Thursday, July 29, 2010

Little Vacation

This year we couldn't really decide if we wanted to vacation or not. We decided that since Gray was working this summer trying to earn money for college and since Dad was in his master's program, we didn't want to stray too far away from home. We were going to go to Maine with my aunt, but Aunt Tara came to Virginia and we've been doing stuff all this week.

Aunt Tara, her kids Jacob, Daniel, and Jonah, and Jacob's girlfriend Breanne arrived on Saturday afternoon. We've done lots of things with them and got to know Breanne a little bit. On Saturday we just hung out and got settled in. On Sunday, we all went to church and then came home and went to the pool for some family time.





Bryce's Cast

Bryce buckle fractured his wrist on Tuesday at the lake. He went to the ER on Tuesday night, got a splint and a sling, and this morning he went to the orthopedic doctor to get his cast. He will be sporting blue for three weeks, and then his cast will be off and he will get an arm brace. He can't even swim for three weeks because they don't do waterproof casts!

Bryce and I in D.C. He was getting so frustrated and angry because it was so hot and humid and his sling was making him sweaty, so we took it off.

I snuck this picture as he was sleeping last night. The splint looks really big here!

The imprint when the doctor took the splint and sling off.

The cotton wrapped around his arm that lies under his cast.

He picked a nice, blue cast.

When we were all done Bryce, Mom, and I went to Chick-Fil-A for some lunch :)

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

A First for Everything

Today we went out to Lake Anna with the family. We were all playing in the lake, and the kids wanted to go on the playground. We let them go up with Rachel. A couple minutes later Bryce came down crying because he had fallen off a zipline and hurt himself. I held him for a while but I didn't really think much was wrong. I was focused on his shoulder because he had a large scrape there. However, mom took him to the ER tonight and he has a broken wrist. Bryce is pretty proud of it, however, because he is the first Kemmey kid to break something and to get a cast! I think it makes him feel tough and manly! So cute!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

False Illusion

Doesn't this lady look very sweet and innocent? Yep, that's my mom. Somedays this picture is a little bit off the mark. Like the other day for instance....

We were all sitting around during a typical day of the summer, watching t.v. and enjoying zero responsibilities. There were a few messes here and there, beds not made--the usual. My mom handles mess very well. I think when you have a family of ten, you just have to. BUT every once in a while she goes off. I'm talking off like a bomb. Tuesday she could not take any more of us kids being lazy and apathetic during the summer. She yelled for a little bit and decided it would be best if she just left. So she stormed out of the house, and went somewhere none of us knew.

Now, being the good kids we are, we didn't really care. We eventually decided to start picking things up and get moving. When mom came home she was in a much better mood.

Well, yesterday I figured out where she went and what she was doing the whole day when she was gone. Gray, Suzanne, and I were on the couch talking about movies when Gray said, "I really need to see Inception". Mom said, "Oh, that was a really good movie!" We all were like, "Mom when did you see that?" Turns out, when she needed a day off she headed to the movie theater. By herself. The only person in the row.

We were laughing so hard.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Summer Assignments

Today I have been extremely productive. I am surprised. So far I have done zero tv watching and minimal computer usage. I woke up and made a chicken salad for mom to take to work, then started on seminary make up work and history summer assignments. I want them done. I'm going to work like a crazy man.

P.S. I have a lot to blog about. I'll get around to that later.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

CBF Canoe Trip, Part 2

Well, this part of the trip actually had no canoeing, but oh well. So we left off when we were at the Virginia Outdoor Center, camping in Fredericksburg.

