Slight, ok major change of vacation plans

It won't let me move my typed text around, so just scroll down to after the pictures for the full story.

Ivan holding an injured snake.


We paid a nice man from the flea market, that was just up the beach, to take these pictures of us on our last night there.

Nicole's lovely braided hair, before she took it out. She left it like this until after the first few days of school, and one Sunday for church.

Orin in front of a group of bananas, outside next to where we had lunch on the safari day trip.

After our swim up river, and cliff diving. It was a lot of fun.

Don't you just love pictures like this??

Anybody need a taxi ride? These were all over the streets, sometimes with 3-4 people on them.

A cock fight demonstration.

We were grinding coffee beans, then got to sample our handiwork. It was pretty gross. This was one of the first pictures I took on vacation. Patrick says that they are in love, and kissing each other. We couldn't convince him that they were probably fighting, and trying to eat each other.

Waiting at the bar for the unlimited free slushies. (strawberry daquiriy or pina colada).

Eating at the Mexican restuarant.

We decided not to go to Ukraine. We went to Puerto Plata Dominican Republic instead. Some of the things that factored into us changing our plans are: we weren't able to get a hold of Quin & Rebecca's older sister, the flying/tickets were a little more complicated, we were concerned about Quin being able to be the translator (he was feeling pressured), some of the older boys (who have been there before), kept saying that the little kids were going to get lost, etc., etc. We also didn't feel right about it. So, we decided to go to somewhere warm, tropical, and beachy. We considered Puerto Rico, Hawaii, & Mexico. The Domican Republic had one of the lower cost of all-inclusive resorts, and was pretty close, flight wise, and the flights looked good. All 10 of us made it on the same flights down there, and on the way back 8 of us were in first class. (Ivan and Patrick sat in the bulk head row, because Patrick wasn't old enough for first class.) Most of you know how good Ivan is at getting motel rooms, car rentals, and flights pretty cheap on Expedia, Hot Wire, etc. But, being that we now fly on stand-by, we didn't want to book our rooms, until we knew for sure when we were getting down there. Ivan was on his laptop in the Atlanta airport, and on the plane, but had to turn it off before he could confirm our rooms. So, we get to the airport, and for any of you who have traveled over-seas, you know that the internet is sometimes a bit of a joke, and difficult to use. We ended up taking a taxi, (a Toyota mini-van, with 10 people+luggage), to one of the resorts that we saw and liked on Expedia.com. We get there, and Ivan is talking to them at the front desk, and they were quoting us like $5-6,000 for 3 rooms for 1 week, even though it was a lot cheaper on Expedia. So, Ivan paid for internet time, on their computer in their lobby, and got 5 rooms for $2,800 for a week. (The way Expedia was working, you could only have 2 people per room.) Me and the 3-4 little kids sat out in a grassy area and watched some tourists do rope climbing, while the big boys went betweeen Ivan & I, while he was getting our rooms. And they kept giving me updates on how things were going. After booking our rooms, we went to eat and explore the resort while they got our rooms ready. We went down by the beach after dinner, and of course several of the kids got wet. The resort was ran/owned by companies in Canada and England. So there were quite a few english speaking tourists. After breakfast we didn't see much of Kimball & Quin, because of all the pretty girls there. Finally after a few days of that, we said, ok we are eating together, and you need to check in with us periodically throughout the day. We did some of the scheduled kids activities. The room that Ivan, Orin, Patrick, and I stayed in, was right outside the wave pool, that had water slides as well. We couldn't have asked for a better room. Most days we went to the beach, and swam in the pools. On one of the days, we paid, and took a safari-type trip, where we got to see some native fruit farms, men carving things out of stone, a cock fight demonstration (it's legal down there), see and climb up 7 waterfalls, and go cliff jumping. Here are some pictures from our vacation. Overall it was a very relaxing, fun vacation, just like vacations should be.

Busy, busy summer, sorry no pictures right now

Well, as the title says, it has been very busy around our house. And it just dawned on me the other day, that my kids start back to school in less than a month. This summer seems to be going by faster than usual. The first week of summer, Nicole did a volleyball camp put on by the high school. She is going to tryout for the middle school team. The next week, Nicole and I went to Girls Camp. This was Nicole's first year, and she had a blast! It was kind of nice that the camp is at the same place as our family reunion, which she has been going to since she was born. We both had a lot of time around all those girls/young women, since we are greatly out-numbered at home.

Marshal went to Boy Scout Camp for a week. Kimball, Quin, & Lukas all went to EFY at Southern Virginia University, for the fourth of July week. They all had a lot of fun, and they all got a C.O.W. (crush of the week, I had to ask them what it stood for.) This is Lukas' first of the two week band camp. Orin and I went to Cub Scout Twilight Camp for 4 days. He had a lot of fun, and I enjoyed spending time with him. I took Patrick on the last day. The theme for camp was Nautical Nonsense, so, there were pirates, a treasure hunt, water games, as well as bow and arrow and bb guns.

Right after EFY was over, we flew down to Florida for a few days. We spent some time in Orlando, then went to Daytona Beach. I'll post some pics later.

Our annual family reunion starts a week from today, and goes through Sunday. On Sunday, we are planning on leaving to start flying to Ukraine. I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but back in Mar. Ivan took a part time job with the airlines, so we get to fly stand-by, so it may take us a couple of days to get there. We are going to be gone for about 1 1/2 week. I don't know if I will be able to get on the internet while we are over there, but, if not, I will post about our trip on here, when we get back.

