Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Harmon's July (Part Three)

Ok - So JULY is alllllllllmoooossst over and the Harmon's have been busy busy busy. But what can I say if I stay at home with nothing to do {read: I have three kids, when do I ever have nothing to do?!} I go stir crazy. Well my friend Jen who has a three year old that is in Blake's Pre-K Class on post thought it would be a great idea to go tent camping. What the heck, what could go wrong, as long as she could start a fire we would be good to go. :) She assured me she could start a fire. So off we went my two little men and her little man set up to Pine Mountain, GA where we would spend the weekend there. Us moms and the boys...in the wild... {was I ready for this?!} Was Jeff ready for a weekend of Daddy/Daughter Time? Was I ready to be away from my precious little baby girl?

The ride up there (40 min) went well because the boys napped. We get there and proceeded to unload. I brought a packed car of stuff. Much more than I needed, but I didn't want to be without something and have my weekend suck. Anyways. So I go to set up the tent. I had ordered a special 8 person pop up tent. My friends had one and they raved about it. Jeff and I had talked about wanting to do more camping, so we splurged and got the tent. It said it took 2 min to set up. UMMM Yea - that 2 min lasted about 30 minuets for me. I wrestled with the tent, called it a few choice words and finally got that bad boy up. I {the queen!} slept on an air mattress while the boys slept on some mats. Our camp site looked grand for our little pow wow of 5.

Lots went WRONG during our trip. The "fun lady" who plans activities went on vacation. So our night hike we wanted to go on {which we got everybody dressed, bug sprayed, flash ready} was canceled. The Movie night, canceled, the pool closed.... this did NOT make for happy boys at all! So instead we played with fire, roasted marshmallows, went on a bug hunt, played with glo sticks. We made it work and one day we went to Callaway Gardens and swam in Robin Lake because Military got in free there! So all in all it was a great weekend. But I will never.do.that.again. PERIOD. It was hard, I was cranky. Packing up/unloading by myself was horrible. But the memories that the boys and I will have will forever be worth it. Next time: Daddy comes along!!

Our campsite. My tent is the one on the left

Blake and Ian by the fire - after this we told ghost stories

At the lake. I must say it was nice floating without carrying Laurel - and lounging in the sand.

Poor Blake. Got bit 20 times in one leg. WITH bug-spray on. Swollen leg. Lots of benadryl for him.

Exploring by campsite.

Reading a compass

Boys by the lake - exploring. This was the back yard to our tents. NICE

Site from other side
I guess I should tell you that Daddy and Laurel did just fine. I however, missed her like crazy and this maybe TMI - but Laurel had been cutting down her nursing so I thought I would be fine without her. Well low and behold I forgot my pump. For those of you that have nursed before - yes - you got it right. OUCH! We all survived though. :)


Harmon's in July Part 2

Like I said July was a busy month for us!!!

So after Alaska we went "cabin camping" with our good friends the Thom's. It was in Lake Eufaula right down the road {about 20 min} from us. Gorgous 2 bedroom cabin right in front of a sandy beach on a lake. It was HOT - and the power went off for about 2.5 hours. THANK goodness our laptop had some battery life yet because the kids {They have a 7 year old girl- Emma and a 4 year old boy- Logan} could watch a movie! After the power came back on the AC blasting- we were all happy and settled. On Saturday we had a Army Party and the guys (Matt & Jeff) co-workers came out to enjoy some sun, beer and cookout food! It was fun!
Our view - and our little friends who came and visited us daily!

Laurel loved looking at the ducks!! 
All the kids playing.

Emma had brought Barbie and Ken - and Blake was very interested because he had never seen them before!

Ian is playing with water - We are preparing him for college! 


We had some friends over for Blakes 4th Birthday Pary. A friend of mine let me borrow her massive water slide which made some for some fabulous water fun for the kids since it was super hot outside. We enjoyed some yummy cupcakes from my favorite bakery. Blake wanted bug cupcakes instead of a cake and enjoyed some pizza. It was very hot outside, the kids played with the slide and all the parents stayed inside in the nice cool AC! :)
Brothers

Set up

Friends
 F
Silly Birthday Boy

Yummy Cup Cakes

Present Time!


