Jellystone



Little Miss Trouble and Monkey

Bug-a-bug riding the bikes

Princess riding the bikes

Poor daddy doing all the work and pedaling the bikes

What a smile!

Lots of fun on the water

Getting ready for the hay ride with all the characters from Yogi

Hayride!!  Monkey had no idea what was going on and she didn't like those characters at all at first!

The girl dressed here was a favorite among my girls.  I later found out that she's homeschooled and works there on the weekends.  She was so very sweet.  They all were, what a great time we had.

Surprise!!  A photo with both of us in it!!  I think I'll use this for our Christmas photo this year!  lol

TL pedaling away

We had a fantastic time at Jellystone at Cobb Mountain in CA.  The people there are fantastic and the kids had a blast.  We had a bit of a time trying to get there.  Mapquest took us this crazy way and with our size rig, the poor truck was ready to overheat!  It was awful, much easier getting out of there!

If you ever get a chance check out the Jellystone campgrounds.  They're mostly in the east, but so much fun for everyone!

struggling

The last few months of last school year, TL really struggled with his work.  It wasn't difficult, he just couldn't seem to get it done.  I seemed to be on him all day long.

Unfortunately, this seems to be the trend this year too.  Coupled with this blasted heat, my short temper has not made this easy.  I yelled several days last week.  It doesn't help either that he's very sarcastic (just like me), which makes me even angrier.  Nothing like seeing the worst about yourself reflected in your children.  All of us have been short tempered and yelling.  The heat is just not working for us.  My kids love to be outside too much.

I'm made a major effort this week not to get so frustrated.  Alot of prayer has been spent on this.  Its helped that it hasn't been so hot, however, today and tomorrow are supposed to be close to 100.  Pray for me.

This week, I handed TL a list of all the work that had to be done for the week.  He started Monday off trying to finish his work for the day and didn't quite succeed.  Yesterday, he completed all of his reading assignments and questions for the week.  He also finished all of his math lessons but one.  He seems to like working this way and that's fine with me.  I've also learned to make sure he's nearby so that I can answer questions quickly or gently steer him back to work. 

I love that he loves to read and that he has an active imagination, but this was driving me crazy!! 

I've been studying Help for the Harried Homeschooler!  I figured with four students this year, I could use the help!!  My focus is on fixing my own behavior to give them a good role model.  I'm praying for this struggle of mine!

Our new home

I think we finally  may have our internet worked out.  Thank goodness.  I feel connected again to everyone!!  I miss reading everyone's blogs!!

I thought I'd share our new home.  I forgot to take pictures of the outside and should have done so tonight.  It was actually nice and cool here and Kevin pulled the door open on the toy hauler area.  It makes a nice patio for the kids to play on.

First, I thought I'd share a photo of me and the girls with BooBoo.  We had a fantastic time at the Jellystone Campground.  I'll share more photos later this week.

Our new bedroom.  I'm looking for fabric to make a quilt because I hate the ugly black thing.

Our dresser

Tylar getting into my makeup in the bathroom.  We found that she'd flushed some of it down the toilet when we dumped and it got stuck in the hose.

The kitchen area.  Not very big, but we do have a huge fridge which is a bonus!!  TL's bunk is up on top, the couch is to the right, and the door leads to the girls' room.

TL's enjoying some tv.  The door leads up to our bedroom.

The girls room.  Each is a queen size bunk.  The bottom bunk makes into a table with a U-shaped couch around it.

The girls' half bath.  Love the horse theme?

They were thrilled that they had a tv back there.  We generally don't do tv's in bedrooms, but this is the only extra tv we have and daddy gets to watch football all weekend and the girls get to watch what they want.

Well, hope you enjoyed our little field trip.  I miss all my extra school bunks but find it really nice to be able to clean up in a little while.  I still have some things to organize and do a little decorating.  I'm not a big fan of black, but for a fifth wheel its nice because its easier to clean up.

Have a fantastic week!

Welcome to the desert!

We arrived at our new home last week.  It was 101 at 5:30pm.  We were rewarded with an entire week of over 100 degrees and blistering heat.  Good thing they closed the pool already.

This week promises to be cooler.  Only in the 90s.  Good thing because the air conditioner has stopped working in the front of the fifth wheel.  ugh.

I'm still working on having a peaceful heart at being here.  There are some advantages.  The kids are back into their Awana program (although I'm not as pleased with it as I used to be, its a lot smaller now with less leaders), I haven't decided if we're going back to our old church or try a new one, the quilt guild is still here, and I do have friends here.

However, the scenery stinks.  The air stinks.  The heat stinks.  I'm working on it, praying on it.  My hubby needs me to be supportive and understanding, not complaining that I can't see bald eagles anymore, just acres of cotton.  It has gotten better since we've arrived but my biggest thing that I needed for support, the local homeschooling support group, is apparently no longer in existence.  I can't find it anywhere.  I'm sad because that really makes the kids friend base alot smaller.  Usually they have alot of friends of all different backgrounds and ages.  I enjoy having them around a variety of kids and not just "military brats".  (Sometimes the kids can be just as competitive over their parent's rank.......I've certainly met many wives who are).

