Fundraising

Aaron found a package of lures at Cabella's that he really wanted to buy. Unfortuately, the $29 price tag was way beyond his budget of $10. I told him I wouldn't buy the lures, but if he wanted to he could earn the money himself. I gave him several options of how he might earn money, and he chose the family-sponsored read-a-thon. Looking back on it now, I would change things a bit, but I think it turned out ok this way too. I gave him the idea of asking family members for pledges for each book he reads. I was hoping to get him jump started in prepping for first grade, getting good reading practice in. It's hard to get him to read to us even though he is pretty good at it so I hoped a project like that would help him be motivated. Well, he decided to do it and, on the way home from Cabela's starting making phone calls to family members to get pledges. It was so cool to see the progression of how he talked to people on the phone. The first few calls were really jumpy, with no clear thesis statement or polite request. You know, something like, "Hi. So, how much money will you give me for reading a book?" Okay that's an exaggeration but not too far off. Anyway, by the time he had made several calls and been coached a little by me as he was talking to people, he got quite good at it. After saying hello and participating in some minor chitchat, his pitch went something like this: "I went to the fishing and hunting store with my mom today. She gave me a budget of $5 and grandpa gave me $5 too but I found a really cool package of lures that I really wanted that costs $29. So my mom gave me the idea of asking people to help me earn the money by reading books. So I'm calling to ask you how much you want to give me for each book I read." I kept trying to get him to include an "if you would like to donate" or something along those lines but he usually forgot it and added it at the end at my bidding. It's hard to internalize the idea that it is polite to include the option of not donating even if you are pretty sure they won't take that option. It's farily difficult to refuse your grandson/nephew a few bucks for reading books over the summer. Most people would pay that just to hear his spiel over the phone. It was very endearing.

Anyway, it turns out he has a lot of generous suckers for relatives. After making all the calls he could stand to make, he ended up with something like $6/book, which is WAY too much in my opinion. If I were to do it over, I would say that he needs to give a percentage of it to a child literacy charity or something along those lines. I just hope we're not breeding too much greed in the kid. It's interesting though because he has read seven books and says he is done. He started calling people today to ask them to send the money but hasn't finished calling everyone. Mom and I keep trying to get him to understand how easy it would be to read more books and make more money, but he says he is done and is content with what he has right now. It reminds me of his first Easter egg hunt-- he picked up about six pieces of candy then sat down to eat them. I kept showing him that there was lots more candy around him that he could get but he wasn't interested. Just content with what he had.

Here he is reporting over the phone that he read seven books, asking Aunt Zeta to send him the money. That tupperware with money in it is his temporary piggy bank. The toothpicks were manipulatives I was using to try to explain the math involved.

Here is his reading list. On the back is the list of donors (15 people long), with each person's pledge amount.

Aaron's idea to raise money was to do a lemonade stand. So while in SLC the other day, we set up a stand in Liberty Park. It took quite a few hours from start to finish, between buying the drinks and ice, finding a good spot, debating the legality of a lemonade stand in a public park, etc. We sold $4.50 worth of drinks, which barely covers the cost of the supplies. Luckilly for Aaron (which I tried to explain to him but I'm sure he didn't quite get), the supplies were provided by generous donors (thank you mom and Aunt Kelcie) so he got to keep all of the $4.50.


Aaron put the sign on himself and walked around the park trying to get people to come over to our stand. We had surprisingly few takers. Even though we didn't make much, the experience was worth it.

Lagoon

It's always fun to revisit things with the kids that I remember from when I was little. The last time I went to Lagoon (as a teenager) it was a little disappointing. Just not as fun as I had remembered from when I was younger. Visiting it this time with the kids, though, was really fun.

We started off the day with the bumper cars. Both kids had fun, although it was a little hard to get moving.

