Big Days Ahead

July has flown by so much faster than I expected! The Lord works in mysterious ways and I would have never thought the month would be this good. Sure, I worried about Mariah and Taryn off and on. I touched base with Taryn a couple times, and Mariah was able to text occasionally and we've talked a few times, so that helps. But, the biggest blessings resulted from taking Tebow into our home in the 11th hour of his trip here. I seriously think everyone else missed out on snagging this great, funny, adorable, amazing kid who is fluent to the point of understanding humor, sarcasm, and loves Cheerios and TV.  Having two boys is sooo easy. Tebow is pretty content to watch movie marathons during the day when we are homebound and happy to do whatever in the evenings when there is stuff going on. I love his accent and just flat out adore Tebow. He is so funny; I only wish Mariah and Taryn could have been here too.

Waterworld was something else this year. I probably should have pulled Tebow out and let him come with me each night to the lakehouse we got to stay at rather than subject him to the camping "experience" everyone suffered through. But, he benefited so much from all that exposure to the group and everyone, absolutely everyone, loved him and wanted to talk to him. However, it was 100% humidity plus 100 degree heat and then there were the storms at night. In a tent. A tent so hot he slept with his head outside until thunder and lightening and 5" of rain - TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW! The second night was by far worse than the first miserable night. It was actually pretty dangerous but the weather forecast didn't predict it in time and if I saved Tebow I would have to save Gib and that wouldn't look good to all the other scouts and families who had to stay and it would have just created drama. Plus, I didn't know how bad it was because I was asleep thru the whole thing - both nights.  Must be nice, right?! Tebow and Gib did get to visit us briefly a couple of times to take showers and help load the next day's coolers of food into the truck. So, Tebow learned he would only want to camp in a house not a tent. Ever. Again.  

Tebow started teasing people. Which is HI-LARIOUS.  He has a dry wit, very similar to Gib's one liners. He told Indie that he had drunk more Coke while here than an entire year's worth in France. Then he said to ME when I inquired what he drank the most, "wa-terre; you should try eeet" Man, that was sooo funny.  My second favorite Tebow-ism was when he pretty much begged me on the last day, in front of the retired military guy who would never in a million years approve, to come to the lakehouse to use the toilet. I had to explain why the timing would not work since we were breaking camp to head home. He looked with great dismay at the porta-potties (which weren't really that bad that day because the humidity was down) and then Mr. Skip goes, "Tebow. I've seen much worse bathrooms in France!" and Tebow, after a dismal pause, replied "Yes, eet is true there are worse bathrooms in France....but, I have seen much better bathrooms here!" And he refused to go. I don't know what ever happened after that because Indie and I found out we could LEAVE early and high-tailed it outta there. It's every person for themselves. Tebow was kinda happy though to become the photographer for the last couple hours though. He took about 15 pictures of our behinds as we walked away. Probably swearing under his breath in French. This, after assuring me he would be a super secret spy and would get the best pictures and they wouldn't even know eet. Uh-huh.  

I can't possibly relate all the funny things he says and how much we have enjoyed his 3 weeks with us.  And I can't believe it's time to look forward to all 4 kids being at home together briefly. It seemed so long ago that I once thought it was so far away, and here we are just 4 days away from it. I'm leaving Thursday to get Mariah on Friday; Tebow leaves on Saturday morning; Taryn arrives Saturday night; and Mariah & I will roll in sometime on Saturday as well. And we are boarding both Aussie and Kitty Coleman at the same time. That should be interesting. And I just found out my Uncle Steve will drop by for a night on Friday. I'm sorry to miss him, but I know he will enjoy visiting with Tebow, Gib, Indie, Mike and Grammy. There's just so much to talk about!

We are doing downtown Franklin tomorrow since Gib has his senior portraits there in the afternoon. Tebow bought a NY Jets Tebow Jersey yesterday and was so elated it was just adorable. Maybe tomorrow I can talk him into buying something for his mom :)

