Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes - though I'm wishing I wasn't celebrating my 39th birthday!  However, as a dear friend of mine explained to me about approaching my soon-to-be 40's, I am a C.I.T. - Cougar In Training.  For those of you who are unaware of this term, or the term of Cougar, my personal definition of a Cougar is a woman who is in her 40's and dates men in their 20's.  Of course, like Duke has stated, he doesn't see any 20 year old's lining up at our doorstep, but I told him to give me some time!

Also a belated happy birthday to my cousin Alice and my cousin Greg - we are all in the same week!

It was a quiet celebration with just Duke and Gannon, so that was nice, though we didn't have any number 9 candles, so I was either 34 or 43 (Gannon IS only 4 years old)...I'll share birthday pics soon!  I need to finish our camping trip and yes, my damn harddrive is still dead!  I need to send it in to the Geek Squad or something to get the data retrieved and they had better be able to do it or I will be heartbroken!  Serves me right to store ALL my photos in one place...

Anyway, back to camping...we hit the little swim/beach area on Friday, July 3rd and I have to be honest - I'm not much of a "swimmer" in places that I can't see the bottom to.  Plus I don't like dirt on my feet and I especially do not like to walk in water barefoot as I'm not sure what is lurking down there.  Of course neither of the boys cared and I had to chase down Brandyn's flip flops a few times before it floated off.

They loved their squirt guns....I think I spent the rest of the weekend reprimanding the both of them to NOT squirt people in the face.  I even confiscated them once, but those sneaky boys found them later.

Don't even ask...

Happy boys, not a great beach...and the water, yuk!  But it was that or deal with the damn heat, so in I went, though not happily.  One of the ladies from our group brought her lab down to cool off and he pooped into the water, which kind of freaked me out because guess who was splashing the water around into their faces????  Fortunately, the water was already murky, so what the hell right (I went right home and took a shower though).

Back at the camp...and this little girl LOVED Neo, and I was so proud that Neo not once grrrrr'd at her, though I was kind of sad to think that he really must hate Gannon! LOL

Gannon just couldn't get enough of the baseball, while Brandyn watched from the sidelines relaxing!  Later, it was Hawaiian themed night, so all the gents wore their Hawaiian shirts!

The boys in their tent....Gannon lasted no more than 3 hours.  I guess waking up in the middle of the night in the pitch dark and not knowing where you are could freak a kid out...

After putting the kids to bed, we then dragged them out to roast marshmellows and make smores - not a great idea to each chocolate and marshmellows before going to bed!  But it was vacation time so who cares!

On the Fourth, we were supposed to have decorated the boys bikes for a camp ground parade, but they for some reason were not interested (I think they were still sleepy)...so I just decorated them.  My little Patriots!  And no the streamers DID not last long...but it was cute while it lasted!

I actually thought Brandyn was saluting everyone as they rode by, but then found out later that was him just shading his eyes from the sun...

Though I could pass these two off as mini-patriots! LOL

It was off to the boating - Duke's cousin Dale, Debbie, Gabby and us all met up at the dock for a day filled with water, sun, and sand...LOTS of sun...Duke ended up with what I would refer to as 3rd degree burns...and you can see the area that he missed when he sprayed himself wth 50 SPF!  Thank god Gannon has my complexion and has good skin - my little brown baby!

My man in all his glory...

I do believe out of all of us, Neo had the best time ever!  He got to ride the boat, play on the beach non-stop (with all the kids around there were plenty of people to throw the ball for him), and all the dropped food he could eat!

Cleo, on the other hand, not so much fun...but she was smarter than I thought as when she would get hot, she would just go walk into the water to cool off.  Not crazy about the boat ride though...

So the first thing we did was go trout fishing, which believe it or not, I had a great time and so did the boys!  Thank you cousin DALE!

Dale, the master baiter...hahaha...

Gannon's fish!

 And then off to the beach - and would you believe I talked Gannon into riding the inner tube?  It was a first for me as well as for him AND Brandyn!  The first time, Gannon hung on for dear life and just kept repeating "No no no no no no....", but then after he was done, he wanted to go again and faster!  Brandyn meanwhile had watched Gannon and decided that he wanted to do it to so they all had a spin and a great time!  So proud that they were fearless!  I think playing around with the tubes on the beach helped them overcome their fear a bit...

