The Rumors of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

...if there have been any rumors, that is.

I've been on vacation with my extended family. Those of you who have been (excruciatingly) reading my blog for a while know what that means. There will be vacation recaps. You will be subjected to reliving my vacation with me. There will be photos, but not nearly enough to dissipate the pain of all the words and the classlessness. (Woo! Who knew that classlessness was really a word? I thought for sure I just coined something new.) The good news is that I will probably spread the pain out over several days. And you can ignore the posts, but I'm pretty sure they'll read a little like watching a train wreck. So you choose.

Honestly, it was a week at the lake with limited Internet access (which, if you know me, is kind of painful...but mostly it wasn't). Imagine how smart I felt when I got home and realized the reason the laptop wouldn't connect to the WiFi was because the WiFi switch had been somehow turned off. I don't think I turned it off, but I wish I had been smart enough to check that. Me not smart.

I had some access with my iPad, just enough to take the edge off...and that probably was a good thing. Internet was agonizingly slow as well, which took some of the charm of it away. When you have to wait 5 minutes to see a photo, the photo seems less interesting. I don't know how survived before high-speed.

But we're home now and trying to unpack and return to normal life. It will take a few days to adjust I suppose. The kids will be tired and cranky and resist limits that they have lacked for a week. It is worth it for the time we spend "up north" with family. They will retain these memories for a lifetime. I will too.

In Which I Reveal More Issues...and other random crap

I'm packing. If you've ever tried to get 4 (in some ways, 5) people ready for a week away from home, you know that I'm pretty much nuts. Which isn't to say that I'm not nuts normally. I have medication for that.

Every year I think I'm over-packing clothing. Every year my son proves I should have packed more. Every year I worry I'm not bringing enough food. Then I remember there is a grocery store not far away. It's more expensive than the stores here, but sometimes it's just better to pay more than to make yourself extra nutty.

Miss M told me she thinks no one pays attention to her, which is funny since she gets compliments from me AND complete strangers daily. She's jealous of her little sister...something I suspected would come up sooner or later. It's hard because I can only relate as having once been an eight-year-old girl with a brother. Though my brother was older. I don't know what it's like to be an oldest child. I don't know what it's like to have younger siblings. I don't know what it's like to have a sister.

I've walked in her shoes in fraction.

She's the child I worry over the most. The oldest. The Practice child. The one I will probably screw up the most. I worry about her image of herself. I worry that kids at school will damage her beautiful heart and spirit. I worry.

She's almost nine and I'm making an effort to treat her as the big girl she is, though she has her little girl moments. (And thank goodness for those or I'd probably be sent to the nut house.) The little girl moments run the gamut from sweet to annoying and perplexing. I try to have exclusive mom and M time as often as I can, but it never seems to be enough. Pretty sure that's the definition of quality time when you have more than one kid.

She makes me laugh. I make her laugh. She has a wonderful sense of humor.

She saw a classmate when we were out shopping the other day. My kids go to a school that is very diverse ethnically. I love that she and K thought nothing about throwing their arms around a classmate that is different from them. Most of the time I think they see no differences...which is much of the goal I had when I chose their school. When your kids automatically point out who they are talking about by their clothes and not their skin color...that's cool.

When I was eight I had just moved to Minnesota from New York. My accent made me weird. Before I moved I was outgoing and my teacher wanted me to shut up. In Minnesota, the teachers said I needed to talk more. Minnesota was intimidating, apparently. My teacher in 3rd grade had a nervous breakdown and told us kids the only reason she taught was for the money. So that was nice.

I misunderstood some teasing as hurtful when, in retrospect, it was probably not at all mean-spirited.

I love that M mostly lets teasing roll off her back. She sees the best in people and expects the best. I pray that she has no reason to change.

The Getaway is Over

I've been lazy writing recaps. Internet was spotty at the cabin and I may or may not have had a couple too many beverages Thursday night. Turns out I'm not so quiet when that happens. Who knew? My husband pretended not to know me...and most of my family probably wanted to disown me. Apparently I can ask personal questions of strangers when I've had a few beverages. Shy me!

We drove home today. It was a relatively uneventful trip. We stopped for lunch and potty stops and one poopy diaper stop. I napped, D napped, K napped. M rode with her Boppa and Amma and I think she even napped a little. Thankfully, Craig didn't nap since he was driving.