Elliot was a little nervous when this ride starting going off the ground. He looked nervous like this for a bit, then cried a bit, and then when the ride was over he said, "I wanna go again! But this time, stay on the ground." I told him this ride went up and down but we could try another. He was satisfied and, thankfully, not too scarred for future rides.

Libbie enjoyed the park snuggled up like this. It was so hot, though, that none of her naps lasted long.

Still skeptical but willing to take the plunge, Elliot sat next to Aaron for the Bulgy the Whale ride. They held hands like this the whole time, with Elliot hanging on for dear life and Aaron allowing it. At the end, Elliot let go and said, "Again!" That was the beginning of a relationship that lasted all day and into the next morning when he woke up and said, "Can I ride the whale again?"

Incidentally, my parents have pictures of my older sisters and cousins on this ride. Pretty crazy.

The boys again. Elliot looking much happier, and Aaron indulgent.

This was Elliot's other favorite ride (on which Aaron rode only once). It's a car that goes around on a track with several other cars. Stays on the ground.


Elliot happy on another ride. Aaron tired of the kid rids pretty fast so we waited for a good time to go on a big ride with the two of us. He was too short for most of the des but we finally found a big water ride that he was tall enough for and had a blast. Right before we got on he got little nervous but when we got to the bottom he yelled, "Let's go again! And again! And again!" Unfortunately, it was late and cold so I had to decline. It was hard to resist this excitement though:


Not the best picture (flash was needed) but the message is still clear.

Camping

Well, We went on a two-night camping trip last week. As usual, there was a lot of preparation and partying, and not a whole lot of roughing it.

We adults thought we'd use leftovers from the BBQ for the first night and supplement them with hot dogs, but Aaron thought a camping trip needed tin foil dinners. It didn't take much for all of us to agree. Here are Aaron and Kelcie preparing some tin foils.


This is us roughing it. Libbie is lying comfortable on one of the four air mattresses in the giant tent while Kelcie plays with her iphone and dad lounges. It was pretty sweet.

Ben had a late flight Monday night so he joined us at the campsite for a few hours. He doesn't really play the guitar but I think this is such a cute picture.

Our good friends from NYC the Pinegars came up and joined us for tinfoil dinners. They moved out of NYC and we haven't seen them for awhile, so it was great to see them. When we first starting hanging out in NYC, we had three kids between us. I remember people looking at us strange. Now we have seven!

Me and Maggie with our babies Libbie and Grace, who are six weeks apart.

I left Libbie with grandpa while I went for a walk. She was a little fussy but got calmed by the guitar. So he played with her on his lap for awhile.

And then fell asleep.

The next night we cooked a chicken in the dutch oven. Aaron requested we cook some sort of big meat, so mom found a dutch oven recipe for chicken and rice. We were all worried it wouldn't turn out since we don't have much dutch oven experience, but we were all pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out. The chicken was tender, the rice perfectly cooked-- yum yum.

The boys with Aunt Bonis. (Her vacation in Utah happened to coincide with ours for a few days. She was our resident fire master. We had a great time. It was fun to hang out together outside of the city.)


Listening to stories before bedtime. (They both were really attached to their flashlights. Elliot snuggled his to sleep.) Lately I've been making up stories about "two boys and their grandpa." Elliot usually requests that they fight dragons. Aaron, predictably, wants them to have fishing adventures. One time Aaron made up a story (while avoiding bedtime) about ten boys and their eight grandpas, each of which wanted to catch one kind of fish but actually caught another fish, naming each fish one by one. Something along the lines of, "And one grandpa wanted to catch a walleye but actually caught a perch. Another grandpa wanted to catch a large mouth bass but actually caught a yellowfin tuna..." and on and on. He loves lists, especially when they involve fish.

The funniest part of the camping trip, and probably the whole trip so far, was when Aaron had a tantrum because I told him he had to go to the toilet to go poo instead of digging a hole for himself in the woods. He exploded and, at one point exclaimed, "But I haven't pooed in a hole yet, and if I don't, my summer won't be complete!"

