"FUN in the SUN!!"

Our family loves to go swimming. We have a couple of friends with swimming pools. We also love to go to one of the public pools. I know what you're thinking....but really they aren't bad. It has a 10 foot high dive. They kids love jumping off of it.

"And miles to go before I sleep..."

A few weeks ago, Carlos went on a 10+ mile hike at night with some of the young men at church. He dreaded going because he hates sleeping in a tent and didn't want to carry the heavy hiking backpack. Of course, any opportunity I have to make him do something he hates just gives me a thrill. After all, he is a teenage boy who picks on his brothers and bothers me to no end. We packed the backpack together. I even gave him a quiz on where everything was located. He passed with flying colors. The pack was heavy....30 pounds. In my defense, I was told he had to pack EVERYTHING he needed including a tent. When the day came, he was excited to go and was looking forward to spending time with friends. They hiked through the night. He even fell asleep a couple of times when they rested. The next day when I picked him up, he looked so tired and hungry (as you can see from the pics). I could understand the fatigue but not the hunger. After all, I packed all kinds of canned foods for him for dinner and breakfast. He told me he had some really bad oatmeal for breakfast and that was it. I asked him why he didn't eat the canned fruit we packed. His response, "I had fruit?? Why didn't you tell me?" I couldn't believe it. I said, "Didn't you see the fruit when you had dinner last night?" He replied, "I didn't eat dinner." To my surprise, the boy didn't realize he had food and water in the backpack. What did he think made the pack so heavy? Let me remind you that I quizzed him on the items in the backpack before he left. I then asked if he was able to put the tent up OK. He said that he didn't use it because they had a big tent at their destination. I was glad to hear this because he probably would have forgotten he had that also. On the way home, I heard nothing but complaints. Apparently, he had the heaviest backpack of everyone. When I got home, I couldn't resist to take out the tent, food, and water and weigh them. They were 14 pounds. So, basically it would have cut his weight in half if I knew he wasn't going to need the tent nor eat or drink anything. This was definitely a learning experience for both of us. We will need it for next year's hike on the Appalachian Trail. OH, YEA.....he's going and complains on a weekly basis about it.

"Chef BOYS R Dee"

Lately, Carlos and Trey have really been adventuring more in the kitchen on their own. One day Carlos created his own "Candy bar". It had nuts and was sprinkled with powder sugar.

Trey likes to bake. He decided to make his dad a Father's Day cake all by himself. I must say....it was pretty good. So now that my husband and my boys cook, I can hang up my apron and leave it to the men!!

"Would you like Devil's Sauce with that?"

Last week after Daniel and I dropped Carlos and Trey off at church for Wednesday night activities, we decided to go eat dinner at Pizza Hut with Damon. Damon loves hot wings and Pizza Hut's HOT wings are really hot. When I told Damon that they were going to be the hottest wings he's ever had, he asked if they had devil's sauce on them. I told him no but they were HOT. He decided to get them anyway. He loved them and keep saying, "I love this devil sauce!" He cracks me up!

"SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!!!"

Trey is so excited to be out of school. He had a great graduation. I can't believe he will be in middle school next year. He is MR. POPULAR at school. The guys think he's cool and the girls think he's hot. Here he is with his "posse" at graduation. I might have to lock him in his room and never let him grow up. Time flies by......

Roses are red, violets are blue....

who would have thought, I could grow something too! I kill everything. I've even killed a cactus. HOW is that possible? When we planted flowers and plants in April I had little hope they would survive. Not only did they live, but they have really grown and are just beautiful. Here are pics from April and June. My favorite are the red/yellow asian lilies.

"Mom, I'm still waiting for the bus!"

I get a distraught phone call around noon from Carlos. "Mom, I'm still waiting for the bus!" You see my son has to go to summer school this year. Due to the times, we could not take him nor pick up him for school. Therefore, he had to ride the bus. My children DON'T ride the bus. Too many things can happen on there! The last time he wrote the bus was when he was in preschool. However, I figured there wouldn't be too many teenagers going to summer school. He got on the bus just fine this morning. Apparently, out of the 2 buses (Yes....just two buses) he didn't get on either one. I guess I failed to tell him the bus number but he didn't have enough sense to ask either driver where they were going. So he just stood there as the buses drove away. Was he waiting for someone to tell him which one it was? This isn't preschool anymore. As usual, Daniel's solution was for him to walk home. This wasn't an option as this was too far and too dangerous. Besides, if he can't figure out which of the two buses he needs to get on, there is no way he could figure out how to make it home. Since Daniel and I were both at work and couldn't get off, I was frantically calling anyone I knew that could help me. I finally was able to get in contact with a friend and ask her to load up her 4 young children and pick up my crazy teenager. (THANKS AMY B!!) Oh, the joys of being a mother of a teenager!!!! What will tomorrow bring...................