Monday, September 12, 2011

Harmon's in July (AK trip)

I know I am back posting because I have been awful at keeping everyone up to date. I just can't find time to do this blogging thing. Three kids - and now 2 jobs {I'll get to that later - prob in Aug!} I just have little "ME" time. However, I'm trying my best to catch you guys up to speed in what we have been doing - which is A LOT!!!

Now July, what in the world happened that month. How sad is it that I have to open up my 'Mom's Plan it Monthly Calander' {which if I leave at home I feel lost, read: more like panic} to see what our family was up to. It was 2 freakin' months ago. Man, I think I need to do some major remembering exercises, because this brain has shut down. Quit working! PERIOD.

July was a huge month for us. It was our trip to Alaska! We had to visit the state {we are still residents} and be in the state for 72 hours to get our PFD {read: $$$} Holla! Yes, that was one of the reason - but we also had to check on our house that we still own up there. We had some major work done on it {more like you better fix this before the poop starts shooting thru the pipes again!} so we had to make sure that the Alaskans' peeps were fixin our shit. {literally!} haha Which, they weren't! Oh well, if you are a fellow Alaskan, you know the service is sssssssllloooooooowwwwww!

It was a great family trip. Wish we could have stayed longer - but with Jeff in the Army, leave time is few and far between so we went over the 4th of July holiday!


Oh I should say that Laurel got tubes put in here a few days before the trip. She had been going on her 6th ear infection since Jan. So here she is pre-surgery. Everything went great. Last thing I wanted was a infant to get an ear infection before the trip and deal with all the pressure {read: SCREAMING} on the plane!


Moments after this cute picture was taken she was screaming because she was hungry she had been NPO for 12 hours and she was like Feed Me NOW!

OK so on to our AK trip. It was fun, long, but fun. We flew out of Atlanta, then to Seattle then to Anchorage. Stayed at a hotel that I have stayed in before. Nice, plenty of room! We walked around Anchorage, visited Portage Glacier {From the car - it was raining! . We wanted to drive to Seward - but then quickly realized it would be to much on the kids. Went to the indoor splash park {boys LOVED it and Laurel enjoyed splashing around} , walked around the zoo {kids had so much fun! poor Blake got bit my a mosquito and his right eye was swollen shut! Quick trip to Wallgreens to buy some Benadryl fixed it - 2 days later. I should have taken a picture but my good camera battery died! Should have done the iPhone - oh well!} - then drove to Fairbanks {Loved the drive, and made me miss it so much! but then we got to Fairbanks and it was cold and rainy and my 20 min drive around town by myself - I quickly changed my mind to : lets visit but not live here anymore! I wouldn't be sad if we got orders, but eh, not to live, just visit! } to visit our house {OMG! They didn't fill up the freakin' sewer line and it was so messy - made some phone calls when we got back and threatened to sue if they didn't fix it because it had been 4 months since they started and we paid in full. Funny after that phone call it got fixed!!} and my co-workers and had an awesome brunch. {Again made me miss my friends and the yummy fresh fish and yummy food, but slooowww service} Then we drove back to Anchorage to fly back home. LOTS of driving. Never again will I do that. {Sorry a lot of pictures ahead!}

Eating before getting on the plane in Atlanta


Yummy!

Near Glacier - Love AK

Laurel at zoo. She wouldn't keep her shoes on!

Ian at the zoo


Blake at the zoo! He's a bear!


Laurel checking out this crazy Llama!






The start of the Iditarod! 



Family Picture at North Pole, Santa was on Vacation!

Jeff & Blake (Click on pic to see Blake's hilarious face!)


Yea! Laurel was at Santa's House! 

In Santa's Sleigh


Our drive back to the airport