alone with Eliza

After six years I have finally figured out an important girl thing. Eliza's dream date is NOT a single night of shopping, a bike ride, going to the movies, or even the Build a Bear fantasy store. Eliza's perfect night is a two hour marathon of fast-paced, back-to-back, five minute activites; and SHE gets to choose. So Friday when the Dad took the boys (minus the Guatemalan) to the father son campout, we got down to business.
Do hair--5 mintues
Italian Sodas at the Cafe--5 minutes
paint toenails (and toes)--5 minutes
play at the park--5 minutes
etc--5 mintues
etc--5 minutes
etc--5 minutes
She finally collapsed in front of the "Enchanted" movie (longer than 5 minutes) and we determined the night to be a great success.

The boys had a great time camping. The tent poles weren't packed so they all slept under the night sky watching for shooting stars. The temperature hit 96 and Tony reports that he had the best ski of his life on perfect glass. The big boys loved fishing and playing capture the flag until midnight. This year I finally embraced the important father/son campout rule: don't pack change of clothes, pajamas, underwear, toothbrushes or soap. Do pack Hershey bars, marshmellows, swimsuits and soda.

Our field trip last week was to Cheney to ride my favorite Fish Lake Bike trail. We met cousin Corbin and Aunt Kimberly there and ended the day with ice cream and a visit to Grandma Abuelita. Corbin came to stay with us for a few days and it was nice to have the return of the "Corbin Rippy Show." Very entertaining as always.

For Service Day we took cookies and lemonade to the lifegaurds. I am not too proud to admit that this was a peace offering for enduring swimming lessons with an anxiety ridden Maxwell. He gets a little less neurotic every day, but we have yet to see even a hint of enjoyment.

The boys each ironed a Sunday shirt this week--check that off the list. It is amazing how accomplished one can feel when one sets very low standards for oneself.

sandpoint, schweitzer, silverwood

cooper- everything was fun. well I think bumper boats was the funest. They ae building a new roller coster you go about 175 feet up then its a strait drop down. We whent with the Workmens I was too tall to go on some little kid rides. I didnt go on tremers because I always bounce around. It really hurt last year because I wayed 55 pounds. the wave pool had a wave that was 10 feet tall. I got lots of water up my nose. in the shallow end ther was waves like 5 feet tall! one of the water slides was dark and then you hit water you will get water up your nose

The big payoffs for growing up as the only girl with four brothers clearly come during adulthood. What a great weekend we all had together for Tyler and Chelsea's visit. I don't think I will ever stop being amazed at how well my brothers married. My sister's in law fascinate me. They are all four strong women with very distinct personalities, tastes, and preferences. At first I loved them because they loved my brothers. Now I love them because I have discovered what incredible individuals they are. I love Stacy's confidence, Jill's complete lack of "woosiness", Kimberly's poise and class and Chelsea's focus and ambition.

Friday night we all went to dinner as adults (all Rippy's love Thai) and then back to Mom and Dad's to talk and laugh and eat ice cream. Hainsworths watched my kids and even let us crash at their house for the night. What would we do without them.

Saturday Grandma took the little girls to the mall to the "Build-a-Bear" store where they all got to pick out a stuffed animal and outfit. The girls LOVED it. We also spent a bit of time shoe shopping at the Nordstrom Rack. As much as I hate shopping in malls, I have to admit that shoe shopping unites women.

While the women bonded over shoes, The guys went to play minature golf and race go-carts. Apparently Max scored two holes in one. We met up at Riverfront park for picnic lunch, a walk to the falls and of course, a ride on the carousel. It was perfect weather and other than the fact that it was gay pride day at the park, the scenery was beautiful. That evening the guys squeezed in another waterski at Long Lake while the kids had water-balloon fights and the moms and babies rested.

Sunday after church we had the pleasure of hosting Natalie, the Kolb's Swedish exchange student, and her parents for lunch before they flew out. The discrepency between hick mormon families with 5 kids and classy European professionals with one kid was gratefully overshadowed by their overwhelming kindness. I think the Kolbs are amazing for hosting Natalie this semester and I know Natalie had a life changing experience.

We met back at Cameron's for dinner on Sunday for delicious ribs and homemade ice cream. We took family pictures and enjoyed Cam and Jill's new house. I put Dad on the spot and asked him to say a few words. He pretty much summed up what I had been feeling all weekend. It is such a blessing to be in a family that just gets along. What makes it even better is that because of the blessings of the gospel, we can continue to have these happy get togethers forever-eternally. I could tell Mom and Dad were genuinely happy. Having my kids get along makes me happy. It must be extra special when it includes spouses and children.

We had such a busy weekend that I was very glad to have my summer schedule ready to go Monday morning. It helped immensely that the weather was beautiful and the pool opened on time. We had chores done, scriptures read and lunches packed by 9:00. The kids had piano lessons and played until lunch, had mandatory reading hour without complaint and then were off to the pool. The snack shack opened at three and was a big success. I loved that no one asked for food all day because the KITCHEN WAS CLOSED!

