A Pretty Good Year

I realized after I posted my last blog entry that I have now been blogging for an entire year! How fun it has been to write about and post pictures from my life to share with family and friends! Looking back, a whole LOT has changed in just 12 months. Some for the good, some not. But it is great to be able to focus on all the wonderful things we have been blessed with!

Adrienne is working toward getting an internship with Intel this summer. If she gets the position she would like to have she could work all summer and part time through the school year loading software onto computers and configuring systems. She has an intense interest in computers and is hoping to learn more about them and eventually get a degree in programming. I hope she is able to get the job, it would be a great way to spend the summer!

Richard continues working especially hard at Tektronix, though now for less pay...again. The IT department has had two pay cuts in the past few months, which has been a huge adjustment for us since losing my income. Now they are implementing furloughs, which means forced time off without pay, in addition to company wide shutdowns where employees are forced to use their vacation time up. His first unpaid week is just a couple of weeks away and we weren't given much time to prepare for it. We have been very blessed to make it through these tough times thus far, but it seems as soon as we adjust to less and start to get comfortable, even more is taken away. It is sparking some creativity however. I have returned to my old ways of coupon shopping and in the last month or so have been able to store up a lot of food, which will help during the lean times(yes, we have a year's supply of Mac & Cheese, Capris Suns and the makin's for Smore's, what else could we need?). Adversity is not fun, but I do know it is necessary in making us better people. I think of all the changes that Richard and I have made in our lives in the last year and it is amazing that while it is a struggle, we are becoming stronger people and a stronger family!

More Preschool Fun

In my post about Joseph and his preschool adventures I forgot to mention two really fun things! First since they are not in school in June, they had a special Father's day at preschool in February. The dad's went with the kids and they had fun building a sand pendulum and painting in and then had tacos for an early lunch. Joseph though this was the greatest, being able to take Daddy to preschool with him!

In May, we had a fun Mother's day activity. All the tables were set with cute place settings and there were fun tea pots everywhere filled with lemonade. The kids had been practicing their serving skills and made sure to keep our cups filled with something to drink. We were served a lovely little brunch followed by cake. We then got to go around to different stations and helped the kids make fun crafts, necklaces, a sun visor and a cute little bag. Then Joseph went outside and showed me his skills on the tricycles. It was a fun morning to spend with him. And it was the first time I got to go to a school event of any kind without either bringing along a little one, or finding someone to watch that little one! It felt good!

The First Signs of Summer...

Summer has begun! Its been hot for a week or two now and Joseph has finished up preschool for the year. What a great experience he has had. Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending his year end presentation and carnival. They sang many lovely songs, then the teacher asked them each what they want to be when they grow up. Some cute answers were 6, a big sister, many I don't knows and Joseph who decided right there on the spot that he wants to be a karate man. I don't know where that came from, but that's ok. A karate class may be in his future! We were also each presented with a scrapbook of our own child, filled with photos from the entire year! The girls had put these together for each preschooler. How cool is that???

We celebrated with cake and outside play and a carnival of games where the kids won fun prizes. It was so cute, all the senior girls were so sad they would not be seeing the kids again. Joseph gave out hugs like crazy, though I am sure he had no idea why. The younger girls were happy to hear he was going to be back next fall. The program barely escaped the budget cuts that have been happening all too often lately.

When Annalina went to preschool, I took her to the Calvary Lutheran school near our old house. It was expensive, but she like it well enough. It was a good program. Since we are fairly close to Glencoe, and since big brother and sis both go there(and since it is so much cheaper), I thought it would be fun to try it out for Joseph. I admit, before this I was a bit of a preschool snob, thinking my kids couldn't possibly learn what they needed from a high school program. Oh how wrong I was! Here is what I have learned, aside from the fact that preschool is not really supposed to be academic... The preschool teacher is not being paid by the families of the children, she is getting paid a fairly good salary to teach the high school students to be teachers, so most of our very minimal tuition payments(less than a third of what I was paying at the other school) go to activities, field trips, art supplies, etc. They went on three field trips this year, the zoo, the childrens museum and the pumpkin patch and I was not asked to send in extra money for any of these excursions, WOW! Also, there are 24 preschoolers in Joseph's class. Guess what, there are 24 high school girls in each class. This means a 1 to 1 ratio. I have watched these girls develope attachments with these little 3 and 4 year olds. I have seen them taking the time to help a little one learn to write their own name, or read them a book. It really seems to me that Joseph was showered with attention from teenage girls who for the most part really want to do this for a living as adults. Joseph began writing his entire first name about halfway through the year. He can count almost to twenty and knows most of his letters. With another year of preschool still to come he is well ahead of where Annalina was right before Kindergarten. I don't really think this is terribly important, he will learn at whatever pace is best for him, but he got the attention he needed to learn many things very quickly!

