Oscar Stew

The week before school started we had our final hurrah of the summer. Dan & Kassidy were in town on their way to Missouri, and like us, they were going to be hundreds of miles from any ocean. Na-worries, mahn! We headed on down to the finest beach in Colorado at the Aurora Reservoir and got right to work…

The harbor for our kingdom of sand was constructed first. Eleanor expressed some concern about the tide causing too much erosion. I think we need to worry more about what tide you might bring in Ellie! 

The kingdom took shape quickly. Hey Brinley! Workin’ hard or hardly workin’?!

See?! I told you we’d have to worry about Ele-tide!

Where’d all your sand-slaves go Princess Binnie? Nice sopping wet hat by the way!

Kingdoom of Sand complete! “Kingdoom”? Well look at it! It’s starting to crumble already. And I think these villagers are about to re-purpose the sand for other fun projects. Way to go green!

I’m not so sure that Ellie was entirely thrilled with this re-purposing idea:

She’s got her own shovel! Everybody scoop faster! Don’t let her escape!

Eleanor may not have loved being a pile of sand with a head, but all the rest of the kids enjoyed it…and I mean all the rest. Look at the envy on those girls in the background!

 

The Princess appears to be having some difficulty giving her commands…the sooner we get that hand covered the sooner we can revolt!

The sun was high in the sky when this little sand crab noticed that she was finally bigger than something else: Her own shadow!

Enough with the sweat and chafing, it’s time to take a dip! Our water aerobics teacher seems pretty excited!

Or maybe it’s just that chilly ocean…mountain water!

Looks like the water aerobics teacher also does sand scrub pedicures on the side. She’ll take your cash under the table…

Boy. Shovel. Beach. Nuf. Said.

I thought Rowan did pedicures, not manicures!? How much did that cost Ellie? 2 buckets of lake water and a Dora shovel…deal!

Astronomists are dumfounded: Full moon visible in broad daylight in Denver!

This one’s only a crescent moon, but those kids are still laughing!

It’s not quite the beaches of Mexico for these two honeymooners, butt…we did provide them with quite a show. Hopefully they are brave enough to come back for another visit!

This is it. We’ve reached the end. The light at the end of the tunnel is shining on us like a spotlight. Hey Drew, how does it feel?

It feels fast!

For our last hurrah on the Tour de Utah we sped out to Sand Hollow Reservoir and got right to work doing no work at all. Rowan’s ear-piercing excitement seems to be overwhelming her Papa!

Hey Johnson #10, whaddyathinkyerdoin?!

Ah, nice! Grandpa has given you a learner’s permit for boat driving! Hold ‘er steady now!

Forget the part about steady; this bumpy stuff is way more fun!

Ok, maybe it’s fun for some people but not for others. C’mon Ellie, just admit you’re jealous!

Watch out for the tsunami!

“…Welcome aboard Big Wake Airlines, the most refreshing airline in the world.” 

Captain! We’ve lost another passenger!

See what happens when we don’t go fast enough? Brinley starts waving her arm around like some kind of beauty queen with her eyes closed and Drew shows off those big buckers. Hit the gas Grandpa!

Ah, that’s more like it. Keep those kids thinking that they’re holding on for dear life!

Uh-oh, looks like the tube is going under…those kids are holding on for dear life!

Time for Grandma and Roastie to show how it’s done. Faster faster faster! They’re just skipping across the water now!

Eventually holding your face into all that wind and water gets tiring. Or maybe they were going for a more aerodynamic approach!

Eleanor’s radar was pinging; her turn to have some fun was soon to come…

Alright you sea monkeys, let’s go beach ourselves and enjoy some shore leave!

Brinley said “Naaaaaaaaa.”

But Eleanor said “Aaaaah,” and enjoyed a mud bath at the spa.

You know how it goes…One girl starts a trend, and then it just spirals out of control!

See, all three boys…er…girls are playing in the red sand.

One of the benefits to playing in sand of such a bold color is that it’s easy to see, which makes washing it off easier. Hey Rowan, you got a little shmootz on your shnoz!

It is quite nice to watch our non-swimmer children boldly venture out into the deep with complete confidence in their life jackets:

See? Not a concern at all. Ok, well Rowan can’t touch the bottom anymore, but it’s not like they’re going to be attacked by scary sea monsters, right?

Looks like I spoke to soon. Hey Drew-ness monster! What’s with the water bottle?

Sister Rowan says that we are now being inducted into a secret combination. Huh?! What does this have to do with the water bottle?

