Camp Gramma Day 1

Camp Gramma is underway! We headed to Hutchinson this morning in pouring rain the whole way with a winshield wiper that didn't seem to like my side of the windshield and with kids that asked 339 times "how much longer till we get there" so our 3 and half hour drive FELT all of six hours!

our 22 campers! my parents backyard is flooded right now, which is where the crew was supposed to be tenting...so the garage has turned into the boys dorm complete with carpet padding. The girls are "roughing" it in the basement. The youngest two (raegan and hudson) are not sleeping with the rest of the group, they are with their mommy's...we need some sanity!

We went to a gym and a football field to play some games. The older kids had a great game of dodgeball going. we headed over to the football field then and all took our turns trying to kick a field goal. Susan and i had to borrow one of my mom's tennis shoes...i didn't make it, for the record...i know, so surprising. ha!

ethan giving it his best shot! he ran all the way around the track without stopping. i think he will sleep well tonight!

gramma gave it a shot too, go gramma

!

trey got pretty close a couple of times!

swim time!

the boys had a good ol time in the flooded back yard, the boys were dragging each other around

pizza dinner the first night...the little girls' table

the group at the football field

we were doing some individual family pictures, so i got one with me and my kiddos

ethan and eli during prayer after our camp meeting

It's going to be a fun week, i'm sure i will have tons more pictures in the next few days...i should probably go get some sleep...

The Niangua

This past Sunday we headed to the Niangua River for our second annual canoe trip with some good friends of ours. We left Raegan with Grandpa and Grandma Seaba because we are not quite ready to take her on the river!

We had great weather! The water is spring-fed so it is FREEZING even when it is hot hot hot outside! Your body only goes into shock for a few seconds and then you adjust!

On Sunday we just rented some tubes and went on a 1-2 hour float down the river and then on Monday we were feeling ambitious so had them take us to the 8 mile drop off...this time we had two tubes and one big raft. We opted for no canoe this year, so really saying we went canoeing is a lie. We went rafting... we were rafting on Monday for about 7 hours! That last mile, we were ready to get back!

We had a great time! I only got dunked/full on tackled, i think it was two times and only fell off the raft backwards by accident once! Ethan did a flip off right after i fell off so we must have had a slick part we were sitting on :)

I wish i was brave enough to take my camera on the raft, we had so many photo ops on the river...daddy, trey and avery all jumped from a huge tree up in the air that went out over the river. I was called a chicken and bawked at but that's ok, i can take it...i have a phobia about jumping into water when i can't see what is under the water ( i had a hard time letting my kids too, but i just had to trust daddy, and cringe while they jumped!)

It was another fun trip, we always have lot's of laughing, lot's of good food (if you know the Hinkles, you know jason can cook!), lot's of kids squealing(boys) and even some bickering (girls, go figure). We already look forward to next year!!

Here are a few pictures from our trip...

Mile' and Ethan dragging one of the tubes down to the river

johnny was super excited to get this "treasure" off one of the tree limbs, that i couldn't quite reach! we always like to see how much stuff we can find

"but i want to squirt him right in the face!" -this is another "treasure" we picked up along the way

daddy dragging ethan through the current so they could go swim down the current

trey was always first to just get right in the water...it took the rest of us some courage!

last year we wore flip flops (obviously we hadn't gone to the river much) this year we all were sporting water shoes!!

I considered myself fortunate that we did not end up with any craw-dads in the van with us on the way home!

It's interview time

I like to do these occasionally so that the kids can look back and see how they answered.
The kids ages for this interview: Trey-11, Avery-9, Ethan-4 and Raegan 2 (almost 3, makes a big difference at this age)

Question 1. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Trey- "uumm, i don't know"
Avery- "uumm, a policewoman"
Ethan- "i want to be a firefighter"
Raegan- "barbie"

Question 2. What is your favorite toy?

Trey- "Ben 10 toys"
Avery- "Webkinz"
Ethan- "batman"
Raegan- "Barbie"

Question 3. Who is one of your best friends?

Trey- "Drake"
Avery- "Mikayla"
Ethan- "everyone in the Seaba family"
Raegan- "Ethan"

Question 4. What is something you are very excited about?

Trey- "middle school"
Avery- "going to Oceans of Fun tomorrow"
Ethan- "when i go to school"
Raegan- "birthday"

Question 5. What is something that scares you?

Trey- "wolf spiders"
Avery- "thunder and lightning"
Ethan- "freaky things, ghosts"
Raegan- "monsters"

Question 6. What is your favorite song?

