Snow Capades!

Finally, my turn to play! The boys always have all the fun activities while the girls sit home cleaning and cooking. When I found out mom's could go with the Cub Scouts to play in the snow, I jumped at the chance! Snow Capades is a full day of sledding, hot cocoa, fire building, snow shoeing, and a ton of fun! We left bright and early Saturday January 30th. It was raining at home but as we got closer to our destination, the snow showed it's self in all it's cold, white, beautiful glory!First activity on Jaco and I's agenda was sledding. I asked the scout master if parents could sled too and he said they can but most don't. I was the first adult to go down the hill and it was a blast! Once I went, several other parents joined in the fun. I was a little worried about how the rest of the day would go after being knocked face first into the snow twice within about 10 minutes. It was kind of my fault. The first time I was talking to another mom and we were told to get out of the way. She stepped back just in time for the sledder to slam in to me causing me to belly flop into the snow. Second time, I was talking, again, and didn't hear the warning until I was already on my belly AGAIN! I was not hurt so it was funny! We were so bummed no one was filming it...we could have won $10,000 on AFV!

Next up on the agenda: Fire Building! First the boys had to make waterproof fire starting kits and then test them by building a small fire. Jaco hates fire and has to be the only 10 year old I know who won't even put a stick in a fire, let alone light one. I am not complaining though. Fire is dangerous and if he has no desire to play with it, then I feel that much safer! It came to no surprise that I was the one to successfully start our little fire and roasted our smellows!

After eating roasted marsh mellows and drinking hot cocoa, it was time for sledding. I was smarter this time and stayed out of the way of all incoming sleds. Doesn't mean I didn't sled myself! I love snow and sledding. Jaco was having a ball too. He loved trying to hit some air on the jumps. Big bumps on hard sleds hurt 33 year old backsides. It didn't stop me though!

After the second round of sledding, we got a good workout trying out some snow shoes. We stayed on a nice groomed trail and I couldn't believe what a work out it was! I could not imagine going off trail in soft fresh powder. With a line of 30-40 people following each other, it was not uncommon to see on scout step on the back of another's shoe causing one or both of them to fall over. It is not easy to stand back up with 3 foot long snow shoes on your feet!

Next...LUNCH! We ate family style as troops. Never has a grilled cheese sandwich and soup tasted so good.

After lunch it was time for the 3rd sled hill. We were able to spend extra time on this hill because we finished lunch early. We started races and Jaco showed his competitive side and wanted to win so bad. He and I raced several times and I am pretty sure I won! The video clip you can see is him and I racing and we both wiped out at almost the same time. I recovered better and kicked his booty!

!

The Iditarod race was next on our list of things to do. The boys had to pull a sled around a track looking for animals along the way. The animals were wood cut outs of critters so the boys collected them and had to bring them back to the starting point. I chose to sit this activity out and relaxed for a bit.

Once the animals were all collected, we hit one more sledding hill. This one was the most dangerous and they actually had to lower the starting point because too many people had been hurt earlier. They had big pads at the end of the run to try to make it safer. I only went down the hill once at this run because by this point, my booty was sore and I had a head ache from hitting it on the hard snow during one of the runs earlier in the day. Jaco went down several times and had fun but by this point he was getting tired too.

Last but not least for the day was an obstacle course. First the boys went down a zip line to a bunch of obstacles. Once that was completed they had a tug of war. It was so funny to watch! They had the boys compete against the adults. The first tug of war, the adults let the boys win by simply letting go of their end. It was hilarious to watch the boys thinking they had totally won. Then when the adults actually tried, they were able to pull the boys across the ground. The scouts weren't quite so happy this time.

This is Jaco's face as his body came to a screeching halt on the zip line. Yowser!

Getting ready to pull the adults across the line. Good luck with that one boys!

I had so much fun hanging out with Jacob all day. Usually I am the one home with the girls while Justin and Jaco go play. This time daddy stayed home with the girls and it was my turn to play. I was a little worried about the mess the girls would make while I was gone because Daddy tends to not watch them as closely but they did really good. I promised I would let them make a cake the next day if they behaved and didn't get in to my make-up, jewelry, art stuff, etc... They behaved so I followed through with my promise and here is the proof!

***FYI: All of the pictures on this post are from my fun Flip Video camera I got for Christmas. I forgot to take my still camera with us but with the Flip, you can slow the video down frame by frame and then take a snapshot of one frame. Pretty cool!***

Spring is in the air!

When you are privileged to live in a part of the world that does not get buried under snow every winter, Spring tends to come sooner! I love where I live! The weather is perfect with no extremes and yet we get all 4 seasons. If and when it does snow, everything turns green not dead and brown. In the last week I have seen evidence of Spring on the trees and poking up from the dirt. Trees are blossoming and flowers are poking up through the ground. It poured rain last night so when I walked the kids to the bus stop this morning, everything was washed clean. I saw a tree with new blossoms covered in perfect little rain drops. I had to go home to get my *new* amazing little camera to test it's abilities and to capture nature's beauty!


I LOVE my new camera! It is tiny but can do so much! It can recognize a smile, tells you if someone blinked, can focus on a moving object, and most importantly takes wonderful pictures! It is a Nikon S620 and I found a new one on E-Bay for $165 where other places range from $220-$300.




With the rain comes hundreds of squirmy earthworms. Care Bear was so cute trying to pick them up. She wasn't sure she wanted to touch their slimy bodies and then every time she would try, they would squirm and curl up. Finally she succeeded and thought her new friend was pretty cool!

