Juggling Camp

The boys have been taking juggling lessons and just attended a week-long juggling camp where they learned all sorts of new tricks in preparation for a showcase in front of a real audience.

This is their incredible trainer - Mrs. Marion Caldwell.

 Let's start off with some 3-ball juggling...

 Let's add another ball and make it four...

 On to pins...

 How about passing some rings?

 And my personal favorite, the two-headed monster juggling.

 Here's another fun one to try - put some tennis balls in the ends of knee-socks and do some cool tricks with it!

 And if all that isn't impressive enough, let's try it while riding a rip-stick!

 Morgan particularly likes to practice the diablo.

 And then to top it all off, let's ride a unicycle to really impress the crowd. ;)

 This was a particularly difficult part of the show where they all wheeled in on their unicycles and then held onto a hula-hoop and went round and round. Very difficult!

The boys have learned so much from Mrs. Caldwell and the others... and they are skills that they will keep for their entire lives.

Meet Sandy!

As promised, I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of the Force family household...

This is Sandy, Morgan's new pet hamster. Daddy wants to call her "Catnip", but Morgan has settled on Sandy.

Sandy is a very sweet, calm little girl - the calmest one of the bunch we saw. She's easy to hold, and I think that's what sold us on her. We've got quite the mansion set up for her to enjoy...

Of course, there are other members of our household who are ALSO very interested in Sandy... but Morgan is determined to NOT let her live up to Daddy's nickname.

After the homecoming, we had a late-night celebration complete with an ice cream cake and candles... and some coconut milk ice cream for little brother. :)

It's been a very good day... can't believe how fast they grow up.

Michele

Morgan is 11!

I do still have cruise photos to show you, but in the meantime, life goes on! Today is Morgan's 11th birthday! We showered him with some love this morning... aka PRESENTS!

The night vision goggles above came from his big brother, Mason. I don't think Morgan liked them at all, do you?

Well, I guess I didn't do so bad either, as I found a couple of cool Lego games for him. He told me it's two of his favorite things in one box - Legos and games!

The big surprise was that we decided to let him have something he's wanted for a LONG, LONG time... the book was his clue. I had it stashed inside the new rolling suitcase that he wanted. He was too stunned to smile, I think!

So our day was spent making sure Mom picked out the perfect cage for his new little critter. We ended up exchanging it, and now he has the whole set-up ready for its new occupant... which, hopefully, we'll be picking up after dinner tonight. I'll show "her" to you as soon as I can!

Below is Morgan with his "stash"... the beach towel came from his little brother, Maddox, and all the hamster goodies came from us and Morgan's grandparents.

When the mail arrived, Morgan discovered another bounty that came all the way from Scotland! Thank you, Auntie Audrey & Uncle Iain!

Now, I'm off to dinner with my kiddos, and then to the pet store to adopt yet another furry, four-legged creature for the Force family.

Michele

Manitou Cliff Dwellings

We took a little trip to Colorado Springs and visited the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. Seems the only pictures I have are of me and Maddox, though.

Flower Child

...another break from cruise photos to show you this darling Flower Child:

Maddox just loves dandelions, and this time of year we are covered with them. They are too numerous to treat, so most folks just leave them be and enjoy the bright, cheery, yellow blooms!

Oh, happy days...
Michele

Maddox's Preschool Graduation

Maddox finished a year at the Little White Schoolhouse... and I just had to capture a photo of him with his wonderful teacher, Mrs. Rose Strain. She was so wonderful to work with and helped him a great deal all throughout the year. He was not the easiest little student, but she was terrific with him!

A Blustery Day in Paradise...

A pause in my cruise coverage to show you what happens when it gets REALLY windy here:

These two trees fell because of the high wind gusts. Took out a section of our fence and fell across the driveway. Michael had to cut them down quickly, as he needed to catch a flight! He then used our trusty 4-wheeler to haul it out of the way.


Below is a third tree that fell... no damage here, as it fell across our leach field.

Look at it from this angle, and you can see another tree leaning precariously in the background.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed the ground at its base was already raised up and cracks were visible.

I imagine it won't take much more to bring this one down, too. Fortunately, it's leaning in a direction that won't hurt anything.

Below is a photo of a tree stump that is used as a "decoration" in our yard. We have several of these scattered around and I had always wondered how they come about... were they DUG out of the ground??

Well, now I know. I guess we'll have another 3 or 4 decorations soon.

Lastly, as I was inspecting the trees around the house (looking for any more that were leaning), I came across this:

Looks as though one of the boys has been trying to chop down a tree with an axe! I think I know who it is, too... this was a recent Facebook status update by my very own husband: One of my summer goals: chop a tree down with an axe. Stretch goal: chop it down with the edge of my hand.

Hopefully the next post won't be pics of Michael in a cast. :)

...Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Michele