Never Smile at a Crocodile

Our fun outlet lately has been watching old muppet shows on youtube! It has been a fun fest of Nostalgia!

I sure loved the Muppet show as a kid! Pigs in Space, talking monsters of all shapes and sizes, silly songs, and lots and lots of chickens...what's not to like? Rowlf used to by my favorite muppet. A puppy dog playing the piano was just too irresistible. Kermit is my favorite now. My older brothers used to be able to do an amazing imitation of the Swedish Chef. My Mom got a little annoyed when they insisted on throwing wooden spoons around as part of their act, though.

I can't believe we all sat around and watched the cartoon Muppet babies, though! Any of you out there remember that show? Geez. I guess it was typical 80's fair. I remember what a fad it was to have everyone's favorite show have a "baby version." Besides Muppet babies, there were the Looney toon babies, etc.

This is one of my favorite songs we've seen so far. My kids love it. Good discussion about proper behavior towards suspicious strangers...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpccsHyj-5I

The Redwoods

Here are some fun pictures of us in the rainy campground at Jedediah Smith Redwoods.

I think we had the most beautiful and roomy campsite in the entire Park! We loved it. There was so much room for the kids to play.





They had fallen logs to walk on, little gulches to hide in, and "tree houses" with roofs of low hanging branches. It made some really good spots for Hide n Seek!






Our little piece of paradise looked like a Rain forest from Dinosaur times, and so of course the kids played pretend they were dinosaurs! They discovered that the back of our campsite bordered on the nature trail, and they loved to go back to an unusual tree they dubbed "Face Monument."



Some fun things we got to do while camping: Hike in the rain and thunderstorms. Thank goodness for ponchos!

Play at the River beach, discovering that river sand does not mold like beach sand!

Exploring the campsite and the nature trails.

Walking Julianna in the stroller all through the campsite every morning from 5 to 7 a.m. so she wouldn't wake up all the other sleepers in our tent trailer. Unfortunately, her cheerful noises probably woke up other campers as we strolled along. At least most campers are really early risers! We are glad we didn't meet any bears on our lonely walks! Scott and I took turns every other waking up with the baby. Once it was light and the birds began chirping, she was up!

Hand-washing and then drying our towels over the fire since it was two wet, cold, and dark for anything to line dry.

Trying to wash all the kids and myself in showers you had to pay for before your minutes were up. I could have done it if the water temperature had been easier to control! I'm grateful I found one extra quarter, or I would have been rinsing the shampoo out of my head beneath the camp's cold water spigot.

Cooking delicious food in our dutch ovens.

Playing games in the now muddy and wet tent trailer to escape from more mud and wet outside. We did connect 4, mad libs(everyone's favorite), and lots of go fish.

Spending lots of time at the Visitor's Center out of the rain. We read lots of good books there!

Exploring and hiking at the Trees of Mystery and taking a Gondola ride. It's a very touristy place, but the Gondola ride is worth the price. It gives you a view of Mountains, the Redwoods, and the Ocean beyond. Breathtaking!

Buying a pavilion canopy to cover our picnic table so we can eat without getting soggy wet bums from the soaking wet wood. The only thing I have to say about that, is we should have bought one sooner!

Reading books by lantern light.

Singing songs and telling stories around the campfire. The relaxing family moments around the fire at night was definitely my favorite part of our whole vacation. I think everyone in the family feels the same way!

Driving in the car....

Christopher was a great sport on our drives during vacation. He did everything he could to help Julianna be happy. Everyone was content to play, read, and watch movies in the car. Julie was the only miserable one. She sure let us know it....that girl can scream!!! The restriction of a car seat is torture for mobile babies. Christopher had to pop out of his seatbelt on numerous occasions to chase lost pacifiers and rejected toys. What a helpful big brother!!! You can see from the pictures that Mommy resorted to the bribery of lollipops to keep Julianna entertained. The quiet never lasted for long, though. *sigh*

Suprises!

I love the good kind of surprises! Not the kind of surprise that Julianna gave me this afternoon when she dumped the contents of her slushy otter pop down my shirt.

The best surprise this week is when Scott called me from work to tell me that he had managed to get the FOURTH OF JULY OFF!!!

This is a really big deal. In the last 6 years, he's only had the day off once. And that one time he had to go to work at midnight. And the happy news was even more welcome since Scott was originally going to get a new schedule with Saturday/Sundays off...which would include the Fourth Of July. Then we got the news that a fellow officer with more seniority had taken Scott's schedule away from him. He was back to Sunday/Mondays off. Scott told me there was no way he'd be able to get the Holiday off, because no one wanted to trade. But he managed it anyway, hurray!


