The Daily Log by Mom

Jul. 18, 2008 - A Visit!

Yesterday was my MIL's birthday and her son and his family came to visit from Arizona. They arrived yesterday and we had a big dinner and birthday cake. My Dad and Step-Mom sent flowers. We visited a while. It is always weird for the kids because we only see them once a year usually. They all don't do much until the second day and then they all come out of their shells and have a blast.

Today they went to the movies together. I stayed home and played video games non-stop for two hours! He he he! When they got back we ordered pizza and then played Apples to Apples. MIL forced us to, but once we got the game going it was really fun and we all got to know each other even better. It one of those things that is hard to get everyone on board but when we do, look out!

So now the boys are all upstairs being insane. Nikki is out like a light. She was really tired today. I hope she isn't getting sick. Joanna is getting ready for bed. And I'm here typing this thinking about whether or not I have enough time to start one more game...

Dan and I signed Nikki up for a summer class through Keystone National High School online. It is a "life skills" class. And we are hoping that it will help here learn better time management and study skills. I read the introduction and it sure looks good. She said she will work on it at her Mom's next week and then her and I can go over it before she mails in the assignments. It is nice to get a taste for what the school is like. I'm always hoping that she can do all of high school there, but I realize it may just be a dream. But I can use the info for friends that are looking at high school and for the boys when they get to that point.

Ok, that's it for now. The boys are ready for bed and yelling for me!

Jul. 16, 2008 - Something New!

Ok, you are going to think I have completely lost it, but I made a video with my new laptop! The sound isn't very good so the next one will have to be better!

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Jul. 16, 2008 - Just Stuff

This is just an entry of stuff. No real point here. I got a new laptop! My old computer was very slow and kept locking up. Dan tried to fix it, but it was just being annoying so he got me a new laptop. He is going to play with the old one and make it work well enough for the kids. That is great because Nikki and I are constantly bugging each other for the computer.

Yesterday, we went on a tour of the Getty Center with some homeschool friends. Nikki got to come with us. I signed up for it because I thought Nikki would get lots out of it. I figured I would take the boys along thinking they wouldn't like it much but it turns out they loved it and want to go again. It was fun to see Nikki hanging out with her friends, too. You don't get to see her in her element when she is at that school all day.

Today the boys want to go to Knott's Berry Farm for a bit in the morning. I told them that we can't stay long though. I have lots of laundry to do and I have to go to Costco and get food for the BBQ tomorrow. Dan's brother and his family is coming to visit tomorrow and it is his Mom's birthday.

What else? Well, it is 6:30 in the morning and I've been up since 5am laying on the couch. This crazy puppy of mine gets up every day at 5 and refuses to let me go back to bed. If I lay on the couch she will play around the living room and let me snooze a bit. The kids won't be up until at least 8am. That figures. Now that the kids all sleep late, I have a puppy that doesn't!

Jul. 7, 2008 - Some Family Vacation Videos

I hope you like these bits!

Jul. 6, 2008 - We're Back!

We are home! Yay! I'll sum up our last couple days.

Friday July 4th

Dan doesn't have to work today so we are going for a drive! We went to Phillipsburg and had lunch at a cool drug store cafe. No one ordered the Buffalo Meatloaf, but the burgers were pretty darn good! After lunch, we walked around town a bit and talked to some people then we headed on down the road. We saw a sign for "Garnet Ghost Town" and just had to find out what that was. We headed in that direction and came to a dirt road up the mountainside. It was a pretty rough road. There were lots of ruts in it and it was washed out in parts from the snow runoff. Another truck was coming down the mountain and said that it wasn't all this rough, there were "a couple smooth places" (insert giggle). He had a 4x4 and we asked if our truck would make it and he said sure, people bring trailers up all the time so we should be fine. So we kept going. It was slow going but when we got there it was so cool. We started up the trail, following the signs, and kept hearing a rumbling sound. I thought it was a truck, like maybe they were working nearby. When we got to the top we found a cool mill and lots of neat stuff to pick through and check out. We also found a big scary black cloud and lighting. It was thunder we were hearing, echo off the mountains. A few minutes later it started to rain. Dan started hurrying down the mountain and then I realized why he was in such a hurry. We had to get back down the mountain before that rain washed out the road! We practically ran down to the truck. Dan drove as fast as he could down the road. You could see the rain coming down the places where the snow runoff had already been. It rained harder. And then it started to hail. I don't think Dan really breathed until we got onto flat ground. He kept picturing a flash flood coming off that rocky mountain and washing us down the mountainside. I took pictures! And the kids thought is was really fun!