I need to get off here, so I can work on packing for all of our up-coming adventures!! Have a good rest of the summer!!

Can you recognize them??

This past weekend, our 4 older boys FINALLY got their hair cut. Don't you think it makes them look much more handsome? Ivan & I have been asking, begging, threatening, bribing, etc. to get them to cut their hair. Here are some before & after pictures:

Can you believe that school is almost out, and the real summer is getting ready to start?!? For the last few weeks, my kids have been counting down how many school days they had left. We have been busy with the end of the year activities, etc.

Nicole & Jennie on a field trip to the Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Oh.

Patrick "petting" a snake on a field trip, as his teacher just watches.

As you know, this past weekend was Memorial Day, aka the official start of summer. We go up to our (Ivan's), family cemetery in Bath County on Sunday. We decorate all of the graves, then have a picnic lunch, and then fondly talk about/remember those who have gone before us. This is a tradition that my mother-in-law did, from the time that she was a little girl. All 7 of the kids in Ivan's family were here, so it was kind of like a mini reunion. That evening we went to my father-in-law's for a combined b-day celebration. One of Ivan's brother & his family stayed with us. I am so glad that we live here in Ky, so that we are able to visit with our extended family more than just once a year, and have them stay with us.

A couple of weeks ago, my youngest brother graduated from Easter Ky University!! This is the first, and only graduation ceremony of my siblings that I have been able to attend. My youngest sister, and her family came in from Texas, for almost a week. Again, I am thankful to be living in Ky, where we get to see our families when they come in to visit.

As some of you may know, Ivan has taken on a part-time job with Com-Air. He is working ticketing, gate, and other customer service-related positions. He has been gone quite a bit to Chicago for training. We have talked about this type of job since we lived in Cheyenne. I think so far he is still enjoying it. This is all new for him, he has been working in pizza/food since he was like 8 or 10 years old. So far, his schedule hasn't been too sporadic, which was something we were concerned about. His flying privileges have already gone into effect, so we might just come out and see you all someday soon!!

Next time you go to put food down your disposal. . .

This past Saturday night, Ivan and I were going out on a date, (and it had been quite a while since we had gone out because of ball games/practices, Ivan out of town, etc.) Well, I don't cook on date nights, just pull out leftovers for the kids. Since we hadn't gone out for a while, we hadn't had L/O in a while, so there were quite a few, some that just went straight to the trash. Well, therein lies the problem. If I had thrown them in the trash can, instead of the disposal, I wouldn't be writing this right now. Yeah, I kind of put too much old, rotten food down the disposal, pasta, re-fried beans, sloppy joes, etc. I just kept rinsing them down, with the disposal running. Then I noticed that the water was over-flowing on the other side of the sink. We plunged it a few times, but then left on our date. Later that night, I tried to fix the problem, I took some of the pipes apart underneath the sink, (and broke one of the pipe fittings/rings), but couldn't see any clogs. After breaking the ring, Ivan came down, (from watching the NBA play-offs), to help me. We worked on it, snaked it, but to no avail. On Monday Ivan bought a longer snake, but still no luck. Finally we figured out we were going to have to cut the pipe in the basement to find the clog. So, we went down, buckets in hand, and he cut the pipe, and almost hit the clog right on. Just imagine rotten food and water raining down on your heads. Yeah, that was really gross!!! At one point Ivan said, "I have had to do a lot of yucky stuff in my life, but this is just about the worst, because it's on my head." I felt real bad for him, since it was pretty much my fault. But, he didn't get upset w/me or anything. Just kind of said, that I should probably double bag it, and throw it out in the trash next time. We used the snake, and a broomstick to clear out the food, then put it all back together, and it is working fine, no leaks or anything. I spent a couple of hours today cleaning it all up. So, be warned some of these pictures are kind of nasty!!

Spring Break

Last week was our Spring Break. But, you couldn't tell it was Spring by the weather we had. It was cloudy and rainy most of the week. We didn't go out of town, or do a whole lot, just a few different activities. We went to the movies, played with friends, stayed up late and slept in, and went roller skating. Which, I quite enjoyed! I got a pair of skates for me, and after all the kids were ready to go, I joined them on the floor. And, I think that I was just as good, maybe slightly better/faster than my kids at roller skating!! And it doesn't happen very often that I am as good as my kids when it comes to any type of sports. I had fun, and it reminded me of when I was a kid, and our parents would drop my sister and I off at the skating rink on Saturday afternoons. And I think we even had lessons at one point. I can still remember how to skate backwards, and demonstrated it to L & M. (Then when I went to turn around to skate the right way, I fell, which is the only time I fell.)

This isn't a very good picture, but I am wearing skates.

Pinewood Derby

A couple of weeks ago, O had his Pinewood Derby. He has been so excited about it, drawing the pattern, getting it cut out, and sanding and painting it. We let him draw his own design, and pick out the paint color/pattern. We talked to him ahead of time, and basically told him, that he wouldn't win, just to prepare him. Then when they started racing, he was consistently winning, with the exception of one other boy's car. We were all very pleasantly surprised. So, when it was all over and done with, O came in second place, for speed. Way to go!! Several of my older kids were just about as excited as the Cub Scouts.
Getting the car all weighed in. That is the top of P's head, watching, waiting till he's old enough. almost everytime O would work on his Derby car, P would ask/beg me if he could do/have one, and I just told him he had to wait until he turned 8:(

P talking to O's den leader. Probably asking her when he can have a car to race.

Watching the cars cross the finish line. (See I told you my older kids were just as excited as O.)

With his second place trophy!!!