I think I’m starting to put this puzzle together. The leader of the gang is Grandma, and these three are secretly conspiring a plan of death and destruction!

Oh boy, I can see what’s going on here…

Hey Drew, I don’t know if that’s the greatest…too late.

The secret’s out: you kids are gonna get it!

Hmm…It doesn’t seem that “getting it” is a punishment!

Grandma probably feels differently about that. Give it to her Binnie!

Hurry and retreat before Grandma can splash you back! I think Drew is going to miss the bus…

I think I’ve seen this before. Is it smotherly sister love, or is Rowan trying to shove sand in Eleanor’s mouth?

Brinley! Don’t look now, but you’re sinking into a whirlpool!!! Ok, who pushed the handle? 

The USS Eleanor apparently has no respect for wake-less zones…

That’s ok, because Daddy needs a lot of wake in order to do “tricks”.

What’s the matter Ryan? Did the wake get too big for you? (This is Ryan’s I-just-swallowed-3-gallons-of-lake-water smile)

Sweet ‘stache Ro-dog! She’ll be shaving soon.

Here fishy fishy…Too bad they won’t jump out of the water and onto the dock like they did on Sesame Street. That would scare them to death!

Hup two three four! Keep it up two three four! The end is in sight for our review of all our summer adventures. We honestly don’t have that much left! It won’t all be done after this post, but soon after that! Or after that…

Aunt Kristy is a certified official professional guaranteed swim instructor. So OF COURSE the kids got swimming lessons while we were in St. Geezer…But they weren’t free!

Swimming lessons for babies includes blowing bubbles in the water. Show Emily how it’s done Eleanor!

Bin-shark took the bubble blowing to an all new level when she started stalking her prey…  Or maybe she needs a few more swimming lessons under her belt.

Nice to see ya Drew! We were wondering when you were going to come up from the bottom of the pool. Diving sticks are fun!

The Bin-shark must’ve found the chum she was looking for. Look at those teeth! And two dorsal fins!

Do you remember your first time in water that was deeper than you were tall? I wonder if Rowan will?

Eventually (it took quite a while) all the kids were waterlogged and it was time to move on to another fun activity. My Mom had her birthday while we were in town, so I turned the kids loose in the dollar store. They even picked out their own cards!  Rowan chose her Mexican twin Dora, of course. At first my mom just thought it was cute…

But as she opened each card she found out it was a lot funnier than she thought! This was Drew’s card! HA! 

We had her rolling pretty good…and we hadn’t even gotten to the “presents” yet!

That’s the whole “Happy Birthday” song written out on Brinley’s belated b-day card:

(I’m not too sure where Brinley’s cell phone and car keys are either. Hopefully they are lost for at least 10 more years…)

Yeesh, a Grandmas’ birthday presents wrapped in the obituary section? Kinda dark, don’t you think? 

Rowan was pretty excited about the “pink duck” she got for Grandma. At this point Kristy couldn’t hold it in any longer…

Those are the longest legs I’ve ever seen on a duck.

Down at the Crooked Crockpot they have plenty more to do than just eat. For example: Grandpa taught Brinley how to beat him at checkers!

Here’s the frosting on the cake of funny…The kids each picked out a balloon for Grandma and we delivered them to her work.  What a variety: Princess, Happy B-day, Get Well, and (my favorite) It’s a boy! Bwaahahahaha! Congratulations or condolences!?

‘Nother day, ‘nother trip to go hang with friends. We headed up to my friend Maegan’s place to enjoy the evening together. I don’t think Rowan is enjoying Brinley crowding in on her ride, however.

Drew was a bit jealous of Maegan’s boys’ summer-hawks. But Eleanor was furious!

Maegan fed us well, and we were off to another adventure. We can’t go anywhere without finding some letterboxes. Turns out St. Gramps has a nice collection and we were able to make a few finds. I’m not really sure what’s going on in this photo, but I know Rowan is happy! Check out those full bellies!

I’m really glad you’re excited too, Ellie. I’m just not excited that you are holding broken glass…

Uh-oh. This is a common side effect of letterboxing. Road rash is inevitable.

This is a rare pic here. You might wanna right click and save this, it could be worth millions at an antique art auction someday. Why? Because nobody is looking at the camera EXCEPT for Brinley!

Ouch. Poor Roastie. You shouldn’t pick fights with rocks. I bet Dora-themed band-aids will make it all better, right?!

On to the next adventure! Or soon after that!