All the summery things!

These pictures are not going to be very well organized. This mostly because they were taken with a weird mixture of my phone, Ry's phone and our camera. Also, I am too lazy to properly organize them. They are all taken within about 3 weeks of each other though. Here we go then.

Gummy Bear's bike went cablooey on our first camping trip of the summer. The chain went off (which was fixable) and the piece that secures the pedals to the thing the pedals are secured to broke (which was fixable if we wanted to spend more than we paid for the bike). Instead, I trolled craigslist and found him a very nice, used bike that conveniently did not have training wheels. It took him all of 5 minutes to learn to ride without them. He's fallen a few times, but the only injury so far has been a minor elbow stratch. He totally digs riding the bike like a big boy.

We bought a cheap fishing pole for our first camping trip this year. We didn't have much luck until we borrowed some worms from a friendly fellow neighbor. Then, the boys caught 4 or 5 fish in a row. They didn't love the wriggley fish, but thought the catching was cool. We didn't do as well on the second camping trip. We also didn't have much patience since it was eleventy billion degrees outside and all we wanted to do was play in the pools.

Speaking of pools, the boys think pools are neat.

Also, ice cream is yummy.

And here are the boys ready for swimming with part of the camper. We totally love camper camping. It is the best thing ever. While there are a few hours of set up and tear down, it's a lot less than with tent camping. It's also less work at home because most of the camping stuff stays in the camper. Also, air conditioning. No, it's not truly camping, but I'm cool with that. It is a cheap, easy way to take mini-vacations. It's also surprisingly like renting a condo. The only thing we don't have in the camper is a bathroom. The bathroom is usually a very short walk away. Seriously, we cook our meals, play at pools and lakes all day and sleep in the air conditioning. Instead of one vacation during the summer, camping allows us to take 3 or 4. Cheap vacations for the win!

I remember tie-dying shirts when I went to girl scout camp as a kid. We decided to do the same thing. It was fun. Here are the shirts soaking in the ash solution before the dying. The other two pictures are further down.

Oh, and here's our campsite all set up for the weekend. This is fun. I'm going to do all my blog posts like this. It's like going through a stack of pictures.

 Back at home. Bear got a science experiment book. This one was to show the power of water. Whatever, it kept us occupied for 45 minutes making it and the kids occupied playing with it for an hour before it broke.

Meanwhile, back at the campsite, we tie dyed some shirts.

And hung them to dry. I am pretty impressed by how they turned out. The whole project (dye, shirts, gloves) cost $25 for 6 shirts and one very special baby blanket.

 More fishing. I enjoy the fact that neon colors are in right now. It's always easy to spot my boys between the dayglow swimsuits and the platinum blond hair.

The first campsite we went to had a crazy old fire truck that they took campers on a couple times a week. The ride was like 20 minutes long, and the kids loved the old sirens.

So yeah, that's pretty much our summer thus far. Ry and I have worked of course. Because I am working 3 days a week and Ry has had some well-placed holidays we have gotten to take two 3-day trips already this summer. We head down to Ocean City, MD next week for 4 days. After that, the boys and I will be close to home since Ry will be on a big boat in the middle of the ocean for three weeks. He is affected by the sequester furloughs starting this week. That sucks. Because I am working full time right now though, the impact is more annoying that painful.

It's been a beautiful summer so far. My mom was finally able to close on her new house and moves at the end of this month. My sister in law also just had the world's most beautiful little girl, who I can't wait to meet and kiss and squeeze. Life is good friends. Life. Is. Good.

Well, hello there

Yeah. It's been a super long time since I blogged. I don't think I've ever missed entire months in the history of this blog. Until now, of course. It's been an eventful couple of months here and I've been very busy. Both of these are excuses, but I'm using them anyway.

Here are the highlights:

1. I got an email out of the blue from the woman I did my senior transition with in nursing school. She told me that there was a job available on the maternity floor and if I was still interested, I should send my resume to her manager. I considered doing nothing for about 30 seconds, but then decided I would kick myself for not at least exploring the job that I went to nursing school to do. There are some things that a new job changes and delays. Still, I emailed my resume and started a job as a post partum nurse at the beginning of June!

It's a lot to learn, and nursing school and my first job only moderately prepared me for it. I love the work though. I am finishing my post partum orientation this week and move on to three weeks in the newborn nursery next week. After that I have a week in the PACU (post-anesthesia recovery unit for those non-medical types). My last week is night orientation and then I'm on my own by the second week of August. *Gulp* Everyone has been helpful and wonderful. I am really enjoying the change in the atmosphere of the facility. I am dying to get back on nights.

Correct decision. Bonus: No more white scrub pants!!

2. Finished another bachelor's of nursing class. I am taking a bit of a break from classes this summer. I am doing a self-study that will give me credit for another class. After that I have 3 classes left. Woot! With all the work I'm doing for my new job, this break came at just the right time. I'll get back on the school horse in October.

3. Gummy Bear finished his first year of school. How this is possible, I am not sure.

First day of kindergarten

Last day of kindergarten

It was a rough year in some ways. Bear ended the year loving school and reading though, so I can't complain too much. We are all looking forward to the summer break. School five days a week until 3:30 is a lot for a 6 year old. I am ready for some unstructured days and camping trips.

I will finish updating soon. Suffice it to say that we've jumped into summer break with both feet.