We woke up on Thursday morning and headed to Fox Island! We got on the bus and traveled for about 2 hours to a grocery store to restock our supplies for the next few days. We all fell asleep on the bus ride over. I woke up at one point, sat up, and saw nobody. Everyone was out like a light. We got to Food Lion, and we all had a list of things to get. We quickly retrieved and purchased them, and then we headed to Smith Marina to catch a boat to Fox Island. It was a fun boat ride, and we all enjoyed looking at the water, feeling it spray on us, and getting to the Island. We got to the Island, and checked out the house. We looked around and meet 2 new leaders with CBF. The house was so cool. There were paintings all over the walls, cool little nick nacks found all over the islands, and my favorite part was a bunch of journals they had. Ever since 1985 people that have been coming to Fox Island have written memories and thank yous in the Fox Island journals. It was so neat to see. In the afternoon, we set some crab pots. Kissing fish, breaking them in half--delicious. That night the group went out on the dock and lied under the stars. We found different constellations, and just looked at the beauty of it all. It was amazing. All of us in the group really got to know each other at the house. We were all comfortable and acted ourselves as we played card games and enjoyed each other's company. It was fun. On Friday we woke up early enough to see the sunrise. We went out on the dock and watched it. Beautiful. Then we went and scraped the grasses and found all kinds of critters: crabs, pipe fish, grass shrimp, and even a puffer fish. Then we went back in and got ready to go marsh mucking. MARSH MUCKING. Now, you probably don't know what that is. Basically, we went and jumped around in mud and played games in the mud, had cannonball contests in the mud, and otter slide competitions. It was so much fun. The Marshes smelled like rotten eggs, but we didn't care. We went swimming in the Chesapeake Bay. Once we were done, we had a dock shower with salt water from the bay and camp soap, but we weren't complaining, because folks we hadn't showered for five days. FIVE DAYS on the river and canoeing and sweating and sleeping on the ground and no showers. But nobody really cared, because we all looked and smelled the same and we were having so much fun that it really didn't matter. After we got all showered and cleaned up from the mud, we headed into town, onto Tangier Island. There are only 550 residents on the island, and everybody knows each other and their business. We looked at how they lived compared to how we lived and enjoyed some of their tourist attractions, like gift shops, a local museum, and an ice cream shop. It was so much fun visiting the island. Friday night we had a crab boil with potatoes and corn and kielbasa for those who don't like crab. We all talked and relaxed, and five of us decided to sleep outside on the dock. We slept out under the stars and spotted tons of shooting stars. It was such a good memory. Probably a sight I will never forget. Saturday morning we woke up, packed up, and headed back home. Goodbye Fox Island. The trip was so wonderful. I am so glad I had the opportunity to go.

Catching up on sleep on the bus ride. Mmm check out that hair grease. No shower is 5 days!

Grocery shopping

Isn't that little crab so cute?!

Group picture headed over to the island.

Boat ride :)

Meghan and I. Quite the duo.

Fox Island! The house!

The manikin near the Clivus, the composting toilet that uses zero water.

Finding critters in the habitats.

Us on the crows nest, overlooking the island.

Group picture before we went Marsh Mucking!

Ice cream place on Tangier Island. I had a strawberry cone :)

View of the dock on Fox Island and Big Island in the upper left corner.

Me with a crab on the boat.

Cooked Crabs

Meghan and I sleeping on the dock. Such a great memory!

I am so glad I had the chance to go on this trip. It was amazing, and I loved every single minute of it. I learned so much and got to see so many of God's creations, big and small. Experiences like this are truly captivating.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Real Job?

Gray is currently the newest employee at the Lee's Hill Subway Shop. He has a real job, folks. Well, as real of a job that an 18 year old college student can get in this world. At $7.25 an hour, he's enjoying life. Haha, not really. He hates working, but is glad to have a job. He can make any sandwich you want!