But even with the naps we were all tired, hot and cranky. The post-vacation unload and subsequent tasks of putting away and washing kind of stink to high heaven. We also had incidents of breaking things and noting that the shelf in my closet had somehow came unscrewed from the wall. This will be dealt with tomorrow I guess. The fun meters are full tonight. We watched The Blindside and relaxed. I did 4 loads of laundry...only 368 to go!

I put many things away from our trip but got tired. The rest will be put away tomorrow. I think.

I discovered my son brought home approximately 33% of the beach.

Vacations with my family seem to get better every year. I know my kids had a blast and I did too.

It's the coming home that kind of stinks.

The Great Zebra Family Get Together Part 5

It rained this morning. Early. I got up to use the restroom and could hear the steady patter of drops outside. I also heard the distinct sound of someone sleeping quite soundly. (Later found out it was one of my nephews.) Craig woke me up with a homemade bacon egg and cheese English muffin. I looked at M's twin bed next to mine and saw a lump covered by blankets. I tried to remove the blanket from over her head and woke her up. Guess that is the price I pay for making sure she can breathe.

We decided to head to Walker, MN for our yearly shopping excursion. It turned out to be the perfect day for it since it was cloudy and rainy all day. As we pulled in to town another car was leaving in just the perfect parking spot so we lucked out once again.

Shopping was good except for the fact that I had no stroller for Ms. D and had to carry her all day. Thankfully she is still fairly small and it didn't bother me too much to carry her. She is amiable most of the time. She started to get hungry so we went to one of the local cafes and ordered pizza. It took a while for the food to come so D kept telling us "EAT!" so we were assuming she was hungry. Thankfully the pizza was good and D got fed before she passed to the disagreeable point.

Back at the resort, there was no swimming. (The big kids tried but their lips quickly turned purple and the plug was pulled on any swimming.) Whenever there is a lack of swimming there is the other activity to turn to around here.

Lonely, lonely floaties. Oh wait. Here is how doors get fixed around here apparently. Woo hoo duct tape!

Craig and M went fishing together and M caught more fish than her dad. No keepers but fun for both.

Then Craig went out by himself and brought home 4 bass.

Another lovely view of the pink clouds.

Supper: Courtesy of my Aunt and Great Cousin. Hamburgers, hot dogs, beans, ham and pasta salad, chips and dip.

Fish (keepers): 4

Evening entertainment: ???? What happened to our evening entertainment?

Great Zebra Family Get Together Part 4

It was a beautiful day. My duties of cooking for the week are done (truth be told, my husband did most of the cooking anyway) and I was in full relax mode. My mom and I launched the Party Dock and I spent most of the day floating on it with various relatives.

K Man refuses to go down the slide. I took him down it our first year here and didn't get my feet under me in time to keep him above the water. I apparently traumatized him so much he won't try it again. Baby D on the other hand has already gone down the slide a half-dozen times or more. She is quite the water baby already.

My son is known throughout the resort. It's kind of funny. Everyone knows K's name. It is a bit of a switch because usually it's Miss M who has befriended most of the resort. Although I think some of K's notoriety is because he's being sort of a pest to all the older kids. (They seem to like it though.) K has been getting the older girls to give him piggy back rides, candy, whatever. I'm pretty sure I'm in trouble with him when he's a teenager. He can get away with some of this stuff now because he's five, but I'm betting that it won't fly as well when he's fifteen. There is another big family gathered here as well. They were here last year with us also. Every year they organize a big kickball game right in front of our cabin. My Bigs and my nephews joined in the game this year. So fun for them and fun to watch as well.

I just enjoyed the irony of this:

Beauty.

Supper: Provided by Boppa and Amma. Taco chili.

Fish (keepers): 4

Evening entertainment: Kids kick ball game, watching Two and a Half Men on my iPad with my aunt and cousin while my uncle tried to remove the mouse from their cabin.

The Great Zebra Family Get Together Part 3

We set our little fireworks off the day after the fourth. We're a little late. The tradition is that each kid makes a tie-dye shirt every year. I usually end up doing the twisting and putting the rubber bands on then the kids pour the dye on where they want them.

I made D's this year for her of course.

After the tie-dyes, it was off to swim and float on the party dock!

Supper: Provided by the Zebra family. Smoked turkey and chicken, Greek salad, garlic toast, fresh fruit and veggies.

