- We finished our first week of school-just 176 more days. Ha! Not that many because I really don't think that I could make it. Actually, school has gone fairly smoothly this week. I don't expect that every day, but I'm thankful that this week has been easy.
- I'm also a little bit tired this week because I have been getting up at 7 each morning so I can do all of my things before we do have to start school. I know for most people that is not early at all, but when you are still staying up until 1 each night, seven is early.
- Graham went to lunch with a friend this afternoon. Then he met the others at the Sander's house for an end of the year party for the youth group. Whitman enjoyed the pool and was team captain for the kickball game. Not many of Campbell's friends were there, so she would have enjoyed it more if her other folks were there. Keaton had a blast with her friends.
- And the big boys must not have gotten enough friend time being at the party from 2-6 because as soon as they came home and changed clothes, they left again to go and play volleyball. Summer is quickly coming to an end for all these extra outings since kids will start going back to college and starting school each morning, but until they do, the big boys are soaking up the fun.
- Reagan has also been gone most of the day. She went to a meeting at church during lunch. Then she came home for a bit and started thinking about dorm room shopping. She has a long list of things that she wants, and she has to start shopping because she doesn't have much time at all before she goes back. This evening she left for pickleball.
- Robby and I ran some errands this afternoon. Then when we came home, I pulled out school for next week, read, and even crocheted-and then I decided that I possibly need another hobby. The house was fairly quiet and I'd done all that I could think of (except clean the potties-I don't want to be an overachiever).
- I did help Whitman make some peanut butter cookies tonight, and there was a lot of time watching Annie and Bentley-two dogs is like having two toddlers, and I've done that before and don't want to do it again.
August 7, 2025
August 6, 2025
- The last few nights I have been trying to start the dishwasher at 9 so I can unload it when it is bedtime. I did that successfully last night, but sine the college girl was out until after midnight, I also did the laundry. When I woke up this morning, I didn't have those two dreaded chores to do his morning which started my day of incredibly well.
- I took my walk by myself because Bentley was still sleeping. I was able to do a few more things in the house before it was time to wake up the kids for school. I did forget to wake Graham up, but since he doesn't really have much school while he is waiting for his college classes to start.
- Whitman did get a little bit soar at me today because I wouldn't let him take a break during school. He did jump on the trampoline for 5 minutes-that was indeed part of his list today. We were trying to get to Nonna and Pops' house for lunch so he needed to work and not play.
- We at lunch with Nonna and Pops. She cooked quesadillas for everyone. They were all enjoyed lunch, and after a bit of visiting we headed home. I was able to do spelling with Whitman before taking Campbell to her friend's house for the evening.
- Whitman then had 3 things left to do for school plus chores-he finished these around 7. He said that he would set his alarm to do one every hour, and that is exactly what he did.
- On my way home from dropping Campbell off at her party, I picked up Annie and brought her home. While her family is gone, she came over to play with Bentley. They were not still until at least 7 or 8 tonight, so I know that they will both sleep very well this evening.
- It was kind of weird night tonight since the big boys didn't leave to play volleyball, and Reagan didn't leave to play pickleball. I made supper for the crew-just leftovers. I was going to cook tonight but felt that I should use up the leftovers.
- The evening was kind of quiet-I had a quick power nap before I went to pick up Campbell. Now, I'm on the couch and about to find some hot chocolate for myself!
August 5, 2025
- The second day of school went very well again. Actually, it was a bit surprising because everyone did finish fairly early. Whitman was still working early this afternoon, but he took a few breaks so I felt good about that. I had been worried that everyone had a bit too much work, but everything went smoothly.
- I tried to make bread again during school; however, it turned out like most of my bread does. I'm not giving up on this potato flake sourdough starter just yet. I have at least a few more attempts before I start feeling truly defeated.
- When school was over this afternoon, Keaton and Campbell both worked on their banners. I guess Whitman saw the girls painting and decided that he wanted to as well, so he pulled out the water colors.
- Reagan was gone most of the day-actually, she is still gone. She went to a friend's house, possibly another friend's house and at least 2 pickleball courts. Anderson left this afternoon for a little bit of pickleball and ended up at the same courts at Reagan.
- Anderson hurried home so he could shower before leaving again for the last Summer at the Station-everyone went. After their Bible study, they had a slip n slide which I think that everyone enjoyed. Whitman even enjoyed it so it must have been fun.
