[an alternate title: why you should always LISTEN to the outgoing message when you call someone & get their answering machine]

Dh & I were getting the kids to bed tonight when the phone rang. Since we were busy, we let the voice mail pick up. I could hear the voice from upstairs, and it didn't sound familiar. After everyone was settled in their beds, I came downstairs to check the messages, and heard this:

Hi Walt, this is Sharon. I just wanted to go over what we're going to do tomorrow and what time we're going to meet. We're going to go Let's Break Bread Together, Midnight on the Olive Mount, The Old Rugged Cross, The Fountain, Hallelujah What a Savior, and He Lives--chorus only. We're going to meet downstairs at 9:30 to go over the music. Thanks so much for helping out, Walt. I really appreciate it. See you tomorrow!

There are several problems that I have with this message: ONE: There is no Walt here, which she would have known if she would have paid attention to our outgoing message. TWO: Sharon didn't leave a phone number so that I could call her & let her know that she had the wrong phone number, and THREE: Sharon's phone number is blocked, so my caller ID just says "Private Caller". Well, I tried to help Sharon out, but she blocked my attempts at every turn! Sorry, Walt, but you're going to be in the doghouse tomorrow!!

Ugh! I am SO SICK of dealing with stomach viruses! We're on round ?? now, and it's been 2 weeks of some child or another throwing up or having problems at the other end! Dh called me tonight while I was out running errands & told me that I needed to come home right away because ds had thrown up. This was odd on 2 counts: 1) Dh is an extremely capable dad & I can't remember any other time that he's called me to have me come home, and 2) he knows that asking me to deal with vomit is asking for more of the same problem! I do NOT do vomit.

So I got home and found out why he needed me to head home ASAP. I walked upstairs to find dh on his hands & knees, cleaning a HUGE spot on the carpet. Turns out that instead of getting out of bed & heading for the bathroom, or staying put & aiming for his blanket, ds got sick from his top bunk by just leaning his head over the edge of the bed & letting loose! Unfortunately, liquid splatters a lot when dumped from that height--yuck! Dh had already cleaned up most of the bedding--there was a mound of dirty stuff at least 2 feet hight! Our poor younger dds have had to temporarily relocate while we strip the crib (even down to the bedskirt!) and the bedding from 3yo dd's bed (she's on the bottom bunk). Only dd in the loft bed over the crib was safe from the onslaught!

Another thing that "doesn't mix" is triple berry pancakes for children who've had upset tummies. Ick. Well, we could do a commercial for Oxyclean--it did a pretty good job of getting triple berries out of the carpet!

I need to go to bed. Yuck.

I have to say that I love the freedom of schedule that hs'ing affords our family. We do a modified year-round schedule, and it's such a great fit for us. For instance, we started our new school year the first week in August so that we could take extended breaks at Thanksgiving and Christmas. This week, we "did school" on Monday & Tuesday, and now we're on Thanksgiving break. Doing it this way allows me the time to get ready for our road trip, while not having to worry about getting school done.

After today though, I'm wondering if I should have planned school for this whole week--the kids are out of sorts at having all this free time, and are whiny with me & snippy with each other! Oh, the joys of motherhood! :)

Phew! We've finished our first week back to school! I'm still tinkering with things, but this is what we did this week:

E, age 7 (2nd grade)

Sonlight Core 1

Mystery of History

SL Science 1

Explode the Code book 4 (continuing from last year)

SL Language Arts 2 Intermediate: MCP Phonics Level C & Diamond Notes   (Creative Writing Program)

Math-U-See Beta (continuing from last year)

Handwriting Without Tears My Printing Book

Critical Thinking Activities book

R, age 5.5 (K)

Sonlight Core 1

Mystery of History

SL Science 1

Get Ready for the Code

SL Language Arts K

Math-U-See Primer

Handwriting Without Tears Letters & Numbers for Me

BOB books & SL Funtales

J, age 3

Whatever she wants to do from her Costco Preschool workbook

RL, almost 11 mos

hopefully napping during school

We started school on Monday, which worked out well since it was dh's day off. As the principal of our school, he took the older kids out to breakfast to celebrate their first day. J & I stayed home & had a special time together making "First day of school necklaces" by stringing beads onto yarn! Dh had a good breakfast & was able to spend some time encouraging them & admonishing them to do their best. We've told them that they each have a focus this year; for E, it's improving his handwriting (hence the LA-heavy schedule above); for R, it's learning to read.