Fish count (keepers): 5

Evening entertainment: Scene It!

The Great Zebra Family Get Together Part 2

Just pretend I really posted this on the 4th. Cough cough. Internet access in the cabin is spotty.

I spent most of the day in the water, floating and talking. It was cloudy but warm. The sea plane was supposed to come again and the K Man thought he might want to go for a ride this year and M said she might want to go again but when the plane came no one wanted to go for a ride after all.

D went fishing with her daddy.

And spent the morning with her Boppa, feeding nuts to the chipmonk that lives beneath our deck.

The party dock that I bought this year is a big hit.

The men have been fishing morning and evening. Is it just me or so they seem to be comparing size? Ahem.

It was also the first-annual tacky shirt day. My shirt had Mr. Potato Head all over it and said "Mr. Potato Head picks his nose."Because we are a classy bunch, we spent a lot of time talking and laughing about...well, if you've read about our vacations before you probably know what we talk about.


Yay vacation!

The Great Zebra (and extended) Family Getaway Part One

Bertha (who, incidentally, I really should rename Wanda) went on her first trip up north and helped me get through at least a third of my book club selection for the next two months. It was kind of cool to pack and realize I didn't need to pack a bunch of books to read because I already had several on my iPad!
We went a different route this year, through Saint Cloud and I wished I had known to ask my friend Jeff if he'd be able to meet us for lunch, but it probably wouldn't have worked schedule-wise anyway.

There were the usual stops, at McD's for lunch (although a different one than usual), the meat market for meat, a local grocery store for last minute supplies then on to the resort...

The kids, as usual jumped right in the water...although the older ones were remarkably restrained and waited for us to at least unpack their suitcases. Then they helped themselves to their suits. It was really warm today...89 F...and just now at almost midnight the rain is setting in and cooling things down again.

D was in her element today, splashing, digging, running. Two seems a perfect age for this vacation to get the full enjoyment of the small pleasures. Though two also brings things such as naps and early (unwanted) bedtimes.

The K Man found "at least 100 girlfriends" despite our admonitions to not acquire girlfriends and just be a 5 (almost 6)-year-old boy. He spent the evening being carried by older girls (10-11-years-old?) and getting candy from them. His older cousin came back to the cabin and said "K is getting all the girls. No fair!" Then he said it was gross. So. Either gross or not fair. Or something.

M was mad that K was making friends with all the girls too so she had a private fishing lesson with her Daddy instead.

On my way back to the cabin from taking this photo I came upon K and one of his entourage.

Mom? Is it okay if she sleeps over in our cabin?

Uhhhhhhh. NOOOOO.

Well, can I sleep over at her cabin then?

Hmmmm. Still NOOOOOO.

But she has the Wiiiiiiii!

Soooo? So do we at home!!

Girl: Maybe he can come and play the Wii in the daylight time?

Yeah, that would probably be okay. :::Knocking head into wall:::

The boy is not quite six. They make chastity belts for boys, right?

We're here, we're ready. Vacation 2010! Woo hoo!

In photo: T, D, M, E, B, K

(Alphabet kids!)

Counts:

Well, nothing yet since we just got here.

The Adventure of Miss M and Her Mommy

Miss M has asked me many times over the last 3 or 4 years when she will be able to fly in an airplane. We live near an airport and actually go the the airport on occasion just to watch the airplanes. My answers were often flippant and decidedly negative: when we have lots of money ... when you save up your money ... I don't know but it will be a while!

Last week her opportunity literally rode up on the beach at the resort where we were staying. And at first? She said no. She didn't want to go. Her stomach. Her anxiety. These are beginning to dull the spirit of my once-fearless daughter. I reminded her of the many many times she had asked me when she would fly in an airplane. I told her she may never have an opportunity like this again. Still she didn't want to go, until she heard her cousins were going to fly.

Just as the plane was pushed off the beach and the engine was about to fire, one of my nephews wanted to bail out on the adventure. We all had our headphones on so we could hear one another. Miss M heard the nervous request, clutched her stomach and said she wanted out too. My sister-in-law and I pretty much told them they were too late to get out and tried to joke them into smiles.

The photo yesterday is Miss M at takeoff. All smiles, all excitement. She was alternately intrigued and anxious during the short half-hour flight, one minute giggling, the next moaning and holding her stomach.

