Lil' Buckeroos

Today is our last full day here. They have had fun activities all week due to Spring Break. Today was the Lil' Buckeroos activity. We took Annalina and Joseph to the corral and they got to ride horses, practice roping, pet baby animals in the petting zoo, watch a branding demonstration(on a block of wood, not an animal) and we all got to ride in a wagon drawn by large draft horses. On that ride we saw an airplane crop dusting and we also saw a red tailed hawk flying circles around the valley. The kids had a blast and were both so brave! Many kids cried when they got on the horses and the ride ended where it started. Both Joseph and Annalina loved the horse rides!

Big Dark Scary Caves!!

Yesterday we drove to California to see the Lava Beds and caves. There are over 500 discovered caves and 24 of them have been made accessible to the public. We started out in the Mushpot cave, which is lit along the path with red rope lights. Every now and then there are displays with buttons you can push and lights accent certain areas and features of the cave. A few spots got a little low and my claustrophobia got the best of me. I made it almost to the innermost part of the cave, but took Annalina back to the front to wait for the rest of the family. Annalina did not like the darkness(neither did I) and she was a bit worried about slipping (so was I), and as she wimpered aloud, I was pretty much doing the same thing silently, so we decided to be cave buddies and stuck together the rest of the trip. Adrienne was very into the whole cave thing. She, Jake, Joseph and Richard were fearless. My feeling is that if you have to get on your belly to wiggle through to a deeper area, that we just aren't meant to go that far it. That is just my opinion but I was happy they had fun. And no, they did no belly crawling this trip!

Annalina, at the entrance of the cave

Next we went in the Indian Wells Cave. I loved this one. It was big and open and not very deep. There were beautiful ice formations and icicles. I am proud to say I went as far as the path would allow. Hmmm, perhaps I should not mention it was only about 300 feet to the end of the path??
Annalina and I attempted the Sentinel cave with the rest of the family. This is the only one that goes through to another cave entrance. We got a ways in and there were bridges going over deep crevices, and large holes going who knows how deep. Everything was very well done and safe with hand rails, but Annalina slipped on some ice and hurt her thumb and was just not interested in continuing on. I have to admit I was somewhat relieved to be her buddy so we both went back and let the family continue on without us. I don't like caves and I am not sure what I was thinking suggesting a day at the cave. The photos are incredible and they can be fascinating and beautiful, but I am not comfortable being so enclosed in such a dark place with water dripping on me. And when the sign at the beginning of the cave talks about collapsed areas, I tend to freak out, even though it is talking about collapses that happened during the creation of the caves.We headed back to the visitor's center for lunch. We had packed sandwiches and chips and the weather was beautiful for eating outside. Afterward everyone but Annalina and I went off to explore a couple more caves. We had fun blowing bubbles, watching the video about how the area was formed and hiking around on the many trails near the visitor's center. Adrienne was the photographer since I was not along. She got some great photos!
Richard and the older kids wanted to try a more difficult cave called the Golden Dome cave. After creeping through some pretty short tunnels it leads to a large domed chamber that shimmers like gold due to bacteria that grows on the ceiling. It sounds like a gorgeous place, but check out the ladder descending down into the earth. I was grateful Joseph was not along to try that cave.
We could have spent several days exploring the area, there is much more than just caves, but we wore everyone out and decided we will just have to come back another time! As it was, Joseph fell asleep about 5 minutes into the drive home, and he almost NEVER falls asleep in the car!

Horsing Around in Southern Oregon

Yesterday was Adrienne's birthday! One of her gifts was the movie "Twilight" and she watched it and then we took her to dinner at Applebee's, her favorite place to eat! The little kids spent some time out on the deck in the hot tub. And we had fun tempting the huge birds onto the deck with unsalted peanuts. Some of them were fearless, others were very timid. It was fun to watch!
Later we took the kids to the lodge, dropping Jake off at the Basketball court on the way. We all picked out ceramic things to paint. Joseph chose to paint a racoon red and green. Annalina chose to paint a mother and child unicorn. Richard made a frog scrubby holder and I made a tile with Jospeh's hand print on it.
Today we went to the Meet and Greet with the Belgian horses that pull around the wagon rides they have on weekends. Their names are King (the brown one) and Rex and they are very large. The kids got to stand on a step stool and brush them. It was cute to watch! Friday the weather should be beautiful and we are planning to take the lil ones to the Lil Buckaroos activity where they get to ride horses and practice roping and other fun things.

Spring Break Getaway!!!