Then we drove back around to Missoula in time to have dinner and see the fireworks for the 4th. The show was great. Tom and Jake danced and sang through the whole thing. I couldn't figure where they got their energy. The show didn't start until 10:30 since that is when it is finally dark!

Saturday July 5

We are heading home today but not until we stop in Deer Lodge and see the Old Montana Prison. It was pretty darn creepy. We got some ice cream and talked to some old guy about politics for awhile. Then we went across the street to "Prospectors Paradise". We talked to the couple that owned the store for a long time and bought some stuff and got some helpful hints about panning. Then we stopped at 4B's for lunch and headed down the road to California!

We stopped for snacks, bathroom breaks, and gas along the way. The kids slept in the bed of the truck when it got dark and Dan and I took turns driving and sleeping.

Sunday July 6

We are home! We arrived today at 12:15pm. We drove 4008 miles and 98 hours! Grandma was happy to see us and so were the dogs. We are still getting used to our house again. It is weird not to have to walk down the road to go to the bathroom. We all really loved Montana. I so hope we can move there someday!

Jul. 3, 2008 - July 3rd Update

Have to catch up now because we went to an area that didn't have sufficient internet!

Monday June 30

We are in Bozeman still at the KOA. The kids and I went to the Museum of the Rockies. It was so nice. They have a cool Lewis & Clark challenge thing outside but it wasn't open. There was lots of great stuff about dinos. I didn't know that the found so many dinos in Montana! We watched a show about why the Earth has seasons at the planatarium. And they had a display called Heros And Villians with costumes and props from movies and tv. They had Indy's jacket!

We went to lunch at McDonald's adn then got swimsuits at Walmart, came back to camp and went swimming for awhile. Dand finished working and then we went out to dinner and bought some firecrackers to take home with us! I did the laundry when we got back to camp.

Tuesday July 1

Moving on again! Dad worked on the computer in the truck while we drove on up into Montana. We tried to find a new camp near Butte, but it had no phone service so we had to keep going. We had lunch at McDonald's in Butte and decided to drive on to Glacier National Park! About half way there it started to rain and HARD! Lightning and everything! We arrived at Glacier at about 8pm. We found a caqmp with a little service and it was still raining and starting to get dark while we set up camp. It is very pretty here but getting the trailer any where near level is hopeless. Dan isn't getting very strong phone service so we may have to leave in the morning. The trailer leaked a little but nothing major. The bears are thick here so we have to keep vigilent about the food and soaps.

Wednesday July 2nd

Camping Rule: Never pack raw meat on an extended camping trip!

It is gorgeous here! It is a totally different forest, lots of red cedar and ferns. Mosquitos! Ahh! Not like the one in California. These actually take a chunk out of you, I swear! Tom has a bad cold. He is really sniffely. The meat I put in the cooler spoiled and spilled all over so I have some serious work cleaning up that mess.

The kids and I went for a short drive around Apgar Village and did some shopping. When we got back, Dan had us paid up for one more night here. When he was done working, we drove up the "Going to the Sun Highway". It was so beautiful. I can't even describe it. You just have to see the pictures! We even got to play in the snow.

It isn't raining this afternoon, but it is very wet. Everything is soaked. Even our sleeping bags feel wet and cold!

