The Last Hurrah of Summer

Vacations have been few and far between this summer.   Before we all started back to school we planned one last bash.  We tent camped in Wallowa Lake State Park in Oregon for five days.  Upon arriving I observed our campground was really for people who didn't like camping.  There were flush toilets, showers, and right behind our campsite a huge modern playground.  The roads were constantly busy with RVs, motorcycles, and bicycles.  It wasn't exactly roughing it, but it was lovely.

The kids spent a lot of time working on their Oregon State Parks Junior Ranger badges and attending park-hosted activities.  We learned how to tell the difference between a pine, spruce, and fir tree.  We learned Douglas firs are actually spruces and Ponderosa pines have reddish bark which smells like vanilla on warm days.  We learned young thistle and stinging nettle are good to eat.  We learned about the Nez Perce and the foods they ate.  We practiced throwing a spear with an atlatl and explored a tipi.  There was also a bit of swimming in the clear, chilly lake, bike riding up some crazy steep hills and then hitting 35 MPH coasting down them, ice cream eating, and eating a ton of food we made in our new pie irons. When we weren't doing all our other activities the kids played on the playground for hours with newly-made friends.  They enjoyed playing and Michael and I enjoyed the peace of no children under foot.

The third day we were there (after selling a kidney or two to raise the money) we rode the Wallowa Lake Tramway gondola to the top of Mount Howard.  My sister Heidi, Libby and I rode in one car while Michael rode with the rest of the kids in the other car.  The moment the gondola started its 13.5 minute, 4,000 foot ascent, Sam immediately grabbed himself and announced he had to go potty while Grace started fussing because she was scared.  Michael and Ethan had to tell the Goldilocks story two and a half times to maintain order.  In our car we spent a lot time talking about how far up we were and feeling a little nervous we were looking down at the tops of very tall trees. 

 

Going up.

 More going up.

 Sam really needed to use the bathroom.

 

At the top.

 Looking out on the valley.

 There were chipmunks.

 They were friendly.

We brought sunflower seeds.  I know you aren't supposed to feed the wildlife but just once I decided to live on the edge.  This may have well been the kids' favorite part of the trip.

 Look at that view!  It almost looks fake.

 So very pretty! 

On the way down.

We all came home relaxed, fat, and happy.

Fair 2014!

The fair this year was one snafu after another.  I had the kids decide what they wanted to enter early on so we could do the early registration.  We got it all filled out and turned in on time.  Ethan and Libby each entered nine items, Grace entered five and Sam entered three for a total of 26 items.

After dropping the entries off I got a call from the fair office.  I hadn't completely filled out a couple of spots on the entry forms.  The woman on the phone promised me she would just take the incomplete items off the entry form and we would have to enter those separately.  I messed up a bit, but it was salvageable.

The day we went to drop off entries we were juggling photos, paintings, Sculpy figures, and cut flowers in water.  After struggling with transporting the four vases of flowers across town I was informed they couldn't be entered for another two days.  Then they couldn't find our early entry forms.  So we stood there and filled out forms for four different children entering twenty six items.

After making it back to the van with the rejected flowers I decided we wouldn't worry about entering the flowers this year.  Then I remembered I told the kids if they watered, tended, and weeded the flowers, they could enter them in the fair.  For two months they upheld their end of the bargain and I had to uphold mine.  Two days later I was whiling away the morning until we could drop off the flowers.  I thought the entries couldn't be dropped off until after 11:00.  Around 10:00 I decided to fill out the flower entry forms.  That's when I realized that entries were accepted until 11:00.  We had another fun-filled mad dash to the fairgrounds.  We finally got everything entered and just had to wait until we visited the fair the next day.

All the pictures were taken with a camera phone so forgive the quality.

Ethan's entries:

 

1st place - "Day Lily"

4th place - "The 4th"

 4th place- "Shed"

 

 4th place- "Dragon"

 2nd place - Gluten Free Monster Cookies (for all youth ages)

 

1st place - "Pirate Teddy" Sculpy

Libby's entries:

 2nd Place - "Bridge"

 She didn't place with this picture but she loved it.  It was a little rabbit we found in a local park.  Libby stalked the poor critter to get this picture.

