Karah's Baptism Video

Summer Bucket List

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Clean Garbage

Recently, I watched the movie Food Inc. – and it forever changed the way I view our food supply. Scary, people. You can watch it for free on Netflix!

Tom recently developed a mysterious allergy to food dyes/preservatives. This aint no child’s play allergy. This is a “have your throat swell shut and not be able to breathe” allergy. A “get moved to the front of the Emergency Room line” condition.

In an effort to preserve the life of my husband and enhance the overall well being of my family…I have been transitioning to mostly organic products. Until you have an allergy to colors/preservatives…you have no clue how much crap is in the food you regularly eat. They are even beginning to add color to “fresh” produce in the grocery stores. Ridiculous.

We now buy organic meat, milk, and fruits and veggies (until our garden can pick up the slack). It is expensive…outrageously…but we are just looking at it as an investment.

Our latest love is fresh, local, free range eggs. We buy this brand because we like knowing our hens are in good hands.

Another bonus of the Natural Food store….you can STILL get your kids “crap” cereal…but not feel as guilty. It’s natural “crap", after all.

Have I mentioned the packaging? I love me some happy packaging. THAT is some happy squash.

Another thing I love…is that we can enjoy boxed products again. Though we try to limit them…it sure is nice for last minute meals…it is darned tasty and the bonus is…it won’t kill my husband!!

The kids have transitioned to natural PBJ…

and healthier Mac & Cheese…also happy packaging :)

And lest you think we are going completely “hairy armpit crunchy people” on you…rest assured that we still find ways to eat garbage.

Clean garbage. :)

Nut Envy. Coco…nut.

Today Tommy T took the boys to check out a potential campsite for the next adventure of the He-Man Boys Club. Karah and I decided to go to the Natural Food Store. At the entrance, there was a gaggle of massage therapists offering free chair massages...and we weren't about to say No.

Karah has been a health food junkie since she was a toddler. She would never eat anything processed. She would spit it out and gag. She wouldn't touch hot dogs, cheetos, milk chocolate, or spaghettios.

The boys? Not so much. I am convinced that their blood is now orange from all of the Cheetos they have consumed…

...and they love a good nitrate rocket.

 

This morning Bryce was wearing a baseball cap, pajamas, and sunglasses while carrying (and eating) a huge bag of chocolate chips. It was 9 am.

I must say that at LEAST they haven't stooped to the level of the Spaghetti-O. That’s just nasty.

Back to the story. Karah was in heaven at the market. She spotted a coconut and asked if I would get it for her. This picture grosses me out. Nothing against coconuts…but come on. Is the hair really necessary?

 

She picked one out...carried it through the store...put it up on the belt at checkout...and carried it out to the car. I was shocked that she didn't buckle it in, as well.

As soon as we got home, she wanted me to put a straw in it - so she could drink the milk..."just like on TV". Tom suggested a screw driver or drill bit. In the interest of sanitation - I opted for the Nut Pick...or whatever this thing is called.

I made a perfect straw sized hole and she was set. She sipped it…gagged…and pretended to love it so she could still make a public appearance in the neighborhood with her new hairy friend.

Coco was so hairy, even Peanut was jealous.

She wouldn’t even put the coconut down to play on the tree swing.

 

Bradley was baffled at her love affair with the fruit. He had his favorite vegetable on his mind.  Funyuns.

 

Tonight I was telling Courtney about the coconut adventures. She gasped when I told her I put a straw in it. Serious coconut envy kicked in. She kept yelling “How did you do it? How did you get a hole in it – that a straw could fit through? How did you do this???”

She proceeded to tell me about her family trip to Hawaii, as a child. Her dad bought a fresh coconut from a roadside stand. They eagerly took it back to their hotel room and her father tried to bust it open. He first tried the floor…then the bedroom furniture…to no avail.  He then took it to the next level and brought the coconut to the hotel stairwell and started beating it against the railing and the floor. The sound echoed throughout the entire hotel…she and her siblings could even hear the banging from their hotel room.

All she wanted to do was drink that milk through a straw…like on TV….but no matter how much her Daddy loved her – it was one thing he couldn’t give her.

He returned to the room with coconut shrapnel…a few measly slivers of the flesh. There would be NO sipping out of a straw…in front of the other locals. Her dreams were dashed…in the coconut homeland.

All of this happened 18 years ago. She thought it was over…until she was reminded today…over her coconut envy.

“Sorry Courtney. Want a sip?”

 

Father-Son Bonding

There comes a time in every boy’s life when he crosses the threshold of young manhood. This moment arrived for Bradley on May 7, 2010 when his Daddy  decided it was time to take him on his first “Father-Son Campout”. 

Tom armed Bradley with two disposable cameras so the trip would be captured through his perspective.

They didn’t make it too far down the road before they had to stop for beverages.

They were one of the first to arrive to the camp site. All of the other Fathers and sons were still on their way. Tom wanted to be early so they could pick their spot and have everything set up before the fun began.

Tom and Bradley named their outing “The He-Man Boy’s Club”. No girls were allowed. The campsite was named “Camp Cougar”.

They went out exploring with their fishing poles. They followed a creek bed until it emptied out into a nice little river.

There were many discoveries to be made….including giant mushrooms…

…and the skull of a deer.

  

They enjoyed an evening campfire and some snacks in their tent. They brought very few provisions since it was just one night. Little did Tom know…that it would drop to freezing that night. Bradley slept through the night, exhausted from his day of adventure….while Tom tossed, turned, and shivered.

The next morning, Tom cooked him a delicious breakfast of bacon and burnt eggs. They then packed up and headed home.

He left a boy and came home a mini-man. Confident, as he told us of the deer skull…and his river adventures. He begged to get his film developed. As soon as he got the pictures back – he put them in a Ziploc and carried them everywhere…as if putting the pictures down would mean that all of this was just a dream.

Since that camping trip, there has been a steady flow of deliveries from the UPS man each week. They are determined to keep their “He-Man Boy’s club” alive and strong.

Their next camping trip is in the works…and we have one VERY excited, little man.