Thursday July 3rd

Yes! We are moving on again. We are headed back down to Missoula. We stopped at the Miracle of America Museum. You can check out their website at www.miracleofamericamuseum.org It was pretty amazing. Unfortunately, Dan was on a conference call the whole time and didn't get to see it. If you are ever up near Glacier National Park I strongly recommend going to see it. It really was fun.

We arrived in Missoula at about 5pm and we are staying in a KOA campground again. We are going to stay here until Saturday morning and then head home. I spent this afternoon cleaning up the coolers, the trailer, and then the truck. We had hot dogs and macaroni and cheese for dinner. I thought about doing the laundry. It is pretty hot here, but at least our things are drying out!

We are getting ready for bed now. It is 10:09 and finally getting dark!

Jun. 29, 2008 - June 29

We're still in Bozeman! This place is beautiful. The people we have met have been super nice and helpful. This morning we took advantage of the "Big City Free Continental Breakfast" at the Comfort Inn and then we packed up to leave. We went to WalMart and reloaded up our coolers and crates. That was a great experience. The place was awesome. The girl at the register suggested we visit Lewis & Clark Caverns so we did! We drove up to it and paid for the tour. It said it is 50 degrees in the caverns and there are lots of declining stairs. What they didn't tell you is that you had to march 3/4 of a mile up a 7% grade in 90 degree blazing sun to get up to the entrance. Yikes-a-roni! But we made it. And the caverns were very impressive. Jake was a little scared at first but he warmed to it after a bit. They are in the process of replacing the old lights with new LED ones. They started at the end and are working their way through. Boy what a difference! You can see so much more color and depth. Anyway, it was a tour hour tour and we were beat afterwards so we headed back to our camp.

We are camping at a KOA outside of Bozeman for the next couple days. They have free showers and laundry facilities and we need those! It is kind of like a hotel but you have to bring your own room. The boys like it though. As I type this they are marveling at the awesome sunset outside. There is a pool next to us and I'm hoping they close it soon. It is 9:40 and I'm getting tired!

We don't know what we are going to do next. Nikki and I are going to go check out the University in Bozeman tomorrow and I would like to see the Museum of the Rockies. Dan has to work in the morning.

Until next time, here are the pictures!

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Jun. 28, 2008 - Major Update!

It isn't that I was so busy that I didn't write, it was that the internet was way too slow in the evening for me to get on it and add anything. It worked fine in the morning for Dan to work, but by the afternoon too many people were using it. So the following is transcribed from my journal and the pictures are at the end.

Tuesday June 25

We took long walks up and down the river this morning while Dan worked. I took a nap while the kids played. I could hear them playing while I napped. Before I went in to lay down, they were laying a trap for another Jr. Ranger. On the paper the National Parks Service gives them, one of the things they had to do was meet another Jr. Ranger. Meeting their brother would never do and they assumed that someone trying to be a Jr. Ranger would pick up trash in the park so they tied an empty juice bottle to a rope, laid it out, and hid behind a log. They took turns "finding" it. The other would pull the rope so the finder would be lured to them and then they would ask if they were a Jr. Ranger. No one came by, so they ended up dragging it around the camp. Another camper asked if it was their pet and they thought that was a great idea. They named it Rick. Then they got more of them. One was a girl named Peaches. One had dirt, one water, and one rocks. They "lost their baby fur" when the label wore off. They played together. They had to tie them to a tree so they wouldn't run away. They took them to the bathroom when they "stunk" and washed them out. They fed them rocks. Jake wanted me to leave a bowl of water out for them. This went on for hours and they are still living in the back of the truck. Jake was proud that they made toys just like pioneer children did.

When Dan was done working, we took a drive to the Gros Ventre Slide area. There was a huge landslide there about 80 years ago and there is a great "interpretive" walk to see there. It was very pretty. There was a sign on one of the trees that said the scientific name for Lodgepole Pine "Pinis Contorta". Dan pronounced it "*****" and now they are going around saying that they found many "***** contortas in big tittie national park". Boys!

We got home way too late to work on the blog so I had to write in my journal for later.

