Say What?

I have been very busy the past few weeks so haven't gotten around to posting about our vacation. I will begin installments with a short list of humorous things I overheard while camping. If I forgot anything, please feel free to add them on in the comments section and I will edit them in over the next few days.

Before I start, I just wanted to say that I love our new doctor's office. After spending 6 years in the military health care system (a sneak peek at the future of socialized health care in this country, I am afraid), it was wonderful to return to the private sector. A real office, with available appointments at my convenience, clean floors and walls, no wait, separate waiting rooms for healthy and sick kids, friendly office staff who don't ask for your rank before helping you- it was totally worth the $20 co-pay to get Rebecca's ears cleaned and checked and medicated. And a thanks to R for recommending it.

Now, back to the business at hand. People say funny things when they think no one is listening, especially when they are mostly under the age of 8!

The second night we were there, Sandra locked her keys in the car. an 8 hr drive from her husband and the spare set. I was about to call my ins company to call in the road side assistance when Cody walked over and broke in. Overheard: "Should we be concerned that our little brother can Grand Theft Auto into a real car that fast?" "Only if he takes up stealing minivans."


We arrived late in the evening to our campsite. After investing about an hour into setting up camp, Lenna was tired of waiting around for her dinner. After I ran through the list of things that needed to be done before dark and before we left for the restaurant she flopped down on her sleeping bag and declared "Camping is SO hard!" Yes, yes it is.



Krysta, while driving through Jedidiah Smith State park, where they filmed Star Wars, "I think I saw an Ewok!!"

Making s'mores the first night, Daniel was quite taken with the campfire. He kept holding his stick a little too close to the fire, ending up with a burned marshmallow. After he threw yet another charred one into the fire, Brad offered to help him roast one so it wouldn't burn and he could have his dessert. He said "I don't want to eat it! I just want to roast it!" Brad replied, "Ok then, burn the heck out if it, dude!" He did, several times.

Our first morning at camp we took the kids exploring around the grounds, besides huge tree stumps and giant ferns, there was an abundance of 4-5 inch fat yellow banana slugs. Emma was called away from observing one and protested, saying "Can I just stay here and pet it for a while?" The next one we found was Nate's favorite. After watching it slide along for a while he said wistfully, "I wish I could have one for a pet."

On our first trip to the beach, Lenna splashed right in. After emerging covered in sand with a soggy sweatshirt and wet hands, she reached up to wipe her face and tasted the water on her fingers. She looked a little concerned and asked Grandma, "Why did they salt it?"

Andrew fell in a few minutes later, scraping the bottom of his foot on a barnacle-covered rock. He started yelling, "A crab got me! A crab got me!" and later asked "Mom, could we go to a beach that doesn't have any water in it? I just want to build a castle." Uh, yeah, it's called your sandbox.

One afternoon Emma came back from a grounds exploration with sticky fingers. She had picked up a coveted slug/pet and loved it to death. Hands were covered in sticky slug slime. She said, "I think I squeezed its eyes out." FYI: alcohol-based hand sanitizer removes slug slime where soap and water don't.

Emily, after a particularly long day of shell gathering, "Wow, I small bad. I think I will go take a shower." I am sure your tent-buddies appreciate that!

"You are cooking Puddles! Do we have to eat her? I am not eating the suckers!" Puddles was the name given to the starfish Sandra picked up off the beach. It was already dead and starting to stink, so we dried it on the fire grill. Emma was a little concerned about dinner that night.

"Yumm! You are right mom, everything does taste better when it is cooked on a campfire!" Lenna ate two burgers for dinner. She usually doesn't eat ground beef. When you spend the day running around the sand and don't have snacks or cereal to fall back on, food does become more appealing!

Daniel made a habit of sitting as close to the fire as he could each morning to warm up is cold feet. One morning I told him to scoot back so he didn't catch his pjs on fire. He told me, "It's ok, I know how to stop, drop, and roll. And you can just pour some water on me." I watched him a lot closer after that.

Andrew, after yet another day of relative introductions, "Wow. There sure are a lot of grandma's in this house!" two greats, one regular, two great aunts who also take the name of grandma, two more on the other side of the country earlier in the week- yep, lots of grandmas.

We celebrated 8 birthdays over the three weeks we were gone. That is a lot of cake! Lenna said, "Is it always somebody's birthday here? We should call this a cake vacation, all we ever eat is cake!"

