Camping Fun!

As is always the case, summer is a time that challenges my blogging schedule.  We've just got so much going on and I'm so busy having fun and being, well, busy, that I just can't seem to gather my thoughts to put them to "paper".  Still, things ebb and flow and I find myself in a relatively slow period following two really hectic weeks.  I thought I'd take the time to update you all.

Two weeks ago, we headed on our first much-anticipated camping trip of the season.  I confess that I forgot what a hassle it is to schedule around a working teenager's work schedule, but still, we made it happen!

Our travelling home away from home.

A few days before, Buttercup and I were quite productive and got the trailer ready to go:  Sheets on the beds, the refrigerator loaded up, and all the supplies made ready. 

Buttercup's bed...

Buttercup took the time to make sure that her new hamster cage would fit, as well.  What?  You don't take your hamster camping?  Seriously?  That is strange.

Froyo is ready for her first camping trip!

Finally, the big day came.  We tried to get a picture of the giraffe for Superman, but it really didn't work out well.  We did end up getting a bad one on the way back home. 

See the giraffe...our summer friend!

Before that, though, we had fun in the sun.  In the water...

Valiant and Buttercup playing on the buoys that outline the swimming area.

And out of the water...just hanging out.

Hiding her face from the sun with a big hat!

Reading good books.

Bunny enjoying the view from our campsite.

Enjoying beautiful scenery.

The bunny and the hamster, just hanging out...

After five years of camping, my "camping slippers" finally gave up the ghost.  This was their last hurrah...they served me well, but their time had come.



Last camping trip for my "camping slippers"...

 All too soon, it was time to head out again.

Bunny is noticing that we're not moving quickly enough.

 "Bunny" has been on so many trips with our family, he supervised our closing up camp.  He's actually pretty good...quite the motivator!

Chop, chop, Buttercup!  Move faster!!

Let's go...get those sway bars in place!

Finally, we're ready to head home!


We made it home just in time to get showered and have me head off to a Ladies' Luncheon and for Valiant to head off to work.  Cut it a little close, actually!  Still, it all worked out...

Those were definitely some productive days...and if you're counting along with us, today is day 100...I've added a counter to my blog page.  (Not that we're excited or anything!)

Only 119 Days...

My blog was interrupted by the happy arrival of my husband home for his first leave in six months and, honestly, I had no time to blog while he was home.  It was a whirlwind two and a half weeks.

Me and my boyfriend...

Superman's leave started with a car crash (thank goodness no one was hurt!).   Our beloved eldest crashed his car on the way to the airport...oops!   Charming was so lucky that Superman was home to fix the car...Superman is so handy to have around (and you thought he was strictly decorative!).  A jet-lagged day filled with elbow grease, axle grease, and some hours spent at the junkyard, and the car was ready for the road again.

Now everyone in this family know exactly what a "pickle fork" is and exactly
why you would use one.  Can your family say the same?

Two days later, the family got dirty again.  This time is was mud.  Yes, our second annual appearance at the Dirty Dash.  Again, dirty, muddy fun was had by all.

A dirty bunch, wouldn't you say?

After that, Father's Day was a joy to celebrate with Superman at home.  Don't I have a handsome family?

My family!

Then things slowed down a bit.  A lot of hanging around the house.  It felt good.  Both boys have jobs and Charming hasn't lived us for two years now, so we did a lot of the stuff we would normally take for granted...


Flying without a cape...not for the faint of heart!

There were a few chiropractor visits (with Superman demonstrating his flying technique for his daughter).


The cat doesn't let Superman interrupt her meal.

Superman tackled a bathroom repair that intimidated me.  (Water damage is nothing to take lightly.)



I promise, despite the bad photo, I'm certain those are MY children.

We hit the local water park.  I got enough sun that I'm still peeling...

We Nagles are always well-behaved at meals...can you tell?

We took advantage of the mild weather by taking meals out on the deck.


The girl and a pig with a screwdriver vs. Superman and broadsword.
Doesn't seem like a fair fight, does it?

 There was an impromptu sword fight.