Joseph's teacher is Mrs DeWhitt and I have never seen someone with more love and patience for these little ones. She is truly an angel and I am so glad Joseph will be going back next fall. The really fun thing is that most of the neighborhood boys will be joining him next year! Yay, good times ahead for Joseph!

Joseph's flower balloon sculture popped, so one of the girls gave him hers! Sweet!

Suprise Awards

Thursday night Richard and I went with Jake to school for Spring Tide, which is where they give out awards to the high school kids for various things. We were called the day before and told about it, but no one could tell us what award Jake was getting. He was in the dark too and was told it was a surprise. Jake was in the first group of kids to get his award, which was for Good Citizenship! There was a mixup with the plaques so he will not get his for a week or two. I'll post a pic when I have one!! Yay Jake! We are so proud of you!

It's been too long...

I haven't posted in a while, and that is not because there is nothing going on in our lives, quite the opposite actually. So much to do, so little time, but everyone reading this can relate, I am sure!

Last week my little Annalina got sick on Mother's day evening. She had a fever and had very achy muscles and joints. Richard set up his camping cot and she stayed in our room with us. We gave her motrin and later gave her tylenol but she still had a fever of about 101. After consulting with the nurse we just kept her as comfy as we could and by Wednesday she was feeling pretty good! But Thursday morning a sore throat set in and coughing and again the fever so I took her in and she was tested for strep and the flu. Nope, nothing too concerning except for the fact that she was so miserable. So back home we went! Many popsicles later she was feeling better and finally by Saturday she was back to her usual self, minus the voice, which she had lost a few days before. It was a very confining week for me. I didn't want to leave her and yet could not get errands and normal running around done. I am grateful that Annalina is normally a very healthy girl. And she handled being sick very well. We read lots of books and watched LOTS of movies!

Friday was Richard's and my 9th anniversary. We ended staying home watching the last few episodes of Freeks and Geeks. I just love that you can check out tv shows from the library! After we got the kids in bed Richard went out and got us Strawberry Milk shakes from Burgerville. Yummy! Saturday was my birthday and I woke up to breakfast in bed and singing. I got lovely flowers from a couple of Grandma's in the family and the older kids got me a gift card to Barnes and Noble, my favorite place to browse! Richard took me out to dinner to a Sushi place in Portland that has great prices on Wednesday and Saturday nights. Then he took me to see the choral group Cantico at the Old Chapel in Portland. It was very hot on Saturday and we had time before the show so we wandered the PSU campus and made it back in time to get good seats for the program. They sang some beautiful songs, some fun songs and some foreign songs that also fit into the first two categories! It was a great day!

On Sunday we had visitors from Palm Springs! Richard lived with Donna for a while when he was younger and she happened to be coming through the Portland area with her daughter. We have not seen her since Annalina was a baby and it was so fun to sit and visit with her. The kids adore her, she showers them with love and attention and she truly is one of the family. Joseph even got her to play a game of Mexican Train with us. She is a very talented jewelry maker and for my birthday she brought me two stunning necklaces that I will cherish! It was sad to see them go!

Last night we watched Annalina play a game of Softball with her team the Pink Panthers-and they won!!! I will get pics soon, cause they are just so cute to watch! It was a hot day. We got to the field and there was a hot wind blowing! Everyone had on shorts and tees. But a half hour later the tmperature must have dropped from 80 to 60 because it got very cool. Clouds rolled in and we were lucky to get to finish the game before the rain came. Luckily I was prepared enough to have a blanket in the back of the van. We wrapped up Joseph and he kept me warm, though he sure did wiggle a lot! It rained much of the night and some of this morning and then the clouds moved on and its been fairly nice.