Our first day was long, as it was the first time I was formally schooling 2 kids, and I need to figure out the best way to do that. E hasn't been too happy that I'm not instantly available to answer his questions or check his work! We're also trying to add in Mystery of History, and it's a lot to combine with a Sonlight core. I still need to work out the kinks. Never mind that I also need to work in the occasional art appreciation lesson and classes at the Y for both the dc and myself! I'm not sure where in the schedule I can do some compressing without losing important components.

I took some pictures today of the kids with their Creation booklets that they made to illustrate our first Mystery of History lesson, and their pencil boxes, of which they're very proud of all their new school supplies! I've already had to take away J's scissors because she kept cutting up paper into little bits & refusing to clean them up! And E cut a "v" into the tablecloth. Sigh. I need to get dh to help me post the pictures, but that will have to wait--this mama-teacher is wiped out & needs to go to bed! :)

On Friday, we put the rest of the family to work (those who were packed & ready to go with a minimum of fuss, as they didn't have 4 kids to watch over!). Auntie Jaime is a very good baby-holder, and put baby RL right to sleep!

To make the most of our vacation, we took our time getting home . Again, Auntie Jaime & Uncle Mark took the 2 older kids in their car & we met up with them & Uncle Matt's family in Fresno to have some yummy Mexican food. Then we gathered up our clan, said our goodbyes, and headed south through the Central Valley ("America's Bread Basket"!). We only drove as far as Tehachapi, where we had a lovely evening swimming in the hotel pool, eating freshly-delivered pizza, and watching cable TV. Gotta love vacation! The drive home the next day was the easy part--then we got to unpack & start laundry!

Thanks for joining us on our journey. I hope you enjoyed it!

We hadn't yet visited the General Grant Grove of trees yet, even though we were staying in Grant Grove Village, so the Adams Family made a "quick trip" (as though anything we 6 could do would be quick) to see the General Grant tree and finish up the requirements for Elijah's & Rebekah's Junior Ranger program. Some of us were not as happy as others to pick up trash! (J grouched pretty much the whole time about having to carry the trash bag )

You just can't get a very good idea of how big these trees are unless you stand next to one. Or go in one! 

After our trip through the Grant Grove, we drove back to Giant Forest for the requisite family picture in front of the General Sherman Tree. This tree is the largest living thing on our planet--it's HUGE!! Gramma couldn't make the walk to the tree (they've redone the paths to better protect the trees), so we had to do the picture without her. :(

Our new Junior Ranger, 5 yo R, posed with the Ranger who went over her paperwork. The rangers took the Jr Ranger program very seriously -- going over each page & making sure each child met the requirements before giving them their patches & signing their certificates. It was really neat!

After that, we had fun playing at the Kaweah River near the Visitor Center. Well, until Elijah threw a rock into the pool nearest me, splashing me with the ice cold water. Oh, he should have known that you don't mess with The Mama and not expect revenge--you're getting thrown in the river! OK, so I didn't really throw him in the river--I just got his shirt wet. :)

On this day we all planned to explore Kings Canyon. We caravanned through a beautiful gorge that the Kings River has carved out. The drive was just amazing as we descended down into the canyon. There were waterfalls alongside the road, and tantalizing glimpses of the river as we got lower & lower. We stopped at almost every corner to hop out & take pictures! The road was incredibly curvy.

We stopped to look down into the gorge, and it was amazingly deep, with the Kings River white with froth at the bottom. 3 yo J was the only kid brave enough to get out & look into it! Finally we reached the bottom of the gorge & stopped to take more pictures at a spot where the road crossed over the Kings River.

Our next stop was a lovely place called Grizzly Falls. The falls were pounding down on the rocks, creating a lovely mist blowing through the area. We all enjoyed the coolness!

After a brief pit stop in Cedar Grove Village, we drove to Zumwalt Meadow, near the end of the road. Mike & Jaime took the older kids for a hike while I stayed back at the picnic area to feed the baby & protect our gear from the intermittent rainstorms. They hiked down to a footbridge that crosses the Kings River. The kids had fun fooling around in the ICE COLD water!