Valentines / Birthday

The girls had fun with the Valentine sticker's from Grandma and Grandpa Finch

Valentines Day is not my favorite holiday. To me it is just a reason for people to spend money on silly unnecessary stuff. Last year I fell victim to the holiday and bought the kids stuffed animals that I have since either thrown away or want to throw away! This year I decided if I am going to spend money, it will be on something useful! I got Justin an Oregon Ducks jacket, Jaco some pants since he is finally outgrowing his other ones, and the girls got new spring dresses. Much better way to use the holiday!

The kiddos at their school parties. Care Bear is going through this phase where she points with a suspicious finger. I didn't see she had done it here until I looked at the pictures on the computer. I think she was licking frosting off her finger but it sure looks like she doesn't like me taking her picture!

Of course the kids love the holiday with all the candy and cards. Care Bear had a small party at preschool and the older two had school parties as well. We also were invited to a friend's house for a party and it was amazing! So much candy and stuff...it was like a birthday party! Jaco was the only boy and was a little old but he was nice about it and Chloe, the little hostess, claims him as her boyfriend so she was thrilled to have him there.

Rose petals scattered about, lots of balloons, tons of candy, cookies to decorate, pots to paint and plant, and of course FUN!


I am now officially 33. I still feel like I am in my 20's but my hair makes me look like I am in my 50's! I am at least 50% gray and if it weren't for my "Nice N Easy" #114A everyone would see how gray I am! So sad. Birthday's as a mom are just another day but I did have a good day. The kids were so excited for my birthday and counted down the days, hours, and minutes. They told everyone we saw that it was my day and they had no problem sharing my age with everyone too. Justin had it easy this year as we had Jaco's Blue and Gold Scouting banquet which just happened to be a party celebrating the Scouts 100 year birthday. Pizza, spaghetti, cake and ice-cream...all perfect choices in my book. Plus, all the scouts sang Happy Birthday to me. Can't get much better than that!


The kids were so excited to buy me a present. Daddy took them shopping and I guess it was quite amusing to see some of the things they tried to buy. I am happy with the final selection and they were so proud of themselves. They know blue is my favorite color so I got a blue bracelet, necklace and some earrings. With some money from Granny and Papa and Justin's contribution, I ordered this cool pink camera and case. Saved at least $75 by buying it on e-bay! My other camera has been played with too much by kids and the mode dial has fallen off. Makes it a little hard to get a good picture!
Another year older and maybe a little wiser. Who knows what this year will bring! Hopefully only good and if the bad comes along, I hope I can turn it to good!

Earrings!

Waiting at the Dr's office. (2-9-2010)

Care Bear decided she wanted to wear earrings. No problem if her ears were pearced! Since she doesn't have a hole in her lobe, she used the other hole in her ear! She placed a small blue bead INSIDE her ear. My guess is she put the bead in her ear, tried to get it out, and managed to push the bead deep in her ear canal. Her friend came down and told me Care Bear wanted to take a shower to try to get the bead out of her ear. I said "What bead? Go get her now!" She showed me her ear and at first I thought it must be the wrong ear because I could not see anything. Then I saw a flash of blue and realized it was way too far in her ear for me to even attempt removing. Of course I was baby-sitting so I had 3 additional children. I had no desire to take 6 kids to the Dr's office! Thankfully I was able to find a good friend from church who was willing to watch 5 of the kids while I took the 6th little trouble-maker to the Dr. The pediatrician was booked that day so they said just come as soon as possible and they would squeeze us in. While we waited, Dr Daddy decided he would try to save us the co-pay and he attempted to get the bead out. Only problem was it was wedged in too tight. He tried several different tools with no luck. He asked one of the acute care Dr's to try but he too was unsuccessful. Finally, the 3rd Dr to try was the pediatrician and he succeeded! Care Bear had the right idea when she wanted to "wash" it out in the shower because the Dr managed to get it out by squirting water in her ear with a special syringe. When I saw the bead, I was surprised at how tiny it was! It looked huge in her ear. Just goes to show how small a 4 year old's ear canal is.


Why am I not surprised that Care Bear was the one who would require a visit to the Dr to remove a foreign object from her ear! Jaco and La-La have never done anything like this so I guess I should be happy it took 10 1/2 years of motherhood before I had to deal with this problem.

This is a picture of Care Bear's ear. The blue glow is the bead shining in the beam of a flashlight.

Sea Lion Caves

1-16-2010

One thing you may not know about my husband Justin, is that he likes to do things unplanned and at the last minute. His favorite thing to do is go to new places and take the most scenic route possible. So I wasn't at all surprised when he woke up one Saturday and said, "Let's go to the Sea Lion Caves!" 30 minutes later with minimal grumbling from Jaco, we hit the road. The Sea Lion Caves is home to hundreds of sea lions and is the largest sea cave on earth. During the winter months, the large creatures usually stay in the cave while in the summer they tend to sun themselves outside on the rocks. Supposedly there were 500+ lions in the cave the day we were there. To get to the viewing deck, you ride down 200 feet in an elevator. When the door opens you are greeted by noise and a stench that only 500 sea lions can create! It was pretty cool but a little dark; after all it was a cave! Pictures and video were really hard to take. It was rainy and windy so the lack of sun made the cave even darker. Still pretty amazing to see, hear, and maybe not so amazing to smell!
Mass of bodies swimming into the cave. Horrible lighting in the cave and no flash photography was allowed so it was nearly impossible to get a good picture.

This was just outside the big cave. If you look closely, the little brown spots in the water are sea lions.



The cave!

After going to the cave, we checked out a lighthouse nearby. Supposedly it is the most photographed lighthouse. It was getting dark and raining when we went for our little hike which in a way made the lighthouse even cooler to see. I don't know if the kids agreed.


On our way to the caves, we stopped at a beach to let the girls explore and the boys checked out a golf course. La-La had sprained her ankle two days before but you wouldn't know it the way she climbed, explored, and played. Her foot was quite swollen by the time we got home and it hurt but she was such a trooper.