MacGuyver

I have realized that I search for solutions, thus MacGuyver has been my hero my whole life. My companions can attest to this fact and since I have been in Grenada it has brought out the MacGuyver in me.
For the last 2 years David and I have watched TV/movies through our computer. Generally we have it on our laps, which makes it warm, or we have it sitting between us which makes our already small bed even smaller. So after a few days of processing and calculating I decided that I would make David a computer bed table for his birthday. College football started last week and I knew that this would only increase the frequency of watching the computer in bed, often times until 1 or 2 AM. So I went and bought a hand saw and some nails and started tearing apart a pallet.
It took a couple of hours and some adjusting but it now works. It isn't pretty but it will work for us for 4 months.
It has 2 legs that slide underneath the bed then the table is about 2 inches over us in the bed.

Also, I know that David loves to study with a big white board and he wanted to buy one in the states and bring it down but that couldn't work so I started thinking that there has to be some way to have paper or material that is sticky and is white board material (self adhesive white board sheets) so we purchased 24 of them and I bought some plywood, cut it with my pocket knife and made him a large white board and made a border with duct tape. It isn't pretty or perfect but it will work for 4 months.

Fenton is 3

Fenton turned 3 and all he wanted was a cars cake so I put as much creativity as I could using what resources I had here. He loved it. We had a cars cake, he got lots of cars, cars shirt, cars puzzle and books. He loved it all.

I can't believe he is 3. He keeps up with his sister and often times passes her. He is so coordinated and fast. He loves sports and anything just for boys. He also has a soft side. During the day he will say "mom" and I will say "what" and he will say "I love you". This is a frequent thing that occurs. He has been my 501 child one that needs extra energy to love and teach. I love him so much and am grateful that he came to our family and has the energy that he has. He is a special little boy.

check out his party on youtube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6IJ4wO9QBE

why?

Why is it when you give kids the exact same thing, same amount and everything on different colored plates or cups they have to have a certain color. If you hand them a green one they want the pink one. THEY ARE THE SAME. This eventually leads into siblings fighting. What is the psychiatric reasoning for this phenomenon?

stories

I was in the lumber store on Wednesday and I found the piece of wood that I needed for a project so I asked how much it was and they said they didn't know the price and they wouldn't know until Friday. That is very typical.

I went to get a phone charger at the cell phone store and they said they don't carry chargers, I have to go downtown to get that....very typical

I went to inquire about a deposit that I never got back and the clerk said that the person in charge of that was on vacation and I asked when she would be coming back she said September.........

Lately our battery has been sounding weak and yesterday it officially died so we asked our neighbors for a jump, ironically their car battery was dead too. So a friend came over and jumped us (which their battery had died and another families car battery was dead all within 3 days of each other... weird) so while the car was running I wanted to take care of it and went and bought at new battery. This was at 8:30 in the morning. it only took about 30 minutes to change it and it went quite smooth. I took the kids over to the park and as we get out of the car the car starts to hiss. I didn't know what was happening to I took all the kids away from the car and then the tire blew. It was intense but I couldn't believe it. So while my friends watched the kids I ran back and forth to the tire shop to change the tire. It took about an hour. So with in 3 hours I replaced the battery and tire. Things seem to happen in 3's so I am waiting for #3 to happen now.

back on the island

We are back on the island (Grenada) together as a family. I feel like I haven't missed a beat. We are in a different apartment which I like much better. We live right above our friends with 2 kids and a new family moved in and they have 3 kids so it has been great to have babysitters and friends for the kids. The apartment has AC in all of the rooms, fewer ants and nearly no mosquitoes. It even has hot water, if you can believe it.
We have already enjoyed the island life by frequenting the beach and pool. The kids have started their school and they love it. David is studying like usual but everyone here has said how sad David was without me and kids and it is nice to have the old David back. So until December we are living the island life.

Thanks Blake for this awesome stroller/backpack. Carter loves it.

During a rain storm

Hirschi Family reunion

David was a co-organizer of the Hirschi family reunion and it went great. We went to a place about an hour south of Moab UT. It was in the mountains so the weather was great. We had activities planned everyday and we think that everyone had a great time.

We were in charge of buying and bringing all of the food and we loaded the van to the top. I was so proud of our packing skills. We brought all of our stuff, including our trip to Colorado stuff, 3 folding tables, a large pile of fire wood, and all of the food for 40 in this van. This pic is to show how loaded down we were. The van ran like a champ.

One of the activities was to play croquet, badminton, ring toss, and other games.

I made 2 fungulators (water balloon sling shot) and we had a war with each other. We shot over 500 balloons and had a great time. David was the target and got hit dead on more than once.

Our day at Moab and Carter's little front carrier.

Fenton and David climbed the double arch and Fenton was a great little climber. Sadly I was on car/children nap duty. There were about 4 kids asleep in the car so I sacrificed and stayed with them. I also had been there before so I wanted others to experience it.

At the double arch again, you can barely see Fenton right under David with his arms up. What a cutie.

The whole group that hiked to the look out for delicate arch. You can see it in the background on the left of us. Eliza had a small breakdown up there when I tried to cool her off by throwing water on her. I had to carry her and Carter all the way down. She finally fell asleep.

Carter just chillin'.

The sad part was that David, Eliza, and I got sick and slowly but surely each day about 2 or 3 more people got sick. It was a nasty stomach bug that lasted about 24 hours and it went through the family for about 2 weeks. This was David's day '0 sick.

Jason built a rocket launcher and the kids all decorated a rocket and shot it off. It was awesome and they went so high that we were worried that NASA was going to report a sighting:)

The reunion was the first of many and it was a great success. The kids loved to play with all of their cousins and it was a great to play games with all of the adults.

our favorite past time

During the summer David and I love to run down to the river and take a ski run at the end of the day. It doesn't take long but the weather is great, the water is glass and no one is on the river. We have been so spoiled to have the Snake river so close. This year Eliza (4) tried to ski and we were so proud of her. She nearly got up but it was great that she tried. I have many memories of this canyon and this river and we hope to make this a tradition for our family as well.