CBF Canoe Trip, Part 1

June 28th through July 3rd I went on a trip through the Commonwealth Governor's School and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. It was so amazing and I had such a great time. I'm going to split this trip into 2 posts, so here goes! Caution, long post :)

The first three days of the trip we were canoeing on the Rappahannock river. There were 19 people on the trip (14 kids, 3 CBF leaders, and 2 CGS teachers), so we had 9 canoes and a kayak. We distributed all of the things we would need for 3 days and 2 nights on the river, as well as our personal stuff, into the different canoes. We had 9 five gallon jugs of water, tents, food bins and coolers, cooking supplies, and our clothing and sleeping bags. We started at a place called Kelly's Ford and canoed for about 18 miles. We didn't know where we were camping each night when we started. When we found a good spot, we would stop and set up. I canoed with a girl from my site, Meghan McConnell, and we had a really good time. Because we hadn't had rain in a couple of weeks, the water level was very low and tons of rocks were exposed and canoes would get stuck constantly. All of us had to get out and walk our canoes at various points. However, Meghan and I figured out how to navigate our way through all of the rocks and how to avoid being stuck most of the time. It was a great feeling. On the second day of canoeing, the leaders would make our canoe start last out of the group, and without trying we would quickly end up in the front of the pack. Some people would get really frustrated, but both Meghan and I thought that going through the rocks was fun and more exciting. Regardless, we had a good time. I really enjoyed just camping anywhere randomly. It felt like really camping. We ate really well. Chicken fajitas, delicious meat sandwiches on REALLY good bread each day for lunch, kielbasa and beans and rice, bagels and cream cheese, poptarts, spaghetti. YUM. Wednesday was our last day canoeing, and we only went about 3 or 4 miles. After we were done, we pulled out. We had to haul our heavy canoes up a steep hill. It was probably the hardest thing we did all trip. Anyways, on Wednesday we went to Carl's ice cream and camped at the Virginia Outdoor Center. For the other days we were camping somewhere where we couldn't see or hear civilization. When we finally came back so close to all of our houses, it felt weird. As if we were supposed to be going home and ending the trip. We set up camp and relaxed for a while before we ate dinner with the director of Friends of the Rappahannock. The first three days were over, and we all were having a GREAT time!

Where we put in--Kelly's Ford

Me in my canoe

Our camping place the second night. We camped right in the confluence (where the Rapidan and the Rappahannock Rivers meet).

Some of us swimming in the Rappahannock.

Pulling a net in the river seeing what we can catch. We only got some shiners.

Eric, from CBF, catching a fish.

Meghan and I in our canoe.

The bus with our shoes from the river hanging out the window

I know this picture is sideways, but oh well. I just thought that I'd share that we had not used a toilet since Monday morning, and we saw this beauty on Wednesday afternoon. Yep, that means we were peeing and pooping in the woods. Jealous? I bet you are.

Next up, FOX ISLAND. More on that tomorrow.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

4th of July

I've been a slacker. Oops. I have a trip I need to blog about, but I figured I would go ahead and knock out the 4th first. Here goes. Since the 4th was on a Sunday this year, we had a Mormon 4th of July on Saturday so that we could all spend the day with our families on Sunday. We headed over to the Smith's house along with the Shields and another couple from our ward. We had a traditional barbecue and played games and eventually watched some fireworks. We all had a great time and enjoyed each others company as we celebrated our country and the great freedom that we have. Here are some pictures :)

Some of the older girls, getting ready to eat and looking at pictures

The moms and the women

The dads and men

One of the things we did was draw chalk drawings with the little guys. Andrew and I are pretty talented, I must say. I'm thinking professional art status?

We also played some toothpick/lifesaver game. Pretty cute.

All the kids. Gray was absent, as he had to work.

Sun going down so we can do FiReWoRkS!

KABOOM!

So that was Saturday, the 3rd. Then on the 4th, we headed down to Virginia Beach to see my Grandma and my Aunt Sheri. We just had a good time as family, ate some food, and swam in my Aunt's pool. Fun!

Grandpa feeding the dogs, his best friends

Aunt Sheri and Bryce, best buds

Ryan playing on the swing

Grilling Kabobs! YUM!

Mom

I love all the water behind him!

Brother and Sister looking good by the poolside. P.S. check out my awesome hair.

Isn't he just the cutest?

Another cool picture.

Happy Fourth!