France Must Love Me

I swear, France has been spoiling me with live entertainment wherever i go... Some good, Some not so good... First on the way to the subway a violin player who must've played for hours, since when we came back she was STILL playing, that's how I knew i was going the right way. Then on the way home from Disney Land on the train was a not so good dancer... He was about 13 or 14 and he was listening to his Ipod and started to dance, very badly. Lillion, Peyton, Félicie, and I had a good laugh, and Félicie got it on video on her phone, it was pretty funny. Peyton dared Lillion to say "nice dance moves" as we were getting off the train, she refused! C'mon, it would've been hilarious! Then today i was treated to an accordion player on the subway. the. entire. time. right before our stop to switch subways, he walks around with a little cup for money, and gave us an annoyed look when we didn't put any money in the cup. Seriously? We just wanted a quick ride to meet up with one of Félicie's friend, Artus, and  we would've preferred not to be tortured by some accordion player asking for money on the way. Then, we went into some electronic store to look at everything, Artus tried to get me to listen to French Rap, but the music players there weren't working because everyone was uses them. He said French Rap is awful, like really bad. I just have to wonder why he wanted to listen to it in the first place... We played angry birds on Ipads, Iphones, Ipods, and everything else. We played with one of those DJ things, and watched some 3D TV, which wasn't THAT bad... And as we leave the shop, we are yet again treated with 5 dancers, but they were actually really good. We got there and people were surrounding them, its funny, sometimes they were break dancing with like ballet music, and then when the guy was talking (don't know what he was saying, so...) this oldish lady came up to the microphone, holding a box of something lie chocolates or whatever, starts talking endlessly, and starts singing, and the dancers would like clap to get her to stop but she wouldn't, and then they would like try to turn down her microphone but she still sang, after one song the guys try to take the microphone, but she sings, yet again, they got the microphone, finally, and gently pushed her off their "stage" and continued dancing. We got some of their dancing on video, but sadly not the lady singing :(
We were at the beach last week with ok weather and some bad rainy weather. No windsurfing like promised, but i didn't complain. We got to sail and i got to hang off the side of the boat which was really cool. The second time we went there was wind that day, but in the middle of all of us sailing, no more wind. The guys would tilt the boat up a lot to go faster, and once Gabrielle, Capucine's friend, nearly slid off, it was pretty funny!! then another time we all slid down the side! Don't worry, no one fell off! Once, Thibaut was getting really arrogant and was going faster than us, he was standing up to fix a sail, and started to like dance or something and then fell over which was really funny! He even flicked us off once when they're boat passed us! and then we passed them and everyone on my boat flicked him off, just for the fun of it, and his face was hilarious!!!!! I'm sad to say there were no pictures from the beach, but i couldn't bring my camera because it would just get wet...
We will be taking a bus tour of Paris tomorrow, and then head out to Burgundy for a few days, and there is a pool! :) which makes me happy, and even better, they told me it should get warmer next week! :) I may or may not have Internet there, i do not know yet!

Bon Appetit like Cur-zeh

The sun was shining today! After 6 days of rain it was ah-mazing!  The guys went to the shooting range where Tebow got to shoot guns for the first time ever. I'm pretty sure his mother had a shock when she saw the pictures on facebook.  Mike handed him a gun to hold for a minute and Tebow's comment -- "This does not happen in France" - cracked us up.  He liked the photos of him at the shooting range though. I told him that when everyone talks about what they got to do with their families, he just needs to stand back let them all jabber and then simply go "I shot a gun".

We are scyping his mom tomorrow to reassure her that he is in good hands.  He has a birthday on Wednesday, so they both will probably enjoy touching base before we are at the lake for a few days.

Mike made an especially great batch of Jambalaya for dinner tonight. Tebow was very impressed, exclaiming "this is the best dinner I have ever eaten. In my life!".  He was very impressed Mike made it. Which shouldn't surprise him after seeing my attempt at the doberge cake. Mike gave him the recipe. As he was reading the ingredients, he had no idea what zucchini  was. I got one out of the fridge and he gave us his usual "yah yah" and then made up a z-ish french sounding word and laughed that I believed him. Then he tried to think of the word for it in French. After a few seconds he got the funniest incredulous look on his face and goes, "I can not believe eeet.  I can not remember eeet!" He is obviously deep, deep, deep undercover with the English language if he is losing his French!  

A moment later it came to him - courgette (French pronunciation: [kuʁ.ʒɛt] - (when Tebow said it, he sounded like cur-zeh) which I thought sounded like crazy - which is what happens in the kitchen when the cur-zeh start piling up and you can't eat them fast enough.

After dinner we joined some friends for the Michael Jackson Tribute concert.

I haven't heard from Mariah today. It must have been a busy day! I hope she got to try windsurfing. They don't have internet at the beach house, but I think they will be heading to the country again and I anticipate a text from her overnight.