Life in the technology age...parallel play extends to all ages.

In between, it was pretty much normal life.  We hung around being super exciting.

Buttercup and Bunny putting on happy faces as they say farewell to
Superman one last time...next time he comes home for good!

 And, all too soon, his leave was over and we were back at the airport to send him off one LAST time.  (The boys had to work, so it was just Buttercup and me to fawn over him.  Still, I think we did pretty well.)

Did I mention there are only 119 days until he's home for good?  Not that we're counting, you understand!

Summer Vacation - Part IIIb - Love, Laughter, Tears, and Good-byes

If you've been following along, the last chapter of our summer vacation adventure was as much fun as the first...if you've been following along, you know that when I left you, I was desperate for my own bed after camping and an overnight at our local theme park.

What We Did During Our Summer Vacation - Part IIIb

by The Nagle5

We left the theme park/water park and brought our little trailer back home.  Superman was relieved to be able to wash the trailer after this camping trip (the poor man was appalled that I hadn't washed it down after our first trip).  There was no rest for the weary, though, as I dragged poor Superman with me to our new Crossfit gym so he could get a feel for what we'd all been doing for the previous three months (more on that in another post!).  Finally, it was bedtime...oh, how we love our SleepNumber bed!

(Superman & Me!)

The next day we welcomed Superman's sister, Steel Magnolia, and her friend, Trigger,  to Eastern Washington.  The Steel Magnolia has been through so much in the past few years and has just stayed strong through it all.  We hadn't seen her in six years (although Superman saw her a few years ago on a business trip back to So Cal) and we'd never met Trigger. 

(Magnolia & Trigger)

Their visit was amazing fun.  Magnolia and Superman had a terrific time catching up on old time and Trigger fit right in with the Nagle5 posse.  He even nick-named one of the neighbor kids so effectively that the tag has stuck (poor kid!).

(Superman and Magnolia - explaining to the man on the upper deck

just how it was the Superman had two women he was posing with--

apparently it looked funny to watch him pose with each of us.)

In addition to same Game Night fun, the adults spent an evening on Lake Coeur d'Alene.  Mother Nature joined in on the show and gave our So Cal visitors a beautiful lightning show.  It was so good to see Superman and Magnolia together...laughter and love filled the visit.

(Superman & Magnolia--don't they look cute?)

All too soon, though, their visit was over and they headed back to So Cal.  We hope they'll be frequent visitors, however, there was a lot we didn't have time to do this time around.

Before we knew it, Superman's leave was over and he headed back to work right before Labor Day.  More love, more laughter, more tears, and another good-bye. 

(Sunset on Lake Coeur d'Alene)

Farewell to Summer ...another wonderful summer comes to a close.  What we did during our summer vacation...thanks for reading along as I revisit our summer.

Still, Superman will be home again in 93 days...just in time for Christmas.  And, in the meantime, we're keeping Skype busy.

As always, time sure flies...

Summer Vacation - Part III - Tears, Hugs, Mud, and Screams

One month after we returned from our Boston trip (definitely a study in extremes as Clark pointed out), we greeted Superman at the airport for the start of his long-awaited leave and our summertime adventures continued...

What We Did During Our Summer Vacation - Part IIIa

by the Nagle5

Superman arrived at our little international airport on August 19...he was greeted by enough tears and hugs that the normally stoic/impersonal security person leaned over and gave me a kleenex.  To say we missed him would be an understatement.   I think we just about melted him with our tears of happiness.  To say he was surprised by Valiant standing next to him at a full 6'2" would also be an understatement.  He stands eye-to-eye with both our sons these days and that is just so strange.

Anyway, Superman carefully timed his leave so that he could, jet lag and all, participate with the Nagle5 in The Dirty Dash the next day.  Bright and early Friday morning, we got into our cars (even Charming headed out of his place to join us) and headed over to the race location.  It was crazy.  Our heat began at 9:00 a.m. and what followed was 6.2 miles of mud, dirt, hay, and water.  We ran through mud pits.  We ran through dirt. 

 (Superman, Valiant and Me,

trying to finish together...

harder than it looks!)