After the hike & our picnic, we all had to high-tail it back to our cabins to get cleaned up for our big family dinner at the fancy Wuksachi Lodge near Giant Forest, back in Sequoia. Since that would involve an hour's drive back to Grant Grove, clean-up time and then an hour's drive to Giant Forest, we weren't able to stay at Zumwalt Meadow for very long. The Lodge was lovely though, and we had a fun time all having dinner together.

We finally got everyone together for a family picture--all 21 of us (one cousin had to go home earlier that day). Night had fallen by the time we got everyone in place & looking the same direction!

After breakfast in our room on Tuesday morning, we packed up to head to Giant Forest in Sequoia. We still hadn't seen any Sequoia trees, so we were pretty excited. The whole family piled into vehicles & headed out. It was about an hour's drive, but took us longer since we had to stop for pictures, and to let other cars pass our caravan!

It was a little drizzly in the Giant Forest area, but it was a nice light rain, and made the day actually quite pleasant. We first went to the Giant Forest Museum, which used to be a gift shop way back when there were cabins in this area (this is where our family used to stay before they tore down the cabins in the late 90's to protect the Sequoia trees). The Museum was neat; it had an exhibit that showed how big a Sequoia is compared to other "big" things, and even showed a Sequoia seed. It's amazing how the world's largest living thing can grow from such a tiny thing--God is so amazing! E found a Sequoia cone, and shook out a seed so that we could see how little it was.

R also enjoyed checking out the books, as she did everytime we went somewhere with a book section!

We took some pictures in front of the Sentinel Tree in front of the museum, then walked across the street to Round Meadow. This was so odd for me--the last time I was here almost 20 years ago, the dining hall looked down on the meadow, and our cabins were a short walk up the hill. Now there's no trace that any buildings ever existed. The dining hall was right between the two big trees in the following picture. It's cool how the forest reclaims its own.

It was also neat to see my kids doing the same things I did when I was a little girl: standing next to a Giant Sequoia tree & seeing how big they were in comparison!
Of course, the adults have to do the same thing!

We walked around the meadow & E read the signs to us (he's such a great reader!)
while we all swatted at mosquitoes. Ugh!

After we all got back together, we took a family picture before walking back to our cars.

Rachel was a little trooper all through the transfers between car & stroller, etc. She loves to see the camera come out! She turns into *such* a ham, all smiles & little teeth!

We drove by Morro Rock on the way from Round Meadow on the way to Crescent Meadow, but decided against climbing the rock this afternoon. Something about an exposed rock outcropping & a thunderstorm not sounding very appealing!

We couldn't miss driving through the tunnel log on the way either! How many people can say they've driven through a tree & lived to tell about it?!

Our next destination was Crescent Meadow. What was lovely about most of these places was that there were hardly any other people at any of them! It was just the 22 of us, and about a kajillion mosquitoes!

A huge tree had fallen across the meadow and we used it to shorten the hike around. Even just the root system is so big that it dwarfed the kids. Amazing.

We hurried to get back to our cabins in Kings Canyon, to get everyone cleaned up so that we could grill out for dinner. We had to toss all the kids in the bath, and the baby was especially happy to get all that insect repellant washed off!

My dad entertained the girls while we all worked to get dinner on, while E found his own entertainment (playing with glow sticks)! It was nice to have so much family around to help with our kids, since they're all pretty young. It was a good experience for us all!

We had a great dinner of carne asada that Gramma had brought, and everyone else pitched in a dish and helped with prep & cleanup. Once again, the kids crashed out after a very busy day!

We rolled out of the hotel parking lot around 9:30 Monday morning. As I explained in the previous post, we had to drive back into Yosemite & then south toward Sequoia because of the landslide. The road was SO winding! Back & forth, back & forth, all the while with nothing but trees lining the road. The Tioga Pass Road was MUCH more interesting!

It was interesting to watch the thermometer rise as we headed out of the Sierras & into the Central Valley. Thanks to a fellow homeschooler who lives in the area (thanks LizAnn!), we had wonderful directions to the nearest Costco & all the other retail establishments in the area. It was great to be somewhere familiar again, have some of that great Costco pizza, and escape the heat--it was 102 in Fresno, yikes! My sister called me while we were trying to decide which cake to get for my cousin's birthday that day, and it turns out that she & her husband were nearing Fresno on their way from San Jose, so they met up with us at Costco! What was even better was that they took the older 2 kids with them in their car the rest of the way to Sequoia--and the baby & J slept the rest of the way, so Mike & I had some blissful time "alone". What a blessing!

