Memorial Day Week and Creative Entertainment Ideas by the First Born

For Memorial Day this year, we invited some very special friends we met at church when we were engaged and have stayed in contact with all these years even when they moved to Maryland for a few years.  Their oldest two daughters are very good friends of our daughter, and we've been through major highs and terrible lows together.  This couple has gained a great deal of wisdom through recent struggles, and we were eager to learn from them as they counsel others with the hope of helping other friends who are going through something similar right now.

But before I prepared dinner for them, I wanted to get in my annual Memorial Day Murph workout.  This workout is very simple to remember, but not simple to do the first time.

1. 1 mile run to start
2. 100 pull-ups
3. 200 push-ups
4. 300 squats
5. 1 mile run to finish

It wasn't as hard this year, but I also skipped the mile run to start and mile run to stop (substituted biking for 45 minutes instead) due to a knee injury.  Now I try to do the workout (modified with the bike) every1-2 weeks. It's a fun way to remember the sacrifices our servicemen make for our freedoms.  It's a great workout too.  Hard core "murphers" wear weighted vests during the workout.  I tried holding dumbbells during the squats and a light pack on my back during the push-ups (I used push up handles this time for a deeper push-up), but I'm not ready for weighted pull-ups yet, especially given that 99% of women can't do a pull-up at all without an assist.  I'm content with my 20-30 unassisted pull-ups without weights.

One advantage of having a right brained girl is that I have never, not even once, had to come up with something for her to do when she feels bored because she always makes up something interesting to do. On Memorial Day,  she planned a full scale memorial service for our fallen veterans and Cody Moses (our late rabbit who died two years ago on Memorial Day) complete with songs, programs, speeches, flag, and umbrella covered processional to the grave site where we all laid flowers she picked earlier this afternoon out of our yard.

Each night this summer, she and her brother will be debating a different topic. Topics are determined the day before, with straws drawn to determine which side each person gets to take on the debate, so they have a full day to prepare their arguments). Their first debate was on the topic I chose, "Should parents' make their kids go to church?". 

When her brother signed up for Pop Warner football, she appointed herself his trainer.  She began designing workout programs for him and even developed a diet plan for him to help him build muscle.  Some of her ideas she got from me, and others are just confused in her mind. She really tells on me when she describes dinner as being whatever Mom puts in front of him and that if he could get me to actually do this (make dinner), that would be great.

Since she recommends fish (which no one likes), I made lots of fish for dinner that week, but in addition to wrapping the fish in parmesan cheese and bread crumbs, I also wrapped the fillets in bacon.  It was a eureka moment.  Delicious!

Cooking has been another creative outlet for our entertainment specialist.  She has taken over cooking dinner when she's here and not too busy.

Her first stir fry which she calls American SensAsian

She may be old enough to cook, but she still makes ugly faces for her brother.

Taco Salad

Her best entree' so far has been white chicken enchiladas, but I didn't get a photo of them fresh, and leftovers aren't very pretty but very tasty indeed.

She is so much fun that the two younger boys who typically come over to shoot hoops with her younger brother are now asking if she is available to play when he isn't here.  Water balloon fights are always fun, and as basketball player, she has really good aim.

Maybe I should write down all her activity ideas over the past 12 years and publish a book!