This morning Joseph and I got to go see Annalina perform in the Spring Fling Music program at her school. It was short and sweet and the smile on her face when she saw we were there was priceless! I love my children all so much. I think how boring life would be if I did not have them filling it full of sporting events and programs and such. Sure, I'd have a lot of time to myself, but that seems like it might be a bit boring compared to all the great things I get to experience with my children!

Ouch

Richard and I spent the morning at the dentist with Joseph. Last night poor little Joseph fell face first onto a big plastic bin and split the front of his gum and twisted one of his front baby teeth into a very odd position. He cried and needed lots of TLC for about a half hour, then declared himself fine. I said to him, "I am so sorry you got hurt" and he replied, "It's ok Mom, I'm fine" If you recall, I mentioned that Joseph was 100% boy, and for some reason he feels the need to prove it again and again. The dentist decided he would try to straighten it out and see how solid it still felt. So they got out the nitrous oxide which Joseph assured me smelled like pizza. And once he was nice and loopy he got several shots around his tooth. He said ouch a couple times during the shot process. The dentist started moving it back into position when pop, out it came, along with the ENTIRE root. I had no idea baby teeth were that HUGE with the root attached. So now he has a hole in his smile as well as a hole in his gum! We have been trying to take it easy this afternoon as it tends to dribble lightly from time to time. Poor little guy! His adult teeth will probably not come in for another couple of years, but I am sure Joseph will adjust to his missing tooth. I am feeling rather heartbroken about the whole thing. I am considering investing in a giant bubble to keep my little guy safe!! Tonight after dinner, at around 6:30, Joseph proclaimed he was tired and asked me to take him to bed. I did and he fell asleep almost instantly. A long day for a little guy!!

My secret obsession...

Looking back, my life has always been full of phases. I obsess over something new and can't seem to get it out of my mind for a while. Eventually I move on, but hopefully I have learned something new and have incorporated it into my life in some way(oh how I wish I could obsess over an organized house, or just a closet!!). Right now my latest obsession is freezer cooking. I don't think I will grow out of this activity, it's just too efficient and fun, but I will probably spend less time pouring over recipe books at some point. Right now, if I have a spare moment, I am reading freezer cook books and bookmarking my favorite recipes and making shopping lists and dreaming of a fully stocked freezer. I take these books with me to appointments, to the park where I can study them while the kids play, I have even been known to take a cook book along while taking a bath! I know, its crazy, but I am ok with that.

Did you know the library is a great place for cook books of every kind? I have learned there are people who cook for the entire month in just one weekend, its called OAMC-Once A Month Cooking. They prepare all the food, freeze it and then pull it out each day as needed. Isn't that cool? We used to eat out quite often. At the end of a long day I felt entitled to grab some fast food for my family. I know that is not healthy and with our budget realignment a while back cooking every night has become a necessity and a reality! I am not the most organized person and the thought of everything involved with one day of cooking a month truly scares me. So I have been taking small steps. If I am making one meal for my family, I triple the recipe and freeze two. Or some afternoons I make several meals and triple them and freeze them. Right now my freezer has about 35 meals in it. I have a list and its kinda like going to a restaurant and ordering with the variety we have in there right now. We have Caribbean Pork, Parsley Parmesan Chicken, Crab Quiche, Seafood Creole, Mariachi Chicken, Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Manicoti, Spinach Feta Lasagna Rolls, Mediterranean Chicken, Christmas Quiche(don't let the name fool you, its delicious any time of year), Chicken A La King, and Italian Macaroni & Cheese and lots of homemade spagetti sauce and taco meat. This week I will be making some chicken enchilladas, pizza burgers and sloppy joe mix to freeze as well. It is reassuring to know that I have so many meals put away for the month. Its great on the budget too. When chicken goes on sale, I pour through the chicken sections of my books and buy in bulk and focus on chicken dishes. When hamburger goes on sale, that is my focus. I am learning new ways to cook and bake and honestly I am having a lot of fun with it. So far most of the meals have turned out beautifully and the family likes them!