What did you "overhear?" I wonder how long we can make this list......

Help me Make Up My Mind

Yeah, its that time of year. Back to school. I remember doing this exact same thing with Lenna when she was four. I couldn't make up my mind then, either. I eventually did decide and she ended up at the right place, so I am asking your help again.

I am trying to decide where to send Andy for PreK this year. He is "in" at two little schools, and I need to decide so another child can have his spot at the other place. And soon, since we have about a week before all the open houses and such. So I will throw up a list and pros and cons for each, and you guys weigh in with your opinions so I can make up my terribly indecisive mind before its too late. Thank you in advance!

Both are free, public school hours and days, and follow the same school calendar as Lenna's school.

Choice 1: (not typing the name in case there are weird stalkers reading this who want to snatch my kids)
Pros:
location- about a mile away, right on the way to Lenna's school which would make pick up and drop off very easy.
carpool- have a friend whose children are enrolled, so I could wrangle a few days off at pick up time, since we already share pick up at Lenna's school. Also good for those emergency "Can you grab Andy and keep him for 20 minutes until I can get there?" situations.
staff: has a really low turnover rate with experienced teachers, and I was really impressed with the director and the professionalism I saw.
education: I like the Montessori philosophy they use. Lots of individual instruction and the focus is on independent learning. He would be able to learn at his own pace, ahead of the younger kids if needed. No busy work or coloring sheets babysitting time. also a private school so he could technically keep going there thru 2nd grade if he really liked it.
cost: free, meals included

Cons:
Physical facilities: parking lot is muddy gravel, building just looks run down. Office is tiny. One classroom likes like it is just a converted hallway. Why don't they care enough to take care of the outside? What about the stuff I can't see? Air filters? Plumbing? Mold and mildew control? Kitchen area? Playground equipment? Everything is very clean but what else might be run down?
Class size and age: 40 kids in one room. A big room with 4 teachers, but still. And it is a mixed age group, 3-5. He is already the oldest. I don't want him regressing at all to play with the younger kids or having problems because he is so much bigger.


Choice 2: (again, no name)
Pros:
Facilities: I like the building. Well kept, landscaped, interior clean and new and brightly colored. Lots of windows, to see outside and look in from the hall. Paved parking with covered drop off.
Classroom: traditional kindergarten look and curriculum. Small class (around 15) with two teachers. All kids the same age.
Education: Won awards for exceeding state requirements for program and facility. Typical pre-k with toys, projects, etc. Monthly field trips to farms, restaurants, etc. Would be ready and adjusted for traditional kinder next year.
Staff: was really impressed with the office staff, director, and teachers. professional and friendly. Had 40 slots for pre-k, all but 4 were filled with returning students.

Cons:
Location: still close, within a mile or two but opposite direction of Lenna's school. Would add time to morning routine.
Carpool: no buddies there, would have to start fresh with new friends. Even on days Lenna comes home with friend, I would still have to go out to pick up Andy. No back ups in case I can't get there in time.
Cost: class is free, but charge $20 a week for meals (bkfst, lunch, two snacks)


So there you have it. I am stuck. I make up my mind and change it again each week. What do you think?

Also, completely unrelated- I have ran out of free online storage with my gmail/picasa account. I refuse to pay for a service I know I can get free some place else. Where do you upload and store your pics for sharing and storing for blogging and such?

Exploring the Redwoods

Please ignore the fact that the events featured in this post occurred in June. Better late than never, right?

Part of our super-cool summer vacation included spending a week on the California/Oregon coast where the redwood forest met the ocean. Just outside of Crescent City. This is probably one of my favorite places in the country. We have tramped all over it and have never been a better environment- cool, not hot or freezing; damp, not sticky humid or desert dry; green, grass covered ground, not tangled underbrush or layers of dirt; close enough to the beach to visit often, but not constantly barrelled by wind or seabirds; pests consisted of mosquitoes, daddy long legs spiders, and banana slugs, not fist-sized roaches, fire ants, or any of the 500 varieties of insects that thrive in our backyard; and of course you can't beat the view.