We finally arrived at Cedar Grove Village in Kings Canyon around 5 pm that afternoon. We found the rest of the family, sorted out which family was going to go where, and started moving our stuff in. With 22 of us, that was quite the process! Altogether, we had 5 cabins, and 2 rooms in the Lodge. It was nice to have Jaime & Mark in the cabin sharing a wall with ours (it was a duplex), as the kids could run back & forth between the 2 rooms. They were happy to give Auntie Jaime her early birthday present, and were glad to hear that cousin Amanda was going to stay in Jaime & Mark's cabin too, especially since she'll read to them! (Our kids have a well-deserved reputation for accosting any unsuspecting visitor to read to them!)

The cabins were very rustic--just 2 beds, a small closet, and a very basic bathroom. That was fine with us--it was clean and had just enough room for all of us. We were especially grateful for the generosity of Gramma (my mom's mom), who subsidizes these family reunions by covering the cost of the lodging. What a HUGE blessing! We are also thankful that our kids are still small enough to share a bed, so we just pile the 3 older kids into one bed, and the baby sleeps in her playpen--when she sleeps. To say that our vacation got her a bit off-schedule is being generous. We're still trying to get her back on-track!

We went up to the John Muir Lodge for a quick visit with my cousin, her son, and her parents. It was her birthday that day, so we gave her her gifts, but didn't tell her that a big chocolate cake awaited her for after dinner! Her son liked his little gifts too, as he would be turning 2 just a week later.

We all walked down to the dining hall together and saw some deer in the meadow. Little did we know just how many deer we were to see that week!

The family meal in the dining hall was quite the experience. For some reason, the staff acted like they didn't have groups of 22 come in very often! :) They did very well for such a big group, and the food was good too. All of the "adults" sat at one table and we "kids" sat at another (never mind that I'm the oldest at 33, and mother of four children myself!). What fun!

Our baby & Josiah had fun sitting at the end of the table together & stealing each other's food--well, it was more like Josiah stealing our baby's organic O's and her looking at him, wondering what he was doing! It was a bit much for her, and she ended up getting her thumb in her mouth & her other hand in her hair, and nodding off. That got a lot of smiles from the other diners!

After dinner, we headed back to the Lodge, where they have a big "living room" complete with lots of tables, couches, and board games. We got out the big chocolate cake we'd gotten earlier at Costco, and sang to my cousin. We served up the cake onto the 5 paper plates that we were able to rustle up, so we had to all shard. Even the baby tried to get a piece, young as she is! She had to be content with crumbs from Dada's mouth... one of them fell right onto her lip, which thrilled her, and made the rest of us laugh! Everyone else stayed up to play games, but we grabbed our kids & headed back to our room--it had been a long day, and we had big plans for Tuesday!

Back to the story of our vacation. On Sunday, we had our picnic in a meadow near El Capitan & Yosemite Falls, then we walked to the base of the Falls. Well, we attempted to anyway. You'd think that we'd have learned by now that when one child has to go to the bathroom, we should go ahead & take them all as a preventative measure. We wasted WAY too much time walking back & forth to the bathroom that day! Well, it was a good excuse for the parent staying with the other kids to take a lot of pictures. We came home with over 950 pictures. Gotta love digital! It was a good thing Mike took his laptop, so he could upload some of the pictures partway through the trip, and delete them from the memory card too. I have such a smartie-pants husband! (and he's cute too, but I won't talk about that too much)

The kids weren't so thrilled with our time at the base of Yosemite Falls. There's been so much snow in the high Sierras this year (one report I read said that it was 179% of normal) that the snowmelt is huge, and all the waterfalls are flowing like crazy. The mist was billowing up from the base of Lower Yosemite Falls, and creating a wind of its own, which blew the misty air all over the base viewing area. Rachel in particular was NOT thrilled about that! (I thought it was really cool standing on the bridge & being soaked, but then again, that's how I am!)

Because of the dampness, the mosquitoes were particularly vicious here. I learned the hard way that I shouldn't have bought a new type of insect repellent without trying it out before our trip! I was practically eaten alive, and very cranky about swatting away all the mosquitoes. I vowed then & there that I didn't care how bad DEET is for you, I was going to the Costco in Fresno & buying some no-messing-around bug spray before we went on to the next leg of our trip!