Gannon and his cousin Gabby....

Roasting Duke...

So Gannon and I rode first with cousin Daleen & Dennis..

Then Duke went out for a ride while Dennis wakeboarded (not sure what the correct term here is...)

Gannon was the flag person....

Then the boys and cousin Gabby!

The look of abject terror...yet Gannon had that shi*t-eating grin on his face the whole time!

Gabby and her feet!

Then time to go home!  Long day but I think we all had a great time!

Duke and Gannon holding on...

Brandyn, retrospecting... LOL

Back at the campground, we had a fantastic dinner and then our group photos!  Apparently this is the 3rd year they have all gathered, so we were honored to have been included and plan to be back next year! 

Gannon actually broke out and break danced that night in front of everyone!  It was actually amazing that he had the nerve, but I think he was also trying to impress the girls that were there watching and dancing....

Saying goodbye the next day...

 Gannon sleeping in what falsely appears to be a very comfortable bed....

Packed up and ready to go!

And that was our weekend of camping!  See you guys next year!

Happy 4th of July to everyone! 

So this year, we got invited to join a group camping trip down near Medford, at a place called Lost Lake.  Pretty exciting for us as Duke has been wanting to go camping ever since we moved back from Singapore a few years ago, but never really planned ahead (ie, making reservations at a camp ground - recall last year, during Labor Day when Duke, clutching a list of nearby campgrounds in hand, decided on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend to take Gannon camping.  After driving to all 10 sites did it finally click with Duke that he had to have made reservations in advance and that he couldn't just show up on one of the major camping holidays of the year and just pitch a tent.  So Gannon, until this weekend, always thought roasting marshmellows were done with a Bic lighter.). 

We invited one of Gannon's best buds to join us on this trip as we thoguht it would make it more fun for Gannon - having Brandyn there along with 30 other kids definitely made the trip worthwhile!  But made us realize how much work TWO kids were to just having ONE...I'm pretty sure that on the average, I probably said the word "share" every 5 minutes for 4 days.  Gannon should know how to spell the damn word by now...

Anyway, we were panicking slightly on Thursday morning when we started to actually pack our car - with two adults, two kids, two dogs and one car, I have to say the only thing we forgot was the muffins we left in our refridgerator!  Not bad though what a waste of my time to write a list down on 12 post-it notes as if I had actually used those lists that day, I wouldn't have forgotten the muffins.

Could we have crammed another item into this car??????????

The boys before the long road trip ahead...

IT WAS HOT!  My god...did not expect it to be so hot...I think the next trip I may ask Duke to drop me off at the local hotel - A/C, nice bed, no dirt, no bugs, clean bathroom floor - yes, I am a total city girl.  Roughing it for me would be having an RV...which I'm trying to convince Duke to buy now, whether we camp once a year or not.  Luckily we were right there next to the bathroom and the later discovery of a local bee hive...nice....

So Duke took Gannon's training wheels off to pack the bikes on top of the car, but somehow missed bringing a piece that held the wheel to the bike, so Gannon attempted to ride his bike the first night we were there, but after falling off several times, he gave up that activity.  Though Brandyn and him did make a valiant attempt at trying to fix the wheel themselves - panicking Duke for a moment as they had found Duke's coveted tools and then casually tossed those said tools into the trees.

 Scott and Duke, doing what they both now they are best at....

Duke trying to reenact the spinning bat stunt...

Boys will be boys - baseball....

One thing I did discover over the weekend was how much boys, kids LOVE water - whether it comes from the hose, a balloon, squirt gun, sprinkler or lake, it doesn't mater as long as it is water, they can entertain themselves for HOURS!  One of Duke's friend's brought a sprinkler head for the kids to play in (GENIUS!) and I think Gannon and Brandyn spent a good 2 hours playing with it...amazing...

Having lunch before heading to the beach...