I loved the campground that my sister picked. First, it was clean. Not just litter-free but dirt and mud-free as well. The paths were covered in gravel or pine needles, the ground everywhere else was growing grass and clover. No layers of dirt tracked into tents and sleeping bags, blown into food, or coating children's faces and hands. Running water and hot showers are of course a bones as well. Finally, they tried hard to keep a wilderness feel to things. They left trees and undergrowth intact as much as possible so each site was insulated from the others, giving privacy and the illusion of wilderness camping. The campground was crossed by trails leading through redwood trees, fallen logs, giant tree stumps, fern groves, and creek beds. Perfect for some down-time exploring.

Showing off the balance skills. Andrew insisted on wearing this reflective belt all the time. I think he was afraid of getting lost (on a side note, I only lost each kid once, and they were promptly returned to me by helpful staff members since by the end of the week the entire camp knew where the tribe of blue-eyed blond kids belonged).

King of the mountain, I mean stump.

A million things to climb, jump off, hide behind, slide down, or run around. Nature's playground!

Not many places you can go that have tree stumps taller than you and wider than your bedroom. What I want to know is who cut down the tree in the first place? What were they thinking?

The closest I could get to a group shot. They never stop moving!

They all fell into the heffalump trap!

Or maybe they just climbed in through this tunnel.

Or squeezed in through this rabbit hole.

These guys were everywhere. A few of the kids wanted to adopt them as pets. Yucky.

Slug slime comes off with alcohol-based hand sanitizer. The four-year old girl was the first to be brave enough to touch one. She ended with "Ewe! I think I squished its eyes out!"

Little blue walking hood? Goldilocks? Nope, Lenna headed off to the bathroom.

It was a pretty big campground. We needed a map to get around the first little while. Andrew was the self-appointed navigator.

This was the road that led to camp. We never saw him, but the kids were sure he was around here somewhere. Especially at night when it was time to go to the bathroom.

Checking out the map. Where are we again? See, it is a bit complicated. We were at the very top of the place. You could take an hour to get from one end to the other if you tried hard enough.

Especially by flashlight, in your pajamas, looking for the bathroom, trying not to wake up Bigfoot.

Horse Camp

Each summer I try to let the kids pick one camp to attend, their summer learning experience of sorts, and my little summer vacation!

This year Lenna chose to attend Horse Riding Camp for a week. She went in July, which I realize now was not the smartest choice we could have made. She would have enjoyed it a lot more if she hadn't been fighting the heat. If she chooses to go back next year we will sign up for the first week of summer vacation in May when it is a little cooler. Besides the heat, she had a great time. I thought she would be afraid of the horses but she ended up loving it. I was going to write a post but remembered she had done one of her own. So I will just link to hers HERE and you can read about it. You may need to log in or get permission to read it- let me know if it doesn't work and I will get you an invite or email you a copy.

Watch Out World

She's mobile, and she bites.

Today the living room, tomorrow the world.

Smile

Today's adventure: dental check ups for all.

Miracle: we left after cleanings and xrays, with no follow-ups appointments. No cavities to fill, teeth to pull, or appliances to fit. At least until next time.

Way to go kiddos!

This is what Rebecca's smile looks like now. tiny teeth on top and bottom. She was up all night grinding them. I had no idea you could do that with such tiny teeth, and only 4 of them at that. Hmmm.

Paul Bunyan's Forest

Ever wonder how tall tales get started? Well, I am pretty sure that Paul Bunyan, the giant lumberjack, was born out of a need to explain who could chop down these giant trees. On the coast of Northern CA is a park that explains the mystery, aptly called the "Trees of Mystery."

Really big trees. This one points out which ring represents the birth of Christ, the crusades, the discovery of America, the Revolutionary War, etc. This tree lived through it all! Then was chopped down and hollowed out and turned into a gift shop. . . . (OK, not really why it was chopped down, but that is what it became after it fell over).

This Paul's Boot. And my kids trying to sit on it. Significant because there is a picture of me in a green hoodie when I was the same age as the kid in the red shirt, sitting in this exact spot. Very cool, I think.

A larger view.

There was a "Trail of Tall Tales" that featured giant chain-saw carvings of the characters from Paul Bunyan's story. Like his dog who played fetch with fallen trees.

And this 6-foot mosquito. This however was a life-size replica of the bugs that inhabited our camp site.

And the famous resting logger.

At the end of the trail they provided a tree specifically for the purpose of carving your name in, so you could refrain from doing so in the rest of the forest. Smart idea, I think. Just think of the thousands of names that have been etched here over the last 50 years. There is mine.

Right there.