Raining On Our Parade of BonBons

 Happy Bastille Day everyone!!!  Last night we had a fun discussion with Tebow about Bastille Day. Gib determined that what we call it and what they call it are two different things because Tebow sure didn't know what we were talking about at first. I told him Indie suggested I wake him up jumping on his bed with a sparklers in my hands shouting Happy Bastille Day!  Now maybe it was that horrifying image prompting the completely confused look in his face, but eventually we got an "Ahhh! Yah, Yah!" out of him and he confirmed that on the "shaum d'lees", there is a par-rad (parade) of the army, (he knew terrorists wasn't the right word!) and after some very fun charades we supplied the word fireworks. Tebow agrees it is a significant day but not enough to warrant jumping on his bed. I think the dudes should scype Indie and Taryn today to wish them Happy Bastille Day before they go celebrate at a baseball game - it's even a double header (hah hah), complete with fireworks, and concert!. 


We all spoke with Mariah on the phone yesterday. It's been raining on their fun and won't stop until Monday when a break in the rain is forecasted.  I got an email from Felicie's mother who thanked us for the quilt and said they are pleased Mariah is there, and she is delicious and friendly. Yep, sweet as a bonbon that girl is!! They are at the beach now, and without internet connection. Losing the ability to touch base electronically is hard on a fourteen year old away from home so we had a couple phone calls which I enjoyed.  I hope the windsurfing they thought to try today despite the rain works out. Mariah will enjoy the watersports. 


Bastille Day is the French National Day which is celebrated on 14 July of each year. In France, it is formally called La Fête Nationale (The National Celebration) and commonly le quatorze juillet (the fourteenth of July).

On this day in 1789, the people of Paris stormed the Bastille as a rallying point and symbolic act of rebellion, thus beginning the French Revolution. As told in Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, the downtrodden and hungry people of France united to overthrow the rich and oppressive king and aristocrats. Festivities and official ceremonies are held all over France. The oldest and largest regular military parade in Europe was held this morning , on the Champs-Élysées.

 champs-elysees on a normal day

champs-elysees on La Fete Nationale or the "fourteenth of July" (not so much Bastille Day)




















A couple of days ago, while still in Paris, Mariah topped off a week of tourism and walking her feet off at the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Louvre. I am sure the artist in her really enjoyed these experiences!

(photos from the internet)








Despite some rain, (Tebow says "eet eees Paris!") the girls are still having fun. I had a big smile on my face when I saw these pics on facebook:

At Euro Disney

 Mariah and Lillion

 Mariah and Peyton 

(I loved Peyton's comment to her dad not to mind the boys in the background talking to the French Police!)

It's all good!

7.11 at Chez Coo-Coo

It's Gib's 17th birthday today! It should be a very lucky day with those 7's and 1's all lined up again.  He was born on 7.11 and weighed 7.11.  I feel a lotto ticket calling his name.

We are dragging the birthday celebrations out since the fun started on my bday the 8th, kicking into high gear on Gib's bday the 11th and sailing thru to the 18th Tebow's bday.  Yesterday, Tib and I started on a cajun style Doberge cake. We made 4 layers. I am quite certain my bakery result will in no way resemble that of the image above, but I am 90% certain it will make up for in taste what it will lack in style.  It's a white cake layered with chocolate pudding. I'm putting on vanilla frosting and chocolate sprinkles. No silver cake plate, flowers, or garnish. Unless Tib goes all French on me... hmmm, maybe I should turn the frosting part over to him?!   He did a very fine job making us dinner last night - stuffed tomatoes and cheesy rice. Mariah said she had a similar dinner - Thibault said it is a typical french dish.

Tebow has agreed that we can call him Tib or Tebow.  I mostly call him Tebow. I showed him Tim Tebow you tube vids yesterday. He likes Tebow - the real Tebow - he's big, athletic, and has a cool move...what's not to like. He says some people call him Tib - you pronounce it like "teeeb".  I am enjoying his fluency quite a bit - he gets my jokes and that's really saying something. Yesterday he said something about "ooomare" meaning I was being funny, or humorous. So we worked on his gutteral, phlegmy H sounds - hhhhhhuuumer. I think he's a pea in the pod here.

We will go out for the traditional birthday family dinner on Friday, the dudes get a firework show on Saturday (courtesy of the Sounds baseball game), a 21 gun salute at the shooting range this weekend, and maybe some Thriller at the Michael Jackson concert at the park. When it's Tebow's birthday we will be at the lake. Tebow has never camped in a tent before so I think he's starting 15 off with a jolt!!

Tebow was dutifully impressed with Sonic when we went there to bribe Gib into waking up with a large Dr. Pepper.  Oh, and our friendly Publix guys LOVE Thibault!  He's met 3 of them so far - we've been there twice already - one practiced his French and the older gentlemen keep teaching him stuff like "I'm a fixin'" and "over yonder" seeing as how Tib mastered "Y'all" in about 3 seconds.  My favorite part is when they pull out receipt paper and write it down in Redneck English. Ain't nothin' like living in the South!  Next time we go, I'm gonna have Tebow say to the cashier, "hey Chuuuuck, how y'all doin?"

