School Retreat

Once again we used two school days to take our Middle and High school students on a retreat.

This time we went to a different camp that had more updated facilities and was fully staffed.

This was my cabin (with my girls) complete with a bathroom and a shower.

Initially, I thought the bathroom would be great...but I had no idea just how much time teenage girls spend in the bathroom!  Rarely was there a moment when one of my girls wasn't in there primping in front of the mirror or taking their second shower of the day! 
The moment I lost my cool was when it was "clean up the cabin and pack up things on the bus" time and four of my six girls were in the bathroom in front of the mirror doing their hair!

When they weren't in the bathroom though, they took part in team building activities.  The purpose of these activities was to encourage them to communicate and cooperate with each other in any way possible.
Here they are trying to use pipes to roll a ball from one cone to the other without letting it fall to the ground.

In this activity, they all had to stand on the blanket and then turn it over onto the other side without touching any part of their body to the grass.

This game was pretty easy for them.. They had to hold a bar using only their pointer fingers, and then lower it to the ground.

This one, however, they had a lot of trouble with.  They were placed on a balance beam in random order and had to line up in number order (using their birth date) but they could not talk to each other at all.

The final game involved having to balance on a square platform while singing a song.  After each song, the leader would remove a layer and the platform would get smaller.

But they did it...and even more impressive - I think - is they knew the words to the Star Spangled Banner!

My girls also impressed me at the dinner table with their ability to eat food!!!  We ate family style and could go up to the window for seconds if needed...and we most definitely needed them at our table!

 But, then again, who could blame them...the food was fabulous!

And in between there was swimming.

and fun in the game room

and a night time game of basketball

And then, of course there were two Chapels...but no pictures of those.

Great time again!!

Busy

Friday...for the first time in perhaps two weeks I am feeling like I can come up for a breath of air.

But only briefly...Monday and Tuesday we head up north for retreat!

In a lot of ways, this past week has been one of the most active, busy, and stressful of my recent life.  

Three out of the past four days I have been on the go for 14-17 straight hours without any downtime.  And six of the last nine days...same thing!!!! CRAZY!!!

I am trying my best to enjoy having all three of the boys here...but I think they'd probably say that it's not going well at all.  It kills me to think that they'll probably remember this visit as the "one where mom went crazy."  

They are my life.

I'm hoping this weekend will be enough to give my battery a re-charge and that I will be able to make it through next week - seeing as I will be giving up my day off for the retreat!!!!!!

Anniversary

According to my mother:
she was a fat, dowdy, homely teenager working as a waitress in a cafe while home from college for the summer.  Each night a drop dead gorgeous, handsome man would come into the cafe for dinner.  Far from home, he was working and sending money home for his mother and two brothers who were still in school. He would sit in her section and make small talk while eating and finally one day...he asked her out on a date...the rest is family history.

According to my father:
He was living away from home working and could not cook so he went out to eat every night.  He had just changed diners because the previous one started playing loud rock and roll music and that was not his style...this led him to the cafe my mother was working at...he describes my mother as a beautiful woman...on the inside and the outside.  She had these gorgeous eyes that flirted with him innocently from behind her cat-eyed glasses.  She was a down to earth woman who was interested in more than the superficial and did not posses the common "what's in it for me" attitude.

Their courtship included a year apart while my dad served in the army in Korea.

They were married August 18, 1962.

Saturday we celebrated with them as they marked 50 years together.

I feel so blessed to have had such wonderful parents and am so happy that Jerry and I could give them a nice dinner.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

50 Years Ago 

August 18, 1962

Packer's Game

Pre-anniversary festivities are in full swing here at the Schneider/Koeck casa.  

Yesterday, this included a trip to legendary Lambeau Field to watch the Packers take on the Cleveland Browns.

Now...during last year's regular season the Packer's recorded a 15-1 season while the Brown's were a dismal 5-11.  One would think...yeah.

But...no.  They played an awful game!!!

It started out well with the defense creating a turnover and the offense turning that into 7 quick points.

But that was it for scoring.  The starters were taken out and then it went downhill.  They lost by some insane amount.

But it's only pre-season.  We actually spent more time walking around than watching the game.  A lot a fun!!!
Legendary Lambeau Field

Giant Zucchini

Went out to the garden this afternoon, pulled back the many twisted leaves of the zucchini plant, and...

found this "little" gem.

I can't believe how quickly those plants grow...and they are so hard to find among all the stems and leaves...and occasionally I miss pulling one until they are too big - but never THIS BIG!!!

--my cell phone for size comparison

Some Old Pictures

These are just some of the pictures I scanned of my sister and me for the anniversary video I made for my parents.  Again, I am the younger one.

This is me at about 2 years old.

The video is about 20 minutes and would probably take about 2 hours to upload onto here and anyone that interested in it will already have a hard copy anyway...so...yeah.