Candelabra tree.

A view from the top. Mountains, forest, and ocean all in one stop. Excellent.

I was totally scared of smashing the side of my rental car on this tree. But we made it!

Us, by a really big tree. I will skip the 100 other pictures of us by other really big trees. You are welcome.

Ok, one more. This was the root system of a really big tree, which is different.

This tree was nice enough to grow above the ground, creating lots of cool tunnels for the kids to crawl through, climb on, and slide down.

Definitely a fun way to spend the afternoon. I spent the day in awe of thses amazing trees, and of our Heavenly Father who can create such beautiful places.

Camping Hints

A large portion of our California vacation time was spent camping in Crescent City. I highly recommend the KOA campground there. Again, a catch up post from the summer.

Camping with 20 people can be a huge endeavor. It helps if you have a strategy. To help you on your next reunion trip, here are a few lessons I have learned from our little adventure.

1. Get the group site. Bonus for gorgeous scenery, grass instead of dirt, and a layer of trees to keep the other campers away.

Camp food is important. There was a menu, a mile-long shopping list, and people assigned to cooking and dish duty. But none of that is really important. The important things are the treats. Like jiffy pop.

And sticky s'mores.

And basically anything you can put on a stick and cook over the fire. Trust me, it helps to duck below the smoke.


Speaking of campfire, this one is pretty. Driftwood burns really hot. Duraflame logs give off very little heat and will take a few hours to boil water over. Stick with the camp stove. Put the boy scouts in charge of the fire, and staying up all night waiting for the inferno to burn out. They will enjoy it.

Bring along a baby, it will keep every one's nights more interesting. Then bring along a couple of grandma's to hold the baby. This one is mine. You will have to find your own.

Make sure a few of the nights are spent gathered around the fire telling stories and maybe laughing loud enough for the whole camp to hear you. It helps with getting lost children returned if everyone knows where the big group is camping.

You may want to consider hiring a story teller. This one can captivate an audience for hours with "way back when" stories as well as humorously embellished versions of the classics such as the Three Little Pigs or Goldilocks. He comes cheap, too, and prefers to be paid in hugs and kisses. But again, this one is taken. You will have to get your own.

About the tents- try to get one per family. If you have a couple of moms there who had to leave their husbands several states behind and borrow a tent from the locals, make sure the tent has a rain fly. And if it doesn't, improvise one with a tarp before it rains all night. Or you might just end up schlepping three kids and their soggy sleeping bags and pillows through the rain to the car in the middle of the night. Then spending the next drying all the luggage and sneakers that also got wet. Trust me. Oh, and spending an hour or so making the rain fly will pretty much ensure that not another drop will fall from the sky the rest of the week. So just do it to start with.

And just to make sure that there are plenty of people to hold the baby while you take advantage of luxuries like eating, dressing, and brushing your teeth, bring along a grandpa, too. Again, taken. Get your own.

Bring lots of cousins. 7 kids under the age of 8 will keep things exciting and make the club meetings and imaginary adventures much more fun!

Don't forget to take time to smell the flowers. And pick them. And braid them. And wear them. And rip them up into tiny pieces and throw them at your brother in an improvised snow storm of flower fairy dust.

Keep the campsite neat and orderly. Circle the chairs for defense against Indian attacks. Or maybe not. Wrong hint. How about so everyone can keep their feet warm and to divert the flow of kid traffic around the fire pit.

Watch out for native wildlife.

(Completely unrelated side note: Sword fern. Bracken fern. Lady fern. Deer fern. Redwood. Red alder. Star flowers. Monkey flower. Cascara Segrada. Sea tongue. Sea lettuce. Bubble algae. Poison oak. There are all the plants I remember from the 10th grade biology field trip. Who says you won't ever use the stuff you learn in high school! And Duncan, last week I caught Andy picking shamrocks and chewing on them. He kept looking for the one that would taste like an apple. Thanks for that)

Bring along some board games. If there is one all the parents are sick of playing (like a color card trip through a land of smiling sweets) rope a teen uncle into playing instead. He will love it on the inside even if it doesn't look like it.

Go in groups to the bathroom. Ask before you leave if anyone has to go. At least 5 kids will say they do. If not, you risk the chance of having to take them one at a time at fifteen minute intervals throughout the day. And it will take all day!

Finally, bring a friend. Everything is better with a friend!

Happy Camping!