Home from Scout Camp

Three days after we went to visit Andrew at Scout Camp for family day,{you can read about that here too, if you missed the first link. ;)} he came home for not even 24 hours before he turned around and flew off to Arizona to visit Oma for two weeks.

We headed over to the church to pick him up around noon and knew we'd have a day of unpacking, laundry and repacking since we'd be heading to the airport at the crack of dawn for an 8:30am flight.

Lily started squealing as soon as he got out of the car of the people he rode home with and we could see him!

He hugged me and said, "Mom. Seriously. Look at my feet."  Gross.

They had to unload the trailer that carried all their gear before we headed home.  He was exhausted and despite not wanting to unload at home and clean his gear so that I could start laundry, he did just that all while talking about why there were random things like a clothespin in his pocket, ducktape in another, how his camping chair broke and he fell through it, what his favorite part of the week was and that he wanted to go back next year.  I'm glad he had a great time!

 

And pretty soon this was what life looked like after Scout camp.

 

Pretty much a success!

Boy Scout Camp

On the Fourth of July, we loaded up the car and headed to see Andrew for family night Boy Scout camp.  He left for camp early Sunday morning, the 1st,  after only being home from Tennessee for 3 days. I guess when within your very first month of life you have your first road trip and plane ride, you're destined to be a traveler. :) I was definitely looking forward to seeing him!

Despite the smothering humidity and heat, the drive was nice. We went through places I had never been in Pennsylvania and had wondered where they were. It was about an hour and a half drive with a non-crankypants kid! Lucky!

 

We arrived at camp after a long drive and a pretty long haul walking in to get to the actual campsite. Next year, we'll be better prepared since we had no idea about that this year.

 

Lily and Andrew were especially excited to see one another! I had missed him so much since he'd been gone practically all summer long. It's tough though being around a bunch of boys you don't want to gush all over your mom.  I just love this picture though...you can see how genuinely happy he was!

 

He showed us around the campsite...where he and his tentmate slept, where his patrol cooked and ate, where they hung out and told us what they had been doing. He was definitely enjoying himself, but was a little homesick too.  I had gotten a text from him the first day asking us to bring up his fishing gear when we came.  This was his first time at Scout camp and I don't think he really knew what to expect, so I'm glad he asked us to bring that for him to do.

 

His tent looked much like his room...

 

George got Andrew's fishing gear set up during our downtime before supper. Their camp is literally steps from the lake which was so nice. 

 

 Lily just wanted to be with her brother, so when he was sitting with his friends, she was right there with him as well!

 

Reagan was thrilled to be able to be there with us too! She had a couple moments where she was mopey and both George and I had gotten out of her that she wanted to do stuff like camp too. We assured her that Girl Scouts do fun stuff and that was in her future!







All the families who came brought some food to share and we had supper together with the Scouts. We were supposed to see a ceremony with the entire camp {there were other troops there as well}, but as we were finishing supper, the severe weather alarms started going off, so the boys went into prepare mode while we made the decision to head home since they were going to reschedule the ceremony until the next day anyway.  It turned out to be a very brief visit for the amount of driving we had done, but so worth it to see Andrew's face and for him to know that his family wanted to be there for and with him.

Wait 'til you see what he looked like when he got home! And be glad you can't smell him...or his gear! A bunch of boys and a week in the dirt...whoa.

Random Stuff & a Winner

~Our schedule has officially become school year super busy. Hockey, Boy Scouts, Brownies, homework, band have officially filled the calendar. We have also added gymnastics for Lily to our schedule as well. {more on that later}

~Two weeks into school and I'm working on getting into my new groove too. Early waking times has been a challenge, but I think we're getting there finally. Maintaining playdates for Lily and also Mom time for me is an important part! Looking forward to brunch this weekend!

~My soul sister, Amy, and I hit up the Halloween release at Once Upon a Child Saturday morning on the hunt for bargain Halloween costumes for the toddler besties, Lily and Victoria. Little did we know, as rookies, that it was be Black Friday-esque type shopping. 

Our plan was to meet at 10am. I got there about 15 minutes early and there was a line of about 30 people outside. As we went in the door, the costume racks were swarmed by moms, grandmas and too many little kids for the amount of space there was. {Amy and I left Lily and V at home, fortunately.}  We quickly figured out the costumes were organized by character or theme rather than size.  There was only one girly princessey rack and as I obstacle coursed my way past the teeny people at my knees without knocking anyone over, one woman grabbed the only Minnie costume in sight.  Another woman grabbed 17 of the princess costumes. Yes, approximately all 17 of the ones left.  Seriously women had a minimum of 6-10 costumes in their hands.  Some of us were looking for one. I moved out of the swarm and went on the search for Halloween shirts and the like and was happy with my finds. I did manage to find one costume tucked away that was inexpensive enough that I picked up in the event I don't find anything else that I truly lovelovelove for the Lilinator.

~After the Halloween costuming, I went grocery shopping...alone! I meal planned and we're all set through next Friday and that my friends, makes for a much easier week for me. And you know when there's this going on, it's always a good time:

I'm looking for new meal ideas though because I'm tired of the same old things...so if you've got favorites, send 'em my way! Please!! I'm begging you.

~Andrew had his first hockey game of the season last night...at 9pm! It was chilly enough to need long sleeves and sweatshirts and fortunately we didn't have any crankypants with the late start time. Sadly, they lost...5 to zip.

~If you could help a girl out and head over to my Facebook page and "like" me, it would be awesome. or something.  It kinda feels like why I didn't join a sorority in college 'cause asking people to like me just isn't my thing. Except in this case. Or when I post it again soon. Go...please.

~Football is finally in full swing!
My Arizona State Sun Devils game was televised last night wooooooo hoooooo! Thank you ESPN! I'm hoping for all the bad press Todd Graham took in Pittsburgh for taking this job at ASU that he'll have a great season and he's just what ASU football needs. I said to my husband last night, "If I'd had the opportunity to go to Arizona or stay in Pittsburgh, you couldn't get me to the desert fast enough, so good for Todd Graham!"   Sun Devil Pride is strong in my house even with the Huz. Goooooooooooooooooooooo Devils!! Fork 'em! Devils 45, Illini 14.

Steelers v Broncos tonight!

~Announcing....
The winner of the Crayola Color Wonder giveaway!  Thank you for all your entries!

Congratulations Tracy!! Your prize pack is on its way!!

 

Stay tuned for a couple other giveaways coming up soon!!

 

~Welp, supper awaits. It's what's for dinner.