Possibilities...

After working hard to sell Texas Roadhouse Rolls as a fundraiser and waiting for a LONG time, Caleb was finally able to go to Cub Scout Camp.  It was three days (8-2:30) and the night before he could not go to sleep, he was so excited.  The first morning, he was awake and dressed all on his own, by 5:45 a.m.  (Me (asleep): OK, good job, I think you have time to go eat some breakfast...)
He did have a blast.  He shot BB guns and bows & arrows, did "nature" class and had fun visiting the "sarsaparilla saloon" where you could buy root beer and ice cream.  Each day I sent him with a big lunch and each day he came home with a big lunch and told me he ate Cheetos, root beer, and ice cream.  Thank you, sarsaparilla saloon.  Also, thank you to the nature class teacher, who helped them make "possibility bags" that looked like this:

Caleb came home the second day of camp with this little leather pouch that loops into your belt; it's a possibility bag to carry supplies to meet every possibility out in the wild.  He said that I NEEDED to go to the store and buy him a REALLY BIG knife because his teacher said they needed it in their possibility bag to be ready for cutting stuff in the forest.  And a compass and 300 feet of rope and that-stuff-you-hit-to-make-sparks-and-get-a-fire (flint).  I needed to go the store right then and purchase these things for his bag.  I gently suggested that those were ideas for when you were hiking in the woods and when there was a grown up with you to use them, but he was just mad because I wouldn't go get him those things. 

So, the third day of camp, after he was home, I tried to make all the kids take naps in the afternoon because we were staying up late that night for fireworks.  I was resting in bed with Ella, everyone else was asleep, I thought.  The phone rang and when I jumped up to answer, Caleb froze...he was in my room, sneaking one of Kip's hunting knives to stash in his possibility bag.  Ack!  I took it away, he found it and stuck it back in his bag, I took it away again, and threatened to just get rid of his possibility bag if he couldn't possibly keep his hands off of our knives.  He relented.  I might possibly write a letter to the nature teacher asking if he could possibly be more specific in his class for those very literal children who might possibly snitch dangerous knives for their possibility bags because their teacher said they NEEDED the biggest knife they could find.  Possibly.

He did go to sleep then - next to my bed where I could keep an eye on him - and we were able to go see fireworks that night.  It was fun!  We went downtown and rode the construction elevator to the roof of Kip's building, where we had a bird's eye view of fireworks that were shot from Coors Field.  Even McKinley loved it - she was just mesmerized.  It was good that we were able to watch those, because with all the wildfires in CO this summer, all private fireworks were banned for sale or use, and even most of the public shows were cancelled.  But we got to at least see a few!

We had a nice day on the 4th, the kids loving decorating their bikes for our ward breakfast and bike parade.  I forgot to take my camera that morning, but here are some photos after we got home:

 

 

As you can see, in the last month or so Ella has mastered riding the two-wheeler; Rachel has taken over the smaller bike with training wheels, but still pretty much needs to be pushed along.  We pushed her for the bike parade, but when we got home and went for a long ride along Cherry Creek, she hopped in the bike trailer with McKinley.  Caleb's bike was very festive, but he was not initially happy about going on "another ride" (after the parade), so he did not want a photo op.  He did come, and enjoyed it, especially stopping to play in the creek on the way home. :)

Lastly, I might get one curly-haired baby...  Kinley's hair is a mess of curls when she gets out of the bath:

 

...but it usually straightens out as it dries. It doesn't matter, really - curly or straight, she's pretty cute and we love her.

 

 

She is *this close* to walking everywhere on her own, and she now says doggie and "ruff" along with hi, bye, momma, and daddy, and lots and lots of gibberish.  We all get a kick out of her.

We are looking forward to our vacation month now, heading to Oklahoma and Ragged Mountain. Yay summer!