Cabin version of Par-tay!

For those of us that don't go camping very often, and are confronted with a 3-5 day trip with no (gasp) television, computers, or cell phones, you might wonder... what will my children do with all this time? And will they drive me buggy by saying the B-word to me? (The B-word being BORED)

Well that was just not an issue up at the cabin. For one, there were plenty of cousins to play with, not to mention a creek! The kids had a great time playing in the creek and building dams. Occasionally one would fall in and get soaked, but just as often they would not fall in... and would be just as wet. My nephew liked to go in the creek fully dressed in long pants, long sleeve shirt, and hiking boots. He rationalized that they were "water proof boots". But failed to understand that the water proof properties didn't really work if you were in knee deep water above your boot-line.


They also took everyone on a horse ride. I stayed behind and took pictures of my obsession for the trip... that will be in a later post.


My brother has a Rhino up there (it's a 4-wheeler/truck thingy like they use on Little People Big World) and my dad brought up two 4 wheelers. So there were many fun rides around the property and on trails. And of course I had to be the one to scoff at using sunscreen. "I won't be gone that long." I think the sun must be super inferno hot up there or something... right? Yep, I was lobster lady for the rest of the trip.

There was even some low tech fun. Stick a bottle on top of a pile of dirt and throw rocks and sticks at it until you knock it down. Fun for every boy and girl.

The big loft on the 3rd floor was popular too. Between the Foosball table and just the general open area there was a lot of fun to be had. I didn't venture up there to look, but judging from all the running, laughing and yelling, I'd say they entertained themselves quite well.

We were going to shoot guns too, but the weather was being tricky and in the end Smores at the campfire won out over the shooting.

My brother and my neice. Roasting marshmallows on some very fancy willow sticks.

My Livie was mad because her marshmallows got burned.

There was entertainment all around, and I was sad that it was all over too soon.

Cabin Fever

Over the 4th my brother & his wife invited the whole family up to their cabin in Idaho for a little reunion. I think I'll blog a little about it over the next few days.


Today's topic: The awesome area and cabin. Thanks so much S & C for hosting such a fun weekend!


The area was beautiful. We had to drive a while to get back into it, and drive, and drive.. which reminds me of a little primary tune with new lyrics... "The Frandsen children puked as they drove, and drove, and drove, and drove." Haha. But that is a story for another day.


The cabin was gorgeous! My kind of camping! Of course once we arrived my dad gave up his bedroom claiming he'd been just waiting to sleep out on the deck. Nothing could change his mind, he was apparently very excited to do it. Ummm.. yeah, my dad is sweet and very stubborn.


The view from the deck was beautiful. A valley full of pines, and mist in the mornings. There were also a couple of thunderstorms which made things quite exciting. Seriously... they were very cool, we even got hail with one of them.

The cabin. They finished building it last summer, they've got a big family and a couple of cute grandkids so they pretty much fill it up when all the college kids come home.

This shot is actually in the late afternoon, you can see the smoke from the campfire where they made Dutch Oven dinner, and the little white specks you see are hailstones coming down.

After the deluge of rain and hail. Here are Riley's clothes that we hung up to dry after playing in the creek. Umm... they're even more wet now!

Pretty view of the mist at about 6:30 am. Yes, I know... I was up at 6 AM!! Isn't that one of the signs of the Apocalypse?

Another shot of the mist in the mountains. It was so pretty, this picture just doesn't do it justice.

My dear old dad. Sleeping outside on the deck. NO ONE could convince him to come inside, he's just an outdoors kind of guy. Though, I'm pretty sure it was more an excuse to make Matt & I take his bedroom. That's my dad.

Alice in Creepyland

click pic to enlarge for full effect

We saw the movie poster last night for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. If you can't tell, that's Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. True to Tim Burton form it looks like it will be cool and creepy.

My first thought when I saw this picture was that he looked like Madonna but creepier. But I think Matt nailed it on the head with "a deranged Frodo".

Of course I love Tim Burton films, so I'm excited to see this movie. But I AM a little wierded out by this picture. hehe. What do you think?

