Field Trip

Today I had the pleasure of being one of six chaperones on the Kindergarten field trip to the Pumpkin Patch. We got on the bus and traveled half an hour to Aurora to Fir Point Farms. After getting off the bus we met with our group leader, Kim and she went over her rules. Rule #1 - stay together so you don't get lost and we get to see everything the farm has to offer. Rule #2 - Don't chase the chickens if you should see some roaming around! Rule #3 - HAVE FUN!! The last was the easiest to follow although we didn't see any chickens running around loose, so we didn't have to worry about rule #2. :) Our first stop was at the "corn maze" that was actually just bails of straw set out in the pattern. The boys and one of the girls in my group took off running through the maze and left the other girl and I in the dust. Then I had to squeeze through a kid sized door to get out!! Yeah, that was fun! After the maze we headed over to feed their goats. The kids lined up along the pen and recieved a handful of food each to feed. Even my son fed them without getting scared and throwing the food at the poor goats. After we fed goats we headed for the tractor and wagon for a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. Once there they each picked out their own little pumpkin and it was was put on the back of a John Deere gator and taken back to our bus to wait for us. Once everyone had their pumpkins they gathered for a group picture. I had to tell my son to stop bouncing around and one of the other mothers laughed and said that was impossible for him to do because of all his energy. She's a mom that volunteers in class a lot so she knows what he's like!! I told her I knew that, but it was just something that I have to say from time to time. :) Next we visited the "nut house" where we all climbed into a house filled with empty filbert shells. The kids had a blast jumping around in shells practically up to their knees (me to my ankles). Amazingly enough, no shoes were lost in the shells. Next to the nut house were the rabbits and the pigs. The pigs were playing around and started play fighting and the kids errupted into giggles of laughter and chanted "fight! fight! fight!" This of course sent the adults into uproarious laughter as well. Our next stop on our tour of the farm was the house with a slide. Each kid got to go down the slide once before we headed to a little cabin that had pumpkins painted with each of the presidents of the United States. Not such an interesting room for the kids, so we headed off to our last stop.....the chicken coop. Finally at the end of the tour I was able to get my kids wrangled together in one single spot long enough to take a picture of them. For the most part all five of them were good. One of the little girls had a hard time staying with me because she was always wanting to see what was next and be the first to get there. I do think it's safe to say though that all of the kids that got to go today had an absolutely fun time. And I'm just about betting that they're all falling into bed about now exhausted from all that fun!!

Jordan Valley

We have been back from Jordan Valley for a week now and have finally gotten the laundry caught up and somewhat back to a normal routine. Matt goes back to school tomorrow after having 2 weeks off. He should have some stories to tell....the cowboy that showed up in camp, Great Grandma's deer, splashing in puddles on the side of the roads with the truck, watching the Gammett boys rounding up cattle with their 4 wheelers, the snow that fell on us on one of our drives, "driving" Will Gammett's 4 wheeler (it was parked in the driveway), the frog that I found on some steps near the Owyhee River. I took tons of pictures, as usual. Five hundred to be exact. (Good thing I got a bigger memory card before we left!!) We had a fun time as usual. Did a lot of sight seeing when Grandma wasn't out hunting. After she did get her deer that's all we did was explore the countryside. Both in Idaho and Oregon. The weather was a bit chilled and windy most days, but it also rained, hailed and snowed on us some. The last day we were there was the best one and it was perfect since we'd already decided to stay in camp and be lazy people. I sat under the awning with my legs in the sun and read most of the day, picked up the few things we had out and got the trailer ready to head back home. That evening we went down to Gammett's ranch and chatted with them a while before heading back to camp and packing it in for the night.

Kindergarten - Day 2

This morning I was all set to park the car and walk my little man to the door at school. As I turned to find a parking spot he piped up and said "Mom, don't park today, I can do it by myelf. I don't need you to walk me to the door." So, I parked along the sidewalk where I could see the front doors and watched my little man run like crazy, blowing past a number of kids, only to stop at the door and wait for a girl who was coming up behind him. She went into a different door though, so he continued on his quest to go to his classroom all by himself. Once he was inside and we couldn't see him anymore, Lizzie and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. We figured he just wanted to ensure that I wasn't going to cry again today. When Lizzie and I picked him up after school he was all set to go and excited about tomorrow. I just asked him if he wanted me to drop him off at the sidewalk again tomorrow and with the sweetest smile ever...."Yeah."

Kindergarten

This little man started Kindergarten this morning. He was super excited to go. Has been for some time now. He wanted to leave the house as soon as he woke up. Wanted to skip breakfast to get there. Nevermind that we were up at 7:00am and school doesn't start until 8:30!! :)

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by Kathy so here are 8 random things about me but first...

