Kinda Busy!

The last 3 weeks Scott has been on vacation. It hasn't been a typical vacation for us this year, however. No camping. We were going to camp for a week in the Redwoods, but we canceled it because we had just bought our huge van, and finances were slim.

We orginally had all kinds of fun plans for those 3 weeks, but none of it panned out. The kids and I stayed home and worked, and Scott went to work and worked. Scott worked a good part of the time in a Portland Hospital watching over an inmate who was having heart troubles. Scott actually got to observe an open heart surgery. He said it was an amazing experience.

With a bunch of bills piling up, Scott did a very generous thing with his time. He worked almost 2 weeks of double overtime shifts at work so he could bring home a little extra income. By the end of those long hours, he was exhausted, and I was worn out. The extra income will be a wonderful blessing, but it was a huge sacrifice for Scott who was already burned out from work and had been counting down his hours before his vacation.

To save our sanity, Scott decided we needed a little trip away to recover from kids and stress. My Dad let us use some of his Worldmark points, and Scott and I got a four day trip to a The Running Y Ranch close to Klamath Falls, Oregon. My Sister very generously took all 5 of my kids for the duration, even though she had in laws coming that same week! Thankyou Dad, Thankyou Mary, you are angels of mercy!

I will do another post on our trip. I've lots of great pictures of Crater Lake!

When we returned home, we really hit the ground running. I had to unpack the kids and all our stuff, clean my home spic and span, and plan my big 3 hour class I was teaching the next day.

Every other Friday I teach 10 boys at my home from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. This time we were learning about Johnny Appleseed. We had terrific time, and everything turned out great. We did lots of science experiments with apples, played games with apples, made caramel apples and apple cider, ate apple crisp and applesauce, discussed the true life of John Chapman and compared it to the Tall Tale Legend of Johnny Appleseed. It was a whirlwind of fun and activity.

My whole motivation for doing this class is social. But if we learn a lot along the way, all the better! My focus for the kids in this class is to help them be inspired by great men and great leaders, not to stuff a bunch of useless facts into their heads. Thankfully, whenever kids are excited and having fun, they absorb everything like a sponge, anyway!!!

Here is my class info:

Boys Club Schedule 2010/2011

For Boys ages 8 thru 13

Theme: Explorers & Naturalists

Cost: $5.00 per class

Fall Semester: $40.00

We meet the 1^st and 3^rd Friday of every month from 11 a.m. to 2p.m.

Parents may drop their boys off for the duration of the class, but they are always welcome to stay and observe or participate. Please do not bring younger siblings unless you have made prior arrangements with me. I would like to spend the bulk of my time giving attention to teaching your sons.

Boys are to bring a sack lunch, and to have read about and studied our historical figure on their own. I will provide books for them to borrow or keep for some of our historical subjects. Otherwise, please feel free to research them online or choose your own books from the library.

Every class will be filled with activities, discussions, snacks, and social time. We will have field trips!!! There will not be other assignments or homework unless the boys have an idea and they volunteer to do it. I have to charge per semester instead of for each class to cover my expenditures for activity supplies, books, research time, field trip costs & gas. I have room for up to 10 boys each semester.

Fall Semester: EXPLORERS

September 17th: Daniel Boone

October: 1^st: John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed)

October 15^th: Lewis & Clark

Oct 29th: Field Trip to the Lewis & Clark Fort in Astoria

November 5^th: Davy Crockett

November 19^th: Jedediah Smith

December 3^rd: Richard E. Byrd & Roald Amundsen

December 17^th: Neil Armstrong

Spring Semester: Explorers & Naturalists

Spring Semester: $60.00

January 7th: Marco Polo or Charles Lindbergh

January 14^th: Nathaniel Bowditch

February 4^{th: Joseph Banks}

February 18^th: Carl Linnaeus

March 4^th : Captain James Cook

March 18^th: Louis John Rudolph Agassiz

April 1^st: Henry David Thoreau

April 15^th: James Audubon

April 29^th Field Trip: Picnic & Hike at the Baskett Slough

May 6^th: John Muir

May 13^th: John Burroughs

May 27^th Field Trip: ?Evergreen Science Museum or OMSI?

June 3^rd: End of the year celebration & Project Display

So my husband did this great apple cider demonstration for the boys, and he took the opportunity to get 400 lbs of FREE WINDFALL APPLES! The Jonagolds were amazing. He processed 96 quarts of Apple cider! They were SO tasty!

The next day he picked 2 huge boxes of broccoli (again for free, we have such amazing opportunities up here for free produce!!!) and we blanched it into 14 gallon bags to use throughout the year.

Next we want to pick and process grapes and tomatoes. Plums didn't do well this year.

In the midst of this, Scott has been cutting and hauling wood for our yearly supply. I am SO SO thankful for the warm dry weather we've been getting which is allowing Scott to get this work done before everything gets wet and soggy.