Wednesday June 26

Today we packed up to go to Lizard Creek while Dan worked. He took a long lunch and on the way up we decided to drive on through to Yellowstone instead. I can't remember why now. I guess we just had a hankerin' to see the park! We stopped in Flagg Ranch to get gas and the mosquitos attacked us! They were swarming all over Dan while he pumped the gas. We drove up to Grant's Village and got a camping spot. This place is like a hotel or something. We call it "Big City Camping". Dad had to go back to work so we went for a drive to see the lake. The whole park is filled with tall dead trees and small trees growing under them. Much of the hillsides look like someone dumped out a can of pick up sticks! We had forgot about the fires in 1988. The park is just now starting to have trees again. The place looks like a christmas tree farm!

We went back and got Dan and went out for dinner since we were fairly clean. We walked to the grill/store and got burgers and it cost us $50! Yikes! I got some milk, bread, and ice for $20! We walked back to camp. We went to get ready for bed and the water hose broke in the trailer! Dan fixed it so that we can still use the sink but the shower is out of commission until we can go into town.

Thursday June 27

We lost Jake this morning! We had all gone to the bathroom to brush our teeth. Nikki went back to camp and I was brushing Jake's teeth, then sent him back to camp. I brushed Tom's teeth and washed his face and sent him back. I washed my face and brushed my teeth and went back. When I opened the trailer door Jake wasn't there. I asked Tom and Nikki where he was and Nikki said she thought he was with me. I checked the beds and said "No hiding Jake!" and there was no giggle. I asked Dan in the truck if he had seen him and he said no. I walked back to the bathroom and came back. I told Nikki and Tom to check the other bathroom. Dan took the truck around. I went to the camp office. That is when I panicked and started crying. I asked if they'd seen him. He just doesn't get lost like this. They put his description on the radio to the other camp hosts and maintenance people. All I coul think of was all the trucks and campers leaving at that moment. Anyone could have picked him up and driven off with him. Then Tom & Nikki came running up. They had found him. I scooped him up and hugged him so tight. He was crying. He took a short cut from the bathroom instead of following the road. Now, mind you, you can see the truck from the road by the bathroom. I was so scared. It took me all morning to calm down! The rangers were so nice. One drove by later in the day and recognized him. She told him that she was happy to see we had found him! Now no one goes anywhere alone EVER!

We did the laundry today! The boys played in the snow piles next to the laundry room and got completely soaked. We walked to the visitor center and mailed some postcards. We got ice cream and got a Jr. Ranger paper for Yellowstone. This turned out to be a very long walk! There were some closures because of a washed out bridge and the bears.

When Dan got done working, we drove to Old Faithful. It was suppose to blow at 5:41 and it was 5:55 and we thought we missed it, but then it went! We took the walk all around the area. Some of it is very pretty and most of it stinks. The buffalo apparently really like the place because their hoofprints and poo are everywhere! We saw a buffalo grazing near the walk and we took pictures and then he started coming across the walkway. We thought he was going to go down the boardwalk! And there were hundreds of people standing there because Old Faithful was going to erupt again. Nikki said he was going to walk over the gyser right when it blows and be blown into the air belowing like in cartoons. We couldn't stop laughing at the visual.

Before we left the area we went into the restaurant to see what they had. The sign said "Cafe" and when we got in there it was just a snack bar with $8 slices of pizza. We went back to camp to make spagetti. Nikki and I almost died because we were really hungry and it smelled so good!

Friday June 27

We made eggs and Canadian bacon for breakfast! We went for a drive while Dan worked from the trailer. Today was beautifully clear and sunny. I've never seen bluer sky! Last night, I got up in the night to go to the bathroom and was awestruck by the number of stars! It doesn't get really dark until after 11pm so we hadn't seen them yet. Wow!

