First Day of School 2017

So the school year is started! We have a 4th, 3rd and kindergartner in the house. Last school year was such an amazing school year for the kids I just can't imagine what blessings God has in plans.
Now that Jacob is over the 3rd grade hump so to speak I am not as worried about him settling into 4th grade. He is such a hard worker I feel confident that he will do good. I pray God will protect Jacob from harm, give him good friends and give him the confidence to be who he is.
Jack has reached 3rd grade. He has made such significant strides in his learning from just last fall. I pray God continues to strengthen his reading and spelling. I pray Jack can transition into being a reader not just learning to read. I pray God gives Jack good friends and a good emotional environment to feel safe in.
Both Jacob and Jack's best friends are not in the same class this year. It is the first year the boys have had established friendships from year to year. Jack told me last night Javis (his bff) and him walked around at recess discussing how friendship fade if two friends are not in the same class. I said well you'll still be friends just in a different way. Jack said, "yes but we won't spend as much time together because we will be in separate classes." Well there is always recess so we will see how the friendship fair.
Amelia is finally in kinder. Academically, socially and emotionally she is so ready for kindergarten. I pray that God gives her an amazing fun experience that will spark her love of school. I pray her teacher can provide her with a challenge. I pray the kids in her class are a nice bunch that come ready to learn each day.

Olympic Pennisula

The kids and I went on a road trip around the Olympic Peninsula. It was an amazing time of camping, hiking, discovering and enjoying each other. The weather was great for the trip; sunny and warm.
Our first night we camped at South Beach. The kids played the whole time in these driftwood forts someone had made. It was great fun for them pretending to live in this fort. I sat on the beach and watched migrating whales in the surf.
The second day we stopped at several hiking places: Big Cedar Tree and Hoh Rain forest. The big trees and moss were so impressive. We had lunch on a 650 year old tree stump, walked the Hall of Moss trail and saw some elk. We drove the rest of the way to Salt Creek Campground that day. The kids loved the old military fort. The next day we walked down to the tide pools. The tide was coming in but we still saw some great stuff.
On the third day we drove into Port Angels to see the port and ferry terminal. The kids were very impressed with how large the ships were. We also stopped by Hurricane Ridge visiting center. We spent about an hour there but we could have spent another hour easy. There was a very cool discovery room for kids. Next we drove down to Seal Rock campground. The kids looked for crabs and hiked around some more.
On the way home we stopped by Gramma Sharpes' house to say hi. The kids love stopping by her house.
The whole week was great. We could set up our camp in about 10 minutes with us all working together and break it down in about 15. Jacob was very helpful with the campfire and camp stove. I hope we all can remember the memories we made on this trip, I know I will.

County Fair

Today we went to the Benton-Franklin County Fair. We have gone in the past so this wasn't anything new but each year brings a little different experience.
This year the kids went on the "big kid" rides. The first one they all tried to go on the carnival man stopped them to measure to see how tall they were. Jacob was tall enough no problem but Jack and Amelia were too short. Jack was totally shocked and outraged that he was not tall enough since when he measured himself he was. Now it needs to be said when Jack measured himself his hand had an upward angle of about 3 inches as he moved away from the measuring stick. The carnival man just laughed and said "nice try."
So Jacob went on the ring of fire for the first time. It was so delightful to see his face as he whirled around the circle. His face was priceless! His eyes were super wide and he had this permanent goofy grin of joy and delight. I had to laugh at loud it was so wonderful.
All the kids enjoyed the rides but I think Jacob really has the taste for fast rides.
Jack brought some of his own money to the fair so that he could do this floating bubble things he remembered from last year. He had a blast running like a hamster in this little ball. He also payed to play several games. I payed for them all to play one game where all three of them won a little frog. Amelia was not very happy about it but Jack said he would win her another prize. And he did! He rung a little bell with his mighty strength to win her an inflatable pink dolphin. She was so happy and he was so proud of himself. I was also pretty proud of him for winning his sister a prize.
Jack also spent a dollar to have a parrot fly to his hand to retrieve it. The bird sat there on his hand for awhile  just hanging out. It was a neat trick and Jack really enjoyed it.
Amelia's favorite part of the fair was having Jack win her a prize. And I believe eating the cotton candy.

Solar Eclipse

So the kids and I drove down to watch the total solar eclipse just outside Baker City Oregon. The boys got up at 2:00 am, me 3:00 am. Jack set my alarm for me. Jacob had coffee ready for me when I got downstairs. We stopped to get breakfast at McDonald and then hit the road. All the way down the kids slept and there was no traffic. We made it to the rest stopon the 335 mile marker around 7:00 am. The place was packed! There had to of been 500 hundred people already there. The rest stop itself had no parking. The restrooms lines were 20 people the whole time we were there. I hadn't even bothered to go look for a parking spot at the rest stop so I just parked on the other side of the road; it was a great stop.
So the time between getting there and the eclipse the kids and  I hung out in the car. We had snacks, stretched and mostly played cards. The guy parked next to us was from Canada. We met a lady who had spent the night in her car at the rest stop from Seattle. It was amazing to hear where people were from and how far they had come.
When the eclipse first started happening we would check on it in between hands of cards. As the total eclipse was getting closer it started to get darker. It was amazing how much light the sun gave off with just a little silver of it still uncovered.
Well when it actually it happened it was amazing! The moon just sort of dropped into place. The sun's coronas bloomed out; they looked like flower petals. The kids were jumping around they were so excited. All of them kept saying "this is amazing!" and "this is the best ever!" We were all very excited. It was a once in a lifetime kinda thing. After it was done Jack said it was the best 2 minutes of his life so far.
We didn't wait for the entire sun to be uncovered only about a fourth of it before we hit the road. We stopped in Baker City for lunch and ice cream. On the way home the traffic was ridiculously bad on the freeway so we took different highways home. Amelia and Jack slept most of the way home so missed our daring adventure driving these super backgrounds along farm field and wind turbines.
The whole day was quite the adventure that I don't think I will ever forget. I hope the kids never forget the amazing sun coronas of the eclipse or the feeling of being witness to God's mighty universe.