- When they all came home, everyone was quick to shower. Now Keaton and I are eating MandMs, and I can hear Bentley in the kitchen eating her meal as well.
August 4, 2025-First Day of School
- Since this was the first day of school, and since I really want to get my walk in each morning, I was out of bed at 7. It didn't take me long, and I was soon on my walk. Bentley was still asleep so she missed the walk, but around 8 she was sent downstairs so I was able to take her potty and brush her before school started.
- Even though it was the first day of school, we are a little bit in limbo because Reagan and Anderson are still here. They will be here for another two and a half weeks-Reagan better start buying things because she has a pretty big list.
- School went fairly well-Graham's 2 college classes haven't started yet and won't until around the 20th so he doesn't have much. Everyone else though has quite a bit of school-Whitman has 2 more things that I'm going to add, Campbell has 4 more things that I will add, and Keaton will get one more.
- However, today they just did half of their school work (the most important things), and it took a sweet minute. This probably wasn't the best day to start school because the kids had a lunch at Tacos for Life at noon so they had to leave early.
- Plus who schedules a mammogram on the first day of school-what was I thinking? It was at 1:30, and the kids were all gone already so it worked out fine. When I did come home, I just had to help Whitman finish since he had been taking a break while I was gone.
- This afternoon was fairly quiet-Robby took Campbell to a party-they swam, ate, and played pickleball. Anderson went to a get together as well. I actually drove past where he was and saw all of the cars parked in the driveway. I first wondered if it was a church, and then I decided that someone was having a party. Then I quickly realized that it was the house that Anderson was at.
- I ran to Pops' house for a bit this evening before going to pick up Campbell. Robby made quesadillas for everyone that were here, and they were delicious-I had a few when I came home. I also made another batch of bread dough this evening. I'm crossing my fingers that this bread experiment will be ever better than the last time.
- The dishwasher is running, Anderson is the only one not here, and Robby is watching the news so I'm going to read and look at a cookbook I picked up from the library tonight.
August 3, 2025-Edgewood with Reagan
Our alarms went off pretty early this morning. Well, it was hard to tell if it was early or not because usually the camper is dark, very dark. However, Whitman does not like it so dark so the clock and bug thing were both on and not turned off-this made the camper incredibly bright. He loved it probably because he is used to sleeping with the window blinds open and the street lamp shining in the window plus all of the lights from Anderson and Graham's xboxes.
I had a few things for breakfast, but I wasn't surprised when the campers decided that they were leaving/going out to eat this morning. Reagan ended up at Cracker Barrel. When Robby and I walked out of the camper, we went to work putting everything away. The kayaks were still pretty wet so they couldn't be put away yet, but soon our campsite was clean, and we headed to Reagan's site.
Robby went to work on the tent while I put away two tables, tent weights, lights, and more lights. Reagan gathered chairs and put them by the van, and then had people collapse the tent. I was able to gather help to get the tent in the bag and to the van, and about by this time Robby was finished with the tent.
Kennedy came to the camper to get her Bible which was surprisingly looking pretty good after our repair job. It was still a bit damp, but after it dries some more and is smashed some, I think that it will not be noticeable. Soon after they left, we were on the road as well. Robby had me two shops on the way home, and he had to stop to empty the tanks and to get gas once he was back in Benton.
I made it home before he did, so I started emptying things from the van. I didn't get far before he arrived. I kind of have a system on camper unloading days. I get a load from the camper and deal with it in the house, but before I go back outside for another load I try to do something inside-like empty the dishwasher, open the blinds, whatever. This way, when I'm done with the camper, the house is straight as well.
Today though when we were finished with the camper, we had to move on to the white van which was filled with Reagan's camping things. The tent and canoes had to be laid out to dry, but by this afternoon Robby had already put them away. The laundry wasn't too bad today, and I pulled the last bit out just as Robby had finished cleaning the camper (one of us was more productive this afternoon than the other since one of us had a wonderful short little nap.)
I made barbecue sandwiches for the boys and potatoes for the girls. After they ate, Anderson and Graham went to play volleyball while Reagan went to play pickleball. Campbell spent some time on the hammock that she hung outside while Keaton was just on the phone with a friend. Whitman has made a family bingo card and was delighted to see my blogging which means he can mark off a square.
Tomorrow is the first day of school, so I have tried to get everything ready and have even done the dishes early in the evening...maybe that will help things go smoothly tomorrow.
