OOG - REWIND

I hope I have my camera issues resolved.

If so, the following photos will be from LAST weekend, which was Mike's birthday.

It fell on a Sat. and Zion worked really hard decorating while Mike was out at a Paddle Clinic.

Mike was home in time for lunch (when these photos were taken)

Then we went to Michael's first soccer game.

(*you can see the soccer game photos here)

After the soccer game, we had a wardroom Happy Hour down at the beach house.

Yes, "THE" beach house.

One of the other officers in the CEC loved the house so much,

that they moved in after we moved out.

It really was the best birthday present for Mike to visit his "old home".

Boonie Stompin' 3

If you missed my first adventure Boonie Stompin'..........you can catch up here

and then here for photos (and the REST of the story)

I haven't been Boonie Stompin' with the Rec-n-Crew bunch since that day back in October; until this week.

It appears as if I might be bad luck for the Rec-n-Crew boonie stompers.

When I got there today, the battery in the van was dead.

Additionally, the weather was nasty.

One of those seven minute rains that blows over and the sun comes out..........didn't happen.

It rained for most of the morning.

We got down to the site and according to the guides,
there was a new  NO TRESSPASSING sign.

OPPS!

Plan B

Still raining.........now what??

The guides decided to take us here.

A small break in the clouds when I took this picture. 

Not sure exactly where we were.

Then we loaded back up in the vans, and went to this cave.

You can't really call it a hike.  It was like a five minute walk.

The cave wasn't very deep, but was filled with fresh water.

Some of the ladies got in the water.

It was SUPER clear,

but they said it was cold

and I was already soaked, so I passed.

This is one of our guides.
His name is Jesse.
He is either young and fearless,
or young and ..............

Anyway,  he found a crack in the cave wall and decided to go explore a little deeper into the darkness.  The swimmer ladies followed.

Without a light, it was my cue to head back out of the cave and wait with the other ladies at the top.

I was back in plenty of time to shower before the boys got off the bus.  Much better than last time........... 

time for chores

 Two things provoked these photos
(or these chores of which I took photos)

1)  I read a book about the Amish and I decided that all five Thorntons are FAR too lazy.  Good grief those people work!

2)  This email article from Focus on the Family.


I am stepping it up here.

Zion's not off the hook.    He is too short to push the lawn mower (for now).  So his new weekly chore is washing the van.

I am adding more homemade food into our diet.   It takes more time in the kitchen, but it does taste better, and I am sure it is better for us.  

This weekend will involve some real Amish living.........
well, sort of.

We are going to be camping.

Stay tuned!

you can see the ocean.........

 From

almost

anywhere

on the island

Blog-apnea

Apnea is a condition where a person stops breathing while they sleep.

Therefore, my best attempt to explain my absence of blogging, is.......blog-apnea.

In January, I had only eleven posts.  February is not looking much better............yet.

In my defense, (at least partly) I was sick in January.

My second excuse, is that I have been having serious camera issues. 
The recent posts all contain photos taken with my phone.
I just don't LOVE the quality of a phone photo, just sayin'

I can see my images on my camera, and even see them when I transfer them to the hard-drive, but when I try to upload them to the blog site........I get an error message that says (*in so many words) "your file is jacked up" 

I think it could be, (possibly) that my flash card is old.

I will attempt to get a new one before the weekend,
because Zion has a swim meet
and Michael has a soccer game..........
in addition to an awesome weekend of camping down at GabGab with our CEC family. 

And my third excuse, reason is that I have been getting out of the house more.

I am training to walk a half-marathon.  If you think that sounds lame and wimpy,
kiss my grits,   then go on outside right now and walk 13 miles and let me know in 2 days
how your knees feel.

I have been walking five miles at least 3-4 times a week for almost a month.
I was sore the first week......but now I enjoy the walking and the company.
In fact, last Thursday, three of the ladies in our group decided we were conditioned enough
to start adding distance into our routine and we did 7.5 miles.   We will do a longer walk this
week as well.

What else is going on??

Well.........school for the boys
work for Mike
swimming for Zion
soccer for Michael
learning everything about military history for Isaac
and still no news on foster care
(I know, waiting it out is frustrating for us too)

Hoping to have lots of photos coming soon!

In the meantime, here is another phone quicky of the sun coming up yesterday before my walk.

Happy Valentine's Day 2011

To our family

and friends

all over the world

We love you!!

