The Hacker Five: 5 Little Firecrackers

Westin, Kynlee, Jackson, Brooklyn and Gage

As July is quickly coming to a close and I am yet farther behind than ever in keeping up with the blog, I suppose it is past due that I share our July 4th fun!

We had a great July 4th (despite the fact that I did not see a professional fireworks show for the second time ever to my knowledge)! We spent the week at Lake Whitney with Granna, Poppo, Aunt Jessica and Uncle Brian, Aunt Kiki, Uncle Jacob and Aujehl, and the Cattoors: Marc, Linda, Morgan, Lauren, Jonathan and Jeremy who was there in spirit since he had to work (people lovingly referred to as "family friends" here in Texas, those who are unfamiliar with this terminology . . . it means exactly what it says, friends that are family.) If you lost count, there were 19 people staying in ONE lake house! It was packed, loud, crowded and crazy . . . and we wouldn't have had it any other way!

We spent the week swimming, cliff jumping, boating, jet skiing, fishing, cooking out, drinking margaritas, playing games, shooting off fireworks and generally having a blast. And for those who did a double take, yes, it says cliff jumping (Lake Whitney has a bunch of cliffs you can jump off into the water, which Jackson did partake in . . . more on that later) and yes, it says boating . . . we braved a boat and the lake with all four 1 year olds and lived to tell the tale thanks to all the extra back up we had that week!

Double Sparkler fun!

The week started on Wednesday with a "professional" fireworks show put on by none other than our very own and very favorite pyromaniac, Uncle Brian. He came armed with fireworks big and small! There were sparklers, poppers, fountains, bumble bees, tanks, chicken and quite a few that shot up into the air for a spectacular display of lights, leading to many "oooohs" and "aaaaahs"! And of course no 4th of July would be complete without Uncle Jacob sitting in the background throwing a Black Cat every now and then with no warning to make everyone jump! The big, professional fireworks show was supposed to be on Saturday, but it got rained out, so we were so glad that Brian put on a good show for us on the 4th. I will admit to a little disappointment because fireworks are one of my favorite events all year long and I missed them last year due to the drought here, so I was pretty sad about a second year in a row. Had it not been for the show that Brian put on, I might have cried about the lack of fireworks (and I'm not kidding folks, I take my fireworks very seriously). The babies did not experience their first fireworks this year, which really did make me sad, but they were just so tired from all the fun in the sun, swimming in the lake earlier that day, so maybe next year!

As for water fun, there was plenty. We spent the day on the 4th, jumping off cliffs. This was also curtesey of Uncle Brian who frequents Lake Whitney and knows all the spots! He's that daredevil you see at the lake doing gainers, backflips and handstands off the edge of the cliffs . . . hmmmm do I need rethink the influence he might have on my kids . . . fireworks and cliff jumping, this could become a problem ;-) (And I didn't even mention that he let Jackson help light a few fireworks, which Jackson was reluctant to do at first, but quickly warmed to.) I suppose we'll keep him, but we're going to keep an eye on him ;-) Jackson did, in fact, jump off the cliffs . . . and it might have been his mom that talked him into it the first time . . . He started with the 5 foot cliff and after several belly flop attempts, he finally got the hang of going feet first!

Jackson off the 5 foot cliff.

He got braver though . . . on Friday, after I had gone back to the lake house with the tiny people, he decided to jump off a bigger cliff with all the big people. I have heard various testimonies as to the height of this cliff. Some say 10 ft, some say 12 ft and yet others swear it was closer to 15 ft . . . I'll let you be the judge

Jackson jumping from the higher cliff!!!

Anyway, apparently he jumped, hit the water and then said, "I want to do it again!" He even tried to get his Granna to jump by offering to wait for her in the water, but alas, his "assistance" was not enough to get her to take the leap.