My sister Megan and I are planning to get together in a couple of weeks. We will each plan several meals, we will make them together and then swap with each other for greater variety! I think it would be great fun to start up a cooking club with a bunch of friends where everyone could bring multiples of their favorite frozen meals and swap with everyone else.

My favorite freezer recipe books are Don't Panic, Dinner's in the Freezer, and Fix, Freeze, Feast and the Freezer Cooking Manuel from 30 Day Gourmet. There are lots of others, but these are great for family cooking!

OK, so I have taken the first step, I have admitted I have obsessive issues. I will probably seek professional help...but not till the freezer is packed full of dinners! If you don't think I am absolutely crazy, come join me sometime, we can fill your freezer too!

What a day!

Jake has been playing on the church basketball league again this year. It has been fun to go watch them play. You would think there would be less competition since it is a church league, but they boys play hard and take it pretty seriously. Well today was the championship tournament. Our team only lost one game all season, where we forfeited because most of our team was at a scouting event or something. So Jake played at 11am, it was close and could have gone either way, but in the end our team won! Jake scored 9 points and got 3 of 4 free throw shots.

Since they won, they got to play one more game for the big championship. It was pretty one sided and we won by a landslide, but the boys from both teams played hard. This is the second year of organized basketball for the young men and this is the second time our team won first place. Go Glencoe Ward!! So Jake is hosting a viewing of the movie "Church Ball" right now. Popcorn, soda and cookies! Fun stuff. I am very impressed with the boys on our team. Many are seniors and they are such great guys. They are encouraging to the younger team members and I really enjoy watching how they all interact with one another. Our first game started with the youngest member of the team sinking a 3 pointer!

In between games we did the grocery shopping, dropped Annalina at a Birthday party, took Adrienne and her friend to the movie theater...well, it was a pretty non-stop kinda day, so I am enjoying relaxing for a bit!

This evening we had the pleasure of having the missionaries over for dinner. We used to have them every few weeks, but its been a while since they have been over. We grilled hamburgers and salmon burgers and when dinner was over they played a fun game of Mexican Train with us. One is from Tonga and the other from Ohio. Richard showed them google earth and they showed us where they are from. What a fun couple of guys! The kids absolutely adore the missionaries and I am always amazed at the wonderful spirit they bring into our home. We will have them back at the end of May, but if I get a choice, it will be sooner!

Happy Birthday to you....Joseph!!

My baby turned four today! And when Megan called to wish him a happy birthday, after Nathan sang to him, she asked him how old he was and he replied four and a half!! So ready to be grown up and yet I am not sure how ready I am for that. It is hard to believe it was four years ago that we first met this sweet little spirit! He had preschool today and got to take Oreos to share with his classmates. He was carrying the bag inside and tripped and skinned his knee pretty bad. Not a good start to such a special day, but he got a colorful bandaid and was soon just fine. After school I splurged and got him a kids meal with a chocolate shake AND a sprite, since that is an unfulfilled dream of his to have both. He did not touch the Sprite. ::sigh:: Tonight I had a pack meeting to go to and Annalina had softball practice and Jake had a track meet, so little celebrating took place. But I saw this coming so we celebrated over the weekend.

Last week I got a cool coupon good for a free build-a-bear critter so Richard and I took him there Saturday afternoon. He choose a cute camouflaged bear whom he promptly named Fred. How cute is that? He picked out a purple heart to support autism research and he had a great time stepping on the pedal to fill the bear with fluff and brushing him under the air bath. He even helped in making the birth certificate! We took him to do this for the first time last year when he turned 3. He made a monkey whom he named Joey. He did not know what to expect and was in awe the entire time. When we got to checkout, he told the cashier she could keep it, he didn't want it! It was too funny! This time he understood how most of it worked and was even happy to take the bear home with him!

On Sunday I took the kids to Stake Conference since Richard was working most of the weekend on a huge project or two. We baked a cake and opened gifts. He got a really cool flight jacket from Grandma and Grandpa, an astronaut bear that he loves, a wooden helicopter, and then the doorbell rang and he went to answer it and found a bike!! A friend had given it to us last month thinking he could use it, so we put it aside to help stretch our birthday gift budget! He had a great birthday, both today and over the weekend!