Well we are here. We left yesterday afternoon and after a quick 5 hour drive(for a family used to 15 hour driving days 5 hours was a breeze!) we made it to Klammath Falls, Oregon. We are staying at the Running Y Ranch in a Worldmark Chalet. Last fall when I learned we would not be working another Tax Season, I booked Spring Break here. Things have been a bit crazy at home this past week, I felt bad about leaving for a week. But I am glad we are here. I have been very sick for the past week and a half and am still not feeling top form, but the relaxation is helping already! Yay for Spring Break!!!

This is THE first Spring Break vacation we have EVER done as a family! We have been here before, mostly on short stopovers for longer trips, and it is so nice to be here for the entire week and not have to move on. We got here last night, unloaded the car and looked outside to find a group of deer eating in our yard. What fun!

This morning we awoke to SNOW!! Due to the regular occurance of snow at home this winter, this wasn't as exciting for the kids as it normally may have been, but it is still beautiful!
So, I wish you all a Happy First Day of Spring!!!

The kids have been swimming and having a ball! We are planning a morning of ceramic painting with the little kids, a day at the coral where the kids can ride horses and have other fun playing with and learning about horses and we are going to the caves just over the border in California one day as well. I'll post more photos later!

Do I even need to say anything??

Local Wildlife

Last night Richard and I were up very late and didn't get to bed until about 2am. There was an odd noise and we thought maybe Annalina was up crying, since she has been sick this past week. Richard went to check and both little ones were sound asleep. We tracked the noise out the back window. There were two owls in the woods behind our house and they were communicating with each other. Oh yes, and it was snowing! I cannot get used to the spontaneous snowfalls we have been getting! So it was too cold to sleep with the windows open. We could still hear them and fell asleep to their peaceful calls.

This morning Joseph got me up early and I took him downstairs for breakfast and it was snowing again, very lightly. It was so pretty and I fell asleep on the sofa watching it fall. It did not stick much and it warmed up enough to stop shortly thereafter. Later I was up in my room looking out our big picture window when I saw something that did not blend in with the trees. I got my camera and took a few not very good photos. It was a hawk and it was impressively big! I thought at first it was perhaps an owl, but they are nocturnal. Richard came in and saw it too and then it flew off. Between our yard and the treeline there is an open meadow and I imagine we get birds of prey watching for dinner from the trees often. I will have to keep my eyes open. Its fun to live so close to nature.
Another fun spot to check out nature is our local library. A few weeks ago we took the dogs and went exploring at the Dawson Creek Park behind the library. We all had fun and we got to see some herons enjoying the beautiful weather. They are kind of alien looking!

Sheep Hearts, Firefighters & Polish Sausages...oh my!

Richard has had many Fridays off from work lately due to forced company wide shut downs. Some of those days he is required to take off, but also be on call. So basically he works anyway. But not today, he had the day off worry free! So he went with me to my open lab at school. We studied heart models and dissected sheep hearts. He was great to study with. We finished up the lab by working on the different types of blood cells. Richard would find them on the slide and then ask me to name them. Well there are five types of Leukocytes, two of which are very hard to find, there just aren't very many of them. Our instructor told us on Tuesday we would be lucky to have one person in the class find one, so to be sure to look at one if it was found. Richard managed to find one. I called the lab tech over to confirm the cell type and not only had he found one of the two hardest to find, he had found both in one slide view! Everyone at lab came over to check them out. It was pretty cool. I marked the slide and hope I can find it again on Tuesday to show the Professor. Who knows maybe he will use it for the exam next Thursday!

We picked up Joseph from preschool and decided to go to Costco. We stopped and picked up dad on the way and had a fun little outing. After shopping we decided to get lunch at their food counter, because you cannot beat a polish sausage and a refillable drink for 1.50. Dad and I found a spot to sit next to some firefighters who had also just sat down. When Joseph and Richard got there with the food Joseph struck up a fun conversation with one of them and got a sticker badge from him. We had fun visiting with him throughout lunch and he really seemed to enjoy Joseph. And now, Joseph will never play with matches. Even better, he has no idea what a match is!

Joseph told daddy that he was this tall, reaching one hand to the floor and the other hand up as high as he could get it. Then he said when he grows taller he will be able to do anything. A very cute attitude for a little guy to have. Right now he is planning to be a pilot and fly airplanes, jets and helicopters. Oh, and he is also going to be a jeterinarian. He will help horses feel better and then fly them home. Those are his ideas, in his own words. I am looking forward to watching him grow into anything he wants to be, but sometimes I just want to hold him tight and keep him little just a while longer.