And the winner is . . .

Bet you thought I would be announcing the blogiversary winner next year . . . . Well it has been really slow around here lately. The kids were sick, then us, now Ian has an ear infection. I have been cleaning out things and organizing remaining things (for a healthy home and/or a possible move), in addition to everyday cleaning and organizing. All that to say that there has not been much time to sit down and blog. Anyway, congratulations Renee on winning. I will get to you some of my favorite things

Back to the Vacation

Here are some more pictures from our trip. These big horn sheep were hard to spot but once found were incredible to watch. It was so quiet that we could hear their hoofs on the rocks.

Another highway sightseer stooped near us. They were very generous in sharing their high power equipment.

The kids were amazed how close up they could see them.

Here was another lesson along the road. We found a Great Horned Owl who was unfortunately hit by a car or something. With sticks and such we examined this great find.

Check out its talons! We could easily how powerful they were. But the fuzzy feat amazed us all. When we got back to our condo, we googled "great horned owl" and were able to learn so much. We even were able to listen to various owl calls. VERY FUN!

We have had many of our friends on our mind lately:



Please be praying for us. Specifically to have the strength to do God's will. Do we stay with his currently employer for job security and change locations for a while or go on the union books for a different employer and stay here. Either way both seem a little scary to me....

Blogiversary

It's been 1 year. I have read some other blogiversaries or give aways and would love to give it a try. Humor me.... I will get a few gift cards from my favorite places and send them to the name pulled from the hat. Please let me know :
1. how long you have read this blog
2. how did you find it
3. why you read it
Those are somethings I have always wondered. Simple short answers are perfect.

The purpose

We interrupt this vacation to bring you breaking news:
The children were dedicated on Valentines day! I was so excited. It was more of a parent commitment than anything else. I was the one to make the promises. This video is for all the family and friends that could not make it. Thank you to the Canfield's, Slocums, Aunt Stef and Nic who stood with us (down in front of the stage).

Day What?

Ok, I have a hard time knowing what day it is normally but I am beginning to feel a bit like a nomad and that somehow makes it worse. We had to switch hotels in Leavenworth only to leave to go to Chelan for a night, to return to Leavenworth for the work week. That's ok. I have always wanted to come to Chelan. Though in my dreams it was always warmer than this:

We did get a chance to see the Wenatchee Pioneer Museum on Friday before we left. Way Cool!!! The kids want to go back and take daddy. We had the whole place to ourselves. We were given a paper with questions to answer on one side and pictures of things to find on the other. They were way to excited to participate much in it. Everett quickly observed one exhibit only to move on to the next with Isobel right behind him. They loved it.




















Here they are holding up an 1900's bank

The sign entering Wenatchee claims "Apple Capital of the World". This is a partial wall entirely covered with old apple box labels.



Evie did slow down at times to fill in some of the answers. Here he is recording the date the Eight Mile Tunnel was finished: January 12 1929 to a tune of $14 MILLION. I guess my friend is right. Learning in a fun way helps you retain and make real information





These are for my parents. Thanks moma and papa. Our trip has been great!
This was such a fun place to visit. It has encouraged me to check out other museums in other towns near our home. I think the kids would like it too since "Are there any museums or libraries around?" was the question they asked the front desk when we checked in today. I love that!

Days Four and Five

A little cabin fever today. Not much to comment on today. I will have to fill you in on day four another time. It is finally quiet here, Ian is home, so I am off to be with him! Here is a beautiful kid in a beautiful place. Ironically, coconuts was the only thing to make smile. More about that too later.

Days Two and Three

As you can tell, Everett is felling better now. A friend commented long ago that her boys are incapable of just walking. They must reach some higher point may it be a small retaining wall, the "curb" like step in Costco's refrigeration section or the slight hill along a path. Clearly Everett has the same ideas. It was just a short walk to the trolley stop. Everett insisted on climbing and scaling his way there over the large piles of snow due to clearing parking lots . . . his sister soon to follow his example. Never mind that I was easily walking just below them on the cleared concrete.
I love this picture! The trip was fun too. We went from our end of this little town to the other. Our driver became our personal guide as he told us all he could as we past important places. Isobel fell asleep during part of it. Imagine that. All warm, bundled on a easy going trolley at about 2:30 in the afternoon.... Good thing the library was our only stop. And that she would not miss!


Today we did some new math. We worked on some addition. We were able to "borrow" (not check out) this book from the local library. Following the story and some very cool Ben Franklin facts, was a magic square and its explanation. Everett immediately wanted to try it out. Here we are for the next while playing with our math cubes to make the sum of 15 in every direction.

Here is the exact reason we did not bring any other toys with us. They were beyond content to work together pouring hot and cold water into their snow pit "just to see what happens". I think that is called science . . . .

One more science experiment we just had to do was dropping an ice cube into hot chocolate. I (we) think it was a fun day at school.