Making Memories for the New Generation

This past weekend we were able to take another trip over to our beloved coast. The day started off a little overcast, rainy and cold, but pretty soon the clouds parted and we had blue skies and sunshine. I love it when that happens.

 I was trying to get a picture with my sweet oldest. Leo thought it would be funny to 

sneak in one of our little friends.

Ken decided to give the kids a fun little challenge. He let them have their own crab ring. The kids had to be in charge of throwing it in and hauling it up. It was the first time we had ever let them do it and they were so excited.

 Some people next to us caught this baby crab. The kids were fascinated by it.

 We usually don't keep red rock crab, but we caught two big ones we couldn't pass up.

 We also had a little friend who visited us. Of course Kirsten was in the bathroom, 

but Ken was kind enough to document it.

 Wouldn't you know that the biggest haul of the day was the kid's crab ring. Out of this one we got our only dungeness crab keeper and second red crab for the day. Looks like we will have to have a kid's crab ring every time we go now.

 The kid's are never happy unless we catch a star fish (we were told the correct word is sea star). The kid's caught two and we missed three who fell off of the rings as we were pulling them up.

 This was another big first of the day. Little Miss held her first crab. This is a big step for her considering just a few years ago she would scream murder if a butterfly landed on her. 

 After crabbing we headed over to the docks to buy a tuna.

 The one we chose weighed 23 pounds. 

 The kids insisted we visit the sea lions again.

 Then we headed back to Corvallis to stay with Mimi, Papa and Patch. Mimi and Papa had just arrived from a trip to Utah where they were able to pick up a bunch of treasures. This was Grandpa Wayne's (my mother's father) Model T. I have a ton of memories riding in this car. Many years we would be in Utah for my birthday, which happens to be pioneer day in Utah. This is always celebrated with parades and a party. I got to ride in this car for many of those days in the parade. I liked to imagine the parades were in celebration of my birthday - admit it who wouldn't want a parade for their birthday. Looking at Midge I remember being her age and riding with my grandpa. It is fun to keep this memory going. 

 Another surprise they brought back was my dad's parents Winnebago. To say the kids were excited is an understatement. Let's just say they consider it their new playhouse. They were squealing with delight when we told them they could have lunch in it. If we would have let them sleep in it they would have been in heaven.

 The idea of being able to sleep, go to the bathroom and sit at a table while driving was the most amazing concept to them. We are already planning the fun trips we want to take touring around.

 Mimi is planning on remodeling a lot of the inside including ripping out the carpeting and laying hardwood floors. Here she is ripping out the old 80's curtains. I told her we need to take a lot of pictures of the old vs. new. 

Here is my little guy riding on a tractor I used to ride on when I was a kid and my father used to 

ride on when he was a kid. They were able to bring this back from Utah as well, 

and baby Huck was in love with it.

 Right before dinner of crab, tuna, rice, squash and apple cobbler made from Papa and Mimi's mini orchard the family was able to take a ride in the Model T. The kids loved it. They went out for a little on the main road just as the college football game was let out and the kids thought it was amazing that everyone was looking at them. Almost like they were in a little parade!

Preschool Is Back On

With the big kids back in school it was time to start up our co-op preschool. 

Little Miss was so excited to start this up again and have mommy as her teacher. We have

 one kiddo from last year that joined us again, but the other 3 kiddos are new. We have a great 

group of kids. They are so sweet and get along amazing well. 

 For the week that I had all the kiddos we spent a lot of time learning about one another and learning each other's names. Their absolute favorite activity was painting. I gave them a leaf stencil and they got to use sponges to stencil fall leaves on to their paper. I am loving this group of kids and I am grateful that I am able to teach my daughter and spend more time with her. 

A Post by Midge

For some reason Midge hasn't gotten any homework for 5th grade. We want her to get ready for the demands of middle school so we have started assigning her math and writing homework. On of the requirements for her writing homework is that she post on the blog. I think it will be a good way to journal some of the things that are important to her and help her with typing, grammar, and writing.

I got my new violin a week ago. I am paired up with a cute boy. My friend Alli says I should say." I'm single!" Ha ha ha ha! I learned how to play guitar style on the violin. The boy is younger then me, but is taller and he is 9 years old. He had blond puffy hair.CUTE! I went home and practised. I am learning to play twinkle twinkle. I like my teacher a lot. He played for us and he plays really good and super fast.

Hut 1 Hut 2 Hike

Leo is playing on a flag football team. He is on a 4th/5th grade team, and he is the only 2nd grader. His coach is in our church and he is the only coach that refuses to play on Sunday. Leo is the same height as several people on the team, but there are definitely some big boys on the team. They are so nice to him and I am glad that he is having such a good experience and is learning some new skills.

 Leo tells us the games are boring compared to soccer because he is a linebacker so he is on the defensive team and he only plays 2 quarters so that all the boys can have a chance to play. Therefore there is a lot of time on the sidelines.

 When he is out there he does a great job of racing after the player with the ball. I love flag football because the kids seem to learn more about the positions and rules. Plus tackle football injuries scare me. Leo has one girl on the team and it has made Midge consider playing. We think with her speed and endurance she could do really well. Plus the guys on the team are really nice to the female player, I have been very impressed with how she is just one of the team.

 Leo has really good instincts and often anticipates where a player is going to go. The thing we are trying to teach him is to run through the entire play. Sometimes he seems a team member in front of him and assumes that he is going to get the flag and he backs off, but Ken is trying to get him to stay with the ball in case his team member misses the flag. 

The Mimi and Papa Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we traveled to Mimi and Papa's House for General Conference. While there we made a trip out to their garden to harvest some Cinderella pumpkins.

 Little Miss was so excited. Everything was princess veggies.

 While there we found a few visitors to the garden. We didn't see if they would turn into princes.

 Each kiddo got to pick out their favorite one, or two, or three...

 Midge was delighted to be able to drive the tractor by herself.