After slogging back to the van, we headed over to Yosemite Village for some pizza at Degnan's Loft, which I had read about on an informative website called Yosemite Fun (click here for link). The pizza was very good. I decided to be "nice mom" and allow the kids to have caffeinated beverages with dinner (they've never had caffeine before). Bad move. We spent the next few hours proving the diuretic effect of caffeine, with carting Joanna off to the bathroom every 10 minutes (I'm not exaggerating!). Not sure why it affected her that way, and not the other kids. After dinner, we headed back to our hotel in El Portal, to get ready for our "early morning" departure the next day. Yeah right. Anyway, the drive between Yosemite Valley & El Portal is lovely, winding along in the Merced River Canyon. The river is so high that the roar of the water was never far from our ears. Unfortunately, all the rain & snow contributed to the instability of the soil, and in May there was a landslide about 7 miles downriver from our hotel. It flowed over the road & into the river, and is still so unstable that removing the debris to re-open the road isn't an option. Want to see the landslide? Click here. So for now the road is closed between the hotel & the outside world, leaving us to have to drive into Yosemite Valley & then south on a terribly winding road to head for our family reunion in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks.

We rolled out of the hotel parking lot around 9:30 Monday morning. It was interesting to watch the thermometer rise as we headed out of the Sierras & into the Central Valley. Thanks to fellow Sonlighter Liz Ann (thank you Liz!), we had wonderful directions to the nearest Costco & all the other retail establishments in the area. It was great to be somewhere familiar again, have some of that great Costco pizza, and escape the heat--it was 102 in Fresno, yikes! My sister called me while we were trying to decide which cake to get for my cousin's birthday that day, and it turns out that they were nearing Fresno on their way from San Jose, so they met up with us there! What was even better was that they took the older 2 kids with them in their car the rest of the way to Sequoia--and the baby & J slept the rest of the way, so Mike & I had some blissful time "alone". What a blessing!

The drive was interesting: rising out of the fields of "California's Bread Basket", the Central Valley; to the oak-covered hillsides of the foothills, up into the piney Southern Sierra and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park. We were all staying in cabins in the Grant Grove Village, courtesy of my generous Gramma, who "sponsors" these family reunions every 2-3 years. Nearly everyone was able to make it this year, so there were 22 of us at last count. That's my gramma, her brother, her 4 children & their spouses, their children + their spouses & children. Phew!

Off to bed again. More later!

Well, we're back from our whirlwind "California National Parks Tour 2006"!! We had SUCH a good time. The kids did wonderfully on the drive. It helps that I stocked up on audio CDs the few months before we left. We got 4 new Jim Weiss CDs, a new Mr Henry CD and Susan Wise Bauer's Story of the World Vol 1 on audio too (which the kids really enjoyed & highly recommend). It was neat to hear 7 yo ds E clamoring for more history CDs--at least at first. I don't know any other moms who have to holler "Stop bugging me about listening to history!! We're going to listen to some music now!! Sheesh." :)  Gotta love it.

So I was thrilled to hear that the Tioga Pass Road, at Yosemite's east entrance, opened the week before we were to leave on vacation. I had been wanting to go up the eastern side of the Sierras becasuse it's so much more interesting & pretty (imo, of course) than plugging through the Central Valley. I am SO glad that we went that way!  E had a great time identifying the geologic features. We saw cinder cones, volcanic craters, ancient lava flows, and even stopped & did a little hiking at Fossil Falls, an area where the Owens River used to flow through the volcanic rock (a VERY little hiking--it was 102 degrees!). *Very* interesting!

We stayed in Bishop the first night, and had breakfast the next day visiting our favorite bakery in the world, Erick Schat's Bakkery. We decided to escape Bishop's 100-degree heat by driving up the Bishop Creek Canyon to over 9000 feet of elevation at South Lake. What a gorgeous drive (and drop in temperature!)! We played in the creek's snowmelt along the way, then spent about 45 minutes extricating a splinter the size of a toothpick from our 5 yo dd's foot. OUCH! South Lake was an awesome testimony to God's creation & creativity, and spawned E's favorite new phrase: "That's AMAZING!!" Now, if only I could get my sweet dh to upload the 700 pictures we took to the computer, maybe I could post a picture. Alas, you'll have to wait!