Gib and Tib spent the evening at Scouts, Laser Tag and watching a redbox movie. Today we planned for them to go rock climbing and a friend is coming over to hang out and have dinner with us. It's game night at church for the youth group so there's our itinerary for the day!

Meanwhile in Paris.....  Mariah will be going to the Versailles Palace today.  She's working off every croissant and bite of chocolate by walking for like 12 hrs a day.  Euro Disney sounds like it was a blast. Mariah said she loved this ride that was like an elevator, and then they dropped you 5 floors, then went back up to the top and you dropped back down several more times. 


In googling Versailles, I really had to laugh at this description I copied below. I KNEW I was right about that cafe thing!!!!  

Outside the Versailles Palace and Estates
Versailles is a Paris suburb, and while there is some interesting architecture through the neighborhood, the raisson d’etre of a Versailles visit is the palace and park estates.
I don’t talk much about toilet facilities, because city parks will always have at least one. I must commend Versailles for its appreciation of people’s needs. While the palace itself has just one toilet area that has a perpetual line, the gardens have toilets at or near each of the four cafés.

."

I might have to modify my favorite life motto: "Never pass up a cafe, bistro, or restaurant!"






French for Dummies: Word Du Jour

chez  ("shay")

at the house of: often used in the names of restaurants and the like; Chez Coo-Coo - house of crazy people. I know coo-coo is the equivalent of "hey ya'll, how y'all doin?" in french, but we don't take ourselves too seriously here.

Commence Download & Encore!

The great Hawaiian Scout Trip 2012 is all over except for the laundry, pics.... and, of course, gifts! The group returned this morning looking tanned, happy and tired.  Gib has about 300 pictures to be downloaded. Look for them soon.  It's so good to have the dude back home! We laughed all the way back from the airport.


French for Dummies:  Question Du Jour
My source for these extremely pertinent, chic, and completely up to date French expressions is, once again, right ON when it comes to need-to-know.....

English:                               Pronounciation:                        French:

Do you have a...                 Ah vay voo                             Avez-vous
   a map?                                Ewn kart                                   Une carte
   a lighter?                              Uhn bek                                    Une bec
   the time?                              Lehr                                          L'heure


Where is the...                   Ooh-ay  leh                              Ou est le
     Bistro?                               beez-troh                                  Bistro 
     Cafe?                                 kah-fay                                     Cafe
     Restaurant?                        res-tah-rahn                               Restaurant


Yep, that's what every traveller MUST be able to communicate and on the top 10 of the tricky, never would have thunk it.  Not "Do you have... Google Translate?" or "Where is the....bathroom?"  Imagine the horror when a native-speaker asks you for L'heure and you reply "Oui, Matt Lauer on the Today show!" or the odd sense of deja vu when the word "res-tah-rahn" is mentioned. 


Wait a minute.... I just figured it out! A bistro, cafe or restaurant might have bathrooms there, and THAT'S why we were given every opportunity to discreetly find one's own way, oh so nonchalantly to  leh twah let ---  also known as lez toilettes

The best tip by far is to shout ENCORE! whenever you see someone leave the commode. You know what's really amazing is how many french words are already in our repertoire.

encore, a simple adverb in French, in English, refers to an additional performance, usually requested with audience applause.

Hawaii 9-0 & Parlez

Last I heard from Gib it was around 4 am here, and approaching midnight for him. They were planning to stay up all night, so they could sleep on the plane. They arrive tomorrow morning at 9am hopefully feeling like it's really morning. Won't be alot of sleeping to be had around here - we've got things to do, people to see, places to go.... 

Here's the last of the photos from Hawaii

Not heavy on the details except it was very cold. I know Gib packed long sleeves, not sure about a jacket, but he doesn't get cold easily. Everyone else is freezing and he's in a t-shirt and flip flops.  He's probably freezing too but refuses to acknowledge it. 

The volcano crater before the sun went down at at sunset

AND MY PERSONAL FAVORITE:

Thibault and I decided to skip Opryland - we figure we can look at plants outside and it sounded a little boring to me. It's one thing to go with a bunch of girls who just walk and talk & talk & shop & talk & talk. I don't see guys loving it as much.  He tried his first bowl of homemade oatmeal and liked it. He says they are not much for breakfast in France which is great because we're not big breakfast people either. I like breakfast food, just don't like eating at that hour!

