Hiking on the Walla Walla River

which is in Oregon, because we hiked at BLM area. We went with some friends from church--they have two sons--a 7th grader and a 2nd grader, so it was perfect, boy wise.This sign really cracked us up. We decided that they were sensitive, and we didn't want to hurt their feelings. (It was a great reason to keep the Wiz from throwing rocks.)

We saw all kinds of biology. The Wiz is holding the top of a horse tail. They are everywhere around here. (Well, along all of the streams and rivers, anyway.)We saw lots of dead or dying salmon. We did see one spawning, too. (Hence the sign. They are trying to establish a salmon population there.)

We saw a lot of snakes. This was the smallest one.
Other wildlife we saw included a flock of turkeys, and signs of bears. (Bear waste, as the other second grader put it.)
It was a beautiful day for a hike. We had a picnic and were able to go down to the water, as Game Boy is demonstrating here. We are definitely going to do this again.

The Fair

Look--it's the fair!

Yesterday, we went to the fair together as a family. The Collar took Friday off, as he has to work on Monday (a holiday and his usual day off), which worked well. It was kids' day at the fair, so we were able to buy some ride tickets (all the rides were $1.50).

The boys enjoyed the rides. We all went up in the Ferris Wheel. Game Boy liked the Ferris Wheel. The Collar seemed to also.We also went into the petting farm area. There were no little girls on display this time. :) There were a couple of alpacas, though. This one seemed to really like me. Most of the time it was nuzzling my hand.The Wiz showed us his mad roping skills. Don't you love the outfit?
We saw all of the interesting exhibits (we're all going to enter something next year) and watched a reptile show. The boys all ate cotton candy and shared an elephant ear. I had tacos. (Yes, there is a theme about what Kate eats when we are out. Taco trucks are EVERYWHERE. Generally, they are gluten free too.)

It was quite hot. We went home, but we had a really good time. Next year will be even more fun, since we'll know more about how to plan.

Today we went hiking in Oregon. That will be another post.

A Wiz Story

The Wiz's class went to the Fair today. (Confession: I've never been to one, and neither have the boys.)

One of his teachers told me this story:

The class was in the petting farm area, and the first thing the Wiz saw was a little girl in a pen. There weren't any animals in it with her. The Wiz looked with horror at his teacher and asked her, "Are we supposed to PET her?!?" The teacher told him she didn't think so. So he asked, "Why is she in a cage? Are they selling her?" The teacher said she didn't know why she was in the cage, maybe the person working in the exhibit knew. She assured the Wiz that the little girl wasn't for sale.

The Wiz, who is not shy, went and asked the exhibitor. The exhibitor told him that the little girl was her daughter, and she was playing in the pen so she wouldn't wander off. The Wiz duly told his teacher, with relief. Apparently it really worried him.

His teacher (the usual classroom teacher) made sure that the reading teacher told me this story because Mr. G thought it was a cute andfunny story. He's already shown them all his winning personality. Everyone in the school will probably know him by the end of September.

First Day of School.

This was a big first day of school for both boys. It's their first day this year, their first day in a new district (#3 district for Game Boy), and Game Boy's first day of middle school. Game Boy rode his bike to school with a flotilla of boys. He likes that, quite a lot.

The Collar and I walked The Wiz to school. It is nice to be able to go to school by foot/bike. It's really good for The Wiz's teachers. He will be working out some of his energy before he even gets there. (I am walking at least 2.5 miles every day.)

The best thing about going to school here is that The Wiz leaves for school at 7:40ish and Game Boy leaves at 7:45ish. Last year, they caught the bus at 6:22 am. They were ready to go by 7:15 so they actually had time to goof off before we all left. It was quite strange that they were ready so far ahead of time. They even woke up AFTER they'd have gotten on the bus last year.

So, this year, no picture of the boys waiting for the bus in the dark. No picture of brain shaped meatloaf, either. The meatloaf fell apart. :(

So here's a song instead, that's all about eating brains.

Another room

This time it's the guest room.
There are curtains on the windows, the bed is made, and there are even pictures on the wall. (We could use a few more in there--some how we have more wall space here.)
I want to reassure anyone who is worried they'd freeze to death up here in the far north that we do own blankets. (The winter temps here are similar to the ones central Kentucky.)
We also have a sleeper sofa, so there are places for people to sleep.
Note: This time, my office stuff is not in the room. (Well, except for the bio texts and files, which are neatly stacked in the closet in the boxes in which they were moved here.) We do want to find more artwork because the room is dull. The curtains do help, I think.

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Other stuff: School starts tomorrow. Tonight is the Wiz's school bbq/get together, so no brain-shaped meatloaf today. :( We'll have it tomorrow, instead, and I'll report how grossed out Game Boy is again. I met the Wiz's school nurse, and we filled out his medical plan of action. One thing we added is that he's fail-to-thrive (well, he is) and that he will be given high calorie foods in his lunch. (Not that he'll eat them--we put butter on his sandwiches to give them more calories, and he eats the meat or cheese, or he'll skip the sandwich and just eat his fruit and veggies) because the school has a food policy (low-fat, low sugar foods only).

Game Boy now has a lock for his bike (he's going to ride it to school! By himself!) and he's ready to go.

I've made cupcakes for their lunches (I did the math: 1 box cake mix, 1 container of icing makes dessert for just over 2 weeks) for the same as making cookies or buying cereal bars or what have you. They are cooling now.

I've also made buckwheat banana bread for me. I'll let you know how that came out.

Tomorrow's the best day of the year!