After Bishop, we headed to Lee Vining--the Mono Lake area. Mono Lake is an alkaline lake that has freshwater springs under it. The calcium in the springs react with the carbonate in the lake, and precipitate out into calcium carbonate. This forms towers, similar to stalagmites that you'd see in caves. Over the years, as the water level in the lake has dropped (due to L.A. diverting water from the watershed), these "tufa towers" have been exposed. Click on the link to see pictures of them (not our pictures, though we were there at sunset & got some pretty good ones). We had a gourmet dinner at the Whoa Nellie Deli in the Tioga Gas Mart. Don't laugh, it really was gourmet! I had one fish taco with mango plum pineapple salsa, the other with ginger coleslaw, served with Brazilian black beans; Mike had jambalaya. It was all very very good.

First thing the next morning (first thing for the Adams Family means about 10 am), we headed west up the Tioga Pass Road toward Yosemite. Wow. We quickly climbed in elevation, and were "wowed" at every turn at the waterfalls cascading down the hillsides, at the snow hiding under the trees, and at the amazing views of the granite domes & cliffs. The only damper in our drive was dd R, who occasionally has issues with heights, and who would scream in terror every time I pulled over into a turnout for a photo op--she'd beg me to stay on the road! (I drove most of the way so that Mike could take pictures, and boy did he take pictures! We came home with over 900 pictures!) We prayed with her & asked that God would take her spirit of fear from her, and other than a few other incidents, she did great the rest of the trip (which was good, as we did a lot of turning out!).

There was an amazing waterfall just outside the eastern Yosemite Park gate that we couldn't find on any map. It was gargantuan, and parts of it were covered with a snow bridge. The thundering could be felt & heard by us at our vantage point high above the falls. Amazing, just amazing.

Once we got over the Tioga Pass (9945 ft elevation) into Yosemite, we gradually started going downhill, through beautiful pine forests, with the Tuolumne River rushing beside the road. We stopped at Tuolumne Meadows for a short hike, and had a nice walk through the grass to a little stream with wildflowers blooming all along it, and even saw 3 deer!

We stopped at Tenaya Lake for a picnic lunch. The trail down to the lake was too boggy to maneuver with our brood, but we had a nice lunch under the trees, and let the kids play in the piles of snow. We had to stop at the turnout to capture some photos of the beautiful lake with the mountains behind. There was snow all around the lake & people were fishing from the shore.

I was very appreciative of all of my Uncle Keith's suggestions regarding our trip. One place that he recommended stopping was Olmsted Point. We did, and were very glad! We got a unique perspective on Yosemite Valley, with Half Dome on the left and the Valley curving away behind it. We also got to see a badger (at least, we think that's what it was) cruising around in the trees beneath the point.

There was a neat afternoon thunderstorm that we enjoyed as we drove across the high Sierras, especially since it cooled things down a bit. Then the road turns & starts heading more steeply down toward Yosemite Valley. It was a bit toasty down in the valley (in the high 80s), but there was SO much water that every time we even approached a waterfall, the mist blew over us & cooled us. I've never seen so much water in Bridalveil Falls! We stopped there for a walk to the viewpoint & photo op. The mist blowing up from the base of the Falls was quite refreshing! We let the kids play along the creek for a bit and cool off. There were a LOT of people there, it being Saturday afternoon. After doing a short drive around Yosemite Valley to gawk at the sights, we headed to our hotel. To get there, we took the road that follows the the Merced River, which was roaring & foaming with all the snowmelt. What an awesome sight & sound! After we got checked in, we explored the grounds of the Cedar Lodge & bit, and got some dinner at the on-site diner, then went swimming. The river was just across the street from the Lodge, and we could see it from our second floor balcony, and hear its roar. What a great day!

My one "downer" for the day was that since we entered Yosemite on a Saturday, the Valley was quite crowded. I think I can unequivocally say that the bathroom at the Bridalveil Fall viewing area was easily the most disgusting bathroom I've ever used. I had to hold my nose to keep my lunch where it belonged. There was also graffiti all over the place, and gangsta-wannabes driving their lowriders through the parking lot with their stereos bumping for everyone to "enjoy". I'm all for open access to the parks for all people, but what about respect for one another? It was very sad to see the way the place was trashed--in our two days in the park with 4 little people in tow, I had many occasions to do bathroom surveys, and most of the time, the bathrooms came up wanting. All I can say is YUCK.