We are thankful

for your part

in making our lives rich and full

Happy Valentine's Day

From the Thornton crew

busy bees

I mentioned before that a Seabee Battalion (*NMCB-11) is deployed here from Gulfport, Mississippi.

You can read a post about them here.

So the Buzz Club has been making treats for them for the holidays.
(*the Buzz Club is the Civil Engineer Corps spouses)

We took over goodies at Thanksgiving and Christmas just to give them a little homemade treat.

Melanie Lynch found out that the White House had a special BEE cookie at Christmas time, and wrote the White House and asked for the recipe.  (you can read about the White House cookies here)
She received a nice handwritten note and the recipe from the White House chef.  (COOL RIGHT!??)

So for a Valentine's weekend treat........
we got together and made a LOT of Bee cookies at Melanie's house. 
We had a good time of fellowship while we rolled, baked and decorated the cookies.

(*photo credit:  Debbie Cyr)

(*starting in the bottom left going clockwise - Dana, Jamie, Jill, Melda and Tracey)

Cheryl and Rachel

Melda and Jamie

the rest of the story........

Some of you may have read the "Guest Blogger" post from yesterday.   Zion wanted to tell about the candy heart that I gave Mike.  It was cute that he wanted to take the pictures and write the story.

but as Paul Harvey says, "here is the rest of the story"

We had HEARTS night at Awana and the kids got Valentine candy for every section that they completed.

Zion is competitive and always ready for these challenges. 

In fact, he did four sections on Wednesday night. 

If you are familiar with Awana, you know that is a lot of work.

So after Awana, Zion has a candy heart saved and is very excited about it.

Maybe candy hearts and their words have some kind of magical power that I never knew about,
(according to a certain nine-year old in the Thornton family)

This was the conversation on the way home:

Zion: "Mom, do you still have the heart?"

Me:  "Yes, I have it"

Zion:  "You are going to give it to dad right?"

Me:  "sure"

Zion:  "It says, 'my man', so you have to give it to dad"

adding his 2 cents:
Isaac: "well she can just eat it herself..........MOM!  You can eat it"

Zion:  "No she can't! 
It says "my man". 
If mom eats it, her boobs will pop back in and she will grow a furry belly"  *


I almost wrecked the van laughing!!!!!!!!



(*in Mike's defense, I wouldn't call his belly,  furry)

OOG's first guest blogger

Even though we see the Gillam girls three times a week,
at least.......
(swimming Tuesday /Thursday, church on Sunday)  
Zion still reads their blog, just in case he missed some important news,   (I think he has my social gene)

So a few weeks ago when Ellie was the GUEST BLOGGER on their family blog, Zion started processing his own Guest Blog Entry.

Here it is:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am Zion and i got some pictures of my mom and dad when it was close to Valintimes.

I gave my mom a candy heart to give to my dad.

It said "my man."

My dad just ate it from my mom's hand.

 

And of corse they kiss and hug.

Yogurtland

Seriously,

On Guam - when something new opens............it's a big deal.

A

REALLY

BIG

DEAL

If you think you aren't spoiled by all the things you "love" in the states;

move to Guam

THEN,
if you think living here is no big deal, 
I strongly suggest that you become a missionary and move to Haiti

Just sayin'

So, Yogurtland is a new place here on island.

I have no idea if it's a chain or not, but it amazing.

Serve yourself

any flavor from Vanilla to Red Velvet Cake Batter

a whole counter of DO IT YOURSELF toppings

And pay by the ounce at the end

It was the reward for the boys for having HONOR ROLL report cards.

I never knew going out for dessert would be this exciting!!!

(*This is Michael's excited look)

Lots to read......

Zion started school in San Diego at a charter school called the Language Academy.
He did three years of school there, kinder, 1st and 2nd, all in Spanish. 
It was a great experience for him and I wish all the boys could have had the same opportunity.

Moving here meant giving that up, and I was sad for Zion, and a little worried that he would be behind in English. 

I mean, obviously, he speaks English........

but he did very little reading and writing in English while at the Language Academy. 
(they catch up this skill with their students starting in the 3rd grade)

All the teachers at the Language Academy assured me that Zion would be fine and catch up in six months.
They knew what they were talking about!

Zion was a little behind coming in, but by Christmas, he had a huge burst of reading advancement!

Here are some the books he has been pouring through.

Additionally,  he got this really fun book for Christmas.

Wreck This Journal

It appeals to the boy and the artist!

So I found this page, (from the journal) in his pants when I was doing the laundry last week.

Normally, I would NOT wash paper.........but this time I did.

So proud to have "reader" kids!