  Summer, not summer, summer, not summer...we have been fluctuating up and down for the past 3 months with our weather!  One day we have showers and clouds, the next, we are dying of heat!  It's unfortunate as Gannon hasn't had much opportunity to play out in the backyard, but we did one weekend where we were able to set up all his stuff so that he could be out in the pool and play in the sand.  The yard is not quite what we want it to be, but because we haven't decided if we are going to actually BUY this house, we wanted to invest as little money as possible into it until we decide.  Of course now that I've been laid off, we aren't sure what we are going to do though the option to move OUT of Oregon is much more realistic as we chose to stay  put simply because of my job with my company.  Now the world can be ours! LOL

So here is Gannon enjoying his new pool (that we had to fill twice because the first time, we forgot we have a fricking ski slope and so the round pool turned kidney shaped and all the water sloshed to the bottom - terrible way to build this house and manage the land!  No wonder the builder went bankrupt!!!! (That's a WHOLE another story...)

WHAT is it about kids and water??????  And bugs....below is Gannon's new friend the BUG!  YUK!  I'd rather he bring home frogs and snakes than insects....

Sometimes I can still see the "baby" in Gannon...boy I miss those days, yet I do love how he is able to function as a small human...we can get him to do more stuff for us now...

As soon as we can, we are going to get him signed up for martial arts - I think it is the Asian in him to gives him the natural forms...

Showing us how he holds a bat and swings it....amazingly enough, he has the same form as Duke...where he holds the bat up really high....

Showing us his throw...

Jumping into a very shallow pool...

Then our friends Sheri & Aric came by with their son Brayden to join in the fun!

Thus our attempt at summer begins!

 Well, apparently I'm not meant to have a boring and uneventful life - I was just notified last week that I was laid off from my job, which ironically, would have been 8 years in August!  SOOOO, having joined the ranks of Breast Cancer survivors I am now joining the ranks of the unemployed - anyone need an experience Marketing Manager????

To top off my already emotionally traumatizing week, my portable harddrive crashed on me, so Gannon's entire life in photos and video are currently in hiatus until I can get the damn thing sent out for data recovery!  Shame on me for not making a back-up though that is what I considered that portable harddrive to be.  The plus is I can at least be "pseduo" current with my postings, since the past 3 months are on that drive and unaccessible at this time.

Here we go!

In late June we attended the wedding of Duke's best friend from high school, Matt and his new wife Sandra - we had a great time and so did Gannon after his meltdown.  They held it at this place called Edgefield McMeniman's - and surprisingly enough,. that was Duke and my first time ever there and it was an amazing place!  Beautiful scenery and it reminded me of a college campus as they had buildings all over the place with their own names and speciality drinks, beer.  Very neat!

We left pretty early as it was on a Friday at 5 and we were worried about being stuck in traffic - that said, we arrived an hour and a half early and Gannon had fallen asleep.  THAT being said, we thought GREAT, he gets his snooze in, then he will be happy and good to go by the time the wedding started.  Somehow that backfired on us as when he woke up an hour later he was possessed!  Talk about a very public meltdown!

Before the meltdown in the car....

So Duke and I didn't really think about how Gannon looked sleeping in the booth until after I took the picture - then we kind of freaked because it looked like Gannon was sleeping in a coffin (so to add some realism Duke adjusted Gannon's arms)....we did check often to make sure he waa still breathing.

Duke and me before the storm, Hurricane Gannon....

And he's ALIVE....and PISSED OFF!

Duke's nature photo - supposedly there is a bird in the photo...

The reception line..

Still grouchy....

However, rose petals make the perfect distraction and defintiely draws the evil OUT!

It was pretty hot in the room, and Matt, between nerves and the heat was feeling it!

Beauthful harp music - very elegant yet simple wedding!  Congratulations to Matt & Sandra!

The beautiful bride!

We all read some vows as part of the ceremony...

And the first dance....

Duke was also the MC for the event so that was fun for him...plus he was asked to make a toast, so Duke wrote one out earlier in the week to prepare!

Gannon did great - after he found the other kids.  And we used to worry about Gannon not being social!!!!

Listening to the toasts...below is Josh, Matt's brother and best man...

Duke giving his speech.... 

Cutting the cake...

And of course all the kids were there waiting!

Gannon and one of Duke's school friend's Alfie...

Making new friends - Paul & William!

Alf, Duke, Josh and Gannon!

And there you have it!