A little about Joseph. If I had to choose one word to describe him, well, I don't think I could. But sweet comes to mind. And curious. And strong-willed. I have a history of large babies and since Joseph was due on the 20th, along with my encouragement my Dr decided we would induce a little early. So we went in on the 12th of April to meet our little guy. Remember the part about strong-willed? Well Joseph was NOT ready to leave his warm comfy home in the womb and after about 24 hours of trying, home I went. I slept the entire next day. When Jake came home from school he looked at me and said "why are you here and where is the baby?" He was not pleased that our promise of baby brother's arrival was broken. We hadn't even considered this could happen so we didn't think to prepare the kiddos for it!!! So Jake stayed mad for a while and I stayed pregnant. My due date came and went and on the 22nd we again went in to have this baby, one way or another. Luckily the natural way won out. I tried to have an epidural and after enduring about 45 minutes of getting it in, it came disconnected somewhere along the way and never took effect. The anesthesiologist had run off to do another and never made it back. Luckily Joseph came pretty quickly after that. He weighed 8 pounds 14 ounces and was so perfect and cute! He lost about a pound that first week and remained small for a while. After the first month, he was a high maintenance baby and was not happy with the world. It was exhausting! But once he learned to crawl and could get around he was a delightful child! He just wanted to interact with this world we live in, not just watch from the swing or car seat! He walked at about 10 months and has continued to make leaps and bounds in his development! He is happy mostly, he is kind to others and his curiosity pushes him into activities like drawing on the walls again and again, taking things apart, breaking things...well he is pure 100% boy, except that his favorite color is pink. I love my little guy and cannot imagine my life without him!

Happy Earth Day to you all as well. Yes, Joseph was born on Earth Day, a fact that Jake made us aware of the day Joseph was born or I might not have realized it! For our pack meeting we planted trees in the churches large sports field. It was hot earlier in the week, in the 80's, but today the wind started blowing and though I think it stayed in the 60's, it was a cold day! After school I went and stood in the wind for a bone chilling hour hoping to get to see Jake run the 3K, but had to leave for the pack meeting before the race took place. I rushed back in time to give Jake a ride home. Well, I tried to be there, and I actually was there, just not at the right time! But I am ok with it and so is Jake.

Super Jake...And Why I Will Never Have the Title of Mother of the Year

Yesterday was a busy day. There was preschool, scouts and t-ball practice for Annalina. It was also track meet day for Jake. He informed me he was only running the 3000(that is like 7 laps). Oh yes, and he informed me he was running the varsity race for the first time this season! How cool is that? So we took Annalina to her practice and then stopped by to watch Jake run, only the meet was over and he wasn't there! Bummer, I really love watching that boy run. So we get home and he's not here either. Richard goes off to find him while I get the kids ready for bed. Minutes later they get home and guess what?? My freshman son not only ran the Varsity 3000 race, he came in FIRST place! And I missed it!!! I cannot believe I missed his first huge win! So congratulations to my super fast running son, who so generously forgives me for not being there to cheer him on and celebrate! Another victory for Jake when the Blazers won big last night securing the home court advantage in the NBA playoffs. We don't have cable, so he listens to the game on the radio, which is actually a step up from how he used to watch on the internet where they show a court with X's for the players and the score only gets updated every 90 seconds or so!

A side note...earlier in the week I had a bad day and could not sleep with all sorts of crazy things going through my head. I was up until about 3am fretting. At 7 it was time to get the little ones up. While fixing sack lunches I was telling Annalina how tired I was. She asked why and I told her I was up really really late. Her reply was "Did daddy kissing you keep you awake?" It was so cute! Sadly, I can honestly say that was not the case!

