What we did instead of watching fireworks on the 4th of July

 

This year we didn't see a single fireworks display. Not even a neighborhood one (although we spent a week cleaning up the hundreds of pieces of fireworks debris on our front and back lawns left by our neighbor's big fireworks show. Just about all types of fireworks are legal here, and people do it up big.).

Instead, we loaded up our car the morning of the 4th and took off on a camping/boating trip with some good friends. The drive was 3 hours into central Oregon to Lake Billy Chinook. The lake is large and pretty amazing by boating standards. The surrounding terrain is just so-so if you ask me. I like greenery and trees, and the area around Lake Billy Chinook looks like the arid deserty farmland where I grew up. 

On the drive up we saw this sign. We thought it was funny . . .was there a discount on children for sale at the day care?
 
Bailey was still in Utah, so we were a two-child family. For the most part, they got along well.

We also saw this car, which was from the 1930s. I thought it was pretty cool.
 
We stayed in a campground which was packed with people. So packed that people snoring and coughing at night kept me awake.

It was a fun time with family and friends. First we set up our tent. Joseph was a great help.

 

Joseph had put together an "adventurer's kit" in a black binoculars case with all the essentials he might need on his boating adventure. It was very awesome, and I must say that I love having an 8 year old.

 As soon as our camp was set up we headed out onto the water.

 

 

 Aubrey and Joseph loved riding on the tube. Aubrey is fearless and Joseph is getting that way, too. Dan and I are no longer fearless on the tube, but Dan is much more adventurous in water than me.

 Friends: the four girls slept in a tent together.

 This was a fail . . . for part of our dinner I thought we could roast some corn on the cob. I knew our kids love corn. However, our plan to cook the corn (wrapped in foil) in the coals was only partly successful. As in, part of the corn cooked, part was raw.

 The next morning Dan took off to go waterskiing. He did great!

 

 

However, being repeatedly jerked out of the water while waterskiing caused an injury to Dan's rotator cuff in his left shoulder. He is still trying to figure it out, and is very sad that it has interfered with him attending his favorite Crossfit classes.

Soon we all joined the waterskiiers, and we spent the rest of the day on the boat. Aubrey's in the middle below. She always wanted the tube to go faster, faster, faster!

 
By the afternoon of the second day, I was really quite done with going on the tube. I was perfectly content to ride on the boat and watch everyone else doing their thing in the water. Somehow I got pressured into getting back on the tube one more time. I agreed with a promise that the driver would go slow. The thumbs up sign below is the kids saying they want to go faster. Notice that Dan and I are not giving that symbol.


If you look closely below you will see that the boat was moving faster and I have a thinly disguised look of terror on my face.  The rest of my family? They are so bored they are almost falling asleep.

 It was a fun day.

 

 

 

Now, I am going to document something, without much elaboration.

These are the things I really like about camping:

• Sitting by the fire and talking until late with family and friends.
• Doing something out of the ordinary with my family.
• Looking at the stars at night.
• Time to just be together, with few distractions.
• Reading a book in the morning, with the fire crackling nearby.
• Making s'mores and cooking hot dogs over the fire.
• Working together to do hard things.
• Singing along to music on the long drives to and from the campground.

These are the things I don't love about camping:

• Sleeping on the ground.
• Sharing a bathroom with 200 other people (even though we were very lucky to have a bathroom).
• Cooking over a fire - it's a lot of work.
• Cleaning up after cooking - it's even more work.
• Doing laundry for 4 days after returning from a 2 day camping trip.

These are the things I like about boating:

• Being together with my family.
• Watching the kids have fun.
• Talking to friends.
• Feeling the sunshine.

These are things I don't love about boating:

• Hanging out on the boat all day long, every day of the trip.
• Being pressured to get in the water repeatedly. Because I really was happy to watch others get in the water.
• Driving home for 3 hours -  sticky, smelly, and dirty after 2 days with no shower.

I don't mean to sound negative - we really did have a great time. But I do like my boating and camping to come in small doses. I truly love the outdoors, but I also really enjoy the conveniences of modern life. Hooray for hot showers, indoor bathrooms, ovens, dishwashers, and washing machines!

p.s.  My next camping adventure will be Girls Camp, in two weeks. This year it is even more "rough" camping, with pit toilets and rationed showers (our ward gets one shower on Thursday - we arrive early Monday.)  Yeah - wish me luck.