I, of course, took a lot of photos...166 from the time I entered the plane to when I exited it. I got some great shots as I sat in the co-pilot's seat. The side window was open which offered a delicious breeze on a hot summer day, and also offered an unobstructed view to shoot photos from.

This is one of the highlights of the scenic flight. Pelican Island in Leech Lake.

All those white dots are birds!

Here's an aeriel view of the resort where we stay.

I was glad to have our trusty semi-new Canon Rebel to get some amazing shots on this flight. Miss M perked up a lot when the pilot said we'd be landing soon. She was amazed at the whole process, even with the stomach issues.

Once we stepped out of the plane she shouted "That was awesome, Dude!"

I have to agree.

Take off!

Check out more Wordless Wednesday.

Random Thoughts #35

1. Things that suck? Having your older children wake the baby up so that she spends the next hour screaming. Also? Trying to cut an unwilling toddler's fingernails. Last night, since she was screaming her head off anyway, I cut her nails. DOUBLE the fun.
2. I would like to have someone unpack and do laundry after vacation. Where is my maid?
3. Similarly, we were thinking that we should hire errand boys next year on vacation so that they could run and fetch us whatever we needed from the cabins while we are floating on the lake. This would preferably include serving refreshing beverages.
4. I hurried to get the kids' birthday party invitations done before our vacation so that I would give everyone plenty of notice for their party. Guess where the stamped, addressed invitations spent last week? I wondered why my in-laws didn't get their invitation. Good thing I rushed to get them done. They don't seem to get delivered from my kitchen counter for some reason.
5. My brother-in-law's girlfriend is very blinky.
6. I did something very cool with Miss M on Friday. There will be a hint on Wednesday, then more detail possibly Thursday. (Look at me being all mysterious and stuff!)
7. I added up the number of photos I took on vacation. 2285. One day I only took 56 though, because I took a nap and it was kind of crappy weather anyway. I will try to do better next year. ;) Although the number is a little lower than I actually took, since I deleted several that I knew right away were blurry.
8. Having Miss M and K Man directly next to one another in a car for 3 hours at a stretch is a special kind of Hell.
9. It doesn't take long to get sucked back in to Twitter.
10. I may or may not be marking the 128 posts in my reader as all read. It doesn't mean I love you any less.

Vacation Recap the lazy version

Yeah, so I didn't write a recap for yesterday because, well, I'm enjoying my vacation. And I'm lazy. So here's the lazy butt version which will not include photos at this time because I'm ... you guessed it... lazy. I'll probably add photos when we get home.

So yesterday we drove to Walker, MN to shop and so that I could meet up with Kelley. It was fun to put a face with one of the people I've been talking to on Twitter, and she also contributed that beautiful necklace for the biggest loser in my Aweigh challenge. I asked her to make me a necklace with a black and red bead when she gets home too. Her kids were so cute, and chatted with me like they've known me for ages. They reminded me of Miss M in that respect.

After we chatted with Kelley for a bit, we did some shopping. I got Miss M a cute little purse, and K Man a set of wooden cars and a plane. I got Ms. D a wooden bobble head turtle, and I got myself a figurine with a Mama bear and her three bear cubs. I also bought Ms. D another life vest, since we accidentally brought the toddler jacket instead of our infant one.

Once we got back to the resort the weather was much improved over the previous two days so we took advantage of that and spent some time floating in the water.

Supper was provided by my Aunt Kay and my second cousin Diane...some delicious ham on the grill that I'm sure the rest of the resort was jealous about. We also had baked beans and cheesy potatoes.

Craig took my brother out fishing and they returned with one walleye that my brother caught.

Several of the grown-ups played Scene-It TV edition. It was a close game but my brother and I won.

This morning the kids finally were able to make their tie-dyed T-shirts. You'd think we'd be experts at it by now, but apparently we're not. I also made Ms. D a pillowcase.

The weather warmed up even more today so I spent a good portion of the day floating. Ms. D also had her very first ride in the boat. She liked it mostly, but then she was getting too tired and started crying so we had to cut the trip a little shorter than we'd planned. My mom went with us on the ride, and we spotted several cabins along the shore that we'd take if someone gave it to us. Odds are against that happening I suppose. Darn it.

