Saturday, July 24, 2010

Not Cut Out to Be a Pioneer

I don't know how they used to do it back in the day... like back in the day without power. And air conditioning. In long sleeves and skirts. Not for me, no thanks- I can hardly survive 24 hours!

Let me back up. We had a nasty storm come through on Thursday night. At ten o'clock Emma was already in bed, but not sleeping due to the earsplitting thunder overhead. I had checked in on her and she was buried six feet deep under her blankets trying to block out the noise and sweating like a pig. I reassured her that she was safe and went downstairs to watch t.v. It turns out my only choice was weather because they had issued a severe thunderstorm warning and a tornado warning.

All of a sudden, the tornado siren (which is right outside our window!) went off. I was in Emma's room pulling her out of bed before she could even process what was going on. Once everyone was in the basement, I noticed that Jason wasn't even fully dressed! He had just gotten out of the shower and was shaving when the siren started. We spent the next half hour taking turns rocking Emma and consoling the dog until the siren finally stopped. When we came back upstairs I decided to keep Emma up for a bit longer in case the siren started up again. She kept saying, "Thunder, scary".
About 20 minutes later, things had died down and I felt confident about putting Emma back to bed. I took her back up and got her settled in and then tried to convince Jason to stop watching the weather and come to bed. We finally headed up around midnight, but I was too wound up to sleep so I decided to read for a while and keep my eye on the t.v. At one, the power blinked on and off a few times until it finally went out for good. We were wide awake, so Jason and I went outside and stood on our front porch for a little while to watch the storm. It was like there was a hurricane coming through town!
I finally went to bed, only to have Emma wake up screaming at 4:30. She has a new fear of the dark, so the poor peanut was petrified when she woke up in her room that was pitch black. I decided the only way to get her to sleep was to put her in bed with us- big mistake! She rolled around and talked until about 6:30 when I decided that it was light enough outside to put her back to bed. I was able to get a few hours of sleep until we were up for the day.

Friday was predicted to be ridiculous hot, so I decided we needed to head out since we didn't have power. I realized I really needed to shave my legs to go in public, so I had to use a water jug to complete the task. What a lot of work! I quickly began to realize how spoiled we are these days with all our technology. The lack of power made everything seem much more difficult.
Our power was finally back on around six that evening, as we were heading out the door to go take the boat for another test ride. What better way to spend a hot summer night?
Emma wasn't too sure at first...
but I think she had fun.

Our captain didn't really want his pic taken.

I was so glad to return to a cool house after a night on the water. I had made a few back-up plans for the evening in case the power wasn't restored, but I was glad I didn't have to resort to the entire family sleeping downstairs in the guest room. Sometimes we forget how blessed we are, or take things for granted, but one day in a house that's 85+ inside is a great reminder :)

Friday, July 16, 2010

Making the Rounds at the Campgrounds

Last week we had the opportunity to take two more camping trips. First, we joined my in-laws for the second half of their annual trip to Dutch Treat. The weather was perfect for spending lots of time by the pool.

Emma sporting her little bikini.
Getting ready to go for a dip with Aunt Jessica.
Swimming with Grandma Klein- she hadn't been in the water for almost a decade! All she needed was a little three foot incentive :)


Then we headed to Hungry Horse to spend a few days with several of our good friends. Emma loves camping so much and often cries when we come home! Being at home with mommy all day just isn't as exciting....
Helping Daddy fill water balloons- these two equal trouble!

Emma showing off her shirt we made during our last trip to Hungry Horse.
This kid is fearless of water! She loved doing face plants in the kiddie pool.
She also enjoyed just floating around in her tube.
Emma, Dylan and Hailey having some fun in the mud after a huge rain storm.
Watcha gonna do about this mess momma?
She has fun getting dirty, but she really enjoys being clean.

And what's a camping trip without eating a little dirt?

Once again, we had a blast even with all the rain, humidity, thirsty mosquito's and maggots (you don't want to know!). There's nothing like hanging around a campfire with family and friends at night to end a busy, fun-filled day. We can't wait for the next trip!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Summer Lovin'

We have had so much fun around our house this past month. The warm weather has allowed us to spend a lot of time outdoors playing and having fun. Emma loves the water and would be in it all the time if I let her.
Emma loves the pool Grandpa Spence gave her and mommy loves being able to watch her slide and splash away.
We had the opportunity to hang out with Emma's buddies Aiden and Gavin for the day. I took the kids to enjoy tunes in the park where we had a picnic and danced the afternoon away.
All the fun and sun takes it's toll on Miss Emma. She loves to ride in the Jeep, but it typically puts her right to sleep.
We've made several trips to the beach where Emma inevitably ends up soaking wet, bathing suit or not.

Over the fourth, we were able to spend some time at my grandparent's house where Emma was able to hang out with her cousin Ellie. Aren't they cute?
Emma got to go for her first jet ski ride with Daddy. She said, "All done?" all the way around the lake- I don't think she was a fan!
Big hugs
On Monday evening we went to the wonderful display of fireworks right in Overisel. Emma was a bit clingy at first.
In the end, she loved them. She was clapping and hollering for more. Daddy wanted to make sure she had a good view.

We've also been busy doing projects around the house, such as install a new dishwasher and continue work on Emma's play set. She always wants to "help" and here we even have Harley getting in on the action.

June was a very busy month. The days flew by and I can't believe it is over already, but we're looking forward to whatever the rest of the summer has to offer!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Independence Day

Happy Fourth of July!