It's a hard knock life....

A little over 24 hours ago, I took off for the east side of the island with 2 boys for a little bit of this....

We were all set for a fantastic day of swimming, biking, camping and just having a good ole' time. What we weren't set for, was a torrential downpour in my water-resistant....not water-proof tent!!!! It was all fun and games until someone was floating in 2 inches of water!!! Because that wasn't torture enough, we decided to bike around the volcano at the butt crack of dawn for 25 miles....

You would think the fun would end there, but Buddy said that he thought I was the most embarrassing mother. He may have said that I was the most embarrassing mother, but what I heard was "hey mom, let's have a competition and see how embarrassing you can be". Sounds like my kind of competition....

 So all in all a super fantastic, did I mention we also got rear-ended on the car ride home, day!

The no good, horribly rotten, crap of a day....

Shane got to fly one of his work helicopters to Oahu so it could be parked in a hanger during a threatened hurricane over the weekend. Not ones to be  to be left alone during a natural disaster, we joined him. Unfortunately, our dreams of being on a touristy vacation went to the pooper when we realized that Shane was basically on-call the ENTIRE TIME and had to be ready to fly at the drop of a hat. Hmmm, go figure, you do something for work and they kind of expect you to work? Crazy concept! Shane being on-call 24/7  could  have been awesome, because the place they put us in had a pool, which will usually entertain us for months on end. But, the pool was cold, and did I mention the impending hurricane? To top it all off, Buddy and I bought the coolest float.....just to be told their COLD POOL didn't allow floats. Oh well, no one said the duck couldn't hang out poolside...

 Or eat some orange duck at the Chinese Restaurant in  the hotel...

 Or make a business call or two....

  Or find out what that strange smell was in the elevator....

 No one said he couldn't take endless rides on the elevator....

and no one said he couldn't do his laundry.... 

 or buy a soda from the vending machine....

Or basically run amok in the lobby

Thank goodness for ducks, even if they aren't allowed in hotel pools. Our lack of hypothermia should probably thank the duck floats of the world. 

This morning we had to head out at 4:30 am to beat the Oahu traffic (seriously gross...Oahu traffic, not the waking up part). This is just leading up to Buddy's no good, horribly rotten, crap of a day. My boy, like any other kid, needs his sleep, so after being awakened before the sun (FYI-the flight was spectacular....but I'm building a story here)....

I rushed him to his orthodontist appointment to get his braces....

Anyone who has ever had braces will remember the severe pain they are for the first few days...if not weeks. Just to return home to be told that his beloved "Tiny"

Did not make it...

(She'd been sick for weeks now). Poor boy has been a tired mess. Hopefully the pain meds will kick in and knock him out for a good sleep, because he has declared today the "worst day ever"......Thank goodness tomorrow is a new day! So all in all a not so super fantastic, ready for tomorrow to be fantastic day, day!

Thumbs up....

Do you know what it takes to get a thumbs up from a tweenager these days???? Apparently $50....the cost of one stainless steel knight helmet!!!! 

Money well spent???? That is definitely a question, not a statement! In other news, Buddy finally got a new bike after a year of riding on a bike so small that his knees were hitting his chest....

I won't be sharing the cost of this joy however....I'm still letting Shane believe it was a trade in (which technically it was.....we traded in our old bike and then paid a ridiculous amount of money for our new one)! So all in all a super fantastic, I'm sure he'd be throwing a thumbs up from the bike if he weren't afraid of falling over, day!

Understanding??????

This is a picture Shane took while we were in Utah on vacation....

The boys were super excited about this specific kind of urinal, so excited in fact,  that they had to take a picture to show it to me as soon they were done...which just confirms the fact that boys are really weird and I will never understand them! So all in all a super fantastic, not sure what to even think about this documentation....but at least Buddy's not mid-pee, day!

Infinitely....

Yesterday Buddy was in charge of putting together a service project for his Boy Scout Troop. He wanted to cuddle with the animals at the Humane Society....they requested a picnic table instead. Actually they agreed to the cuddling too, but the lady in charge of orienting the has been on vacation, so the boys' cuddling has to wait!  In the meantime...

The boys did a fantastic job, now we're just waiting for the paint to dry and then it's off to deliver the table and cuddle some animals if we're lucky. In other news, I got a new dress....

In other more exciting news, Buddy got a new boat.....which is apparently more exciting when driving it while you're in a boat.....

Which is then infinitely more exciting when you're driving your boat, while sitting in your boat, being pulled by a boat (well, kayak if we're getting technical, but this isn't the time to get technical!)...

.So all in all a super fantastic, infinitely cooler, day!.

Renegades.....

I saddled up with my partner in crime, you know the one....

And took him on a 16 mile bike ride around an active volcano.... Yeah, I know, we're cool like that....

Really, we are, just ask us. Especially him!

It was so much fun I'm trying to get my scouts and their entire families to join us in 2 weeks. Now if the stars will all align that will be fantastic! So all in all a super fantastic, crossing my fingers and my toes for star alignment so we can repeat the awesome, day!

Sweet and innocent?

I was just going to post some sweet pictures of my innocent little boy going kayaking with one of his friends yesterday.....

Then I saw this stupid picture saved on the computer!!!!

In Buddy's defense the picture was saved on Shane's computer....but in Buddy's non-defense (I'm sure that's a word) they play those stinking video games together! So all in all a super fantastic, not sure how innocent he is anymore, day!