Harry Potter

Ok, my niece got after me for not blogging in such a long time. So here I am. And the latest excitement in our lives? ... we saw Harry Potter tonight.

I have to say, I think this one has been the best so far. Of course it didn't follow the book entirely, but if you can look past that, it really was a good movie. The effects were cool, and the acting is getting better and better. Oh and the best thing... Quiddich is back! I've missed the Quiddich in some of the movies.

Riley was bummed because she wanted to see the dramatic scene when Harry first kisses Ginny, (oh hell, it's starting) and they handled that scene in a different way. Matt wanted to see more of the battle at the end.. but they both agree it was good.

Sammy was freaked out by the inferi, but Olivia didn't seem to mind. She plugged her ears a lot, but that was mostly because it was loud.

Can't wait to see the next two!

En Garde...

Riley and her friend Wyatt (who Olivia calls Quiet) wanted to take fencing lessons. It's pretty cool because their coach is a Master of Sport in USSR, former Ukraine National Coach, and coached a Jr. Fencing World Championship team. Not too shabby, eh? He has a very thick accent and the kids understand him MOST of the time. Hehe.


Tuesday was the last day of this round of classes and they got to use the foils that are hooked up to a score keeping doo-hickey. It was really fun to watch, though like a ding-dong I took pictures from the wrong side so all you see is Riley's back.


Riley and I also had a good time practicing Tuesday with a toy Pirates of the Caribbean sword and a vaccuum extention. I got cracked on the knuckles really good a few times, but it was still fun.

Riley is on the left.

Yes, I know she looks a bit like a one-eyed pirate here, but she actually smiled without being asked!

Live long and prosper

We saw the new Star Trek movie tonight with our friends Kevin & Jen. Now... I'm not what you'd call a Trekkie. I mean I did watch several episodes back in the 70's, and so did you! Don't lie! But I've never watched any of the movies and you couldn't have paid me to watch a bare-chested poofy haired Ricardo Montalban in "The Wrath of Khan". Some people should have just stuck to Fantasy Island and rich Corinthian leather, but I digress.

So, back to the latest Trek movie, which by the way had my man Karl Urban in it sporting a totally dorky hairdo and doing an awesome job of playing Dr. McCoy (Bones). Best line: "Dammit Spock! I'm a doctor not a physicist!"

Another plus is that for the first time I could ACTUALLY believe that Kirk was a sexy womanizing hottie... I mean seriously.. do you remember the old TV show?

Here... you be the judge... is there really any question here?

There were many homages to the old TV show that were great. They picked the perfect cast, and the moment they began to play the Beastie Boys "Sabotage" in the first part of the movie, I knew it was going to be awesome. They also incorporated a lot of the classic music from the TV show into the movie (if you've seen Jim Carey in the movie The Cable Guy, battling at Medieval Times you'll know what music I'm referring to.. watch below).

YouTube - cable guy immense

This movie was funny and action packed from beginning to end. We didn't even touch our treats, that should tell you a lot. No clip at the end of the credits, so you don't need to bother hanging around.

I give it an 'A', despite the fact that you'll be watching it in a theater full of nerds that clap and cheer at certain points in the movie.

Oh... and I'm sure all the guys want to know... yes... there IS a green chick in the movie.

The horror!!!!

Tonight Riley came running into the TV room, "Mom! There's some creepy animal in my window well! Come listen!" So I ran in there and we listened and sure enough after a minute I heard a distinct and loud chittering/chirpy sound. It was obviously coming right from the other side of the glass. So we ran upstairs and made Matt come down to listen. Sure enough he heard it too. He thought it was probably a bird or something, but I was imagining all sorts of crazy woodland creatures, opossums, raccoons, etc. and in my imagination they were just waiting to leap at my face!
We decided to get flashlights and sneak up on it from outside, because of course that would be more dramatic and more scary. So all three of us crept around the side of the house and quickly shined our lights down into the window well!! AAAAUGH!
It was a giant snail... It was slowly sliming it's way down the window and as it crept, it's shell would rub on the glass making a strange chirping noise.
So if you ever want to scare someone, just stick a big snail on a rain soaked window late at night. It's terrifying!