More Pictures - so Q

Smell Ya Later / Update

Sonia beat me to it so then I really procrastinated doing anything about the family Bon-Voyage (aka Smell-ya-later) party for James. I really like these pictures. It was a good party with Shawn's birthday and dad's Father's Day thrown in.

We got a call from James on Saturday but being in the mountains (coming home from the Ward Campout), no sooner did I say 'hello' and the call was dropped. When we got home James had left a message that he would call Sunday if possible (didn't happen), that he was there in Ft. Leonard Wood, would start actual BT on Monday (he has been in 'reception') and to write when we get the address. My guess is it has been a long week with no communication but lots of waiting.

Campout

This last week we were able to find some time to camp on the new property. James had wished he could get at least one camp but there just wasn't time until... we learned that school was out on Thursday instead of Friday! We were able to take advantage of this little window of opportunity so James could sleep under a rock.

Dad and I slept in his new tent. It's the perfect girls camp tent because all the sides zip down leaving mesh screening to keep out the bugs and so you can see if any girls are trying to short-sheet your sleeping bags! It's nice and spacious. Besides the bed we set up, we got in three camp chairs and a make-shift table for dad's little DVD player where we all watched a movie. It had been cold, rainy, and windy back home but we drove right out of it and had a nice time.

Bon Voyage to James from Friends

I'm so glad it turned out to be a nice day. The party had kind of a slow start but it's still going 6 hours later. We went over to Hunter park and played a lot of games. Roxanne was a good sport and played on one team to even them out. First we started out with a Super Squad Competition. Events included Dizzy Izzy, Ant Eater, Spider Web, Army Crawl, and Sack Race. We had to eliminate a couple events because of group size. Then came water balloons. The balloon launchers were a big hit so we filled up more balloons after lunch at home. After we'd launched the balloons we took to the park, we tried doing a rope bridge but the rope broke and smacked James in the face so that was the end of that. Back at home for lunch, Leland was a good sport and cooked the burgers and hot dogs for us while I got the other fixings ready. We had kids coming and going as they could so in all we've had Polo, Jackson, Jacob, Kelly, Sidhu, Richy, Andrew, Holt and of course James.

Nicknames

Hillary wrote about this and I just had too much to say to put into a post on her blog. Hillary mentioned her nickname Roo and I'm sure all my kids have heard the story of how she got it but just in case there is a reader who doesn't... the first phrase Hillary ever said was 'I love you' but in her baby talk it sounded more like 'ats a roo' and that is where Roo came from. She had another nickname... I wonder if she remembers. It was Sis or Sissy. She got the nickname Sis after Sonia was born and she became a sister. My dad had used that term for one of my sisters and I liked it. Richard/dad and I both called Hillary Sis or Sissy until shortly after Roxanne was born. Then dad started calling Sonia 'Sis' and that pissed me off cuz she wasn't 'Sis' just cuz she was a sister. So I stopped calling Hillary those nicknames and it didn't take long before dad didn't use them any more either and that was the end of it.

Sonia was Soni or Soni-bo when she was little but as she got older she didn't like being associated with stereos and such so she ended that. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other nicknames she had. Maybe she will fill us in.

Roxanne on the other hand had several. She was the only one who got the mother's list name and was called "Hillary-Sonia-Roxanne!" by me. Those shortened to Sa-Roxanne after awhile and eventually to Sox. There have been a few who tried calling her Roxi but she didn't really like that. What she hates most is those who try to sing her name. I'm sure I wouldn't have done that to her if I had known there was a song out there that would cause her grief all her life but it makes ya tough and at least she's not a boy named Sue.

James is mostly just James but he has had a few nicknames. When he was a baby I called him Jim-dear like the man in the movie Lady and the Tramp. Now I call him Sweetie but only when he's leaving for the day. The William's call him Jibby and the Nay's call him Jamison (but don't give their boys nicknames!). Dad gave him the name of Princess. I wonder what nickname he'll get at Basic.

Dad had the nickname of Toad when he was young and Russ and Roger still call him that sometimes. Most people call him Rich because dad doesn't like to be called Dick. There is another Dick in his new office so I don't know if people there will pick that up or stick with Richard or Rich to keep the two separate.

The nickname I had when I was real young was Les-los. I kind of gave myself one in high school because in Spanish class we could choose a Spanish name so I became Anita which is Spanish for my middle name Annette. I liked it quite well. Now I'm Bob thanks to my children... and Marc.

Let me know if I've forgotten something.