The next morning, we headed into Yosemite for the day. We drove around a bit, enjoying the sites, then plastered ourselves with bug spray (they like all that water!), and had a lovely picnic in view of El Capitan & Yosemite Falls.

Well, I was going to do the write-up of our whole trip, but I got distracted, looking at panoramic pictures on this site and need to head to bed now. I'm going to be hurting tomorrow (today?) as is!

To be continued....

Gramma & I were on a drive with the kids. We stopped at a handmade candy store. Try as I might, I couldn't interest the children in the handmade candies--they all wanted Tootsie Roll Pops. I realized that they'd be a lot less messy than fudge anyway, so I acquiesced. Then I was driving down the road & heard this:

3 yo J: "Mama, Wacher won't give me back my f*cker!"

Me: [hoping that I heard dd incorrectly]  WHAT?!!!

J: "MAMA! Wacher won't give me back my f*cker!!!"

Me: [Trying not to laugh at the word that just came out of my pint-sized daughter's mouth] "Rachel won't give you back your sucker?!!"

J:  YES!! HER WON'T GIVE ME BACK MY F*CKER!!"

[me pulling over, and extricating said Tootsie Roll Pop from the 9-month old's mouth, who howls in protest, adding to the sticky brown drool dripping off her chin]

7 yo E decides to be helpful & interpret for me: "Mama, Joanna says 'sucker' like 'f*cker'."   Gramma & I stare at each other & try not to laugh (no, he really doesn't realize that's a bad word--one of the good things about homeschooling is that he's not as exposed to the profanity around us).

Me: "Thank you, E. I appreciate your help."

Good thing that since then, J has started pronouncing her "s"s, or else I was going to have to keep Tootsie Roll Pops away from her for a while!!

I guess it was about time one of my children broke a bone...and it was the child we'd most expect to do it, too! We had gone to the park after church today to have a picnic. I helped the 2 older children on the monkey bars for a little bit, trying to teach them how to swing from one bar to the next on their own. R can do pretty well on her own on the fixed monkey bars, but we were working on the bars that look like stirrups & are kind of free-swinging (make any sense?) Anyway, they lost interest & I left the play area to go check on the baby (dh was feeding her). I sat down, and the next thing I knew, our 5 year old dd, R, was half-walking, half-stumbling toward me, kinda crying & saying that she fell and that her arm hurt. I concentrated on wiping the sand off of her face, and sent Mike to the van for some water & the first aid kit. She had a little scrape on her left elbow, but I couldn't figure out why she was so worked up about that. She was trembling, and the poor thing said that she just wanted to lie on the grass. We packed up everything and everyone & headed home. She didn't want to move her arm at all, but seemed to have more mobility than the 2 times she's dislocated her elbow.

Mike called the dr's office on the way home, and they made an appt for us to take her to urgent care a couple of hours later. Thankfully she fell asleep on the way home & slept through being transferred to her bed. In fact, Mike had to wake her to put her in the car when it was time to leave home & head for her appt! It was blissfully quiet at the urgent care clinic, and we got into the dr very quickly (PTL!). He sent her for X-rays, and she did SO well. I was very proud of my brave little girl! It was apparent to me that it was broken when the X-ray tech came back w/the films & told me to not put R's shirt back on her, but to keep it as still as possible. Sure enough, when the doc looked at the X-rays, he said that she had fractured her humerus (that's the bone between the shoulder & elbow). He put her in a sling, and I have to take her to the orthopedic clinic tomorrow morning, but he doesn't think she'll be getting a cast--that they will probably keep her in a sling until her arm heals (about a month).

She's doing pretty well now. She gave her dada, brother & sister quite the speech when we got home--told them that they're not to jump on her or "wrassle" with her, which was really funny considering that she's the one most likely to do those things to THEM! She doesn't want any pain meds--she'd rather deal with the ache than to eat those nasty kids' grape-flavored tablets! (She has a high pain-tolerance, like her mama!)

So, pray for R, that she'll remember to keep her arm immobile & will heal quickly (especially since we leave for vacation in less than 2 wks!).