Today was Tuesday Field trip day. We started with a visit to a prosthetics office to assess the possibility of a helmet to straighten out Marcos' head. Despite the fact that he has a head surface you could literally eat off of, the helmet people report he has good symmetry and his flat spot is not considered severe. Lucky Marcos--now he won't have to wear that hot helmet all summer. We'll just have to compensate with good haircuts.

We spent the rest of the morning hiking at the Dishman Mica trail. I stepped back just for a minute and tried to etch in my mind the picture of my 5 kids walking through the beautiful forest with the light filtering through the pine trees on their heads. They were walking close to each other listening intently as Wilson told them a story from his self described "intense imagination." That moment is exactly what I think summer should be about. We finished our hike with a picnic a the park and then ran a few more errands. We visited the Museum of Arts and Culture to fill in a little time before our movie. I don't think the kids enjoyed the art, but it was good exposure, even for a few brief moments. We ended our day with a movie at the dollar theatre and enjoyed popcorn and root beer floats for dinner. Tony was on call tonight so I let the boys swim while I put the little ones to bed. I let the big boys put themselves to bed and went for a moonlight run (reason #4576 why I love living in a small town).

It's been a great start to summer.

field trip

Today Mom and I went on a field trip to Cat Tails in Spokane. We were supposed to go to the Imax, but we didn't make it in time. If you don't think a Liger is real--they are totally real; I saw him. When you see the tiger on the beginning of an MGM movie that roars, we saw that one. We went to the Carousel too. Once I started getting the rings, I never missed one. I got the gold one, but I threw it in the clown's mouth. We played at Riverfront park too. We had a fun time playing. We climbed on the tires of the big red wagon slide. We went down the slide too. Some kids threw up on the way home, but I didn't. It was a fun day, just Mom and me.

black jokes

Max announces: "Hey look at the TV everybody, can you see the robot?" We look. We see nothing but a dark screen.

"You can't see him because he's black!" Hysterical laughing from Max. I don't care what any professional transracial adoption specialist says--I have one well-adjusted black, mormon, adopted, hick son.

Max is also the official olfactory police. He loves to loudly proclaim, "Somebody fahted. Who fahted? It smells like a big faht in heah." (gagging and wretching sounds) "Mom, open the window and let the faht out!" I hope I don't regret including this in our family history blog. I also hope Max grows out of this phase soon.

Max has officially learned to ride a bike. he is our youngest rider, age 3 and 3/4. Now he can ride to the library and pool by himself. Hooray Max!

Wilson finished his baseball season tonight with a double-header. He seemed more relaxed and was always first or second up to bat. He probably scored 5 runs. It's always nice to have something positive to focus on with this boy.

We all had the stomach flu this week in this order: Cooper, Max, Tony, Kelly, Wilson, Marcos and Eliza. Tony even took Thursday off of work due to unpredictable bowell behavior. It was gross and thankfully, short-lived.

Saturday was the nicest relaxing day. Tony started us out with blueberry pancakes in bed. (What the heck, we needed to change sheets anyway.) We actually accomplished a family work project and painted the pantry together. All of us, painting together. I cannot empahasize enough what an incredible feat that was. It was still pouring rain so we threw the kids in the rig, grabbed a couple of neighbor kids and a box of cup of noodle soups and went to Steptoe Butte. It was freezing cold and rainy but we had fun hiking. Some of us even made it to the top. Everyone slept well that night except for Eliza, who spent the night throwing up.

I don't know if I am in jeopardy of losing my testimony over this, but I love two hour church. While our building is under construction, we have a shortened church schedule wherein we attend Sacrament meeting and then primary, Relief Society and Priesthood classes. It's been a little hectic while we get used to meeting in a high school, but it does also prove that it's not the building that defines a church; it's the people and the spirit. What a great time to be primary president. I don't have to worry about filling teacher callings until Christmas!

Sunday was high school graduation in St John. We hosted a little get together for our friend Roi Tubio. I have never seen two cobblers and 3 full homemade ice cream freezers disappear so quickly. Tony actually made frozen custard, vanilla and chocolate, which might explain the quick consumption. It was a beautiful day and I felt really grateful to have a beautiful house and yard for people to enjoy. Sometimes I get discouraged about all the fix up we need to do and forget how lucky I am to live in a real live doll house.

This is the last week of school. The book I ordered, "Surviving Summer" was a big disappointment. I was looking for things like, "How to Deal with Children who are Hungry every 20 Mintues," and "Painful Punishments for Children who Tattletale." It should have at least inlcuded a chapter on how to teach small black boys not to gag and choke and ask insensitive questions about "who fahted?" in public places. I want my money back.