Trey- "From the inside out"
Avery- "You belong with me"
Ethan- "the one that is playing right now"
Raegan- "uumm, the Dora song"

My sweet pea

Oh my sweet little Raegan, you wear your momma out! You are 2 yrs and 10 months. You plus silence equals disaster! Today you managed to dump mommy's whole box of Snow Caps and if you have ever had Snow Caps, you know what a mess that makes! A little while later you came walking up to me with lipstick smeared all over your entire face saying you looked pretty. Mommy's lipstick was basically still intact though so all was ok. I didn't photograph any of your "little disasters" today though!

You have conquered the four- point harness in your car seat. Help us all, because now you must do it yourself and if mommy is in a hurry...well we just won't talk about that...it sometimes is not so pretty!

I love the two words that you mispronounce that i have heard a lot over the past few days

*lem-o-lade (lemonade)
*globbles (swimming goggles)

Today, i decided you needed a nap (in a bad way) After having to discipline you several times for getting out of bed and me putting you back in bed you were crying and said "but i'm not fighting mommy"! I realized that you thought you were in bed for a time out (we have had quite a few of those for all 4 kids lately). Once i talked to you and told you why you were in bed and that it would make you feel all better, you went right to sleep and napped for 3 hours! Hurrah!!

You make me smile so many times a day...and yeah, you make me want to pull my hair out many times a day too...but i love you and this is all part of growing up. I will miss this stage, though some days when i am cramming you into your car seat and you are kicking and screaming cause "you want to do it", i am cleaning up a marker, lipstick or sharpie mess for the umpteenth time, i have told you for the 5th time to come here so i can do your hair, and there you go running, or you fill the sink with water and put the whole families' toothbrushes in to soak, someone might have a hard time convincing me that i will miss it...but then you give me a big 'ol hug and kiss and say "i love you and suddenly i forget it all and know just how much i will miss this age!

Love you baby!

Pool fun

We have been spending a lot of our summer already at the pool. By the way, the summer is already flying by way too fast! Raegan has changed her way from being the "pool flip-flop thief" and has decided she likes being in the water this year. (thank God!!) She will go down one of the little slides all by herself but has not braved the big (kiddie) one yet.

Ethan loves the diving board so we spend part of each day letting him practice his dives! He switches back and forth from doing his dive (which usually end up being a full body splat) and his cannon ball. One day last week he had all the teen guys cheering him on and letting him cut in line (i think it was so they could watch and crack up) so he was feeling like big stuff! I have a video that i'm trying to figure out how to post ( i used to be able to post videos and now suddenly it won't work for me)

I took Raegan to the allergist today to get her skin looked at. She has had two patches that have really been bothering her and the last time we went to the pool, she would just scream anytime she got in the water. Hopefully orapred will clear it right up! The pool is usually great for the girls' skin but i just couldn't seem to get those patches under control. She has been waking up at night itching too so hopefully that will get better (fingers crossed)!

Hope you are enjoying your summer!

Beautiful sunset

This past Saturday Johnny was in a wedding of one of the guys he coached. It was a gorgeous wedding...so many unique little things about it...it was like a monsoon most of the day, but by the time the wedding was over...the rain was over. We headed to the lake for the reception. They had the dance floor set up out by the water with a view like this...

I almost bit it while getting this picture. I took one step and slid down a muddy slope, but caught myself and recovered...pheeww! I did have to make a trip to the restroom to clean up my muddy feet and hand but it could have been much worse :)

Anybody need a bandaid?

Hopefully not...at least until i have a chance to get some more...




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Not sure where this came from, but Ethan has been on a "i have three words for you" kick...

"mommy, i have three words for you: fan-tas-tic"

"mommy, i have three words for you: you are cute"

"mommy, i have three words for you: you are pretty"

Ethan, you can just keep on with your little three word combos!

I went to the track last night to train a little for a 1 mile race...as i was cooling down, Ethan ran around the track with me. Daddy was saying "cmon Ethan, you can beat mommy" to which he replied "no, i'm going to stay with mommy, cause i love her" the boy just continually melts this momma's heart daily!

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We are missing Trey, he was at camp last week and we decided to let him stay down in Hutchinson with his cousins for an extra week. His little brother is ready for him to come home!
We miss you and love you Trey, and can't wait to see you!

Pullups vs swim diapers...