We have decided to take it slow here: going to check out the local area, maybe walk to the redbox, go to the grocery store, maybe Costco - because what's a trip to America without Costco?! As we have learned this week anyways, what's a trip anywhere without Costco?! Maybe I should wait for Gib to get back - I'm sure he is a big fan of the Costco run by now!

Later today hopefully he can hang out with our friend next door. 

Mariah went to the Eiffel tower.  She's probably still recuperating.  Something about 420 stairs and not even reaching the top which was closed. I thought they had elevators?!  I'm looking forward to her next blog, but don't know when to anticipate that. I enjoy conversations with her on messaging or texting. She mentioned the clothing boutiques and that she's in big trouble - lots and lots of trouble. There goes my cheese and chocolate.

French For Dummies:  

English:                              Pronounciation:                  French:

Please speak slowly            par-lay lehn-ta-mohn          Parlez lentement

Hawaii 8-0 and Salut!

Last night the scouts in Hawaii went to the Mauna Kea Visitor Center where they heard a neat lecture "Universe Tonight" and used a sun telescope and stayed until midnight to star gaze. Pretty cool stuff.

According to the Itinerary, today they are going to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park - to the summit of the caldera, see another amazing ocean view, and hike a chain of craters to the southernmost point in the US (really?) Ka Lae.  

Gib leaves Hawaii tomorrow, but we won't see him until Tuesday morning.  Hope they have had the best scout trip ever and safe travels home.

My mommy anxiety is pretty low actually - I had contact with all my kids yesterday! I love days like that.  Mike commented that our 4 children have managed an incredible feat of spanning latitude and longitude. Mariah and Gib are 12 hours apart opposite longitudinally (new word) while Indie and Taryn are 12 hours apart latitudinally (meaning it takes 6 hours by car in one direction to get to Georgia from here, and 6 hours the other way to get to Missouri).  Wrap you brain around that!

Joining the fun, Thibault is on his way now! He arrives in Tennessee this evening. We are looking forward to the start of his time with us.  If he hasn't had the pleasure of Fried Pickles I do believe baptism by deep frying is in order.

Meanwhile, Mariah is heading back to Paris after another fun filled day in the country.  I can't wait to see some photos and hear of her adventures.  Welcome to the blog Mariah!

And, now without further adieu (hah I crack myself up) let's hear it for.....

French For Dummies: Word of the Day 

Although I do have to say that French is NOT for dummies because it is hard to pronounce! To help you I have shamelessly borrowed from the internet.  These will appear on facebook as well, unless Mariah bans me, but even then the French have an expression that she would do well to learn: C'est la vie (say la vee) "That's life".  

English:          French:          Pronounciation:

Hello                Salut             sah-loo

Bonjour!

Bonjour from France! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! I love you and miss you and hope you are having a great birthday! I'm having a great time! I've had some really good chocolate, rode bikes for about two hours, watched a few movies, and learned how to ride a motorcycle. And I'm sure mom is pleased by this since I was chatting with her on facebook and told her I was going to learn how to ride a motorcycle then got off facebook before she could say NO! I'm also learning to type on their keyboard, which is really hard so there's bound to be mistakes.

Riding the motorcycle was fun, her dad was following me (more like chasing since the bike was fast) telling me what to do, a lot of the time I was going a little too fast or not fast enough, I also accidentally turned off the bike a couple of times, and nearly crashed once.. into a bush mom, no where near a tree and it only happened once and I didnt actually crash! It was a lot of fun! We tried to get Félicie to go but she refused... :) she also refused biking in the rain today :(

Today we went to their church in Champagne which was cool, it wouldve been cooler had I understood a word they were saying! But it was still a fun expierence, and for communion we just took bread not wine. It was still a great experience.

We will also be riding bikes after I finish this blog (which I'm sure my mom will go back and fix all my grammer), play some ping pong, maybe ride the motorcycle some more, then go to Paris at 7, where I can post pictures from Chicago and yesterday. I am loving being in France!

Happy Birthday again mom! and tell Thibault hello for me when he arrives!

Au Revoir!!

Beret's Away! Hawaii 6-0, 7-0

I spent the day yesterday glued to my phone to catch texts from Mariah as soon as they came in.