In Honor of Suzi

The June before last my husband and I spent a long weekend in Boise Idaho at the Anniversary Inn. We stayed in a beautiful South Pacific themed room. The bed was in a grass covered hut. The jacuzzi tub was surrounded by rocks and boulders and the shower was a beautiful waterfall. Every inch of wall and ceiling were painted. The ceiling to look like the sky, one wall to look like a jungle scene with a waterfall and another wall to look like the ocean rolling onto a peaceful beautiful beach. When we walked into the room, satellite radio was playing soothing music, sparkling cider was chilling on ice and we had two champagne flutes filled with chocolate kisses. In the morning we were served fresh fruit and omelets, pastries and juice in our room. How romantic eh?
I don't know if you have ever heard of the Anniversary Inn. There are four of them. The Boise location has over 30 rooms and in the afternoon before check in, they leave all the doors to the vacant rooms open so you can see them all. They range from Romeo and Juliet themed to Jungle themed to Egyptian tomb themed. I had so much fun going from room to room the second day we were there! It was a much needed get away for Richard and I. We realized that we had never been away alone together, except for our one night honeymoon we took a month after we were married! So check out their website for virtual tours if you'd like. Such fun! I truly want to decorate all the rooms in my house into themed rooms.
http://www.anniversaryinn.com/boise.php

Anyway, our reason for going to Boise Id, was not to spend the weekend at the Anniversary Inn....well, ok that not entirely true. Richard's reason for being there was not to spend the weekend there, but to pick up a motorcycle he found on Craig's List. He had been looking for a new bike for a while and found the perfect bike for him in Boise. I probably agreed to the whole thing solely for the purpose of getting to finally stay at the Anniversary Inn. So on the way into Boise we stopped, he rode and then bought a Suzuki VStrom 1000. I think that's all the correct letters and numbers to describe it. We then headed to the Inn where he took me for a quick, very short ride on the bike. I was a bit nervous which probably made Richard a bit nervous. After a glorious weekend of relaxation, including a nice drive to find the Boise Temple, a fabulous sushi dinner and Caffeine Free Dr Pepper hunt(we brought home a 6 month supply!!), Richard rode Suzi home while I followed behind in the minivan full of Dr Pepper.

He loves this motorcycle and has ridden it every chance he got, which in Oregon means late Spring, Summer and early Autumn. I'll admit, its a nice looking bike and I was happy that he was so happy with it. If you keep up with my blog, you know I lost most of my income late last year and Richard's has been cut as well. We have been rebudgeting and learning how to live off of less. We have been selling all of our excess possessions and even sold our beloved four poster canopy bed frame. We have been able to build a bit of an emergency fund this way. Well, Richard decided that for the time being, he could do without a motorcycle and he made the decision, with no pressure from me, I promise, to sell his beloved bike. A sad sad day for Richard. And yet, I am so proud of him for sacrificing something that means so much to him for the good of our family. I know it was hard for him to watch it go!

So this blog post is in honor of the motorcycle that safely carried my husband back and forth to work and everywhere else he went with it. And it is also in honor of my sweet visionary husband who recognizes that sacrifices like this today will help secure all of our tomorrows! Thanks sweetie!

Career path of a 3 year old

As well as being a Jeterinarian as Joseph has planned for now, I see a great future in photography for him. Yesterday Joseph was playing trains in the front room, a favorite pastime of his. I was working in the kitchen and was glad he was busy and having fun. Then it got quiet, very quiet, too quiet. But in my joyous state of getting something done uninterrupted, I did not recognize that silence for what it was. You would think I would know better, just last week it got too quiet and I walked in on Joseph finger and toe painting the hardwood floor in the dining area with an entire bottle of Elmer's glue. Perfect sweet precious little footprints leading away from the mess... to the carpet. I know these times are fleeting and someday I will miss the little hand prints everywhere, but probably not the ones made with glue!! Back to my current story...

A few minutes later I realized I was not hearing the whirring sounds of trains going around the tracks. I was hearing nothing at all. Just then Joseph came flying around the corner to tell me, "Mom, I took pictures, I took ALL the pictures". Sure enough, he had dug my small digital camera out of my purse and had figured out how to turn it on and how to make it work. Below is some of his work, see the progression? Eventually he figured out how to get his fingers out of the shots and started taking photos of his toys and things that interested him. I think he may have a future in this! Just not with MY camera!!!

A close up of a pillow on the sofa.
Quite a few close ups of his fingers, but he did finally get it....

One of his favorite things to pay with!

Yes, a box of cereal on its side...on the carpet. How grateful we are that we cannot see the whole picture!!The skylight, interesting exposure....kinda pretty!

Our neighborhood!!

Ooops, the dogs didn't eat their breakfast yet!!

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.