On our drive we went to see the paint pots and some other gysers. They were neat but you can only ses so many of these before they all run together. The place is really crowded too. The parking lots are all insanely full. We went to the Firehole Drive and saw an elk carcass and a buffalo carcass. Maybe there were some wolves nearby? We drove by a large crowd looking at elk. Then we stopped at the river where a guy was fly fishing. Jake didn't want to walk anymore so we went to get lunch. We stopped at a sore for soda (always bring soda on camping trips) and then stopped at a cool cascade. Stoped at a picnic area for lunch on the Continental Divide. Watched a chipmunk and a gray jay. The boys made a snow man.

We went to Shoshone Point, had to stop because we wondered what the "point" was. We took pictures at the Continental Divide sign. When we got back to camp, Dan was still working. Nikki decided that Jake's Indian name will be "He Who Sings like the Drunk Man" because he is constantly singing. They are usually made up but some are ones from his CD's.

This morning Jake and I saw a squirrel barking at a dog. And a coyote walked right through our camp! We played card games and made fires with Dad, roasted dogs, Jake scrapped his elbow good on the asphalt. The boys spent about 20 minutes pouring cups of water on the fire. We have to get to bed early so that we can get an early start tomorrow!

Saturday June 28

We left camp at 9:30 this morning and headed for Montana! We checked out some things along the way. We saw the mother Grizzly and her cubs in the meadow by our camp! There were a hundred people there dragging toddlers across the road to see them close up. Yikes. We we just took a picture from the truck! We stopped at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Talk about beauty! We hiked way down into the canyon to see a waterfall and almost died coming out! It was very steep. We stopped for a picnic lunch and then drove on.

We arrived in Bozeman, Montana at about 5pm. It is everything I dreamed of. We got a hotel room for the night and took real showers. I went to the Super Walmart next door. This place is awesome. I'll take some pictures of it tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are going to find a camping spot nearby. See you then!

Jun. 23, 2008 - Monday in the Tetons!

We woke to find Dad already hard at work in his mobil office, aka "the truck". We all had breakfast and went for a long walk up the river. There is still no sign of the beaver. The boys insisted on sitting there and waiting for him but then continued to yell and throw rocks into the water so I seriously doubt we will ever see him, if he lives there now at all.

We continued our walk. Found a lot of animal poop. We followed a trail and came across an animal carcass! We stopped dead in our tracks and looked around. The carcass looked pretty old and it was pretty clear there were no animals around so we checked it out. Nasty! It WAS a prong horn!

We went back to camp and had lunch and kicked Dad out of his office to the trailer and took the truck for a drive. We found a cool aspen grove and an old homestead. A pronghorn ran across the road. Then we saw a whole heard of buffalo up close! There were a bunch of babies! It was a thundering herd of buffalo but you couldn't hear them so the boys said I can't use that phrase to describe them in the house anymore.

We checked out the old buildings on Mormon Row. Went to the little store and had ice cream. Bought some more ice and provisions. And went to the visitors center to have a look see. We felt all the different furs and checked out tracks. Now if they had only had a display about animal poop we could ID some of it around here! We watched a movie about the park and that was the best of all. We really liked that! Then we headed back.

We made dinner and then went for a long walk with Dad down the river and found some older animal bones. That walk was really pretty!

Now we are just relaxing. The sun just went down behind the mountain and it is 8:30! I'm beat!

Jun. 22, 2008 - Grand Tetons

So this camping thing is going great! We drove up into the park today and checked out another campground near Jackson Lake called Lizard Creek. We are totally going to move there in a couple days! It is beautiful.

Right now we are in Gros Ventre. It is in the valley right next to the river. It is nice, but not like the lake! We have spent the day wandering up and down the river. We bought some books to learn a little about the area. I love tracking animals so I've been identifying scat and tracks and the boys just follow along and throw rocks in the river. It is really high and fast so I'm so nervous about them falling in!

What else...oh yes! We found a beaver dam. I told the boys we should sit up on the rocks nearby and see if he comes out. They want to, but I don't think they understand that I want them to sit and be very quiet and still for an indefinite amount of time!

The drive up was nice, by the way. The boys slept in the bed of the truck and Nik slept in the back seat. Dan took a little nap. He is too nervous when someone else is driving to go to sleep. We stopped a couple places to eat and stretch our legs on Saturday and arrived here at about 3pm.