It was quite a long day for both of us - she got to see Chicago and had pizza at Gino's which I hear was amazing.  They did a walking tour of the city and went to the airport.  Cut it alot closer than I would have which kind of sent my blood pressure up, but didn't encounter any problems at all - unless you count going to the wrong terminal.  I guess the other parents didn't check out the map of the terminal online like I did. I knew exactly where they should have gone.  I told Mariah it would be easy to accidentally go to Terminal 5 when you need Terminal 1 for departing international flights. I guess by then everything I was telling her went in one ear and out the other. I wonder if I should worry about what else she wasn't listening to! One parent each escorted the girls so they took them directly to the gate.  And they were off!

At 2 am I got up to be ready to receive Mariah's text that they had landed, another one when they made it thru customs, and then an actual call that they were picked up.  We probably spent about $5 getting through that ordeal. There was some tense moments -- they sailed thru customs, got their bags, and still didn't see Lillion or Felicie.  We all scrambled - I told them to stay put, stay together and wait.

"Don't Panic! Stay right where you are. They will come to get you...." was totally running through my mind, even as I laughed at myself, you know I was starting to freak out.


While I was texting them and relaying to Peyton's mom, she found out the girls were there, but just hadn't found ours yet.  Whew!!   I got to speak to Felicie's mom briefly and she say they were all very happy!

Meanwhile, back in Hawaii - it rained.

The guys didn't do the canyon hiked planned because it was too wet after raining the entire day before. Gib said they did a simpler version of it though.

They had a luau last night and will fly to the Big Island of Hawaii today and set camp up in another BSA facility.   That means another Costco run... I wonder if they have the $1.50 Hot Dog Deal there?








View from Camp Honokaia

Empty Nest

Everything was going so good until those apron strings tied to my youngest were stretched taut and then I had to let go.  You know, it's really different when it's your youngest and she's going soooo far way for soooo long.  What was I thinking?!  Oh yeah, that amazing opportunity to experience a different culture, lifestyle, and a pop of personal growth. Plus, I needed a few more gray hairs, right?

I'm pretty sure the horrible, barfy migraine I had started with a bout of anxiety, followed by the barometric pounding to confirm rumors of cooler weather and chance of rain.  The result: 1000 mg ibuprofin, migraine pills, anti-nausea pills, 3 kittys curled up with me, and an entire day gone. You'd think 24 hrs of sleep would feel better than that. The cats looked rested though.

Now I am about to go upstairs to the bedrooms of my travelling children, whose definition of clean is pretty far from mine. I have to make up for a lost day, but the good news is I still have time to get everything ready for our guest.  Good news for Monday, when Tib will be here but Gib won't (this may be the only time I get to refer to them that way; Mariah said NO WAY when I suggested we call them that) -- the kid next door is going to play basketball, xbox, skateboarding, and basically hang out with Thibault for a few hours.  I will provide pizza or subway.  After that, I'm going to have Thibault help me rearrange some things upstairs and move Gib's drum set. He can put it in Mariah's room temporarily, or, if possible, we'll find a new location for an armoire and a table and move the drums to the bonus room.  Aussie should like that.  I can just seem him now climbing in, on, and under it all.  Knowing that cat, he'll learn that he can wake Indie up by bopping the snare drum.

Mariah is spending the day in Lafayette and then heading into Chicago to board their plane to France. My palms just got sweaty typing that.  They will take off at 6 pm.  Right now they are at an Indiana wind farm. She says there are thousands of wind turbines. At first I thought she liked it, but received the following text :

"FYI, don't go to Indiana. Despite it having the worlds largest wind farm, it stinks and everywhere looks like those small abandoned villages.... none of us like it"  Hahaha, I LOVE that girl!!!  Sorry to all our Indiana relatives :)

Hawaii 5-0

On July 5th, the Scouts tackled the infamous Pihea Trail and the Alakai Swamp Trail. Here's what a couple of Gib's friends looked like. There wasn't a photo of Gib :( Apparently it rained cats & dogs on them, but cleared just enough for the view. Rain on the swamp trail just makes the boys that much more happier!

From all accounts, the Pihea Trail and the Alakai trail are harder than they look, muddier than you expect, and a total immersion into the Rainforest.

Here are some images and trail notes from the internet:

Pihea Trail is located at the end of the road at the top of Waimea Canyon past Kokee State Park and by the Pu’u O Kila Lookout. There is a trail sign along with a well faded sign saying - ”Mt. Waialeale Wettest spot on earth”

(this pic taken by the Scouts)
The Pihea Trail is among the premier hiking paths in the Kokee/Waimea Canyon area. The trail traverses the narrow ridge in the Na Pali Kona Forest Reserve between the Kalalau Valley and the Alakai Swamp. The views extend 4,000 feet down the mossy, fluted cliffs of the Kalalau Valley, which drops sharply into the ocean. The views inland extend over layers of folded forested canyons and ridges to Mount Waialeale, the wettest spot on earth with an average of 450 inches of annual rainfall. Alakai Swamp is an incredible, atmospheric area like nowhere else. Swamp weather can cause no views at all and is typical weather.

