Summer trip to Tennessee- July 2007

July 8, 2007

I starting writing this July 8, but got so overwhelmingly busy that it has taken until today to actually finish it! I took a major final this week, completed 3 lessons, am taking 2 midterms next week, and registered for 3 more classes. That is in addition to Marisa going to college for kids every day taking 3 courses at Coe College: French, Psychology, and a literary class on Laura Ingles Wilder. She even made a doll from corn husk today. Very cool. The other 3 kids started swimming lessons at the Marion pool and are truly enjoying it. We also have band lessons, orchestra lessons, violin private lessons, etc. It has been a very busy week. Anyway…
We arrived home Saturday night after a fun-filled part family reunion in Tennessee. It was a long drive, but we had a good time. I should have kept notes since I don’t remember everything we did. Maybe Nina remembers better or wrote it up in her blog?? I also have Nina to thank for pictures since I was too tired to get my camera out! I will post some fun pics on the website. It was so great to have Grandma and Grandpa Ribera make the trip to come see us as well.

Saturday: We stopped off in Macomb to pick up Marisa from the Harts and grab some lunch. We arrived in Indianapolis that evening and went to Steak and Shake for dinner. The food was great!

Sunday: We drove to Knoxville, Tennessee, to my sister, Nina’s house. My parents also came. It was so fun to be all together. We played games and enjoyed the company.

Monday: We noticed Alayna’s eyes weren’t doing well. We ended up taking her to a walk-in clinic where we got medicine for pink eye and a staph infection starting on her nose. She was also running a fever. Great start for a vacation don’t you think?? Ninas car was leaking something as well, so she had to take it into the shop.
In the afternoon, we all went to see the new movie Ratatooie (sp?) It was adorable and all the kids seemed to love it. Then we headed down to a fun little park where the kids waded in the pond, in bare feet with water skeeters.
In the evening we started our game challenges with a round of Trivial Pursuit. We sure had a funny group…hey, brothers in Logan, ask dad about “One potato, two potato”!

Tuesday: We went to the bowling alley for a morning of silly entertainment. The kids were so fun to watch. With Kayla sliding half way down the alley with her ball, or Marisa throwing hers backwards, it was definitely entertaining. I think we all did quite well, and no, I am not admitting to you that we used the bumpers as well. Sh!
In the afternoon, the kids made tie-dye shirts (red white and blue). We also blew up the pool, (with air, silly’s!) and the kids played in the sprinklers and slid down the slip-n-slide.
We played the Name that Tune for the 80s on a DVD. Boy did that bring back memories. Our kids sat there shocked we knew the words and more shocking was the fact that we all dressed so hideously for an entire decade. Oh well.

Wednesday: We had fun 4th of July celebrations. We took family pictures in the morning, and played a HUGE game of Super UNO for the afternoon. What a fun game! For the evening, the kids did sparklers and we were able to watch fireworks on the deck from several different areas around town.

Thursday: We left Knoxville early in the morning and dropped mom off in Nashville. She got to spend a day alone in a quiet hotel before her flight left Saturday.
We drove into Indianapolis and went straight to the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. (Discover the world’s largest children’s museum where you can walk among the dinosaurs, ride a vintage carousel and explore art, science and history like never before!) It was a free night for families, but apparently everyone in Indiana knew and came as well. It was so crowded, but we got to see some cool stuff. The BEST part was the spy kids- when you entered you actually got an ID, you did body scans, ID scans, had to go through a room without attracting lasers, all the time gathering info, etc. It was too crowded to do it all, which bummed Marisa out bad. So, maybe I will track where that goes next so we can try again. Tyler got to see a skeleton of a SuperCroc, which was so awesome. I will attach the pic where Tyler and Alayna look scared because it is going to eat them.

Friday: We decided to stay in town and go to the zoo even though we had two kids with pink eye, two with a cold, and one with an upset tummy. It was so hot but BOY did we have a blast! We went to the worlds largest shark touch tank and all got to pet some sharks. So cool! We saw the dolphin show, the birds of prey show (where we saw a falcon snatch a dead mouse out of the air that the guy threw), and animals in your backyard show. Got to view dolphins from an underground dome, and view penguins who swam below our feet. We came back exhausted, so the kids went in the pool to cool off.