We love it! Yay! Here are some pictures!

Oh! And Tom and Jake read that Tetons means breasts in French so they have been running around talking about the bodacious ta tas that they can see from camp!

Jun. 13, 2008 - A Song

We have this great book called "I'm Gonna Sing My Head Off - American Folk Songs for Children" and my MIL was thumbing through it today and started singing this great song. She said she loved this song as a child and she thought that Pete Seeger had sung it once. I told her to check YouTube and see if they had it and they did! I had to post it here for you all to hear because I thought it was a homeschool song. :)

Jun. 12, 2008 - Wow!

This is a video of my good friend Michelle's daughter singing. Be prepared to say WOW!

Jun. 10, 2008 - Our whirlwind weekend trip!

Nikki entered the Letters from Literature contest (remember that from way back?) and she got in the top ten from California. The award ceremony was in San Jose and we thought about making it a family trip and stay up there a couple days, but she is still in school AND Dad had to work so we changed it to just us and Nikki driving up for one night and coming back the next day. The boys spent the night with Grandma Shelly.

We left at 10am on Saturday. On the way up we stopped for gas and lunch outside of Bakersfield. The place was called "Golden Bull Burgers" and it was so good! Nikki and I had pastrami sandwiches! And they had homemade baklava and it was delicious!

We stopped to stretch our legs and check out the California Aquaduct. Then Nikki had to go to the bathroom so we stopped at Casa De Fruta! That was awesome. We need to go back there for sure.

We spent the night in Morgan Hill outside of San Jose and had dinner at a BBQ place there. That was the best BBQ ever! And then Dan fell asleep in his clothes at 7:30 in the evening. He had been up all night the night before, working.

On Sunday we got dressed and headed to San Jose. We had breakfast at Flames next door to the Winchester Mystery House. We went over there and checked out the gardens. We wanted to save the inside tour for when the boys were with us. They would have freaked if we saw it without them!

Then we headed to the library where the cermony was to be held. It is the grandest public library I have ever seen! The ceremony was only about 45 minutes long. There were about 50 people there. Nikki didn't get first place, but I think top 10 is pretty awesome! She got a nice award to take home and a booklet with the winners and top ten's for each catagory in it. It was fun to be there. Dan was so proud of her.

After that, we headed right for home. It was 4pm when we got on the free way. We stopped for dinner along the way and got home at 10pm. Wow! What a drive!

The whole weekend was pretty much great. We got to spend "quality time" with Nikki and I think she enjoyed it too. Lots of talking between all of us and we didn't have to chase the boys or listen to them sing all their favorite songs over and over again. I think they would have been fine on the drive up, but the drive back would have had to been delayed if we had them with us. There needs to be sufficient time between drives when those two are in the car!

Jun. 6, 2008 - Yes! Another Field Trip

THIS is the life!

Today we drove to Winchester to see the Winchester Cheese Company. I didn't even know that the city of Winchester exsisted! Here is the website so you can check it out. http://www.winchestercheese.com/index.html

We watched a video about how they make cheese. We got to taste some different kinds of cheese. And we got a tour of the place too. Then we got to go out and see the cows. It was really nice. We brought some cheese home and a cheese making kit!

After the tour we drove down the road with our picnic lunch and saw a sign "View Point". That looked like a good place to have lunch. We turned off and talked to the gaurd. He was so nice and told us what to look for. Then when we got up there, we found a lake! It is a man made lake. There was another security gaurd up there and she told us all about the lake and how they made it. We walked up a little path and found a nice shady spot to set and eat. Then we walked around and read all the signs. And we ran into some other curious homeschoolers from our tour. That was fun too!

We are home now and I'm exhausted. I don't think I can move from the couch until morning. But I will because there is laundry to do and we are driving to San Jose in the morning! Yikes!

Jun. 4, 2008 - What did we do today?

