wildwood

Our spring break destination: Camp Wildwood Ranch, California!

We loaded up the van and then we were ready and excited to meet just 80 of our closest friends up there. Ha! What started as a trip with a few families, snowballed into a trip with 13 families, many of which I didn't know very well. It was a good lesson for me to relax and roll with the punches and I'm glad I did because it all worked out pretty perfectly. We had such a blast!

We traveled with our good friends and our kids hopped back and forth between cars the entire trip. We shared snacks, movies, dramamine, and throw up. And made lots of stops. But how else would you do it with 11 kids between us? 

I know you can't read it, but Layla is holding up a sign that says "help me." Kyler made one to hold up on the window, forgetting that our tinted glass probably made it difficult to read. But Layla thought it was all pretty funny.





One of our stops along the way there..



I was aching for the days when we used to meet up with good friends at Ensign Ranch in WA over spring break. So organizing this trip was both familiar, as it reminded me of that, and new, because I had never been to this campground before and we were such a large group going. But it turned out to be pretty incredible!! Camp Wildwood Ranch was beautiful! There was so many different things to do. All of the kids found other kids to run around with the whole time. We gathered for meals and tried to gather for night time activities. The adults had plenty of time to talk and hang out and play games. There were harmless pranks and so much fun.





Brinna loved all the attention from all of the teenagers and kids around camp. We had lots of help keeping an eye on her.





We spent one day organizing kids to try archery, tamahawk throwing, rock climbing, and the zip line.











































One of my personal favorite activities was the obstacle course. And watching Kyler throw himself over the ropes.

Somebody brought this blow up guy for a board game ("who’s that dude?" game). The boys took it over and used it as a running camp prank to leave it around camp. We found it in our cars, the bed, dressed up in grandma’s swimsuit, etc. They definitely crossed a line when they attached it to a urinal though...

You betcha we had a dance party. With glow sticks.

And my boys and their long hair made some new friends.

Before we left, wen enjoyed some games with the Martin's.



Highlights from the three nights we stayed at Wildwood:

-night hiking to the top of the mountain with the cross. Kyler practically carrying Perry the whole way.

-The older boys letting Perry hang out with them during the day. Perry was in heaven!

-deciding on our cabin theme song...I think we still need to vote. :) “surfin’ USA” or “jump around”

-the girls waking the boys up with “jump around”

-Takkis 

-the Limbo! 

-Brinna and kids swinging on the porch swing by the lodge

-talking with Kyler and the teenage boys late at night and hearing things that he has done (and hopes to do) that will give me gray hairs for sure

-creating our obstacle course and racing Nicole, Kyler, and others. And then the world’s most graceful extended fall when I tripped over a rope during the course! Haha.

-trying to see how high we could jump and hold on to the rope wall

-Perry zip lining because the boys told him if he did he could hang out with them the rest of the day

-Layla having a blast with her favorite person, Kate, and then all the other little girls her age

-cooking one meal and then being fed the rest of the week

-playing on the giant see saw with Brinna and Jane

-adults playing code names at night (though I personally avoided actually playing because I am all code named out)

-meeting some new people and getting to know some people we didn’t know very well a little bit better

-telling the boys to ask a mom to dance during a slow song. And so Kyler went straight over to the new teenage girl he met. (cue my eye roll)

-seeing happy kids playing and exploring everywhere
-making plans at midnight to extend our trip

the luckiest

I feel as though I am the luckiest.

To spend my days with this beautiful little one.

To see brothers playing side by side on the soccer field. (numbers 6 and 25)

To soak in this sunset.

or i’ll put you with the goats

Perry thrives off of routine. And the structure of school and the influence of peers. So by the end of two weeks without school things get a little wild around here. 

This afternoon there was a big tantrum. I can’t even recall what set him off. But it was 40 min of anger in the car while we picked Kacin and a friend up from the mall—yelling, bad words, threats to unbuckle his seat belt, etc. I tried all the tricks I could while I was driving: Let’s listen to your favorite song, here’s a juice box, here’s a snack, strikes to lose privileges, talking about something new, and ignoring. Nothing was working!

After we dropped Kacin’s friend off we had to go pick Kyler up. And this is the point that Perry’s threats to take his seat belt off became more than threats and he unbuckled while I was driving down the main road. So I dug deep and got creative and told Perry that he had to the count of three to get his buckle on or I would be taking him to the goats. He knows our friends just got two little goats. And he is not a fan of them. He asked if the goats would bite him. And he told me he would hit them. So I told him that goats kick back. I counted to three and he put his buckle on. 

We got Kyler in the car, but Perry was not settling down. Rather than continue the tantrum at home, where I knew destruction would happen, I decided to let the tantrum continue in the great outdoors of a local park. 

I stuck by Perry for a good half hour trying to keep him away from the rest of his siblings and get him to calm down. (Though I know he hit each of them at least once.) I chased him, tickled him, ignored his mean words, held him, walked with him, pointed interesting things out to him, gave him more strikes which equate to loss of screen time this week, and while there were moments of calm, he raged on. 

Eric called when he left work and we decided the best course of action was for him to meet us at the park so I didn’t have to stick him in the car with his siblings again. 

When Eric showed up, Perry decided he just wanted mom. The mom he had been running from, biting, and calling “a fool” for the last hour and a half. Isn’t that funny how that works? He went and hid on the other side of the park so he wouldn’t have to go with dad. Can you find him? :)

While Perry kept himself hidden, the rest of us sat on the ground and took a moment. To breathe, I guess.

We listened to songs from the Hunger Games soundtrack. Because I’ve been in the mood for that. 

We enjoyed a few minutes in the shade of the first truly warm (in the high 80s) day of the year. 

And I did not have to threaten to drop him off with the goats again.