Parenting Error #46

Over Christmas Break, Delaney wanted to have a friend spend the night.  Since Dan and Callie were gone, and the house was a little less crowded, I said yes.  Somehow that morphed into putting up the tent for a camp out in the yard with not one, but TWO friends.  The noise and chaos level may have gotten a wee bit out of hand.

Just put up the tent and she is excited!

This is a new tent, purchased on Amazon.  I bought it a few months ago, hoping it would arrive in time for Josh's camping trip with his dad, but it did not.  This is a great tent!  Nice and big.  The downside is that the top is mesh on two sides so you need the rain cover on all the time unless you want the breeze and sun to come in.  But it is a spacious tent!

I let them light up the fire pit, but no one wanted to go collect wood, so it was a sort lived fire, since we ran out of sticks pretty quickly!

They roasted hot dogs for dinner.

I was surprised how happy they were to eat hot dogs that were charred on the outside and cold in the middle.

And then there were s'mores.

Lots of s'mores!

And lots of fun.

Delaney had a marvelous time with her friends.  

They only made it outside till 9:30.  It was the coldest night we had had so far (like 65 degrees cold), so they said they were cold.  So they all slept on the living room floor.  On the plus side, they were asleep around 11pm, and they slept in past 7am.  IThe house and tent were a mess, but the kids had a good time and no one cried.

A Dog and his Bone

 When Dan went to visit Iwakuni, he stopped by to visit our old neighbor- the one who LOVED Levi.  She asked him to return in a few hours to get something.  Dan did so and was a bit surprised to bring home a giant bone for Levi. He was also a bit surprised that he had no issue bringing it on the plane home!

We got it out for Levi and he was baffled as to what to do with it. He was too cute!

It smelled interesting.

But he couldn't get to it! 

Unveiled at last!

 "Are you SURE it is all for me?!"

He is still the coolest dog I know!

Makin' Stockings!

This year I learned how to make stockings!  I know, I'm a bit behind. Everyone told me it was super easy and they were right, it just took me a while to experiment upon their word.  Once I started, I couldn't stop!  I made them with my glorious kimono fabric, and finally got brave enough to try it with Obi fabric.  I'm still experimenting with the Obi fabric.  But it is so fun!  And they are so pretty! some I make with the same fabric front and back.  Some I use Japanese fabrics on the backs. Sometimes I make a cuff, and sometimes I don't.  But here are a few of my favorites.

Callie went to Cambodia

 Dan took Callie to Cambodia and Vietnam.They left the Friday that school got out for Christmas break, and returned the following Friday. So, they were gone Dec 14-21.  They liked Cambodia better than Vietnam, but that may have been a difference in tours, time spent there and Callie was  kind of done after 4 days. She decided she likes shorter trips better.

They did have a good time, and the trip was a success.  They took lots of photos and I'm putting too many of them here. Callie liked the animals best, and they had the good fortune of being in the same city as Callie's most amazing 6th grade teacher, so they got to go out to dinner with her.

I made her take a goodbye selfie so I'd have one last picture of her in case she didn't come back. 

Dan was astounded that they rode motorcycles like this with crazy traffic. 

 Posing in front of the important building.

Callie much preferred photos with cats! 

Riding in a tuk tuk. 

Her dad made her pose here, and I'm glad! 

An encounter with monks-in-training. 

Did I mention that Callie loved the animals!?!  She said this puppy was so soft. 

Eating out and trying new things.  But not too many new things! 

 They went for a horseback ride.

 Callie was delighted.  She loved it a lot more than walking! 

The guide made Dan take a "money shot" of Callie at the end without her helmet. 

This guy was offering elephant rides. But they did not take one. 

She got bored of all the sightseeing and picture taking. 

But they saw some cool stuff. 

And she was a good sport about it.  Then she would call me and complain about all the walking. 

Always with the animals! 

 Chillin' with some monkeys.

It is dark, but there is a monkey in there!  He's drinking from the water bottle Callie is offering it. 

 Angkor Wat.  Callie was there.

And saw cool stuff.  That Dan doesn't want to tell me about. Which probably means he can't remember what this is.

They went to an acrobat show and Dan was really impressed.   

Dinner at a fancy four course place. They were a bit underdressed.

Callie liked this lady and her dog. 

Checking out the cool waterfall. 

Resting her tired legs. 

 Another Temple.

Hoa-Lo, one of the places POWs were kept during the Vietnam War.  

(It was a prison for a hundred years before the American pilots went there and dubbed it the Hanoi Hilton.) 

Tight quarters in the hotel!

Gingerbread Cookies: Check!

 A lady in the Branch suggested a little get together to hang out and decorate cookies together at church, since it is about the only place big enough for more than 2 families to gather.  I made gingerbread cookies.  I recalled that the recipe made a lot, but wow, does it make a lot!  We went to the church with our cookies and decorating supplies and got to work.  It was fun, but I realized that I prefer only having to worry about my children and my mess, and multiple small people getting into everything caused a bit of anxiety for me.  But we got our cookies decorated and had a good time.  I had two Tupperware bins and three cookie pans of cookies at the end.  We managed to deliver most and ate the rest!