August 2, 2025-Edgewood with Reagan
This morning our alarms went off at 7:30, and I quickly saw on my phone that it was about to rain. And rain it did-for about an hour. Reagan had put most things under the tent, but even with the rain fly on her tent it still leaked. Again, the tent is around 20 years old so the water repellent is probably gone on the rain fly.
We had planned on having breakfast ready at 8:30, but we didn't really get out of bed until after the rain. Breakfast ended up happening around 9:30 or 10 when the rain finally stopped. We had bacon, sausage, egg in the hole, and pancakes.
Once breakfast was cleaned up, Robby and I went to work on our next task. Kennedy's Bible had been in her bag, and during the rain it got wet. I did a little bit of googling, and we tried our best-we put a piece of a paper towel in between each and every page. Robby even tried to read a little from each page-not really, though he did read a few verses, and we worked through the entire Bible using a few rolls of paper towels. The Bible spend the rest of the day sitting on the dash board of the camper soaking in the sun.
Whitman and Robby went for a little kayak ride one direction, and when they came back, I went the other direction with Whitman. Our inflatable kayaks are not as study as the ones that we used on the Dennie family trip, but they still worked well, and they received a lot of use today from Reagan and her friends.
As soon as Whitman got out of his kayak, he was ready for a shower. He had no interest in getting in the water at all. That was fine with Robby and me. We came back to the camper. Robby went to get ice and more hamburger buns for this evening. While he was gone, I finished one book, chatted with Whitman, and crocheted some.
Supper tonight was super easy-this morning we put potatoes in Shannon's roasting pan. We thought that they would take all day; however, in two hours I was already thinking that the small ones were done. It took about 3 hours, and all of the potatoes were done-two bags full. None of them were huge, and some were tiny so maybe that is why they finished so quickly. That was fine because we just put that baby on warm, and they were ready at supper.
We also had bbq that we put in the crock pot, so the only thing I had to do before supper was cook the beans while Robby sliced a watermelon. We had things for s'mores, but since we didn't think that the kids were going to make a fire, we just pulled out cookies and rice krispy treats that were left over from lunch along with last night's ice cream.
The weather was again absolutely perfect today. I might could have even used a jacket this evening, but we were working pretty good so I didn't need one. The kids stayed a talked a while after supper. When they did leave, Robby and I did go to town. There was a lot of food to put up, plus all the tables, chairs, and lights. We also drove to Reagan's campsite to retrieve the kayaks to try to dry them out. Robby thought we had 2 hours worth of work in front of us, but we were able to finish in just an hour.
We finished at 11, so when we were done we played Coup with Whitman. That little stinker beat us every single time that we played. We tried to beat him and couldn't. Now, I'm about to take my shower and climb in the bed.
August 1, 2025-Edgewood with Reagan
We slept in a bit this morning, but we knew that we couldn't lollygag around because there was lots to be done. We didn't set up anything last night because it was a little bit wet from the rain, so we set up camp here this morning.
We have been camping with just Robby and me lately so we don't usually set anything up-maybe a chair. Today was the whole set up though-tent, lights, chairs, griddle, tables, all the things. But when we finished here, we were not done.
We went to Reagan's campsites and started to work. We set up her tent-we figure the tent is about 20ish years old so when we couldn't get it to set up without being a bit crooked we weren't too worried. Then we set up the tent and lights over their picnic table, along with chairs and even blowing the kayaks up for them.
It felt a little bit like we were in the glamping rental business. Even though the weather was fairly pleasant, it was still a little warm if you were working, and we were working. It took us until 1 to finish all of the set up-we will never get home on Sunday because we will take things down forever.
Robby and I ran into town to buy some ice for the waters, and then we walked around a bit with Whitman. He and I walked through some spiderwebs on our walk, and he said that nature was fine except for the bugs. I kind of agree-speaking of bugs, we found a few lingering ants in this camper from Degray. We have come prepared through-Robby has more ant killing items in this camper than a pest control man would have on his truck. We are ready; bring on the bugs!
Reagan and her people started arriving around 3. Robby got his blower from her and blew off their sites, our site, and he even blew off the bathroom sidewalk-just so it would look better because we aren't using that bathroom.
We had supper for Reagan and her 9 camping friends-quesadillas, chips and salsa, and re fried beans. Then around 9, they came back for cookies and ice cream sundaes. I think that they all enjoyed the food for sure-they were at least thankful.
After cleaning up this evening, we took Bentley on a walk, and then tried to prepare for tomorrow's breakfast because the tent sleeping people will probably wake up pretty early!
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