Budding Artists

 Mix together: 1.) one of those hot, boring summer days, 2.) tons of nearly empty paint cans, 3.) an old, sheet and create . . .

a Jackson Pollock-ish original.  We studied some of his paintings and watched a couple YouTube videos of Pollock at work.  The kids loved splashing together a piece of art with plastic spoons, toothbrushes, and paintbrushes. We stretched it over a homemade frame and hung it in the front room.  It adds a touch of class to the forelorn front room.

NC Vacation

 It was a long drive to the mountains, but well worth it.  We hiked to the highest peak this side of the Mississippi, Mt. Mitchell.   It was a difficult 2 1/2 mile hike up (and then 2 1/2 miles back down). I was super proud of my four peas.  They were a little floored when we hit the top of the trail to find a parking lot.  I quote, "Jeez, Mom!  We could have drove up here!  My legs feel like they were hit with a bag of hammers."  The next day we did a bit more hiking to some of the amazing waterfalls that Pisgah National Forest has to offer -- beautiful. 

We spent another day at the Biltmore, where it rained (and rained and rained).  Can you believe the opulence of such a place?  We couldn't get over the fact that kids actually lived there.  It seemed too musuem-like to fathom someone spilling juice on the couch or writing on the walls.

The rain followed us for the next two days.  We literally drove through three states of rain, but as soon as we got an hour into the Indiana border it all evaporated. I tried to drag it with us!  We wrapped up the vacation with a day at Holiday World.  I was dreading this day -- not a huge fan of amusement parks.  However, this has to be the nicest, cleanest amusement park I've ever been to.  The water park was amazing, and it had some of the biggest, longest, craziest roller coasters we've ever rode.

Tie-dye July

It's kind of a bummer of a 4th around here.  Our favorite fireworks show got cancelled.  It's hotter than Hades.  What do you do with this kind of day?  Tie-dye.  Why not?  Everyone made their own groovy shirt to wear on vacation next week.  Oh, yeah.  We are turning into that family.  You know the one.  Minivan and matching shirts.  

Free!

This has been our life  This is the excel spreadsheet that kept the Hamby ball season organized.  All the highlighted rows are nights that we had 2 or 3 games in different places.  We made it through -- no major injuries, no huge drama, and only one time did we go to the wrong place at the right time.  : )   I say that's a successful season.  Two of the four kids had a chance at all-stars, but we said no.  Two more weeks of practice and running was just not in the plan.  We can relax, swim, and start our summer now.

Brant helped coach Ava's team this year.  How cute are they both in their hot pink?!  The one girl I have that is so not a pink girl, got put on the pink team.  Life is funny with Ava.

Chalk It Up to the Heat

It has been so hot and dry here.  Really dry.  We don't have the mosquitoes we had last year, so we've been try to live in the shady backyard as much as possible.  With the heat, comes some crazies.  Did you know that you can draw with chalk on a trampoline?  The best part is that the black canvas the trampoline provides makes the art all the more vivd and attractive.  Then when you are all done -- you can jump on it and it's like a colorful powderpuff.  The kids looked like decorated cakes when they were all done, but another great summer day spent here in the woods.

P.S.  The art came right off when it rained that evening.  So if you try this it home it comes clean with rain/garden hose. : )

Cheer?!

Paige signed up for cheer camp.  Now, I try to stay supportive of whatever choices my kids make, but I had a pause at cheerleading.  Did I produce a cheerleader?  I'm soooo not that girl.  Paige, however, seems to love it.  She had a great time.  She even won "Best Encourager" -- a grand honor on cheer squad.  I do have to admit, she was super cute bouncing around on the court. 

Which one of these is not like the others?

 You got a love a girl that signs up for basketball camp and is the only girl on the team.  I was more concerned about the other boys on the team -- girls have cooties ya' know?  They didn't seem to mind a bit.  The coach even spurred the boys on by saying, "Come on, don't let a girl beat you!".  Ava would laugh and beat over half the boys down the court

It was a great camp.  She learned a few things and had a ton of fun.