July 13, 2009
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C.I.T. - Cougar In Training....MEOW!
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!
