Summer Fruit Experiment

Every time Nick is with me in the produce section of the grocery store he always asks if he can get things that I've either never heard of or never had any intention of buying...mainly because I am not adventurous enough to try new or different things. So over the winter I promised him that this summer we would get a few things from the produce section that we've never had before each time we went shopping. Well it's now summer so I guess I have to follow through with that promise. :)

Since we are big fans of the show Survivor we thought we'd start with a whole coconut. We've obviously had the shredded coconut before (and by the way...not my favorite thing) but we've never had the fresh whole coconut or tasted the juice...or milk...or whatever they call the watery stuff inside that you always see them drinking on that show. We also got a papaya and a couple of little yellow things that didn't have a label but said they're from Mexico.

The first challenge was getting inside the coconut...those things are hard as rocks. We finally hammered a little hole in it big enough to poor out the liquid. We were warned by the clerk checking us out that some coconuts are really good and some are really bad. Ummm...I think we got one of the really BAD ones because that juice was DISGUSTING!!!! Or maybe that's just how it's supposed to taste and people will drink anything when they're on an island playing a game for a million dollars.

We couldn't figure out how to crack open the coconut since we don't have a machete' like the ones the survivors use so Brian took it out to the shed and used his saw. Once we got it open we could get the insides out with a knife and low and behold...I don't like coconut...shredded or whole. Brian and Nick thought it was okay but Hailey and I spit it out. :)

We then tried the papaya and after taking one bite we decided that the grocery store is not the place to get new fruits to try. I'm pretty sure it was rotten...or maybe that's how papaya is supposed to taste and I'll just add that to my list of things never to put in my mouth again!! We did take it out and feed it to the chickens and they seemed to love it.

So after being a little adventurous the kids settled on good ole' oranges for their snack!!!

I obviously need to teach Nick a little more about manners while eating an orange! :)

Thankful Thursday

Tomorrow is the last day of school and this week I am feeling especially grateful for the kids teachers...they just couldn't have gotten better ones this year!!! I can't believe it is Nick's last day of elementary school tomorrow and my "little" boy will be heading to Jr. High next year. Where did the time go?

They had a party yesterday to celebrate the 6th graders and it was awesome!! It was in front of the school and they barbecued burgers, had music blasting, and a giant slip & slide and let the kids go wild. They had a blast!!!

This is a picture of the slip & slide from the top of the hill. They put baby shampoo & water all over it to make it very slick...those kids flew down the hill. :)

Nick on his first slide down...he loved the slide but he hated slided all the way off the end and combining the soap & water with the grass & dirt. He really prefers to be clean. :) But it was so much fun that it was worth being dirty!

Yesterday was Hailey's 11th birthday and I am so thankful for my beautiful daughter. Brian and I woke her up by singing Happy Birthday with a candle in a muffin for her breakfast...that's been a tradition ever since they can remember and when she went to bed the night before she sent us a text from her bedroom that said, "See you bright & early." That was her way of making sure we remembered to do that. :)

We gave her a flip video camera and she was very excited. I think she'll have a blast making fun movies with her friends and she even used it to video Nick's 6th grade graduation last night. We love her so much and we are so grateful she is part of our family. I absolutely cannot imagine our family without her!!! She is funny and definitely gives me a run for my money sometimes but she is my favorite daughter ever! :)

After dinner we had cake and ice cream and I'm not sure how much she appreciated that we put "Happy Birthday Babydoll" on the cake. Brian has called her that forever but she might be getting a little too "mature" to be putting that on her cake. I just needed to remind her that she'd always be my babydoll no matter how old she is!!! :)

So after the birthday dinner we headed over to Nick's graduation. It struck me while I was there how grateful I am that my kids are proving to be much better than I was in school. When I was in sixth grade my teacher put my desk in the coat closet (it was a walk through coat closet) because that was the only way she could get me to stop talking to people. Nick, on the other hand, earned the "Soaring to Great Heights" award which one boy and one girl from each class is chosen by their teacher to receive and it represents "outstanding scholastic and personal achievement". They asked the parents to come up as well and when the principle said, "Give them one more kiss before they sit back down" I leaned over to kiss him and he was off that stage as quick as he could go. He informed me that he would've died of embarrassment if "his mom" would've kissed him in front of everybody. :) Apparently he's to old for that. I'm feeling like that's a theme with my kids right now. :)

After the graduation we hurried as fast as we could over to the church for the scout Court of Honor and Nick received his Emergency Preparedness Merit badge and his Life rank advancement. Next step is coming up with an Eagle project.