Supper was at Cabin 14, courtesy of my brother and his wife. Grilled chicken, cheesy potatoes, corn, leftover beans, chips and dip. Yummy of course.

Now I'm sitting on the deck, listening to the birds and the many, many, many children that are here playing. I'm bummed that tomorrow is the last day.

Vacation Monday Recap

I know you're all thrilled that I'm recapping my vacation again. Sometimes I just have to do some stuff on my blog just for my family though. Such is life.

Monday dawned with clouds and sprinkles. The tie-dye T-shirt activity, normally scheduled for today was cancelled and switched with monster pillows. Now that was a labor-intensive process for me. The kids? Not so much. But they are cute pillows anyway.

We were expecting a new fridge for our cabin to arrive sometime in the afternoon as the one that was in there when we arrived had some issues. The freezer compartment didn't so much freeze as it did refrigerate, and the refrigerator compartment froze some things.

Many of the group went to various local towns for assorted reasons. The big kids were frantically moving from the game room to the cabin, back to the game room, up and down the stairs in the cabin...by noon we were fervently hoping for a return to sunny and warm weather.

After lunch, Ms. D took a nap and I stayed in the cabin. It was cool, but even so the kids wanted to put suits on and go swimming. They were denied, so they played in the sand on the beach some more.

I figured since it was cool and I was in the cabin anyway I might as well make the Greek salad. My sister-in-law had picked up some artichoke hearts at the grocery store that morning so yay! Much better. I think. I bet it is, but I haven’t eaten any yet. I should probably do that.

Then after I made the salad I made some beer bread. Craig was slightly disappointed in me for “wasting” a beer, but I just told him I drank it at noon instead of using it in bread so then we were cool.

Ms D was still napping when my mom returned from Walker and my mom discovered I’d made beer bread. She not so subtly put out her brownie mix that she’d brought because she thought it would be “fun” to make while we were here. For the record, it was ME that made the brownies, and it was not that fun.

The kids (minus K Man who instead hit on an older girl down at the beach. Oh Lordy, we’re in trouble with that boy. Do they make chastity belts for boys?) wanted to go fishing off the dock while Craig and my brother went fishing in the boat. My dad set up three fishing poles and led the other three down to the dock that they’ve fished from previous years.

I have to say I was impressed with how long the kids fished. They caught a few little perch, just enough to keep their interest for a while.

Did I mention we’re in a different cabin this year? And that it’s AWESOME? And that our old cabins cry a little bit every time we are near them? NO? Well, it is, and they do. Seriously, as cabins at this resort go, ours is the mansion. Also? It has a dishwasher. As in…something I do not have at home. LUXURY! I should mention I do not know how to operate said dishwasher, but there are others around who can turn it on after I’ve loaded it.

Supper was courtesy of Craig and I. We had a taco bar, so people could have a soft taco or taco salad, plus black beans and corn. I always worry that I didn’t provide enough, but I think maybe we had just the right amount. Family? Feel free to tell me otherwise. Just leave a comment…or, you know, tell me.

After supper I went outside to try to finish the kids’ Webkinz stuff (yes, I do have issues) and took Ms. D out with me. Shortly afterward my mom came to take Ms. D inside. I commented to my cousin Chelsea that I needed to go in and nurse Ms. D so I could have a drink, if the baby hadn’t already fallen asleep. I thought I was joking but sure enough, D had fallen asleep. I tried to take her upstairs to the pack-n-play but she woke up as soon as I picked her up. So I laid in the bed and nursed her in hopes she would drift back off. Not so much. She finished nursing, sat up and started jabbering at me. She was up for another 3 hours or so. So THAT was fun. Note to Amma: No naps for the baby after supper. Thanks!

Craig took my dad out fishing after supper while the kids ran around the resort and I tried in vain to get the baby back to sleep. They returned a few hours later with my dad coming into the cabin telling me my husband required my photography down at the dock. He’d caught a 28-inch Northern Pike, which was too big to keep.

He also caught three bass that he did keep and that the big kids went to “surgery” to watch their filleting.

The kids adjourned to their beds shortly after the massacre. Sweet dreams kids!

So later in the evening I went to use the bathroom and discovered that someone had installed the toilet paper backwards. Who does that? Under? Really? That’s just wrong. I let it slide until the next time I needed to use it, then I had to change it to the right way. Yeah. No quotation marks around “right” in that last sentence because yes, it is the right way.
Man I love it when we’re here.

