Monday, May 25, 2009

Field Trips

I can tell the school year is coming nearer to its end, there are more field trips. We had two field trips this past week, one on Thursday and one on Friday.

Thursday, we went to Cattails in North Spokane. It was about an hour tour and Angela seemed to really enjoy it. Connor liked the first little bit, but then he was done. He wanted to throw rocks, which of course was against the rules. He also wanted to run everywhere, which also was against the rules. They said that if you run the cats think you are food. I told him the lion and tiger would want to eat him and he said, "No, Connor yucky!" Angela liked the different animals, but she did not like some of the stories of how they got there. Many of the cats were abused or unwanted so Cattails got them. It was a two hour drive there and another two hours back, for the hour tour, I am not sure it was worth it for me. But, the kids liked it and we got some good pictures.










Friday, we went to Stone Rose in Republic, WA. It is a fossil digging site. Connor did not go with us and Angela was super excited to go there and find some fossils. I think her idea of what it would be like was not quite accurate to her experience that day. It was really hot on Friday and she started of complaining about the heat. Then she did not enjoy the time we had to sit and listen to the rules and site overview. Once on the hill, she could not get her first rock to split open and she wasn't sure she liked it. After about 15 minutes she wanted to be done and go home. I talked her into staying and about five minutes later we found what we thought was a fossil or two. We kept looking for about another 40 minutes, but that was all the more I could talk her into. Once back to the site they said that her fossils were a piece of wood and a piece of a leaf. They were labeled us unknown or mystery pieces due to the fact that there was not enough detail to accurately identify them. But that didn't matter to Angela, she thought she was the coolest thing in the world, that she found some fossils. That was a great way to end our trip!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Train Ride

We rode the train from Portage, WI to Spokane, WA which was a 34 hour trip. I was quite nervous that it would not work out due to the confinement and the time frame. But, really, it all worked out. We boarded the train at 5:30 PM and the first couple of hours went by really quickly. That evening I put a movie in to quiet them down and get ready for bed. The train had two seats on either side of the aisle. Angela had a man in the seat next to her and she did not really want to sleep by him, which is understandable. Therefore the three of us slept in two seats. They both stayed up much later than normal and I think I was up about every hour. It was a long night of sleep or as close as I could get. The next day seemed to crawl by for awhile, but then it really started to fly. We kept changing up the activities that we were doing to try and keep them busy. It was helpful that you do not have to stay in your seats. We were up often moving around and looking at different parts of the train. That evening we got to spread out in our sleeping spaces, but it still was nice to get into a real bed. Overall it was not too bad. I would do it again if time was not an issue.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Proud and Funny

Angela has been working so hard at school trying to finish up this year. I am so very proud of her for all of the hard work she has been doing. She made a choice to do school this weekend so that she would not have to do it on the train trip home. What a great choice on her part for all of us. I just think it is great to see her mature little by little.

Connor has really gotten into getting into things that maybe he shouldn't. When he gets into trouble I make him sit right where he is for a few minutes and then we deal with the problem. Well this morning, I was making Brian a cake, and Connor was just too cute. We caught him standing on a stool and eating some of the cake (with his hands) while it was sitting cooling. When I said, "Connor that's not okay!" and Brian took him down from the stool; Connor immediately sat down on the floor. It was all I could do to not burst out laughing.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Chicago - Birthday Trip