Fourth of July in our house is almost as beloved as Christmas. It starts off with a church breakfast, and then we go to a Cousin's house in Molalla. They have several acres right next to a river. The kids spend all day eating whatever they want, playing and swimming to their hearts' content. We end the evening with Fireworks and all you can eat Scones! It's a day to remember...


And this year we'll get to share the fun with Daddy! The part the kids are most excited about is that Dad can take them all swimming while I put the baby down for a nap! (I usually say no to going down to the river because one adult can't keep that many kids safe!)

It is going to be a marvelous day.

Cave Junction, Oregon

The first day of our camping trip took us to Cave Junction, Oregon.

It wasn't suppose to be that long of a drive. We were also suppose to go to the Safari. 2 years ago when we were coming home from the Redwoods, we were going to go to the Safari. But we canceled it because Dorathy got the stomach flu. This year we were prevented by a flat tire.

First the chain connecting our Van and Trailer snapped. That was really scary. Then a while later, we noticed that the hitch on the van kept on scraping the road. It used to do that every once and a while when we hit a bump. It gradually hit the road more and more. It sounded horrible and we were terrified.

We said a quick prayer, and then took the first exit off the freeway. I saw the problem as soon as I jumped out of the van. We had a flat tire. A very very flat tire that was now completely past patching because we had driven on it so much. Darn. We should have pulled over sooner!

Scott quickly got the spare on, and we were blessed to discover we were about 2 blocks from Les Schwabbs! We spent the next 2 hours there getting a new tire. $60.00 later we were on the road leading to our first destination.

I knew the campground was going to be a small town location. It was the only campground I could find online. We got lost several times before we found it because the owner gave lousy directions. It was now 7 p.m. and the kids were hungry, cranky, and restless. Despite the baby's screams, we managed to get better directions from the owner. He came out to meet us in a bathrobe.

We were horrified when we arrived at "High Pines" campground. It was like an extremely trashy trailer park with a few dirt spots between trees for camping. He told us to choose whatever camping spot we wanted, and we looked at eachother and said, "What camping spot?" He directed us to one. Maybe he was embarrassed by our shocked and horrified expressions, for he then proceeded to generously say that we didn't need to pay him. He said we could camp for free because they weren't officially opened for the season yet. That's the only reason we stayed there! Otherwise I think we would have packed up and found a local motel.

The worst part of the campground were the bathrooms. They were horrifyingly dirty. There were dead vermin and worms all over the floor. No soap or locks on the doors...except the MAIN DOOR which locked whenever you closed it! Only the "renters" of permanent spots got a key to the bathroom! The owner unlocked the bathroom door saying "There you go, just be sure not to close the door and you'll be fine" I wedged it open with a block of wood, thinking that would suffice. But the next time a kid had to go to the bathroom the door was locked And no owner to be found! "How am I suppose to camp with 5 kids with NO bathroom?!?!?!? There aren't even any privacy bushes to squat behind!" I said to myself.

I had to hike through all the trailers to find someone with a key to unlock the bathrooms. A really nice older lady with no teeth helped us find someone. This scenario repeated several times, even after I propped the bathroom door open with heavy rocks. I finally wrote a big note and posted it on the door to the bathroom, "I am camping here with 5 kids, please do not lock the bathroom door!" Then I made a pile of 10 huge rocks forcing the door to stay open. After that, thankfully the bathroom stayed open all night....until 6a.m. the next morning when I really had to pee. DARN WHOEVER WAS CLOSING THAT DOOR! I had to wake up a poor lady with a little baby to come out of her trailer and open the bathroom door for me. So humiliating.

That ranks up into the top 5 worse camping experience of my life. Don't ask me about the worst one!

Thankfully, the camping did get a little better. The kids still enjoyed cooking around a campfire. And Julianna did adjust to the tent trailer pretty well.

The next morning Scott took the three oldest kids to a tour through the Oregon Caves. They had a great time and enjoyed hiking through the beautiful stalagtites and stalagmites.

I had to stay behind with Angel and Julianna because they were too short to be allowed inside the caves. It was a relaxing morning except for the 2 Jehovah's witnesses that came to the campground. They enjoyed reciting bible verses to me for over an HOUR while I was washing all the camping dishes. I wanted to say," If you're going to preach to me the least you could do is dry the dishes.." but I didn't have the gumption!