Vacation recap Day 1

The kids and I all slept late on Sunday, K slept in the latest of everyone. He’d fallen out of bed during the night and had any number of other issues. Even exhaustion from the trip here couldn’t bring him a sound slumber until late (or early). The baby, once given the opportunity to sleep, slept through the night and well past her customary waking time.

The kids had run around Saturday afternoon trying to do it all the first hours we were here.

Our Sunday was pleasant, s little cool and breezy in the morning, and while the breeze didn’t subside much during the day, the clouds showed some mercy and were intermittent instead of a constant overcast.

Miss M, ever social, made several friends, even talking some adults into going down the waterslide and floating on rafts with her. It is not unusual for most of the resort to know her name by the end of the first day. As per normal, she spent most of the day in the water, only being coaxed out for a brief lunch and enticed out by a free sundae (which she ate with another family) at the resort’s ice cream social.

K spent more time in the water than he has previous years, but still prefers to be on the beach, digging canals and driving trucks. His stories-made up on the spot-are spoken aloud although he is the only one playing.

Even Ms. D got her suit on and had her first float in the water. She spent hours playing in the sand, exploring and learning new textures.

And since I couldn’t get in the water last year, I braved the still-somewhat-frigid water to test out my big daisy floatie. It’s big enough to float me and two kids, but K-Man was most often my floating partner.

Supper: Everyone was pretty much on our own. My family had steak and baked potatoes (crocked potatoes? Upon my sister-in-law’s suggestion, I cooked the potatoes in a crock pot. They turned out just delicious!)

Craig went fishing with my cousin Justin and came back with 4 rock bass, 1 large-mouth bass and 1 northern pike. He kept all the bass and returned the northern to the water.

My cousin Chelsea, my sister-in-law, my mom and I played a game of Trivial Pursuit DVD Pop Culture. Chelsea won while the big kids watched Air Bud and Ms. D fell asleep on Boppa’s shoulder.

Vacation is underway!

Vacation Recap: June 20 and 21...And THE END

Waaah! Last day!!

There are no scheduled resort activities today so we plan to go to Longville this morning with B and K to get some ice cream. (M and E got some yesterday.)

I've been asked approximately 143 times when I'm going in the boat but I just don't think that the bumps would be very good for my incision, especially since it is just starting to heal.

The day started lovely again. I haven't been able to do a lot of the usual activities that I do up here since I have Ms. D and my incision issues, but I really wanted to come this year anyway for Miss M and K Man. They were looking forward to the trip since we left last year.

It's fun to think that next year we'll probably have Ms. D toddling along, trying to keep up with her siblings and cousins.

The trip to Longville took two cars to hold everyone since all 5 grandchildren decided to go, plus me, Craig, Kristi, Amma and one of my Aunts. Craig got more gas for the boat and filled up the truck for the trip home tomorrow.

We headed to Frosty's for a refreshing ice cream cone or bowl. It was quite delicious. B rode in our truck with K, D, Craig and I on the way back to the resort. B was feeling a little cranky at Frosty's because he had to share the rubber balls he got out of a machine with his little brother. His sour mood didn't last long on the ride though. It was nothing a little Korn and some rockin' out couldn't fix.

Back at the resort, the kids did some more tubing and the other adults did some floating. D and I hung out on the beach for a little while, then headed to the cabin to nurse and then get the laptop. We went to the lodge for Webkinz duty. On the way there, we witnessed K and E pouring water down their swim trunks. Apparently it was a good time.

Supper was pork sandwiches. Yada, yada, yada, it was yummy and so on.

After supper my Aunt braided my hair like she used to when I was a kid --which she now does for M when we're on vacation.

Evening activities included deflating rafts, getting things packed and watching a little TV. Also lamenting the fact that the vacation was over.

On the ride home, K started to complain that his seat belt was too tight on his tummy. I blew him off impatiently and told him he just needed to keep his seat belt on and I didn't want to hear any more complaining.

Naturally, he barfed moments later.

Once he got the yuckies out of his tummy though he seemed fine. We got him cleaned up and the rest of the trip home was uneventful other than a stop at my uncle's house for a short lunch/birthday party for him.

I'm ready for next year. Sort of.

More June 19th photos

I think this last photo is saying "Mom, you're whack."