2nd Place - "Fudge Brownies"

 3rd Place - Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies (for all youth ages; Ethan beat her out for second place)

 2nd Place - Zinnias over two inches

 2nd Place - Zinnias under two inches

 2nd Place - "Cookie Monster" Sculpy (Ethan and Libby were in the same age category and Ethan took first)

Grace's entries:

 2nd Place - Ornamental Sunflower

 

 2nd Place - "Cookie Monster" Sculpy under age six

 3rd Place - Three Zinnias

1st Place and Special Youth Award! - photography under six (and taken with the same camera phone these photos were taken with)

Sam's entries:

 2nd Place - "Bubbles"

 2nd Place - "Libby's Eye"

They didn't place with all their entries but they came close and did rather well.  We're very proud parents.  And very nice parents for not collecting all their prize money as compensation for all my hard work and the money I shelled out to get the dang photo prints.

Van Gogh

I occasionally have proud parenting moments.  Sam was looking at a picture book when he excitedly announced, "The pig...the pig...the pig painted Starry Night."  I looked at the book and sure enough there was a pig painting Starry Night by Van Gogh.  Oh yeah, my three year old can recognize the masters (or at least one painting, let me have my glory).

Today

I have so many things I need to post on this blog.  I need to post about Grace's fifth birthday, Ethan's first violin concert, family outings, and family squabbles.  Maybe someday I will get all of those things posted.  Today I will post about today, because the evils of today sufficieth me.

Everyone woke up a little early but I was ready to roll with it.  I hadn't arisen early to work on school work, as is my routine. Instead I woke up to Sam, who had spent the night stealing my covers and pushing me off the bed, anouncing.  "Mom the sun is up, it's time to get up."   I struggled out of bed and made my kids a nutritious breakfast of cold cereal.  Sam, for reasons know only to Sam, decided to spit some of his cereal into Grace's bowl.  There were tears and shouts mixed in with "I told Grace sorry Mama, I told her sorry".  Grace got a new bowl of cereal, the dogs got a slightly used bowl of cereal and Sam went to time out.  I decided that I would feel better after a quick shower. While showering Libby came in and announced, "Mom, someone is on the phone."  Who is calling me this early?  I asked if she would take a message and I would call the early bird back.  Libby announced, "That was Sister Smith, she was asking about day camp."  That's when alarms went off.  It was currently 8:15 and Ethan was supposed to be at the church at 8:00 sharp to go to scout day camp.  My shower changed from a nice leisurely process to a frantic whirlwind of soap and shampoo. I hopped out of the shower, wrapped my dripping self in a towel, and called Sister Smith back tripping over apologies.  She (being the world's nicest person, she really is) offered to pick Ethan up in ten minutes.  I ran to get dressed, Ethan ran to get dressed, and Libby began packing him a lunch.  In ten minutes we all got dressed, we got Ethan a lunch and water bottle, got him sun-blocked and sent him out the door, with me mumbling more apologies.  Crisis averted, mostly.

The three younger kids and I came back into the house to do our morning chores.  One child yelled at me that her jobs where too hard, while the other ones fought over who got to mop. It's more of a testament to how dirty my floors are then their cleaning prowess, but my kitchen floor is cleaner now.  Then Grace wanted to vacuum.  I had already vacuumed but I let her go over the floor again.  Then she decided to empty the dirt canister.  She pushed the wrong button.  She did manage to empty the canister, she just did it all over the previously vacuumed carpet.  After cleaning up that mess we all decided we were done cleaning for the day.

Sam then helped himself to the entire bunch of bananas and sat down on the carpet for a picnic.  I managed to stop that event before I was scrubbing bananas out of the floor.

It's only 9:30 but I think I am done for the day.  Forget my homework, forget we are having guest for dinner, forget it all.  I'm crawling back into bed with a book. 

Why Not?

This has been a crazy year.  In the last year we adopted a naughty dog, I started back to school, and I continue to homeschool the kids.  Most days I don't even know what the date is but I do usually know what month we are in.  Life is crazy.  So, when a friend asked if we wanted another dog I kind of laughed.  I think my exact words were "Michael will never go for it."  I mentioned to Michael that I had a friend who was trying to re-home a miniature schnauzer and had offered her to us.  I expected a vehement reply instead he just kind of shrugged his shoulders and mumbled, "I like schnauzers." 

A couple days later he asked if I had called about possibly adopting the dog.  I made a phone call and we brought the dog to our house to "babysit" her for a week.  After a week we told the kids that we could adopt her if they wanted.  Big surprise, they all said yes.

We would like to introduce Pita the newest (and definitely last) member of our crazy household.  She is six years old, very friendly and hasn't even bit Sam yet.  I've been tempted to bite him as he drags her around but she has more patience than me.