So our vacation this year was...well, work! But it's been worth it!

Maybe we'll get to go camping or go somewhere fun this spring!

(hope hope!)

Vacation day 4: John Day Fossil Beds

On our last day of vacation, we went on a long drive to the John Day Fossil Beds in Central/Eastern Oregon. We went to the Painted Hills Unit first.

The colors were so unreal. It was majestic. I wish that we had left earlier in the day so that we had more time to hike. *Warning* they do have Rattler Snakes in this area.

There were wild flowers everywhere. We could identify several, but some were kinds that none of us had seen before. We were up high in the mountains, and obviously spring had just come here.

John Day Fossil Beds is a unique area because of the number and variety of fossils that are continually being found. We saw several geologists at work digging at cordoned-off areas. I guess that this place is a cache of treasures for learning about the time of Mammals. They say new species are discovered all the time. We enjoyed most learning about how Oregon use to be in a Tropical Zone! The kids were fascinated by how many climate changes our one little area had experienced.

Beautiful Girl in the Beautiful Hills

Embrace Life! Love it, Live it!

I want to fly when I grow up!

It was hot---finally! About 90 degrees. We were dressed WAY too hot on this day! Christopher didn't want to get out of the shade. I had to convince him to just take his jacket off!

Christmas postcard pictures...which one do you like best? :)

Julianna wanted to run right off the cliff. It makes me think, perhaps we DON'T want to visit the Grand Canyon in September! I had to chase her out of the parking lot as well. I can't take my eyes off her for a SECOND!

This place was so amazing, that we all voted to drive an additional hour to get to the next fossil area. They had a huge fossil museum that was pretty neat. We only had an hour before they closed to see it all. If we are ever in this area again, we'll leave more time open to go exploring.

We met a fellow who has biking cross country for raising awareness about Prostate Cancer. He had an interesting story to tell. I'm sure he'll have an amazing journey. Here's his blog if you want to find out what he's doing:

www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/LemonadeMagnate

By the time we were done at the Fossil Beds, it was 5 p.m, and it was a 3 hr drive back to camp. There was no way we would be cooking dinner at camp tonight, and we were all sick of sandwiches, so we decided to go out to eat.

This was the night that we were originally going to spend at the Planetarium observatory 1 hr East of Bend. But there was no way we were going to make it this night because

1. everyone was exhausted, and going to the observatory meant being up till Midnight.

2. It was slightly cloudy, and what was the point of going if we didn't have a clear view? I was very disappointed to give up the dream of attending, however. I sure hope my sister gets to go when she's in town later this month.

We stopped at a Shari's in Bend. I ate a delicious strawberry spinach salad, and then had a strawberry milkshake for dessert. (The younger set had Chocolate). After the big meal, however, I began feeling VERY ill. I thought it was just from eating bad all week, and then suddenly having a bunch of vegetables.

I woke up in the middle of the night feeling seriously bad. By 4 a.m., I knew all hope of sleep was gone. I was going to have to throw up. I spent the next two hours living in the bathroom, cramped inside and out with vomiting and diarrhea. It felt like one of the worst cases of food poisoning I have ever had. When you hurt that bad, you just want to DIE!

Later that morning, Scott and Christopher both said they felt nauseous. They didn't feel like eating at all. From this, I concluded that we must have gotten some kind of food-borne illness from Shari's. The only thing we three ate that nobody else did was the strawberries. I resolved to call Shari's later and complain.

This made it extremely difficult to pack up for home. I was too ill to do anything but clutch my stomach. I was so shaky, I couldn't help Julianna at all. This meant that Scott had to do all the packing solo while the kids fended for themselves.

The drive home was SO miserable!!! Gut-ripping diarrhea and nausea is a recipe for disaster when you're in the car for a long drive.

At home I stumbled into bed and slept for 3 blessed hours. Poor Scott dumped everything out of the cars and trailer while Christopher babysat the kids. The kids were all so happy to be home, that they just played happily.

Scott stayed up till 2 a.m. making Strawberry jam for me. (We had a bucket of 30 lbs of strawberries delivered to our door which needed immediate processing, and I was in no condition to handle food, let alone stand up.)

I went to bed at 6 p.m. and slept for 12 hours. I felt almost normal the next morning....Hallelujah!

The next day was Father's Day. It wasn't the easiest for me to do things for Scott because I was so weakened and recovering from my illness. I think stomach upset is the worst kind of sickness out there!

I was feeling particularly grateful for Scott that day as the Father of our household. He does a terrific job in taking care of all of us!

Thank-you, Dear Scott!

Vacation Day 3

By the third day of vacation, Scott was wiped out. I was, too. We were doing so many things on so little sleep, that the family voted to cancel our day for spending at Crater Lake. Instead, we would just stay at camp for one whole day just hanging out together as a family.