The trail begins as an old red clay road which is now well rutted and in sections and very muddy. In spots the trail rises and you have to climb using roots and worn foot holes. At the first junction there is a sign to follow the trail or go left to the Pihea Vista. If the valley has already started to fill with clouds, skip the vista because you won’t see anything. Continuing a short distance on the Pihea Trail you will reach the boardwalks. The boards are raised, 2 abreast, connected with a wire mesh. The boardwalk makes for an easy hike and was built in the late 90’s. There are sections that have numerous steps.

Hawaii 4-0 & Surprise!

Photo taken yesterday on the Kalalau Trail.

It's official! We will have a french exchange student again this summer! You know sometimes you just know it's meant to be.  Thibault (he will learn to love being called Tebow, although it's more like Ti-boo) will arrive on Sunday. Sadly for him, Gib doesn't get home until Tuesday, but we'll figure something out. He will be with us until July 28.  Mariah arrives back on the 27th and I'm picking the girls up in Chicago, spending the night and home on the 28th, so it looks like the old revolving door is back - wait, it never left.

Thibault will get along great with Gib. He plays drums, soccer, swims, likes rock music, video games, action movies, and history. Sounds alot like my son!  I plan to just feed them and turn them loose. I can't wait to see what his reaction will be to Waterworld.  I hope not knowing who his American host family would be for the past 3 months, and finding out just days before departure, turns from uncertainty to excitement! 

So things just got alot busier for the next couple of days.  I have to begin Waterworld registration for the troop, clean the house, air out Gib's room, and probably stock the pantry - 2 sons - how exciting!

Later today, Mariah will leave with Peyton's family. They will spend the night at their house and head to Chicago tomorrow. Spend the night there and fly to France the next afternoon.  I will miss that girl and will anxiously await to hear from Mariah each day! Felicie's family is excited to get Mariah at the airport. I received email this morning that they will whisk her off to the country and return to Paris late Sunday for the week. The next week they will vacation on the coast and the final week in the country again.  

So much to do - So much to look forward to!

On Top of Things & Hawaii 3-0

I was very glad we were on top of things with getting ready for France. The timetable has been moved up a day since the family driving the girls to the airport decided to leave a day earlier and spend the night, then go to the airport the next day. I am SOOO much happier with this development.  It makes for tons less stress a day of driving with a deadline would impose; followed by an equally long flight to Paris.


This afternoon, we went to a bistro and had yummy soup and a meatball & pasta dish.  The place has free WIFI and booth seating so we settled in to spend time together while reading on our kindles. Mariah thought it was ironic but great. She decided we had talked about everything we could possibly talk about. She's just ready to GO!

In the midst of all that, I heard the non-profit program which brought us Felicie was desperate for host families for some boys who arrive on Sunday and as of a few days ago did not know where they'd go. And they have been waiting 3 months to get a host family. That is sad, isn't it?! My heart just can't help but reach out, and even though it'd be a scramble, I had to offer our home and family.  Gib has already expressed interest so I know he'd be happy to have a guy here for 3 weeks, during which time he was going to be an only child anyway. As of right now, I am their back-up family, but I will not be at all surprised if we are asked to step in for some or all of the 3 week stay. Meanwhile, after our barrage of emails back and forth, the president and founder of USMD, who also lives in Paris, has announced she will be calling on the families hosting our girls sometime during their stay to check in on them. I gave Mariah her cell number just in case an issue arises and she needs french-english/english-french help. Mariah also knows 112 = 911 in Europe and she has Euros and sour patch kids. You know, all the important stuff.

Day 3 in Hawaii   Kalalau Trail according to Wiki

The guys began their day at 4:30 am waking up to depart for the north coast of Kauai. At 8:30 the schedule says they begin hiking the Kalalau trail and hike to Hanakapiai beach. Mid-day will find them hiking to Hanakapiai falls and finishing the day of hiking around 4 pm.  There will be some cool off time at the beach or Hanaiei Bay. That is if they make it. If you decided to skip the Wiki Report it's a must read now. They are going to Princeville for fish tacos and burgers where I guess one of 2 things will happen:  1) they will descend upon the food like ravenous dogs, er teenagers; or 2) everyone will collapse on the beach and decide to sleep awhile. Despite the strenous day, I do believe food will win out in the end, followed by collapsing.