My eldest child, my son E, turns 7 tomorrow. My, that sounds so old! We took him out to dinner tonight since we'll be busy with church tomorrow, and as he walked beside me, I marvelled at how tall he is--he's sprouted up to nearly my shoulder (and I'm not a shorty, at 5'8")!!

He's a great kid, and I'm proud to be his mama. He's wise in so many ways, yet still so innocent of the world, for which I'm grateful. He has turned into quite the reader--he loves to read by himself now that he can, which warms my heart--but will still try to climb onto my lap & ask me to read to him, even though he's all arms & legs now, and not so cuddly. He adores his baby sister (he calls her "Babe") and doesn't pay attention to much else if she's around. Oh, he drives me crazy most every day with his bad habits--don't think that I'm viewing him through rose-colored glasses just because it's his birthday! But allow this mama a few moments of bragging & going over memories! Hard to believe that 7 years ago tonight I was calling the doctor to say "I'm not sure, but I think it's time!" and asking my dear friend to rush back over to my house where she'd been only hours before--who knew that I was in for more than 12 more hours of labor?! And that when the squalling, scrunched-up, red-faced little guy was born, I wouldn't be overwhelmed with love like I hear most moms are, but would just think that he looked like a little bulldog--and that he wasn't a girl like I had been *sure* he would be?!!! Ah, but love grows, and continues to do so. We've been blessed.

Happy birthday, E. May God bless you with a wonderful day & may you know how incredibly special you are to Him, and to your Dada & me! We love you!

We went camping this weekend for E's 7th birthday. Great time, but boy, was it hot!! I had to run into town to get the cake for his party, and took the 3 girls to give Mike a break (and take them outta the heat!). J felt that a/c in the van and fell asleep before we even got out of the campground! She slept all the way through Costco and the baby fell asleep on the way back to the campsite, so I didn't have the heart to remove them from the van when we got back--so I left the van on with the a/c running. How was I to know that they'd sleep for over an hour?!!! With gas prices what they are, I figure that was the most expensive nap they've ever taken! It was worth it though--they were in much better moods after that nice rest!

If not, consider it mentioned! One of the things that I love is how many options we have for activities. We have had several very busy weeks of home projects: we had to move the baby out of her cradle in our room because she was starting to pull up, so we got the crib out. We bought a loft bed & Mike & E spent a Saturday afternoon assembling it. It's nice & high, so the crib fits nicely under it. So now all 4 kids are in the same room. The baby sleeps so well in there, and I'm selfishly happy to have our room back to ourselves; now I just need to take the time to move all the assorted baby & kid paraphenalia out! Anyway, back to my original thought--we have been so busy around the house that we decided we needed to get out for Memorial Day. We threw around a lot of different ideas: beach, mountains, family cabin, Zoo, etc. We ultimately decided to pack up our swim gear and a picnic lunch & head to the State Park up in our local mtns.

We had such a lovely time! There was a good amount of water in the creek that flows through the campground we chose, and the kids had a ball splashing, finding rocks & trying to catch water striders. E even saw a frog, which thrilled him. What's really neat is that we go to this same site several times a year, and like to see the changes that the seasons bring (since we don't really have much seasonal change at home!) We explored up & down the creek, and even went to our favorite spot where the water spills over a gentle falls, so we can slide down the rocks! The baby wasn't too thrilled with our activities, as the water was too cold for her liking, and the area wasn't exactly conducive to crawling around. Now that she's mobile, she's not too thrilled about being stuck in a backpack & carried around for several hours!

We stayed till dusk & revelled in the wildflowers, the birds & insects chirping (thank the Lord for good insect repellent!), and the sunset. After changing the kids into clean clothes, we headed back to the city, where burritos at Chipotle Grill awaited--YUM!!  :)

All in all, a great day enjoying family & God's creation. Good times!!

Our baby is growing up SO fast! We had her dedicated at church on Sunday (Mother's Day), and it was very special. She was adorable, of course, and did great. Even tried to grab the microphone from the Pastor, who was saying some very nice things about dh & me--maybe she wanted to add her two cents?! She's cut 3 teeth this week, after cutting one last week. That brings the total to six teeth. And, biggest of all, she's figured out how to crawl *forward*!! I've gone from rescuing her from underneath chairs & tables that she crawled backward into, to putting trash cans up high so that she can't rummage through them, and trying to distract her from turning off my computer! Sigh. They grow up SO fast. What a bittersweet time.