We did a long math lesson at the grocery store. Nothing could be nicer than the looks on people's faces as my two boys and I working out math problems as we gathered our groceries! We looked at prices and figured which brands were cheaper. We checked sale prices. There were things like "5 for $4". So we divided to find out how much it would be for one. We weighed produce. We estimated how much they would weigh by comparing them with what we already knew.

Last time we were at Costco, I pointed out that just because something is at Costco doesn't mean it is a bargain. We had found some yogurts that they wanted that were something like 24 for $10. We had worked on dividing that so that we could compare to Henry's the next time we were there. So today we did and we found that the store brand yogurt was cheaper! Yay!

We spent nearly an hour working our math through the grocery store. And for a finale, we estimated how much the grocery bill would be at the register. The cashier was kind enough to egg the boys on and show them the screen and where to see the running total. The people behind us cheered when Jake had guessed the closest amount.

This was a perfect grocery trip! I have to admit that I don't usually take the kids to the grocery store. I avoid taking them anywhere that I have to pay attention. I have trouble concentrating and trying to keep them from running down old people or tearing up the store while shopping only ends in me crying in the car at the end of the trip. But this was just what I needed; a little glimpse into how it will be as they get older.

Thank you, God. I need that!

Jun. 3, 2008 - Knott's Berry Farm!

Remember? We bought annual passes this year!?

The boys wanted to go to Knott's today, so we packed some snacks and away we went. We checked out Ghost Town this time. We read the signs and talked about the Assay Office, the Chinese Laundry, and the Barber Shop. The Blacksmith was busy with a school group, so we didn't get to talk to him. We took a look around the Gun Shop and bought some paper caps we had been searching all over for. Then we went to the school house and talked to resident teacher about what school was like in the 1800's in a one room school house.

There is a new ride open called the Pony Express. It is a kind of short roller coaster. And it isn't very exciting, to me. They boys liked it. It is pretty ingenius though. You ride on a row of horses and the safety stuff for it is pretty neat. We talked all about the real Pony Express. Tom had read a book about it and was telling us all about it. The only question they had was why? So we talked about how horses couldn't run forever and stopping to rest or look for a new horse would slow them down. So they set up places to trade off, like a relay race.

So it was a pretty good "school" day. Not bad, since the boys insist that they are on summer break! :))

Jun. 2, 2008 - Park Day!

I love our Monday park days! It is my favorite day of the week. I joined the group about three years ago and it took me awhile to find my place and for my boys to want to go each week. It is always hard for me to start into a new social situation. I guess I'm not alone because there has been a lot of talk about it on one of my yahoo groups. For me, it is because I am paranoid about what people are thinking about me, what I say, how I dress, how I parent. The list goes on and on. No has to say anything or do anything. I just automatically think everyone is talking bad about me. But this group really has been great to me. At first I didn't like it. But it just took some time and patience to make new friends for the boys and for me.

Today was another spectacular day. The weather was really nice today, not to hot. We stayed four hours! The boys met a new friend who enjoys all the same things they like. This was his first day at the park and he was asking when they were going to come back when we left. They boys really liked playing with him. He was wearing all camo which is probably what drew them to him in the first place. He can do all the tricks they can on his scooter and climbing. And he has an electric scooter that the boys just fell in love with.

I got to talk to some great people. I love how different all our families are and how much we all enjoy each others company. There is always some plan in the works for a night out or party. Everyone shares about their trials and tribulations. We talk about out vacations and plans for the future. It is very nice. It is the place where I don't have to have an eye on my boys at every moment because I know other Moms have their eyes out too. The kids in the group are all nice and when they aren't it is unusual and the other parents deal with it. And so do I. I don't feel like my boys will be getting into trouble at any moment.

The best thing is the age range of kids (and parents). Today we had kids from 14 DAYS old to 17 years! And parents (and grandparents) up to 65! The boys have friends of all ages. They get the chance to deal with little ones and the older kids. And they have lots of people to invite to parties. We need to have more of those!

Anyway, I just thought I would go on about our park day because I feel so lucky to have them in my life.