I had just bought a glass of ice water. The kids were drinking it. The first thing i thought when Raegan walked around the corner and my eyes were drawn to the back of her swim suit was "who dumped the crushed ice in Raegan's pants??"...seriously, that's exactly what i thought! Then it dawned on me that i had forgotten to take off her pullup and hadn't put a swim diaper on...oops! And if that seems forgetful...then never mind that i did the exact same thing the next day, except that i realized it before her pullup exploded on her behind!

Kids conversation...

Ethan and Avery were looking through my boxes of pictures today. My boxes of pictures are a;; pre-digital which means they are all of Trey and Avery from babyhood till shortly after Ethan was born. Raegan insists every picture of Avery is her...they do look just alike, i can understand her confusion. Ethan gets upset that he is not in the pictures...

This was their conversation that i overheard while they sat on the floor beside me while i surfed facebook....

Avery- "you weren't born yet in this picture Ethan"

Ethan- (in a sad voice) "why did Jesus take longer building me?"

Avery- "cause God had a plan. he first made Trey, then he made me, and THEN he made you and Raegan"

Ethan- "oh ok"

Hospital Hill 2010

It was one very hot humid morning! We did not have the sun beating on us which was GREAT, but nevertheless extremely HOT! This time i decided to start out with the 1:55 pacer so as not to have to chase the 2:00 pacer through the whole race...i would just have to stay ahead of them. I stayed on pace, completing each mile in about 9 minutes through 11 miles and then i got passed by the 2:00 pacer. I had felt great up to that point but was feeling pretty depleted at mile 11.

The pacers for the 2:00 hr were turned around yelling to those behind them "you know you want it bad, cmon hang with us...your hard headed, you can do this!" i was thinking "darn right, i'm hard headed, now will ya slow down just a tad so i CAN hang with ya!!" There is one monstrosity of a hill on the last mile that made you feel like you would just rather die, but then the last 7 tenths of a mile were down hill and i gave it all i got to the finish the last half mile. I started getting the cold chills and thought "well, i may either just be feeling overwhelmed and excited at being to the finish or i'm going to pass out!"

The hills seemed so much worse than last year and i think it must have been the heat. It was much cooler last year...boy did that make a difference! Hearing the groups of people reaching the top of the hills and hootin and hollorin at the top was very encouraging, you knew it was coming to an end and you could go downhill for a bit!

My official time was 2:01:07. Do you know how frustrating it is to be that close to your goal?! I am hard headed, i do want that 1:59 half marathon and i WILL keep trying till i get it! Until the next half marathon (KC) in October i will be focusing on beating my 5K time. I am very competitive with myself :) if you haven't figured that out...

Here are some pictures of the day...

me, june and my mom before the race

after the race

coming in to the finish, i am to the left of the guy with the tan shirt. your chip time and the finish clock time are different because of how long it takes you to get across the start line with thousands of people...

a blurry picture, but coming in to the finish

finisher's medal

trey and i, he headed to hutchinson after the race with grandpa and grandma to go to camp monday

my sister june and i

Go Go Go

This picture pretty much sums up how the kids feel...needless to say how mommy feels at the end of each of our days!

We have spent three days at the pool this week and Wednesday i ventured out to WOF with just the kids and I. We spent over four hours there. We have went beyond getting our moneys worth out of our season passes already and it's only the beginning of June...and, we haven't even tried out OOF yet.

I haven't even thought about naps this week. They crash.hard. at night! Ethan can barely keep his eyes open by bedtime and given the slightest "time to go to bed" dissapears to his bed and is asleep before i can even tuck him in! They have adjusted to the summer hours and are sleeping in nice for me which OF COURSE i love!

Here are a few snapshots of our day at WOF...

Lil family get together

My parents were up for the weekend celebrating their 43rd anniversary. (Congrats to my Mom and Dad!) We went to Olive Garden for lunch on Sunday. We had a huge table of cousins next to the table of adults! Her are a few of the "younger" girls...

Molly, Raegan, Meredith and Ella

Grandpa and Grandma were great sports in the heat and even played volleyball with the bigger kids...it was pretty hot to be in dress clothes playing volleyball...i'm sure they would agree with me :)

what's a day at the park without a sticky red frosting cupcake??

We have spent the last two days at the pool so the kids are nice and sunkissed (burned, more like). Me and the kids may venture out to Worlds of Fun this week on our own and see how that goes.

I have felt extremely lazy this past two weeks as i wind down my training for Hospital Hill this Saturday. It is supposed to be 93 degrees (obviously not when we start) so it should be a hot sticky run. Woohoo! I don't think this is going to be a run to try to pr on. I would love to do 2 hrs but i'm not holding my breath for that this time around...maybe in October at the KC!

Hope you are having a great week!