Plummer Party: Knowledge Bowl and general update


Getting a pep talk

I was Tristan's Knowledge Bowl Co-Coach this year. We started studying in October for the competition in March. The topic was 3rd and 4th grade science The competition was crazy intense. It's like a game show format. Anne was here for that weekend and it was fun to have her go with us. On the down side, it seemed, at the contest, that Tristan was the only one who studied. I don't know if the other kids just got stage fright, but Tristan was a one-man show. His team didn't place in the top 10. It was heartbreaking, once again. You can even ask Anne. It was frustrating for him to not have any team support. Also, if one of his team members answered a question wrong, even if he knew the answer, Tristan couldn't give the correct answer, because the chance had been blown. Frustrating.


Amanda, Tyler and kids came for a visit. Here were are visiting Fireman Brian.

We had a slew of visitors in the past couple of months. (1) Amy, Eli and kids came and we had a blast. It snowed just enough to satisfy the snow requirement. (2) Then we had Krista, Mike and kids overnight. It was a quick, but fun visit. (3) Austin, Chantel and kids came through on their drive cross-country. We had a nice visit and I didn't envy them having to get back in the car and keep going. (4) Anne came for the weekend and she and Tristan laughed like a couple of junior high kids during church. (speaking of that... it seems like someone in our family gets the uncontrollable giggles during church every week. Someone almost always has to go out until they've "recovered". That someone is usually Jack, but it's been me and Tristan too. Come to think of it... only Brian doesn't seem to get the giggles.) (5) Amanda, Tyler and kids came for a week. Amanda's kids were so well behaved. Ethan only cried if Amanda was in the house. Hudson showed that he'd never had to share his toys for so long, by being ornery and cross. I watched all the kids one day so that Amanda and Tyler could go skiing. I decided to kill time by taking them on a walk. We were walking though snow, so it made it more difficult, but Nora says, "I'm just not that good at walking." I had 4 kids, 5 and under. A neighbor drove past and then mentioned it a few days later.
She said, "Hey was that you with all those kids on the side of the road the other day?"
I said, "Yes, that was me."
She said, "That looked awful. I should've stopped. Sorry."
We did have a potty emergency and I called Tristan for some emergency support. He ran up to us and I took Nora and ran home to the bathroom.
After Amanda and Tyler left, (6) my cousin Nikki and her friend came for the night. It was really fun to get to know her better... AND she thought I was in my 20's! HA! Wait... was she just flattering me? It totally worked.

On the way to Bisneyland!

Hudson has been asking to go to Bisneyland for months! He fake calls hundreds of people on his plastic phone, telling them about going. Amy got him the Mickey ears and he was super hyper all the way there, until he fell asleep. We were on vacation for 6 days, but really only stayed in CA for 4. We stayed at Dad and Jeri's house and had a good time. It never feels like enough time. We never get to see everyone we wanted to see or eat at all the places we wanted to eat. Oh well. Next time.


Hudson in his "ninja" costume that he and Jeri made. He wore it for 2 days straight.

This is Camp Lone Peak. Formerly called Camp Buffalo.

Jack and his friends decided to make a "camp" across the street from our house. I'm not sure why it changed names, but it was the cool place to be for a few days. Most of the boys immediately took off their shirts when they arrived in camp. Right? Cause it's so hot here. It was like 60. I was down at camp because Hudson couldn't be left out. You can see Hudson in the orange shirt. I had 11 boys down there!
Jack has big plans for Camp Lone Peak. He is going to make money by putting videos of Camp Lone Peak on YouTube and getting a lot of subscribers. I said, "Go for it." Tristan keeps trying to tell me and Jack how it's not going to work. Hey- it might. Jack typed out a list of things they need to work on before it's "camera ready." It's hilarious. I'll keep you posted.