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/stories about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.


1. I took piano lessons from 6th grade until after graduating from high school. I was the first graduating student that she had taught in all her years. She herself, quit teaching shortly afterward to go to school to become a doctor. A major accomplishment for someone who is blind.

2. When I was 7ish, I decided I was going to run away with the neighbor girls. We never made it out of the driveway because we ended up fighting over which way we wanted to go.

3. I don't like going up ladders. Once I'm up them I get scared that the ladder will move and make me crash to the ground. Even a little 4 foot ladder that has 4 legs firmly on the ground (washing my SUV is a real chore because of this). Bridges and other heights are fine, but NOT ladders.

4. I hate merging onto freeways because I'm scared a big truck will run me off the road. I'm afraid of getting lost when I drive places I've never been before. This is why it's taken me until a couple years ago to even get brave enough to go to a family reunion without my husband driving me there.

5. I love to take pictures. My favorite subjects are my kids (of course), moving water (like rivers and waterfalls and oceans), sunsets and flowers. I'm pretty sure my children are going to look back on their childhood and realize I spent a lot of time with a camera in my face. There aren't too many pictures of me in my picture albums unless it was taken by someone else.

6. I too, like Kathy, love thunderstorms. If the kids are awake, we go sit on our front steps and watch the lightening strikes and listen for the thunder. The last storm we experienced they were in bed already so I went outside by myself and tried to capture pictures of lightening. It didn't work though, I was too slow on the trigger for it.

7. I love to go camping, but I'm kinda scared of coyotes. I know they won't hurt me, but their beady little eyes are kinda freaky. We went camping one time in Eastern Oregon and were going for a walk when the whole area errupted into coyote howls........I practically ran back to our tent and drug my husband with me. That was also the trip there was a bear outside our tent....another freaky experience since the only weapon I had with me was the cot I was sleeping on. The rifle was safely in the truck where my husband had left it.

8. I had a pet cow at my grandparents once. I named him "Sunday". He was so laid back I probably could've sat on his back and he wouldn't have cared. I could walk into the pasture and he'd come right to me for petting. He eventually became Sunday dinner, but that's life when you're a cow on a beef farm.

Tagged by me: My cousin Robyn and my mom (she needs to start a blog and get some stories and thoughts put down too).

Rockaway Beach

Yesterday we had the best time at Rockaway Beach. On the way there, we stopped at a forestry center so the kids could climb the fire tower they have as an exhibit. The weather was perfect for playing on the beach and we even played in the water!! The kids thought that was the greatest thing on earth that I let them play in the ocean. That lost it's favor when my daughter took a nose dive into the wave and sand and the rest of the day it wasn't so fun for her. My son thought it was awesome to have fallen in the water and not get into trouble. Lucky for me I'd taken a change of clothes "just in case". I had a feeling they'd be needing them. For lunch we roasted hotdogs on the beach and later made Smores too. For dinner we ate at a little place called Cow Belle Cafe where my husband, mom and cousin had fish and chips that were darn near as big as the plate itself, my children had their usual chicken strips and I had a very tasty burger that had fat slices of bacon on it!! YUMMY!! After dinner we walked down the street and found an ice cream shop. After that a much needed walk we took before getting back into the car and heading home. As we headed out of Garibaldi I took pictures of the pretty sunset and even farther down the road we found a rather large herd of elk grazing in a farmers field. It was a perfect end to the perfect day.

Relay for Life

This weekend I had the opportunity to be a part of something wonderful. The annual Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society. This is the first year that I've had any involvement what-so-ever and now I wish I'd participated. I wasn't an actual participant this year, although I would have if my husband hadn't had to work this weekend, but I helped my company team set up the area designated for us and stayed for some of the events that took place throughout the night and the next day. The opening ceremony was very nice. There was a speaker who spoke of his mother and how last year they were walking in support for her. She ended up passing away shortly after the relay, so he told this year that they were there to remember her and her fight. It was very moving and brought me to tears. He went on to say that he'd gotten a tattoo of a butterfly in her honor and that when he did he had to explain to the tattooist why this big burly guy was there to get a tattoo of a butterfly!!! The next two speakers were pastors from a couple different Yamhill Co. church's. One offered a prayer in Spanish and the other a prayer in English. Both very nice and asked for help in our quest for a cure. The event hoped to raise close to $100,000 for the weekend, as of Friday afternoon it was up to over $70,000! I'm interested in seeing how much was raised and if we were close to the goal!






Connie, Ushio's own cancer survivor