They were actually very nice, but it was still a kind of surreal experience. I was kind of glad they were there because for most of the morning I was all alone, surrounded by a lot of weird looking men who were doing some lumber projects outside. I think I am too used to just staying home in my own little protective bubble.

A BEE-FUl Day!

Today I got to watch my sister and husband catch a bee swarm. That was a new experience!

Even with a bee suit and a veil, you've got to admit that it takes a lot of courage to face a couple of hundred bees armed with stingers.

But they were as cool as cucumbers, clipping away the butterfly bush till they reached the swarm and gently placed it in a box. The bees were swarming like nuts, but my sister said that by nightfall every single last bee would be in the box with the queen, and would then be ready to take home to a new hive.

Scott then spent a good part of the day looking through our own hive. He found some queens that might be ready to hatch soon, and then separated them from the main colony in hopes that when they hatch they will start a second colony in our backyard.

I am hoping that by the fall, we will get to harvest lots of raw honey. I want to try taking some for my allergies. I've hear from numerous people that it is a much way than medicine to help allergies. I guess when you eat honey that was made from the plants that you are allergic to, that it helps your body treat itself. I'd like to give that a try!

A Nice Date....

It's been a while since Scott and I had anytime away from the kids. Julianna tends to make that pretty difficult!

But today we had a nice little break thanks to a kind sister. (Thanks, Mary!)

We had lunch at Washington Street Grill (our #1 favorite Dallas restaurant),
and then we went treasure hunting at H2O. Scott loves that place. I got lost in the book section, digging into every dusty nook and cranny. Most of the books are ancient, and lots are only good for kindling, but I got some GREAT finds! You can't beat 25 cents a book. I found some homeschool history books, some great arts and crafts books for Dorathy, some poetry, some classics, and a few cute children's books. My favorite find was a huge reference book of birds in Western America (Courtney will go Ga-Ga for it!) Scott's favorite find was a book teaching us how to make balloon animals. I just know that will come in handy someday...

No, what Scott was REALLY excited about was a giant gas stove, in near-perfect condition that he picked up for only $50.00 . For years he has been wanting to convert a gas stove to Propane so that he can do all our canning outside or in another room. We've nearly killed our electric stove canning; a gas stove will handle that way better. Where we are going to put it is an entirely different matter that I leave up to him!

We also found a great magazine holder to organize all our church magazines. The kids favorite thing we picked up a huge intertube for floating down the river on the fourth of july. They've always wanted to do that!

I love thrift stores and treasure hunting! Brings back good memories of years of garage saling and perusing Deseret Industries....

Kid Quote of the Day

"May have I some more snake? Snake, Please!"

___Angel, 3 yrs old calls Steak "snake"

Hatfield Marine Science Center Field Trip

My Kids and I got to have a great experience at the Marine Hatfield Science Center. I've always wondered what that place is like, we had never been. So when a friend began organizing a field trip, we signed up!

The kids got to do 2 classes. In the morning we explored the estuary. The kids got to dig with these PVC pipe plungers for "Ghost shrimp". It was some exciting time!

After a nice picnic lunch outside, the older kids then went to a "crab lab" where they got to handle all kinds of sea animals (both alive and dead). This was particularly fun for Courtney who is in love with all creatures of the sea.

Julie, Angel, and I got to watch a giant red octopus get fed lunch. It was amazing. They just put in a jar with a live crab, and the octopus unscrewed the jar by himself and proceeded to feed.

The science center was lots of fun for everyone. I highly recommend it. It's not as big as the aquarium, but it does have several great exhibits. They have a "suggested" donation to get in, but there are no set ticket prices.

We will definitely go back sometime soon!

The rest of the day we spent at Beverly Beach playing! It was beautiful weather! There was no cold sea breeze, but there was a low cloud covering acting like a blanket so that the beach felt terrifically warm. All the kids were bummed that I hadn't packed their swim suits. They got soaked, anyway. Good thing I had extra clothes in the car for the drive home!!!

A Letter Every American Should Read!

This is a letter Glenn Beck received from a woman in Arizona. She writes an open letter to our nation's leadership:


I'm a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?

Well, these are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:

One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I'm not a racist. This isn't to be confused with legal immigration.

Glenn Beck's Common Sense Now available in book stores nationwide...

Two, the TARP bill, I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you no, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.

Three: Czars, I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.

Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say.

Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don't you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!

Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real obligations. Why don't you start there.

Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes. Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census over with our taxpayer money. I don't trust them with our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.

Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do you want me to hate my employers? Why ‑‑ what do you have against shareholders making a profit?

Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.

Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. Have you ever ripped off a Band‑Aid? We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.

Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let's have it. Let's say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please try ‑‑ please stop manipulating and trying to appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.

Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.

Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let's just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I'm busy. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.

I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all of the recent spending.

From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington. Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.

We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us who will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.

Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.

Scott and I feel similarly to this Lady's sentiments. We feel like orphans, with our views and ideas not being represented by EITHER political party. We need a political party that supports the Constitution. We support LIMITED government, we support the CONSTITUTION. The insane spending in Washington will destroy our country!

Since I can't travel to Washington and protest in person, the best I can do is raise my children to know, understand, and love the freedoms that the Constitution preserves. Our unalienable rights are in jeapardy. Our country no longer reflects the goals of the founding fathers. We have fallen into all the traps that they warned and worried about during the founding days. I hope and pray that my children will choose to be leaders in their communities so that they can help "fight" and educate others in order to win our freedoms back.

Julianna's First Birthday part 2

On Memorial Day, one day after Julianna's birthday, we had a big BBQ at my Mom and Dad's house. I had brought a HUGE costco cake (that Dorathy picked out) so the whole extended family could celebrate her birthday with us. Even my Aunt and Uncle from California were there!



First of all, I forgot all her presents! I know she didn't care, she wouldn't know the difference, but I felt mortified that she wasn't going to get any presents at her own party. I had finally bought her some cute leather shoes (like robies, but less costly) since her cute little chubby baby feet are too fat for normal shoes. I am so grateful for them! I bought several pairs in different sizes, and they are worth every penny. I just wish I had gotten them for my earlier babies. I was going to show them off to everyone, and give them their first go on Julianna's feet. Oh, well, Julianna got to enjoy them the next day. I let all her siblings open her presents for her.
Well, poor timid Julianna didn't enjoy her birthday celebration very much. Despite a nice long nap, she was weirded out at being in an unfamiliar place. Just like all of my other girls, Julie is a "homebody" and a "Mama's Girl" She likes only being HOME and only being held by MOMMY (and sometimes Daddy). She doesn't like aunts, uncles, cousins, and hardly tolerates grandma and grandpa.

So when family members wanted to wish her a happy birthday, if they even got close to her, talked to her, or tried to take a picture, she freaked out and screamed in terror.

Poor baby spent the entire birthday song crying! She wouldn't even touch her cake! I tried to get her to try it, thinking that if I put a little frosting on her lips she's calm down and enjoy herself. But I underestimated Julianna's uptight, hyper-sensitive personality. She cried and refused to be comforted until I took her out of the house and got her away from all the people as excitement. It was just too much for her. :(

Grandma did have a present for her (so at least she had one thing!) She gave her a teddy bear that claps its hands and lights up while chanting the "pat-a-cake" nursery rhyme. That calmed her a bit. She loves that bear!

After about an hour, as the kitchen was mostly empty, Julianna was finally brave enough to try and eat a little cake. But she still cried and clung to me in desperation if anyone got too close to her to even talk to me. Poor thing! And poor Grandpa and Grandma, who have hardly got to hold their 20th grandchild for more than 30 seconds at a time!!!


Here's to hoping that Julianna will have a much happier 2nd birthday!!!

Julianna's First Birthday part 1

My Baby Turned One Year Old!

I Can't believe that we both survived it!




I can't believe that one year ago I was hugely pregnant and hugely miserable! It makes me appreciate how healthy and well I feel now, even if I just can't seem to lose those last 10 pounds of baby weight...

It is such a special day to celebrate. It was extra-special because all four of Julianna's siblings were SO SO excited for her!!!

It's true that commemorating your child's first Birthday is more for the Mom and Dad than it is for the baby! But is sure is fun to watch the surprise and delight on your child's face when they get their REAL first taste of sugar! YUM YUM.

We celebrated with Costco Cupcakes. I ate one whole chocolate cupcake, and since I am usually "off sugar" (avoiding sugar in most forms, and absolutely NO desserts) it made me SO SO sick that I couldn't sleep all night.

I woke up the next day at 4 a.m. and renewed my promise to NOT eat anymore sugar. It's just not worth it to feel that ill. So my new goal is: NO desserts until I'm under 135 lbs, or until Christmas...whichever comes first! If I work real hard, maybe I'll reach my goal by the end of summer...just 10 more pounds to go!