It was a terrific decision. It was a day of relaxation that we all needed.

Early in the morning, Scott took Christopher fishing. So the girls and I hung out at camp. I got a lot of reading done! :)

Julianna played in the car. (With my supervision, of course.)

Angel had a big dance party, rocking it out to some preschool songs.

Dorathy and Courtney had a big drawing fest. They go through withdrawal if they don't get to draw every day.

After lunch, Scott taught the kids how to play Risk. It got pretty intense.

After two hours, however, the kids got bored. We called it a tie and pulled out the jump ropes. I have some giant 2-person jump ropes. The kids got a kick out of watching Mom and Dad jump rope. Everyone got a chance to jump or turn the rope.

Late in the afternoon, it hit about 65 degrees. After all the weather in the 30's the kids declared they were burning up. They all wanted to swim in the river.

The river water was FREEZING, of course!

The kids had a terrific time getting dirty, cold, and wet. None of them could stand going in too deep (to my relief!). They played some silly games in the water, though! I got a kick out of watching them. Julianna put her swimsuit on, but after dipping one toe in the water, she never even got close to it again!

Look at that Handsome Boy! I can't believe how big he's gotten!

We had a big dutch oven dinner, BBQ chicken and bacon fried potatoes with a peach cobbler for dessert. Camp-food is fun to eat, but WAY too high in calories!

vacation day2

On the Second Day of Vacation, We FROZE!! It was so cold that morning, that it SNOWED on us! We didn't have hats or mittens, and even with 3 layers and coats we were freezing. It was about 35 degrees outside.

This was the day we would spend at Newberry Volcanic National Park. We thought we'd hike around the Lava Butte, but it was too cold, so we played at the Visitor's center and watched their films. When we drove to the top, all of us were told cold to even get out of the car!

Angel and Julianna liked this part of the visitor's center best. These columns filled up with water, and would show you which volcanic rocks float, and which ones sink. Julianna loved it because there were bubbles. When it was over, she'd shout, "More Bubbles! More Bubbles!" Awww, don't you just love dirty camping faces???

Courtney shows off her Owl puppet.

Scott scowls at the BAAAAD weather.

We decided to have fun despite feeling like frozen popsicles.

The no nap schedule of camping was beginning to catch up to Julianna. She was SOOOO tired.

We hiked in lava tubes at Mt. St. Helens, but here it was a much better experience. I'm sure part of it was that we knew what to expect. (Cold and pitch black...bring several sources of light including a PROPANE lantern if you want to have fun there.) But the other part was that this lava tube was much easier hiking than St. Helens...the floors were less rocky and treacherous. I snuck some gummy bear "power pellets" in my pocket to help the kids out when they began to get tired and grumpy of hiking in the dark. Scott carried Julianna on his back. This made it incredibly difficult for him when the ceiling dropped to the level of his belly. Try walking on your knees, hunched over for a hundred yards in cold wet sand with an extra 30 lbs on your back...NOT FUN! Angel was sometimes afraid of the dark, even with the propane lantern, and some of the kids had some bad falls over the rough rock. But overall, all the kids were troopers and we were proud of them for making it through so cheerfully. Best of all, the kids were really proud of themselves for hiking the whole way through. They really felt like they accomplished something. It was a unique experience.

Believe it or not, it was actually warmer INSIDE the lava tube (50's) than it was outside (30's). Crazy weather. It snowed, hailed, and sleeted all on one day. It got warm and sunny for a brief time in the afternoon before it plummeted back down to 30 that night.

Christopher is all ready to brave the dark with a lantern! I thought we were so much MORE prepared this time because we packed plenty of flashlights. Unfortunately...most of them were dim and close to dead. I had assigned Christopher to check them before we packed them, but his definition of bright must be different from mine!

Here's our photo after we made it out! Hip Hip Hooray! We survived! We even went to the end when you had to crawl on your belly for a long while.

After the two mile trek through the lava tube, we should have gone straight back to camp to rest and cook. I couldn't resist doing one more thing, though! We went on a little hike along the Deschutes river to a waterfall. On the way in, the kids were so happy because the weather was finally pleasant! On the way back, however, everyone was tired and cranky. Scott had to carry a screaming Julianna back most of the way.

5 ants on a log....

Here Julianna is beginning to get ornery. She wouldn't stop hitting Angel. Look at Angel's face! Poor thing.

This bridge was my favorite part of the hike. We are over a beautiful wetland. We saw at least 10 different kinds of birds in just a few minutes. It looked like bird paradise. I would have liked to have set up a lawn chair on this bridge and sat there for a few hours just soaking up the beauty of it all.

When we got home, everyone was too tired and cranky. So we threw together some spaghetti and put everyone to bed. One thing about the nights being so cold and clear, the stars were amazing. We could see the Milky Way. We saw several sattelites passing overhead, and that was neat. I'd never seen that before.