Worst day of the year.

One of my students informed me that they wouldn't be there the next day because they would be helping out at the elementary with Grandparent's Day. One of my other students spoke up and said that she did that last year and would never do it again. She went on to say that she was in charge of taking the kids whose grandparents didn't come to eat with them out to play. She said they were crying and clinging to her…."why didn't my grandma come?"…"where's my grandpa?"….it was horrible.

I got a little chuckle out of it and so I was sharing the story with my kids that night. I got done telling the story…ending with a laugh, only to notice they were all staring at me with big eyes and sad expressions. Eve, who hasn't had a Grandparent's day in 3 years, still seamed traumatized about it. She told of sitting alone watching the other kids eat a big turkey lunch with their grandparents knowing that her's were miles and miles away. My other kids nodded in agreement…did I mention the big eyes and sad expressions?

Who knew?

I'm not a fan of the "no child left behind" laws, but it seems with a little forethought this day might have been included.

Woosh!

"So what if we went a week earlier and camped the Oregon coast?"

....and that was how it began...well sort of. In truth I did a road trip in college with my friends down the coast and across Nevada. We made it in 24 hours...in time for my 8am class...and I always thought I needed to go back and see that country again, spend a little time getting my feet wet and sand in my shorts. So 18 years later....

The gang signs that Soni's flashing are what she made up for our family...cause every good family needs their own gang signs, right? It's a WM...stands for Woolston Mormons, that girl cracks me up.

After going to church in Juniper with Grandma & Grandpa we drove up to Boise and crashed at Beth's for the night. It's always good to spend time with my family outside the craziness of reunions...got in some good Eddie time too.

We spent the next evening camping in the Columbia River Gorge. It was drizzling off and on, but it was beautiful hiking weather and there were so many trails, waterfalls and lookouts we could have spent a lot more time there for sure. We saw some monster slugs...at least for us desert folk...some a long as my hand. Such a miracle we didn't step on any...eww.

The first waterfall we hiked to was Ponytail Falls. Austin beat us there, of course, so when we finally came around the bend this is what we saw.

At first I thought he was just holding out his arms getting wet in some form of waterfall worship.

What he was really experiencing was what we called the waterfall woosh. 

As the water comes rushing down it creates a pretty stiff wind that almost takes your breath away. It's one of those reasons we go to great lengths to go and see and feel beyond the pictures or stories that tickle our imagination in the first place.

There were a lot of moments like that, being in a new and different place just soaking in the experience like our Colorado skin soaked up that 80% humidity...mmmm...that feels good.

I was taking this pic of our family when a lady came up behind me and took my camera and told me to get in the picture or no one would ever know mom was on vacation. So I smiled and did as I was told.

One of the falls I knew I wanted to share with my kids was Multnomah Falls. I knew it was a quick hike to an impressive waterfall, and besides that friendly drizzle was turning into an ambitious rain.

We parked and got out of the car and Bingham says, "Holy cow, thats huge!" I was just about to comment on the beautiful falls when I realized he was talking about the puddle that took up half the parking lot. I really think we try to hard to impress our kids.

We hiked up to the lookout in our flip flops and t-shirts....it had settled to a drizzle and it was only a short hike after all. It was beautiful as expected, but then we saw the sign and trail that led to the top....

Hiking in flip flops in the rain probably wasn't the best parental decision we made, but everything is more beautiful with a little sacrifice, right?

Bingham only got a little grumpy on the way up, until we reminded him how the pout pout fish turns into the kiss kiss fish (children's book)...and of course took a picture. 

We all made it to the top, and it was beautiful. I thought it was interesting to see the peaceful little stream gently flowing over the rocks before it goes dropping over a 620' cliff. I think there's a life lesson there...

Why we always feel like we need to flex or flash gang signs is beyond me. You'd think we were pretty bad A...until you see Austin getting a piggy back ride down the mountain by his mamma.

Darn flip flops.

By the time we got back to the bottom it was raining pretty hard and we got stuck in an oriental traffic jam. They all had umbrellas, like they knew they were coming to Oregon or something, and it was a little tricky getting through them all, dodging drips and photo shoots. The puddle in the parking lot had grown to take over the entire thing and it was all I could do to hold the kids back....

...save it for the ocean, save it for the ocean.

Spring Break 2013

I usually have a huge list of things to do for spring break. This year just felt different, my list consisted of 4 things.

Ice skating with kids,

Start garden,

Dirt bike ride with Austin,

Sew badges on Austin's scout uniform...

....three out if four ain't bad.

DI 2013

What up G? 

Bingham had his first year in DI and he had a "staring" role as a star named G. Gangsta jokes never get old when you hear them from a group of Kindergarteners. His play actually had nothing to do with gangsters of any type, but thinking outside the box is what DI is all about. His teacher was their team leader and she is amazing at communicating and working with these little ones. She makes me want to be a Kindergarten teacher when I grow up.

This being Colorado, I guess it wasn't strange that our worst storm of the season happened at the end of March, but it was a little unfortunate for many of kids who couldn't make it. For Sonya and Austin's team we were missing 3 out of 7. This definitely added another level of difficultly to presenting a play they had been working on for months without 2 of their key players. But again, in the spirit of DI this little team went to work rearranging their play, scrounging up impomptu costumes and even asking the cafeteria lady for some lettuce to replace our missing carrot. Austin, who originally only had a part at the end as a prince, played two other parts changing character as he went. His execution was impressive. He also did an excellent job answering the questions from the judges at the end and explaining all the changes they made from their original plan.

Soni played her part as a secret spy bunny to the T and had the judges rolling with her secret spy roll. In the end they placed 5th out of 13 teams, and got an award for their determination and resourcefulness. I was so proud of them and couldn't have asked for a better team.

Eve's group was small this year, but was by far the best group she's had so far. They've worked independently all year, taking responsibility for every aspect of their solution. This year's challenge was to present a play including a disguise, a morphing mask, and a decorative mask.....and only using non-verbal communication. Despite being a little shy, they qualified for the state competition in 3 weeks. This is an awesome bunch of girls and I'm looking forward to taking them up to Denver to show their stuff.

To be continued.....