in this boat?

All kidding aside, I think it was a really great week for each of us in our own special way.  There are times when a few moments apart can actually bring you closer together.

The Forest Tour.

There are a lot of new people on my work team.  Additionally, some of the other managers have hired some new people.  We decided it was a great time to take everyone on a tour of various manufacturing facilities.  Seeing things first hand is the best way to learn.  One of the items that we included was a forest tour.  I had never been on one of these and had no idea what to expect. 

 

The forest tour was absolutely incredible.  I learned so much.  We learned about tree stand growth and healthy foresting.  We saw an entire mountain side with sections at various stages of growth.  We also learned quite a bit about logging.  I must admit that I grew up around the logging industry and had no idea how involved it is.  I even worked in a saw mill right after high school.   

 

The old growth forest portion of the tour was amazing.  The forester discussed the characteristics that define an old growth area.  I can say for certain that I will never walk through the woods the same again.  I have a greater appreciation for every little thing (even the varmints).  I took this picture and sent it to my friend.  I thought it looked like I was entering a hobbit hole.  She was quick to point out that I had captured big foot on camera (top center of the picture).

We took a moment for a team picture.  I was sporting my Cal Poly pride!

After 3 days traveling up the state of Oregon, we had an event in downtown Seattle.  It was a great event.  However, my favorite part was the hotel fitness room.  It was located on the 35th floor.  Holy smokes, it was a long ways up.  I had to take TWO elevators to get there.  This picture does not even do it justice.

Jr. High Camp - What, Wait!

Oh my, I keep asking myself where has the time gone?  Kendall headed to Junior High camp this year.  What?  Junior High.  I keep lamenting that I wish time would slow down.  I love that the girls are growing up and spreading their wings.  However, I hate that they are 'growing up and spreading their wings'.  I want them to always be my babies. 

 

Kendall found this awesome get up at an estate sale the day before heading off to camp.  The man at the sale thought she looked so perfect in it, he gave it to her.  She greeted the Nelson kids in this get up when they came to pick her up.

 

Kendall was very excited to go, but very emotional about leaving for the week.  She gave Sidney a number of bear hugs and even shed a couple tears.

 

Once she got that out of her system, she was ready to go.  The three amigos set out for camp.

David dropped them off at the bus.  He always sends me a picture of them as they are getting ready to board. 

We did not hear from Kendall for the entire week.  Junior High camp is a full six days.  It is a bit longer than the kids camp.  Sidney immediately started partying.  She was determined to maximize her week as an only child.

Kevin and I took her to Ling and Louie's to eat.  It was the first time there for all of us.  Sidney even ate her entire meal with chopsticks.  We all agreed this is a definite do over.  We really enjoyed it.

She and I had our own spa day.  We did clay masks for part of it.  We could not help but make crazy alien faces. 

She talked me into this poop emoji cookie cutter.  Ridiculous and Hilarious!

Kendall came back from camp happy and tired.  She made a lot of new friends and got reacquainted with some old ones.

The Summer of No Plans.

Last summer, the girls were enrolled in a number of summer camps.  Although they had fun, they asked Kevin and I for a summer of sleeping in and no commitments this year.  We obliged, however, their summer of no plans has been very action packed.  Here are a few highlights so far.

 

A 6am fishing trip with Jeremy and Daddy.  What happened to sleeping in?

Bowling with friends.

Picking roses from our bushes!

Dancing in the living room.

Jump roping in the rain.

 

Kevin and I have been having our share of fun as well.  Kevin has been doing some golfing with me.  He says his game is better than ever now that he is not trying too hard.

Staycation and Our Christmas in July.

I took July 2nd and 3rd off and decided to do a staycation with the girls.  On Monday, we went to Roaring Springs.  It was the perfect year.  Sidney and Kendall were both very adventurous and did all of the rides (except the tube drops).  I do not blame them for not doing those.  In fact, I have done them and found them non-thrilling with lots of water up the nose,  Sidney was a crazy daredevil.  She could not get enough of the Avalanche ride.

 

 

The girls are crazy about dippin' dots, which I find particularly disgusting.  Since it was a 'staycation', I splurges and got them each a bowl.

After 8.5 hours of water thrill on Monday, we headed to Wahooz on Tuesday.  Both of the girls kicked off the day with the ropes course.  Kendall even made it around the top level.  I went on both the Frog Hopper and the Twister rides with them.  The twister ride made me nauseated.  The Frog Hopper, on the other hand, caused me to laugh hysterically and uncontrollable.

Kevin came and joined us for lunch, a round of mini golf and video games.   

Kevin and I love video games.  We have had many date nights racing each other at the local arcades.  You can see from his face that we take this very seriously.  Well at least he does, I am usually recovering from some kind of virtual crash.

 

Kendall was finally tall enough to drive the go-karts this year.  By the third round, she was a force to be reckoned with.  After riding with her daredevil sister, Sidney wanted nothing to do with me.  Kevin caught this picture of the girls about ready to lap me.  I had no clue what was about to happen, but I can assure you that I had a particularly slow car this round.

Toward the end of the day, Sidney wanted to give driving a try.  She went over to the smaller track for kids over 4' tall, but under 5' tall.  She was not too sure at first.  However, once she got going she was not going to stop.

The girls capped off the day with bumper boat rides.

It was a glorious 9.5 hour day.  I must say, it was a great couple of days.  It really did feel like a vacation escape!

Beautiful Montana and Childhood Memories.

In June, I went to Montana for a work conference.  Kevin and the girls decided to tag along.  We drove up along the Lochsa river.  It is such a beautiful drive.  The girls were dying to throw a fishing line in.  Kevin was showing them each how to  cast.  I think we only snagged one tree in the process.  Not too bad.

 

 I had a conference in Columbia Falls.  While I was at the conference, Kevin took the girls around the area and showed him some places from his childhood. 

 

 Glacier Bible Camp is where Kevin used to go as a kid.  His grandparents used to go to a senior camp there every year as well.  Kevin would tag along and hang out with his grandpa.

 

He also took them to the Hungry Horse Dam (not pictured).

 

There is a Mystery House in the area.  I went to one of these with my cousin Ron in Santa Cruz.  They are a lot of fun.  They use optical illusions to 'defy gravity'.  The girls struck up a conversation with the couple that runs the attraction.

 

They had a lot of fun trying everything out.

Sidney could not believe how this broom could stand on its' own.

Kendall packed for the trip with all of her Cal Poly gear, apparently so did her Dad.  The girls and Kevin ran around dressing up every grizzly bear they could find in Cal Poly gear!

I am pretty certain we had ice cream every day of the trip!

We decided to stay over for the weekend.  We drove over to Seely and met Roy and Sherry at their cabin.  Kevin and Roy got in as much fishing as they possibly could.  Or should I say - they attempted to catch fish:)  However, Roy did manage to catch himself a turtle.

While the boys were fishing, Sherry, the girls and I spent some time in Seely.  One of the shop owners told us about 'Gus' the largest Western Larch in the United States.  Gus was huge.  Gus had many burn marks and battle wounds.  The four of us could not even join hand around the tree. 

 

It was an amazing week of work and play!