Self Control . . . .

Who knew I had so much self control? It has now been 9 days since I have eaten any sugar. I didn't know that I could do it!

To keep myself sane I have eaten lots of delicious fruit. I know, I know that technically fructose is a type of sugar, but I'm not trying to be perfect, just BETTER.  Besides, there are lots of redeeming  and healthy attributes to fruit which are not inherent in cookies and candy.

My kids think this challenge of mine is funny and they do their best to tempt me with deliciousness that they know I will have a hard time refusing. Joseph has begged me all week to make cookies, and I finally gave in last night. We made cookies that come together fast - no bake cookies. Still, it was utter torture for me. I tried to get other family members to make the cookies, but they all conveniently disappeared into outer recesses of the house. So, I soldiered on and smelled the cooking cocoa, butter and sugar mixture (heavenly), mixed in the peanut butter and oatmeal (mmmmmmm), and then spooned the cookies out onto aluminum foil to cool. And it was the first time in the history of me that I didn't sit down with a big spoon to lick the pan clean of the scrumptious cookie happiness. As soon as the cookies were scooped, I fled the room with a vanilla Greek yogurt. And this morning I had Joseph hide the bag of cookies somewhere in the pantry. Out of side, out of mind. At least it's worked so far!

Anecdotally, I would have to say that I have more energy than usual. I am not going to try to always avoid sugar and I am planning a cheat treat soon, but I'm going to try to cut back dramatically on refined sugar.

I was going to take a picture of the cookies so I could demonstrate the extent of my ability to resist . . . but that would require me to find them and touch them and smell them. I'm just not that strong. So I found a picture on the web that looks just like our cookies.

 Now, aren't you really impressed??

And now, a post that is 15 months overdue!

In April 2012 my sisters and Mom and I spent 4 days in Las Vegas for the annual Springers Girls Trip. I can't believe I never blogged about it, and I'm not going to go into much detail because we made a separate book specifically for this trip. But, it was so much fun that it deserves a mention in the blog book!

First off, we had reserved a rental car which had saved us a bit of money, but which required a LONG shuttle ride from the airport.

 
Mom and her very essential Diet Dr. Pepper.

  The first night we found an absolutely delicious Greek restaurant. We returned there the last day.  Good food was actually one of the themes of this trip. We found amazing ethnic restaurants - a Yiddish restaurant, sushi, French crepes, German bakery, and Italian food.

 

 

Because we indulged in such amazing food, we decided to go on a walk every morning around the condo. I think Mom told us to pose like we were walking. In reality, we just look really dorky.

 Facebook stalking: pure mindless fun.


Kara was determined to lay out and get tan. Well, Vegas was unusually cold, so we laid out in 60 degree weather.

 Random and fun pictures around Vegas. We did lots of shopping.

 
And found this awesome chocolate fountain near the French creperie in the Bellagio.

 The beautiful lights at night on the Strip.

 One of the days we got full makeovers at Sephora. It was fun! We learned some valuable tips about makeup.
 

 I also learned that I did NOT like the orange lipstick they recommended.

 My beautiful Mom!

 

Speaking of primping, we spent hours every day getting ready for the day. Just because we could. No kid responsibilities, no place we had to be at any particular time. It was great!

 And, the requisite matching clothes pictures.  A sister tradition.

 Can you tell that we laugh a lot on girl trips?

 

 Sometimes we laugh so much at our crazy antics that Kara has to sit on the ground to avoid . . . . an accident.

 That was right after she and Ali performed their exaggerated hip waggle walk. Which they did to make Mom and I laugh when they walked away from us in the Bellagio. But Mom and I didn't notice, so they just entertained everyone watching. Luckily, in Vegas, no behavior is truly considered strange.

 Like this guy - one of many, many Elvis' we saw on the Strip.

 We did our best to match the positions of the mannequins in the Venetian.

And, before you know it, it was over. We were back to real life with our families who we really did miss. But first, Mom had Ali drink the last of the juice from our fridge at the curb of the airport, so we didn't waste any.  We Springers are frugal!

And now I think it's time to start planning the next girls getaway. We are overdue for a trip - the 2013 trip was postponed due to crazy schedules.