Saturday: We drove home from Indianapolis. We started the journey off by having a great brunch at IHOP. It should have only taken about 6 hours, but instead, since we stopped several times, it took over 8. We were all worn out by the time we got home. Thanks to Nina for letting us borrow some movies- it really helped pass the time!!
When we got home, we had a phone call from the city water dept saying that there was a huge flooding of a street and they tracked it to our backyard. Apparently one of our kids left the hose on, it burst, and then proceeded to water the entire neighborhood for several days. They were calling to let us know why our water bill will be severely high next month. Welcome home!!
We also found our robber bunnies had snuck in and helped themselves to our garden. The Japanese beetles had eaten my roses and all our grape plants. The ground squirrels ate my new Lillies. That was the last straw- we have now declared a full scale war!! If you hear a BBgun, just ignore!

Funny Note:
Alayna asked me the other day for a “grad crapper”. When I asked her, she said it again, “Can I have a grad crapper”. FYI, I discovered the interpretation is “graham cracker”.

We got home noticing we all had upset stomachs. I think we caught a flu type virus. I felt awful for about 4 days. One day was completely flat on the couch. I hope, Nina, that you guys didn’t get anything! I was exhausted too since Alayna had been sick the entire trip, she never slept = neither did I! Well, I guess that sums up our summer vacation trip. Thanks again to Nina and family for the southern hospitality and to mom and dad for making the effort to come see us. Next time we go down we decided we just HAVE to go see the Smokey mountains and mammoth cave. Too bad we had little time this trip. New pics will be posted at the website:
http://www.hartfamilynews.blogspot.com/

July 8 (before trip)

July 8, 2007 (Previous week)

Well, before I tell about our trip to Tennessee, I better catch up on what happened the week before.
1. Marisa went with her cousin, Jared, to spend a week with Grandparents Harts in Illinois. They had a wonderful time doing so many fun things: baptisms in the temple in Nauvoo, Geo-caching in Quincy, seeing some shows in Nauvoo like the BYU ballroom team, etc. Maybe Marisa will take a minute to write her experiences of the week.
2. Tyler spent the week at cub scout day camp. Bob chaperoned the first day, which happened to be the hottest of the week at 93 degrees. Other than the heat, Tyler had a great time. He got to do archery, BB guns, crafts, made banana boats, games, marksmanship, cooking, nature activities, etc. It was great for him and he dropped at night because he was so tired.
3. I spent the week completing my Geography class. I wrote 9 papers and got a 97% on them. Now I just have the final this week and then that class is done. Whoo-hoo!!!
4. On Friday, Bob’s car broke down. We found out it was the alternator and were able to get it fixed.

I guess that’s about all we did. We also spent time packing for our trip to Tennessee. Happy 39th Anniversary to my Grandma and Grandpa Ribera and Happy Birthday to Nina!

June 17, 2007

June 17, 2007

Well, we have had another fun-filled, busy spreadsheet week!

Marisa had tennis camp this week. It was 2 ½ hours each for 4 days, in the beating hot sun which got into the 90’s in the morning. She really enjoyed it, won a trophy for Most Improved Beginner, and tied for 1st place on most Accurate Serve. The only draw back of the experience is the interesting tan which she received. It is beautiful except for the line drawn at her ankles, which leads to stark, glowing, white feet! She thinks it’s hideous and claims it is called the “monkey tan” because, well, it makes her look like a monkey. Good grief!! So, she has spent sometime outside reading with all of her covered but her feet.

Marisa also started orchestra camp where she gets to take from the awesome high school conductor. She also started taking private lessons from the Principal Second Violinist in the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra. She really loves her new teacher and is excited to finally start private lessons.

Kayla started band camp this week and is enjoying that as well. She loves playing the clarinet and gets a 20-minute lesson once a week from one of the high school band instructors.
We went to the pool on Monday when the temperature went up very high. There were several hundred people in the pool. No one could swim, only bounce up and down in the water. We decided that was dumb so we will go back next week when the hours are extended until 8 in the evening. It also didn’t help that most of the kids were middle school kids I teach- not too excited about being seen in a swimsuit in front of them!