In other water fun and adventure news, there was plenty of swimming, which the babies loved/hated and there was jet skiing. I say the babies loved/hated swimming because it's the truth. Some had a great time others had a great time. . . some of the time. Brooklyn, in true Brooklyn fashion, wanted to be independent and was perfectly willing to "swim" around in her puddle jumper without assistance. Kynlee wanted to be with someone all the time or riding in the float, though Granna did finally coax her to do a little "swimming" on her own as well. Westin was touch and go, he waded into the water on his own, but wasn't really sure how he felt about it (however, now he plays great at the pool), though he did ride the jet ski for a while with me one day and seemed to kind of like that. Gage, I think, mostly enjoyed himself. Jet ski's were a BIG hit with Jackson. Apparently he's already a speed demon. He's been begging us to get one ever since we left the lake. He has told us repeatedly that, "it was really fun to ride the silver one, especially when Uncle Jacob was driving, because it was the fastest." Uncle Brian took Jackson out once and let Jackson control the throttle while Brian steered. They pulled up beside Clint and I, who were on the other jet ski to report that Jackson had taken the jet ski to 50 mph!!! Should I be concerned that my 4 year old already likes to light fireworks, jump off cliffs and drive fast? And has anyone else noticed a recurring theme here? If I'm not mistaken, Uncle Brian was part of everyone of these "adventures" . . . Uncle Brian, we might have to send him to live with you, because apparently you are way cooler than us! We did take Jackson on a jet ski when he was one (just a couple months younger than the little ones are now) and back then, it just put him to sleep. The pictures are priceless, but I don't know about this "need for speed" business we've got going on now! As mentioned before, Westin also rode the jet ski, but I think we missed that photo-op :-( However, we did capture a picture of Brooklyn riding, she's the other one that I think will be a trill seeker, so maybe we should have kept her far from jet ski's . . . oh well.

Lauren, Morgan, Jackie, Jessica and Jonathan: S'more time!

Other than water and fireworks, we spent our evenings making smores, fishing at the water's edge, playing games after the little ones went to bed, enjoying margaritas, oh and celebrating Uncle Brian's 30th Birthday!! He turned 30 on the 6th and we celebrated with cliff jumping (of course) and a fabulous homemade German Chocolate cake made by Jessica!

Some people needed a s'more so bad, that they couldn't wait for the roasting sticks!! Clint!

Happy Birthday Brian! Welcome to the Thirty club!

All-in-all it was great week. A little crazy at times, with babies getting overwhelmed and flipping out a little and there was the incident with the police . . . Don't get too excited, Clint just got pulled over for a speeding ticket, but it was pretty funny. I think the fact that we had quadruplets may actually have spared us. Clint and I were driving to the cliffs/swimming area with all the babies to meet everyone else (they had gone earlier while we waited for naptime to be over). We didn't know the area well and we had actually just commented that we weren't sure what the speed limit was, but we both thought it was probably 60 . . . I was staring at the GPS and Clint was scrutinizing the street signs/landmarks (not that there were very many). Apparently we were both in a very focused placed because we were oblivious to the fact that we were being pulled over until we turned and an officer with lights going, turned with us. The following transpired:

Officer (very polite, but very stern at this point): Were you aware that you were going 64 in a 50?
Clint and Myself: No sir, we're so sorry!
Officer: Have you ever been in trouble?
Clint: No sir (we thought this was an odd question until he continued . . . )
Officer: I was sitting back there at the turn with another police car. I followed you with my lights on for 3 miles. You didn't see me?
Clint: No sir, I'm so sorry
Jackie: We are so sorry, I didn't notice you either. We are unfamiliar with the area and we were both so focused on where we were going. We apologize.
(at this point he looked in the back of the van and noticed the kids, then asked for Clint's license, etc and walked off. As he walked off, another officer pulled up, to which I exclaimed, "What in the world!" We just knew Clint was going to get a ticket and of course it would have been deserved, but we still weren't excited about it. Then the officer walked back up.
Officer: This is a warning, please slow down (Seriously guys, he only gave Clint a warning, then he said . . ) Are those quadruplets?
Us: Yes sir
Officer: How old are they?
Us: 22 months
Officer: I go to church with a family that has quadruplets . . . I could see how you would learn to tune everything else out and focus on the task at hand. You probably have to! When you guys didn't pull over, I called for back up just in case (explaining the other officer). But when you didn't speed up or slow down for a whole 3 miles, I started to wonder if maybe you didn't know I was there.

When all was said and done, he pointed us in the right direction and told us to have a nice day! I think he saw the quadruplets in the back and decided to give us a break. We definitely laughed about it, but I guess we need to learn to focus on more than one thing at a time!

I already can't wait until next July 4th. It is truly one of my favorite days of the year! And next year, we WILL see a professional show!! With that said, I'll leave you with a few more pictures of our 2012 4ht of July, lake week fun!

Morgan and Westin. Jackie and Kynlee. Lounging in the middle of the lake

Brooklyn and Poppo

Kynlee had to make sure Daddy knew how to drive the boat!

Aunt Jessica and Westin . . . he didn't really like the boat.

Jonathan, Jacob and Jackson. Looks like trouble!

Jackie with Gage and Brooklyn with Jessica

Uncle Brian!!

Uncle Jacob with Jackson, watching a movie on Granna's computer. Jacob couldn't resist how sweet Jackson looked so he curled up with him. One of my favorite pictures!