He and his friend Nick both earned the merit badge and both had just come from graduation so they looked pretty sharp up there together in their shirt & ties. :)

When we got home from everything that night Nick summed up his feelings about graduating, earning the award and getting his Life by simply saying, "This was a good night." Amen boy!

Quick Update

It's been awhile since I've posted so I thought I'd do a quick picture update of the recent happenings. :)

The chickens are growing and continue to be a source of pure enjoyment for Nick & Brian. I continue to tolerate them but I will admit I've spent some time out on the back patio watching them scratch and peck and find little things to eat...they're pretty fun to watch - who knew? :)

Hailey's still luke warm about the chickens...I will say she's the best chicken wrangler in the family though!!

Brian ran his 3rd marathon and got his best time ever of 4:03...he rocked. We are always so proud of him and he is definitely an inspiration to all of us!

Coming to the finish line...wa-hoooooo.

Hailey's birthday is tomorrow but we had her birthday party on Saturday. We had a Minute to Win It theme and the kids had a blast competing in the challenges from that game show. Hailey's moving like lightening in the challenge below. :)

Nick competing in the challenge of pulling out an entire box of tissues one tissue at a time in less than a minute.

Hailey's fun cousin Savannah participating in Junk in the Trunk where you have to empty ping pong balls out of a tissue box attached to your backside...funniest one to watch!!!

Nick had some quick moving hips in the Junk in the Trunk challenge. :)

This is Rocko patiently waiting for Brian to change his clothes after work and come play with him.

The kids had a piano recital Monday night and they both did great.

This is Hailey's least favorite part of recitals...where she has to say her name and what songs she will be playing. She'd much rather play the piano in front of people than talk in front of people!

The kids had the dance festival at school today. Nick got down with his bad self and I loved watching him!!

Hailey, however, had to watch her class dance from the sidelines. Last night after the piano recital she was in the backyard playing with Nick and a friend and in the midst of running away from Nick she tripped and fell and her knee cap popped out of place. It went back in but I think the neighbors three blocks away heard her screaming. I took her in for x-rays this morning and they're concerned about the swelling around her knee joint so she's scheduled with an orthopedic surgeon on Friday and will need to get an MRI. If there's any ligament damage she will need to have surgery to repair it. She is very nervous and in pain but she's being a trooper!!!

Thankful Friday :)

This week I am thankful for the awesome vacation I got to take with Brian and for my parents who stayed with the kiddos!! I'm also thankful for cell phones, texting & picture messaging that allowed us to chat with the kids all the time and send them pictures of where we were...modern technology is awesome! I'm also thankful to my BFF Chris who gave us the free stay at this beautiful resort!! :)

This was the view from our balcony at the Maui Oceanside Resort.

There were such beautiful sunsets every night and we were always outside to enjoy them!

This is the view through the lobby of the hotel...you can see the ocean out in the distance.

Brian being a goofball at the Luau...yummy food and great entertainment.

Heading out on a snorkeling excursion. Behind me and to the left the thing with the cover over it is a grill built into the railing of the boat. They grilled us hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken for lunch.

Brian making sure his mask seals properly. :)

This is one of bays they took us to called Honolua Bay. It was beautiful and we saw the most awesome fish of all colors and shapes and neat coral. It was like swimming around in an aquarium.

This is one of the overlooks on the "Road to Hana". It was a beautiful drive but we didn't actually make it all the way to Hana...we didn't have the patience for it. :) It was about a 50 mile drive but you go about 10 miles per hour and all the bridges are one way and there were LOTS of bridges. It was pretty but we prefer the beach...which is where we spent the majority of our time!

It was an awesome week and I'm thankful for such a fun guy to share it with! :)