I took my massive midterm this week and it was a miserable experience. First, there was a mix-up in paperwork. Then I studied almost 3 days straight memorizing and studying everything he said we should. Lets just say if I could have literally memorized the text, I could have aced it. It was one of those college tests where very little of what you studied was on the actual exam and there were tons of questions I have never seen before. I have no doubt I bombed it. Now I am just struggling to get through the class so I can get credit for the dumb endorsement. This is just so wrong.

Movie review: When I subbed Marisa’s class last month, they watched the movie the “Rabbit-proof fence”. I just rented it from Netflix so we could see it as a family. It isn’t fast paced, but it is a beautiful, touching true story about the aborigines in Australia. Absolutely incredible what these girls did. I highly recommend it.

The “You Must Be Kidding Me” weekly moment: I took all of us girls to get our hair done on Friday for an annual girl’s day out. I waited 6 months for Alayna’s hair to grow out. We had a great time. I cut my hair much shorter, Marisa got layers and a sweeping bang, Kayla got layers, and Alayna got this adorable bob. Well, I went to watch a movie with Marisa that evening and when we came upstairs, we found that Alayna had cut her hair again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It took everything I had not to drop kick her over the house. I had to literally hold Kayla back since Alayna cut their hair off her favorite stuffed horse. She also cut up a magazine, cut the hair off her slippers, and cut the Princess bag she got for Christmas into pieces. I was so angry…I thought we were past this point. When does it end? Needless to say, she is grounded from scissors for the rest of the summer, no…the rest of her life!!! What a geek! I put all the scissors in a box in a high cupboard. Yesterday, she had moved a stool over and climbed up the counter and up the shelves trying to get the scissors. Argh!!!! I think I may have to go with MJ’s lock and key idea.


This week: Marisa leaves for camp tomorrow, hopefully get in some evening swimming, and enjoy more summer time. HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!!!

Secret Mission 2

Secret Mission

June 12, 2007

June 12, 2007

What a FANTASTIC week we have had!! I decided to make a spreadsheet of a very strict schedule and decided to run this house similar to a military compound- haha! Anyway, I had no idea it would work so well. We had such a great week that the kids are already calling it our best summer ever. We signed up for the fun library program (plus Marisa took her language arts teachers challenge- if Marisa can read more books than her this summer, she will take Marisa out to lunch!) We have a set workout schedule where we do strength training, family tennis, bike rides, family walks, etc. We also got a pool pass and have been trying to do that often as well. This week starts orchestra lessons (Marisa), band lessons (Kayla), tennis camp (Marisa), and private violin lessons (Marisa). The kids are getting in some great playtime. They decorated the playhouse outside and today I found the younger 3 on a “secret mission”. I will attach the picture I took. This summer has just been so great. Even Marisa has done the meals for 2 weeks for a personal progress project. Man, that has been awesome. Too bad I can’t get her to do it all the time. I am also teaching the kids how to deep clean (the poor souls). They get a special HUGE job each Friday. We also have a cool money program we are doing and I have a new “jail’ for items left around the house. It is working so great!!!
Bob doesn’t have to work overtime anymore, which is nice. He is still playing on a softball team, but we haven’t been able to see him play yet. I have also spent a lot of time studying. I am taking a GEO class from BYU which is brutal. So much so, that I dropped the second class before I even started it. It is ridiculously hard, even Bob agrees. Plus, I spend about 8-9 hours on each lesson. It should be way more than a 3 credit class. I tried to take the midterm today, but once again, there was a paperwork mess up and so now I cant take it until Thursday. Irritating since I was studying until midnight last night. My middle school class FINALLY became available. I have been literally waiting for it for 10 months. Anyway, I absolutely LOVE the class!! I am learning a ton and enjoy every assignment. And guess what, every assignment will help me in teaching middle school, no busy work. How about that?? The first paper I wrote had to do with my memories of middle school. Does anyone else have a hard time remembering that far back??
Just as a side note: we have been watching the “Planet earth” series as a family (we taped from the discovery channel) It is PHENOMENAL!!!! I highly recommend seeing it. It has the coolest stuff. There is also a real cool series called “The States” that we have been watching as well. I will tell you what we think when we finish it.
Well, we hope everyone else is having an enjoyable and fun summer.

Kayla before