Tomorrow is a "rest day" with camp activities and snorkeling and 4th of July fireworks in Lihue at the Vidniha stadium. Check it out - even the fireworks are prettier in Hawaii!

Gib Hawaii 2-0 & Up Before the Sun

There are a few boy scouting articles floating around the internet that fill in the details of a scouting trip to Hawaii. The itinerary's are similiar and I enjoyed reading about their adventures.  The first article in Scouting Magazine doesn't have photos, but is really close to Gib's troop itinerary. The other one is a little more human-interest and has photos. Again, the itinerary is close. I like that they all go to Costco!

• Arizona Troop's Hawaiian Adventure
• Baltimore's Troop Hawaiian Adventure - if you skip the paragraphs about fundraising, it's a good read

When I last heard from Gib I was waking up and he was going to sleep - it was 10:30 PM there.  He agreed it was an amazing fun day followed by "gtg to sleep ttyl".  Since nobody posted new photos on facebook, I believe they were exhausted! Gib probably should have done the anti-jet-lag sleep schedule change too.

Today they will fly to Kauai. They will go to the local Costco for lunch and provisions.  Top 10 Things Your Costco Won't Have  From there they will go to BSA Camp Faye - their base camp for the next few days. There will be a camp service project, dinner and a sunset drive to the Wameia Canyon lookout.

Meanwhile, back at home, Mariah and I were up before dawn again.  We shaved 30 minutes off our wake up time. It's a little more exciting now at 8:30 than it was at 4 A.M. We also realized that there was on other good place to go 24/7 even - can you guess it?  SONIC!  Bright and early we set off. Mariah's required viewing of the movie Taken prompted a discussion on our walk. I wondered what Mariah thought the girls' biggest mistake was. (If you don't remember that movie it's the one where 2 American girls get kidnapped from Paris. Liam Neeson is one of the girls' father in the movie and comes to France to rescue her).  We covered the basics -

1.  talking to strangers
2. giving out too much information
3. acting like tourists in the airport
4. taking photos all over, being giggly, loud and obvious
5. sharing a cab with no sense of personal safety  

Good things to know regardless of where you are at, but one thing stuck out at me.  Ignoring that inner voice -  and not stopping the friend in the first place. The girl knew her friend was sharing too much but didn't want to make a scene. When you feel something is wrong, it's OK to assert yourself and put a stop to it.  

If you're Liam's daughter, this is how it plays out:

If you're anyone else's daughter, this is reality.

All that and a Sonic Blast before Mike even left for work. Mariah appreciated the Blast but not so much my "paranoia".  Her sisters would agree, but as my great-grandma and grandma used to say

AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION IS WORTH A POUND OF CURE.

Gib Hawaii 1-0; Morning walks

Yesterday the Scouts left for Hawaii.   These are all actual pics taken by the Scouts as seen on facebook!


The Level II Hawaii Trip began at dawn, at the airport. In 11 hours they will be in Hawaii!

They boarded the USS Missouri where they bunked overnight

Double Rainbow 

I got a texts from Gib saying they landed safely and the first meal in 8 hrs was SOOO Good!! 

Judging by the flattering photo of my son, I'm wondering if this was it!

 

Flag lowering ceremony onboard USS Missouri

The itinerary for today is to disembark USS Missouri at 9:00 am (Island time) and go to the USS Arizona Memorial. There they will have lunch at the Memorial Cafe.  Let's see if Gib's table manners improve at all. Then the group will travel to Waikiki and check in at the Doubletree hotel.  There's something wrong about that. Boy Scouts at the Doubletree?! I thought they'd be stringing hammocks from palm trees along the beach! They will enjoy beach time and I would think the first day of snorkeling at Waikiki. Later in the afternoon the group will hike to the top of Diamondhead.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Mariah and I are still living the life of retired people... in bed 8-9 PM up before 5 AM.  Now that we've broken the before dawn barrier, Mariah likes to be bribed awake. Yesterday it was being the first customers of the day at Starbucks for caramel frappucinos at 5 freakin A.M.  Next we experienced the thrill of going to the Redbox when there are NO people and the only sign of life are little birdies and the bunny across the street from Walgreens. We took a nice little walk together on the way home. Today, the only other place that's open at 5 AM on our corner is Dunkin' Donuts. You gotta do what you gotta do. Pictures from this morning.

This will wake us up!

Just us and the birds!

Mariah and I took the long way home again. I am very much enjoying our time together before she leaves for a month. There's a whole new world waiting Mariah - dawn at home; France this weekend!