Mexico Part 34: 16 de septiembre

 

 

 

 

 

In our old ward, people really got into the holiday.  So this year, I brought back my Mexican dress from Oregon got us all dressed up looking cute, only to be one of the few people to dress up!  It was kind of embarrassing that the Americans were more dressed up than the Mexicans.  Oh well!  

Eva also had to dress up for school, so we were really into the independence day spirit around these parts of town.  

Mexico Part 33: Homeschooling with Joy School Preschool

First day of "pweekool'

My good buddy and I decided to co-op just the two of us and do Joy School preschool for Elijah and his buddy Kylee.  We are off to a great start.  The kids are eager to learn and the curriculum is simple enough that it makes teaching these kiddos a breeze.  We are going three times a week, only because Kylee is leaving for Christmas break sooner than expected, but the kids have adapted well.  We started off with the two of them hardly being able to sit still and now they are both, well, Kylee better than Elijah, are able to sit for longer extended periods of times to be able to listen to the stories.  It is interesting to compare our kid's behavior with each other.  Essentially both of our kids are better when their own mother isn't teaching them.  But, it sure does save us money and the kids are learning, which is what matters most to us.

Summering in Oregon: Cannon Beach Take II/ Seaside

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were fortunate enough to go twice this year to Cannon Beach.  The second time around we went with my parents.  We also had Eva's buddy, Molly, join us.  She is such a good friend to Eva.  They LOVE each other and of course fight like sisters too.  We played at the beach for hours in Cannon and on the way out made a quick pit stop at Seaside.  But for me, after spending so much of my time at Cannon Beach, nothing on the Oregon Coast is good enough for me.

Summering in Oregon: Lava Caves

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alright, so thousands of years ago these lava tubes were formed and underground the temperature stays a constant 45 degrees.  Not too cold, but when you aren't prepared for it, it is very chilly.  Not to mention that we are used to a constant 80 degree temperature now that anything under 60 feels cold to my kids and I.  Well, either way we decided to take the hike.  We went in with shorts and jackets, thank goodness for the jackets, and in crocs, but with A LOT of complaining, we did it.  We made it in as far as we could go.  

So, next time we go, we are going to wear the right shoes, gloves, jackets, socks and pants, before we decide to go into such "extreme, cold weather" for my children (enter major sarcasm here).  I was glad we did it.  

Summering in Oregon: High Desert Museum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This picture doesn't belong here, really, but it was a fun trip with Molly to the Children's Museum lumped into this museum trip.

This cool little museum is outside of Redmond, Oregon.  I had never been and I thought it was nicely done.  It is basically a museum that houses all of the animals that are native to the Central Oregon area. They also had a nice kid section in there, which, again, had we have known we could have spent hours playing in that section alone.  There was a lot to see and do, which next time it would be nice to spend more time there than we did.  And actually if it wasn't so hot outside, it would have been fun to do some of the outdoor things as well.  

Summering in Oregon: Lake Billy Chinnook

Elijah chose to ride all the way to the houseboat with his spider man backpack on his lap.  It's a 40 minute drive!

 

She actually jumped in the lake!  I was so impressed with her this summer. 

 

 

 

Every summer we are in Sisters we try to make it once, at least, to the house boat.  It is always fun to hang out there for the day.  The kids loved it too.  We didn't take them tubing or anything, maybe when their dad is around, but Eva was brave enough to hang with the kids in the lake.  I was feeling lame about getting into the cold water.  Although it was so hot there, it probably would have been a good idea on my part.  They did get me to go into the lake to try surfing.  I couldn't really get the hang of it, I didn't get up on it really, but at least I can say I tried.  I actually only did it because I knew if Matthew was there he would be pressuring me to get into the water.  But, yup, I still suck.

Summering in Oregon: Washington County Fair

 

Cool contraption to mimic milking a cow.  

Elijah all business.

 

We had the cleanest hands at the fair.  This crazy invention, made all sorts of noises and sounds as you washed your hands.  We kept going back to the thing, over and over again.

TRying to talk Elijah into riding the pony.  I had to go get my money back because he would not get on. You see that death grip?!

So excited to ride the pony.  Her cute little face was almost worth the arm and a leg they charge. Almost! 

You could pay to take your picture with this thing on your lap. No thank you! But this kid, a worker, was happy to pose for a picture. 

 

My only regret to going to the Washington County Fair was not getting there earlier!  The kids had a blast.  We were getting there right when they were closing the kid section of the fair which was a real bummer.  Or maybe it was a good thing because we were able to branch out and see other things too.  

For a fair, they had some neat reptiles there.  My kids are really liking to look at snakes lately.  So these critters didn't disappoint.  

We were there pretty late, at least for our sleep schedules, but the kids really wanted ice cream.  Since the line at the fair was crazy long, we decided to leave and hit up Baskin Robbins.  Matthew and I would always go there in the summer months.  We missed not having him around, but the kids wouldn't turn down an ice cream for anything.  You can't even tell how tired the kids were in these pictures.  Guess that's what's great about vacations.  Schedules don't exist