Sunday BBQ with Ben

Well, we're in Utah now. Ben was here for a weekend so we had a little BBQ with family and some friends so he could say hello before rushing home to get writing. (The kids and I will stay here for a couple weeks while he writes intensely at home.)

Eating out on my parents' porch


Who knew I had so many freckles?

Elliot enjoying an ice cream cone with friend Owen.


The friend boys helped my boys construct this cool car out of "Omagles." Well, at least, when we were kids we had toys like this that were called Omagles. Now we don't know what these are called, but since they are just like our Omagles, that's what we call them. Aaron had been trying all day to make himself a car with no success (and didn't want help from us) but these boys helped him make one no problem. They had several runs back and forth across the lawn.


Patrick pushing Aaron


Ben and Libbie with Ben's grandma Carolyn Person. She was the main reason for Ben's dropping by in SLC for the weekend, since we don't get to see her much. When Ben and I met at BYU eleven years ago, we started hanging out with her and haven't really stopped since. She's great.

A few more Tahoe pictures

We are still reminiscing about our great week at Tahoe. Here are a few last pictures from the week:









Grandpa John and laughing Libbie














My sister Krista came and met us for a day. We had a great time playing around.



The kids all played so well together. Here are Ricky, Rex, Beau, Eden, and Aaron playing at sunset. Such good times.





I love the following image of John and Ruanne sitting on the porch watching the sunset. Almost every night that we have been at Tahoe these last five years, I have seen this similar scene.

Tahoe Week

I have over 1,000 pictures from our week at Lake Tahoe, which is a little overwhelming to look through and blog from, but I'm going to try to do a few chunks at a time. Here, in a few pictures, is a summary of our week.



Playing in the sand




















Hanging out in the jacuzzi

Passing Libbie around

(She loved playing with Grandma M's glasses.)





Watching the sunset and taking group pictures, reminiscing about the past.

(We've had five wonderful years at Lake Tahoe, two of them at this amazing house.)








And, of course, fishing.

No success in catching any fish, but Rex did catch a huge chunk of seaweed.

Beach Camping

We are at the beach at Lake Tahoe right now. I have current pictures I will post soon, but meanwhile here is a picture from our beach camping adventure last week. We went up to CT and went camping with my sister and her family. Turns out there was a beach at the campsite. Pretty awesome. 

Stripes!

Guitar Hero

Enjoyed by all, in our various ways...

Elliot letting loose

Kerrylin and Libbie jamming out

The shy, lone rocker

Aaron playing "Beat It" (by request) in beginner mode


All taken in Kerrylin and Matt's home.

Farewell to the Cabin

Finishing off our cabin stay in Morrow Mountain...

We were told pillows were included... and much dismayed by the quality of the pillows. Aaron rightfull named them "steel pillows." I think he is the only one who actually used one for his head.

Walking through a trail in our backyard.
Aaron decided to wear my shirt, for some reason.

Elliot

Matt caught a catfish that was so big it broke his line. Aaron, of course, was crushed. After a few minutes, I spotted a floating catfish in the water just below us. "There's your catfish!" We all assumed it would be too much of a coincidence for another catfish to be floating around right where he had just hooked one that got away. So, we watched it float closer and closer to the shore until Ben waded in and picked it up (as pictured above). Aaron was so excited. After a couple of minutes, however, it was very clear that this catfish had been dead much longer than a few minutes. In fact, when Ben picked it up it just didn't quite have that fresh-caught feel to it (as you can see in the picture). We thought we'd have a hard time convincing Aaron that we couldn't take it home and cook it up but he actually took it pretty well. The evidence was pretty substantial, considering that it was already stinking up the place. Regardless, Ben had a moment of fishing-hero-ness. And, in classic Kerrylin style, laughing about it and retelling it afterwards was of course the best part.


Goodbye wonderful cabin. We will miss your screened-in porch, your tiny grill, your spacious kitchen... but not your steel pillows.