We jumped over hay bales and walls.  We ran through the river and walked across beams.  We even slid down a giant slide. 

(Buttercup and Charming coming off the slide...

the fire hoses the race people aimed at them did wonders!)

Good "clean" fun for the entire family.  We can hardly wait to do it again next year!

PS.  Yes, we ARE insane!
Still, Superman said it helped him beat his jet lag, so he said we need to figure out something exhausting to do for the first day of his next leave.   What? Braving the malls at Christmas isn't exhausting enough?

The next day, we hooked up the trailer and headed to our favorite campground with our friends. 

(In the meantime, our beloved Charming showered a few more times (the mud was everywhere!) and headed off to work for the week...such is the life of a new hire!)

While Charming worked in the salt mines, we played in the water,

(Valiant is giving his dad

 a lift out of the water!)

the "men" played a mean game of Risk,

and we pretty much messed around for four days. 

But we didn't stop there...oh, no.  We all hooked up the trailers once more and headed to Silverwood, the Pacific Northwest's own little theme park.   Disneyland it is not, but it is definitely a fun place to play.  Superman and the kids did roller coasters...don't they look like they're glad they didn't puke on Panic Plunge? 

Me?  I relaxed at Boulder Beach...Superman did a little of that, too. 

(Aren't we cute?  I am still sporting that farmer's

 tan from whale watching in Boston!)

Okay, I did like the log ride and the bumper boats.  Can you tell?  I was drenched!

Finally, it was time to head home...it had been fun, but I was ready to sleep in my own bed.  Besides, we missed Charming!

Remember those end-of-summer essays...

...the teachers seemed to love to assign the first day back to school? "What I Did During My Summer Vacation" Do you remember how you couldn't think of anything exciting that you'd done? How you'd spent that past three weeks desperately waiting for school to begin so you could wear your new school clothes? Use your new lunch box? See the friends you hadn't seen since school let out in June?

Well, as in days past, I, too, was ready for summer to end. Like the blogger at The Intertidal Years, I always feel like the new school year is the start of The New Year.  Still, reflecting on our Summer Vacation is putting a smile on my face, so I thought I'd write my own "What I Did During My Summer Vacation" essay...after all, I like feeling a smile come to my face as I remember the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Who doesn't?

What I Did During My Summer Vacation - Part One

by The Nagle5

During our summer vacation, we went camping.  Twice.  Both camping trips were fun, but they were quite different.

During our first trip in June, we went without Superman, which was weird for us all.  Still, we managed to keep it interesting.  Valiant did an amazing job helping me set up our trailer.  We learned new things, too.  For example, did you know that you can use Crazy Glue in lieu of stitches if need be?  Yeah, I didn't either.  However, when you combine a 15-year old boy, a pocket knife, bad habits, and a little time, you have the perfect storm.  Yep, Valiant sliced right up the back of his ankle, narrowly missing the Achilles tendon. 

So, we laid him out on a covered picnic table, held the slice together until the crazy glue good set and reinforced with butterfly bandages. 

Kept it wrapped in an ace bandage for the remainder of the trip and he was good to go, albeit slowly and carefully. 

Did I mention that I took the knives away for the remainder of the trip.  I can only deal with so much, you know?

 The rest of the trip was uneventful.  The weather was beautiful.  Look at the sky as we headed out for this trip.  Wasn't it gorgeous?

We had some stowaways who were full of high spirits.  They were found hiding in the trailer microwave.

Then I saw some of them in the tree.

The group of them tried to steal a bike.

They kept insisting that Buttercup had invited them, be she denied knowing any of them.  I have my doubts, especially as I found her sharing her bed with them! 

Still, their pranks were harmless and they really didn't eat much.  It was all good.

We had some visitors.  This squirrel was sure we were holding out on him.

This butterfly just came by to share her beauty.  We were grateful.

We made the kids do chores, too.  Here are the boys (Valiant and Two-Bit) doing their share of the dishes. 

Oh, and we saw a giraffe. ;)

There you have it..."What I Did During My Summer Vacation - Part I"