Sunday, June 30, 2013

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Kidspeak

While riding in the car with Bogey (the PALS' grandpa), the kids got into a discussion about dogs and what dogs we owned as kids ...

Adah: "Mom, what was the name of your dog when you were a little girl?"

Me: "Well, his name was Barney. Daddy had a dog too. Ask him what her name was."

Sam: "What was her name Dad?"

Matt: "Her name was Candy."

Lots of laughs because apparently that is an hilarious name.

Peyton: "Bogey, did you have a dog?"

Bogey: "Yes, I had a few dogs."

Peyton: "What kind of dogs were they? What were their names?"

Bogey: "Well, one of them was a toy poodle."

Silence

Peyton: "Uh, Bogey? We're talking about real dogs, not your toys."


Thursday, June 20, 2013

Powerless, Chasing Waterfalls, and Kindercamp

We've had a quite a busy week that kicked off last weekend with a lovely power outage! Last Thursday we had a quick thunderstorm move through our area that brought down a ton of trees near us. In fact, a huge oak came down that blocked our street. We live at the end of a dead end street, so we were literally trapped! Luckily, Matt had his car at work so we at least had one car with access to the outside world until they had a chance to remove the tree.

With all the downed trees came a power outage as well. Lots of people in the area lost power and I assumed it would come back on within a few hours. However, once 10pm rolled around and we were still using candles and flashlights, I knew it may be a while. The power company told us  Friday that it probably wouldn't be up until Monday, so we packed up ourselves and our refrigerator's contents and moved to a place with power! Luckily we were able to salvage our fridge and freezer's contents, so we were happy about that.

Since we were facing another powerless day on Saturday, we decided to tick an item off the ole summer bucket list and take the kids hiking in nearby Hanging Rock State Park. The weather was perfect (mid-70's) and they had a blast running the trails and discovering hidden gems along the way.





















We saw several waterfalls and got a chance to feel how cold the water was while enjoying some great scenery.






















Sam "Map Man" Clifford gave us some good navigation tips and led us to the rock garden after lunch. I think this was the kids favorite part because they could climb, climb, climb.






















We stopped for milkshakes on the way home and found out upon our return to the house that the power was coming back on!! Yay for false estimations by the power department! So we were able to move back home Saturday night, which was a welcome relief. You sometimes don't realize how much you take for granted with ready, available power until it is taken away.

This week has been packed as well as the triplets have been at Kindercamp! Their new elementary school does a little camp each summer for rising kindergarten students that introduces them to the school, their class, and their teachers. It's a great way to give them a taste of what school will be like before the actual start of school in August. We are splitting the three of them into separate classes for the first time this year, so I was a bit nervous about that. They did great and were all lucky to have a friend or two in each of their classes as well. It's made them even more excited to start school in the fall, but I'm still planning on enjoying a couple more months of summer first!

Monday, June 17, 2013

Picture of the Week - June 16

Happy Father's Day to the best dad I know. We love you!

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Please Sir, I Want S'mores

In Peyton, Sam, Adah, and Luke's opinion, this is the BEST reason to have a fire pit.





















Wearing your PJs is completely optional ... but it makes it a whole lot more fun!

And I apologize for the vague Oliver! reference in my title. My Broadway-lovin' self couldn't help it.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Picture of the Week - June 9

Someone had a lot of legos and a lot of time on their hands ...

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Instagramnation

I'm a big Instagram lover and I know that a lot of people who read this blog are too. I also just realized that I've never let y'all know who I am on Instagram in case you want to follow me and our family! So, if you'd like, follow our family on Instagram under the name joclifford. Hope to see you all there!

Here's a few pictures of what you're missing ...




Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Oh Yeah, We Went to Florida

Ok, I am a slacker because we just got back from our first family vacation of the summer over five days ago and I haven't updated a thing. I guess I've already slipped into the nonchalant and comatose mindset of summer. You've heard of "mommy brain"? Well, I've got "summer brain" and it's already making me a bit lazy.

We literally left for Florida the day after the kids got out of school. This is a great vacation time of year for Matt and we figured we'd get down there before it got too hot. And the weather was exceptional. Low 80's and not much humidity at all, which is just how I like it.

Our time there read a little like this:

Pool
Beach
Ice Cream
Repeat

Seriously, the kids were in the water non-stop and we got to enjoy a few days at the beach as well. I'm so lucky that Matt likes to play at the beach rather than sit (or so he says, maybe he's just being nice). Me? I want to park it in a chair with a book. And I got to do just that for a few days, which was lovely.






















The sunsets were picturesque and the people dolphin watching was plentiful.






















There was also a bit of kite flying and some pretty worn out kids.






















In between all of our beachin' and poolin's and sunnin', we managed to fit in a short visit to see the Mouse. It was just as fun as it was in October and it was so easy because we knew just what we wanted to do based on our last trip. The kids made it through a long day and we topped it off with their first Main Street Electrical Parade. It was well worth the late night. The looks on their faces were priceless and it was definitely a magical memory for them.





















This is the only picture I have from Disney this time. Too busy having fun!

It was a great trip. The car ride was long (the kids actually DID NOT want to watch any movies on the rides there AND back), but it was worth it for all the fun we always have. We are possibly heading back down to Florida later this summer, but I'm glad we got such a great trip in early. No we're back home and ready for a few weeks of pool and camp before we head off on our next adventure. Hello Summer!