So, I'm struggling this week to change our addresses, get the kids' activities rolling, and get myself focused.  Tomorrow's my birthday.  Perhaps I can chalk up my lack of focus to old age?  haha

Have a wonderful week everyone!

9/11

TL is old enough to understand and discuss the events of 9/11.  We watched a little on tv and discussed how we felt and what we experienced that day.  I was teary eyed seeing and reliving the events of the day.  I pray that we never have to go through those emotions again.

My husband was on shore duty at that time.  This means that he was not deployable.  When the President came on and said, "we're coming to get you", my hubby said, just wait, wait for me.  In December we transferred to Japan and he left in January for the war. 

I am so very proud of him and all that he fights for.  I pray for those families that are still suffering through this ordeal, even though its been ten years their pain is probably still raw.

Our new home

which I will not post pictures of until probably next week.  We have purchased a fifth wheel and will be living in it for the next few years.  It will allow us to pay off some bills and save some money and more importantly to me, be able to afford to take a trip back home. 


The monster is  huge with a toy hauler area in the back that houses two queen size bunks for the girls and a half bath.  Happy dance for me....two toilets for seven people!!

The living area is larger than our old camper.  I don't have much more counter space, but I do have a double sized fridge, which is fantastic!!  TL has a bunk over the living area so he gets his own space away from his sisters.  He's very excited about that!!

We then move up three stairs into the bathroom and master bedroom.  I'm so excited about not having to climb on the bed to make it I can't even tell you!!

We're still organizing.  We literally threw everything out of the old camper and onto the floor and every surface of this one.  I'm slowly weeding through and getting it organized.  My next step is the kitchen drawers and the homeschooling stuff.  I hope to have that done this week so that our starting school next week isn't hampered at all.

Right now, we're blessed to stay with some friends in OR.  We have having a blast.  Connie is a fellow quilter and we were up late last night helping the girls make their first pillowcases.  She also has a beautiful embroidery machine that she made little hand towels for the big girls.  They have their names and horses on them.  Very cute.

I still have to post pictures from our friends' house in southern WA.  They have a gorgeous view of Mt Hood from their property.  We had a fantastic time visiting them and they took us to Fort Vancouver, which was really fun and interesting!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

You must homeschool your kids.....

So we're here in southern WA visiting some friends and our stay has been extended.  We are looking to trade up on our camper and that's the main reason, but we had a few extra days in our schedule and spent them here.

Earlier this week we walked across the street to look at some campers across the way.  The salesman was very nice and answered my questions (hubby had already been there).  I was with the two older girls and when we left he asked if I homeschooled.  An odd question seeing as we don't have anything identifying us as homeschoolers, but I replied yes.  He said, "I thoughts so.  Your girls are so polite."  I thanked him, thought it was odd and moved on. 

Today a woman approached me that had met my oldest two girls and stated that they were very polite and asked if I homeschooled.  When I verified this she said, "I thought so because they were so polite."

Although I'm excited that my children are being respectful and polite to others, these statements have me worried.  After all, there are plenty of public school kids that are polite that are not getting recognition.  Its too bad that the bad public school kids are giving a bad rap.  It saddens me that other children are not being given recognition.

I have to look at the upside though.  Perhaps the question of "what about socialization?" will be replaced by "look at how well mannered those children are".

Have a wonderful week everyone! 

Mt. St Helens

Big Foot Country!!!  Watch out he'll get you!

I think this is a little taller than the bigfoots running in the woods

Information about the blast zone

Mount St. Helens under cloud cover.  TL is running from an potential blast!

Helicopter tour of the mountain.  No, we did not take this.

Nice view, but still alot of cloud cover.

Coldwater Lake near the mountain base

Monkey enjoying the lake.

Climbing!

Johnstowne Ridge.  Johnstowne was on duty the day of the blast and managed a quick radio signal out to warn everyone before he was wiped out by the blast.  They have never recovered his body.

You can see the devastation of the trees.  There were stumps all through the blast zone and even further away.  They have replanted over 18.4 million trees and plants into this area to reforest it.

The cloud cover finally clearing off the  mountian.  You'll notice that the mountain doesn't have any vegetation.  This is because all the topsoil was blown off and only rock remains.

We're trying to enjoy our time here.   The campsite that we are at is absolutely awful.  No amenities for the kids, they aren't allowed to ride bikes or play on the little hill and there isn't enough room to even put a picnic table next to the camper.  I'm not very pleased.  It seems that they are watching us to let us know if we're going against one of their many rules.  Thank goodness we leave tomorrow to go and visit some friends.

Have a wonderful week for those of you that are doing school!