We headed to Chicago this past weekend for a celebration of Brian and my birthday's. We left Saturday morning and headed down the interstate. It was to be about 2 1/2 hours to get from our house to the hotel. It took a little bit longer than that due to the fact that as soon as we got into Illinois the interstate became a tollway. Too bad we didn't know about that in the first place, we would have changed the way we went into town. It was a bit frustrating to Brian, we ended up paying a total, over the two days, of $8.70. Besides that slight unknown, we had a really good time. There is a place called LegoLand. We decided not to pay the money to go in, but the outside was pretty neat. There was a life-size giraffe at the front door, which was made entirely out of duplos. I wish we would have had the camera for that. We had a good laugh as we searched for a Bank of America. There is not a single one in all of Wisconsin, so we had to drive to Chicago to do our banking, ha ha. We stopped by the Rain Forest Cafe. We didn't eat, but the kids had lots of fun looking at the moving animals on the outside. Again where was the camera, I was zero for two here. Our next stop was Ikea. This store, in Schaumburg, IL, is known to be the largest Ikea in all of North America. It was very overwhelming to be in there, there was so much to see. Brian said to shop there you would have to bring a truck to have room to take everything home. They had amazing escalators for your shopping carts, what fun. We then spent about an hour playing in the hotel pool, which was fun for everyone.
Then off to our big event of the day Medieval Times. The restaurant requested that we arrive one hour to one and a half hours early, we thought that the kids would go crazy being there that early, but it worked out. We bought them a wooden sword and a wooden axe to play with. Good idea/bad idea, that is yet to be determined. We have not had any major accidents or injuries yet so that is good. The dinner was gobs of fun for all of us as there is not silverware, you use your hands for everything. Angela had a hard time getting started, but once she got the hang of it she liked it. She even tried eating her breakfast the next morning with her hands, oops. Connor eats with his hands often enough that this didn't seem weird to him, he just kept getting distracted by the show. We were rooting for the red knight, Brian was a little disappointed that it wasn't the green knight. That is, until he learned that the green knight was the evil bad guy. The fighting and sporting games were a lot of fun to watch. Our knight didn't win, the yellow knight did, but it was a great adventure. Angela spent the entire car ride home "fighting" like the knights, it was really perfect of them. The next morning after breakfast we headed into downtown Chicago. It was interesting seeing all of the old and new buildings. We stopped at a store called cb2 to get some fun new cups for the house. On our way to the lake front we past Wrigley Field. We had a nice picnic lunch and a walk around the lake. Brian and Angela really liked how large Lake Michigan is. We walked by a marina and got to see how the put sailboats into the water. They had a few large cranes that they hooked the sailboat to. Then they used the cranes to lower them into the water. The kids spotted a horse mounted police officer that they thought was fun to see. We hopped back onto the interstate getting ready to head back home. But for some crazy reason there was "rush hour" traffic on a Sunday afternoon. It took us about an hour to get from downtown Chicago to the suburbs. I don't think we ever got about 20 m.p.h. Talk about road snap after that. We had to take a time to pull off, have a snack and have everyone walk/run around to burn of some of the grumpies. It was a really relief to get home after being on the road and having to deal with the tolls again.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Persimmon Jewelry Kline Necklace GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Persimmon Jewelry Kline Necklace GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!
Does anybody actually win theses giveaways? This one is so cute, I love it. If I keep following your site, I am going to have my blog filled with your items and nothing of my own.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Brass Hussy GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Brass Hussy GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!
How do I link to this without giving it away. I have a wonderful woman that I know who absolutely loves this style of jewelry. I would love to win this gift card so that I could spoil this amazing woman with a special treat. Here's to hoping.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Spring Flowers

Our house has many flower beds and bushes around it. When we moved in they were definitely in winter mode. We had no idea if it was all dead or if anything would grow. Now that the weather is getting nicer we have found out it is growing. We have a patch of pretty yellow daffodils that have came up. I am waiting to see what else will pop up. The big problem is the weeds that are also growing. I have decided that I loath picking weeds. I am going to have to pay Angela to help me, I think. Anyways, Happy Spring!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Canoe/Swim

Yesterday we took the canoe out. We spent about an hour paddling around. We got to see lots of birds including quite a few cranes/herons, not quite sure which they are. Connor was helping Brian load up the canoe when he tripped and fell face first into the lake. Thankfully he was still wearing his life-jacket and he was not too deep. I quickly picked him up and stripped his wet clothes off. Fortunately, we had a blanket in the truck. It didn't take too long to get him warmed up and then he got to play in the bath when we got home. He ended up really enjoying his adventure in the lake.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Ultrasound

Yes, the title is correct. I don't know if I have truly gone public until now, but I am pregnant. This week is 20 weeks a.k.a. about half way started or over, however you look at it. I am due on September 17th. I have already been asked to have the baby (or not have the baby) on different people's September birthdays, but sorry I can not guarantee any of it. I do not plan to have an elective c-section. If one become necessary than that happens otherwise we will try for a "natural" birth.

This morning we went in to have the ultrasound. Angela thought it was really cool seeing the different views of the baby. Connor didn't really enjoy it, well because he is two and anything that takes too long is not fun. Brian and I were really thankful that all seems well. The technician said that the baby is growing just fine and he/she looks to have all of the correct parts where they need to be. We chose to not find out what the gender is, the surprise at the birth will be nice. Although Brian and I do have our suspicions and no we are not telling. It would be interesting to hear all of the thoughts/"old wives tales" of what people think it is.


Photo one: this shows the baby's profile with a fist near his/her mouth.


Photo two: this shows the baby looking directly at the camera.