Halloween Week Highlights

I did something very unusual for me. I chaperoned not one, but two field trips. I am the parent that never even helps out in the classroom, so this really is odd. It was actually OK.

First was Sandra's trip to the DOW Wetlands in Pittsburgh. I didn't even know this place existed. We had fun being pretend scientists. First we explored what kinds of critters are in the water, and at the bottom of the wetlands food pyramid. The kids got to suction them out of the water and look at them through a magnifier.

Then we went on a nature hike to find evidences of some of the larger animals. We found lots of scat. Our guide handled the scat and taught us how to look at it and the food remains in it to figure out what kind of animal it came from. We saw some from otters, coyotes, and prairie squirrels. I don't think this is something I will be doing on my own. It was a very windy and cold day, but the kids still had fun.

Next I went to Smith Family Farms with Cammie's class. I can't even figure out how many times I have been there. I think this will probably be the last one, and I am not even sad about that.

Friday saw me back at the school (I know three times in one week is REALLY amazing, another mom even pointed this out for me) to see Sandra in her 3rd grade musical. It was done during the day. I think this was probably one of the better ones. It was all about Halloween. Sandra had two speaking parts in it. Andrew was working from home that day, so hewas able to go with me.

That night Andrew and I went out again (like two dates in one day-almost like my single days again, but this was with the same guy) to buy a new refrigerator. We had been putting this off for as long as possible, but finally I was tired of cleaning up water all day that dripped out of the freezer due to condensation from a leaky seal, and dealing with a fridge door that often wouldn't stay shut.

Saturday, I took Travis to UC Berkley for a diabetes eye clinical trial. He spent two hours having different tests done on his eyes to try to monitor the effects of diabetes on the eyes.

Between all these extra activities and my normal busyness, I had to make Halloween costumes. I had failed to get these done in time for the ward party the week before. I tried to convince the girls it was better not to have them for that because we were eating dinner there and didn't want to risk spilling spaghetti on them. It worked. I did manage to get them done before school started on Friday so they could wear them then. Cammie was only a few minutes late, and she decided it was OK not to have her fairy wings at school anyways because they are annoying. Sadly, I didn't manage to get them done on Saturday either. Luckily Cammie is very easy-going about those kinds of things. She was just in love with her dress.

The last day of the trip

On our final part of the journey, we decided to stop by Lake Shasta and see the beautiful water. This is what we saw.

We had stopped at this spot before, and had fun hiking along the water, skipping rocks in it and enjoying the scenery. This time it was all dry. Normally the water fills the valley to the right of this road.

At another stop we found some toys to play on, but still no water we could get to.

After much driving around and asking for help, we finally found a way to the water. We had to go on a scary dirt road, I had been assured by the friendly guy who gave me directions, that I would be fine taking my van down, since he had just driven down it in his non-4wheel drive truck. Getting down to the water was not a problem. Getting back up almost was. Sadly, it still wasn't a beach area that we could play in, but it was nice to actually succeed in our quest of getting to the lake.

Sandra and I walked into the water. This really freaked Fletcher out, and he dug his heels in, then started to lay in the mud, to keep away from the water.

Crooked River Canyon

A beautiful stop. The Crooked River Vally Gorge. The drop off here is over 300 feet. There are signs all over telling you to leave dogs in your car, because many have fallen to their death. The signs have pictures of dogs falling off a cliff. I was cautious and let my dog stay in the car. That would have been a bit too tragic for me. The valley is so deep, that it made me a bit dizzy to try to look down it. I had to be brave for the girls.

North Pole or Equator

Do you know which is closer; the North Pole or the Equator? For a few minutes today, we were right in the middle. I am happy to be heading back towards the equator and warmer weather.

Shoe Tree

We are on our way home. We are stopping to see interesting things along the way. This is the Shoe Tree. It is in northern Oregon along Hwy 97. It is a dead tree covered in shoes. There are hundreds of shoes tied on and tossed over the branches. We were wishing we had some shoes to add to it.

Cammie's Sad Picture

Cammie drew this picture a few days ago on my phone. She was getting a bit homesick and was really missing her dad.

My Grandma

This is my grandma. She is the one whose history/memory books I went to copy. I managed to finish all 15 books. It took around 25 hours of work all together. Grandma is 92 years old. She started keeping memory books when she was in high school. As she had kids, she just kept everything in boxes, then as they got older, she sorted things out, then finally put them into books. It is not too late for me. Most of her books were about her kids and grandkids. It was fun to see all the pictures and write-ups about all the family events from when I was a kid.