From 9-3 everyday this past week Sister’s been at horse camp.

The instructors were great. 

The facility was top notch.

The horses had the best dispositions. 

She had a blast.

Throughout the week the campers not only had a chance to ride but they also learned about all sorts of “horse-y” things (parts of horse, types of bits, names of equipment, how to groom a horse, etc.)

Today the girls put on a little show for the parents.  Besides being the youngest, Sister was the only one who hadn’t taken any lessons before camp started.  I was really proud of how hard she worked to catch up.

( I’m not that great with the video setting on my camera but you get the idea.)

On Thursday our local homeschool group met for blackberry picking.  We did not go with them.  We tried but Little Miss Wake-Up-Every-Hour-Of-The-Night made for a grumpy and not very together Mom Thursday morning.  Also, Dad works from home on Thursdays and tends to make breakfast for everyone to eat … together.  He cooks an awesome meandering sort of breakfast that’s great for drinking coffee and having conversation ~not so great for getting three kids out of the house.  Sometime around 8:30 we realized that berry picking needed to be taken off the day’s agenda but that was okay because just talking about it made Dad jealous of all the fun we were going to have and consequently we planned our own family outing for Saturday.

We loaded up a little after 8 and headed to a nearby doughnut shop for nourishment.  What? You don’t consider doughnuts nourishing?  Anyway, we arrived at the blackberry farm high on sugar and ready to pick.

Does your library do a Summer Reading Program?  Ours does and we love it.  Today especially we loved it because after braving torrential rains and being too late to attend the overly full first show we got into the nearly empty second show and because of that (probably) Sister got chosen as a helper from the audience and this happened.

Sister is a cat lover to the core even so she didn’t seem to mind too much about being part of a dog show.

Sister, at eight, knows the truth.  Brother, at five, still believes.  Dora, at 5 months, remains undecided.  To mollify Brother and allow Dora a chance at decision we made the annual obligatory trek to see the big guy.  But this year, we were smart.  This year no waiting hours in line at the mall for us.  Oh, no.  This year we’d go the Bass Pro’s Winter Wonderland where they hand out passes and you get to walk around the store instead of standing in line. Then when it’s your time you walk straight into ye ol’ Wonderland, see Santa, and walk away happy …. at least in theory.

We arrived at 3pm and stood in line to receive our pass surrounded by the madness that is Christmas shopping on a Saturday.  I almost hyperventilated from the activity.  We homeschoolers tend to go places when there are no crowds.  You know - when everyone else is in school.  All that hustle and bustle made me want to run and hide but Will gave me a paper bag (not really) and had me do some yoga breathing (not really) and within a few minutes I was back to normal (not really).

Here’s Brother with our pass by the way.  Did I mention we arrived at 3:00?  Um, yeah.

Fortunately there were activities to occupy the time.

Reindeer candy canes, anyone?  (This staffer was actually bursting with enthusiasm but I asked if she could please stop with the effusive smiling already as it was distracting attention from my cutie of a child.)

Baby candy cane, anyone? (Couldn’t get this guy to stop smiling no matter what I said.)

And then the children got eaten by a bear.

(not really)

Eventually we made it back to the North Pole and stood in line 30 minutes (um, yeah) where Dora who had been awake and happy since we arrived fell asleep on my shoulder.  Let me just say that handing a sleeping baby over to Santa is a precarious endeavor.

In the end all was well.  Though Dora is still undecided. … Guess that means we’ll be going back next year.

*this post backdated for chronological reasons

A tour and ice cream ~ what could be better?

When Brother saw the pictures from Sister’s fishing adventure he wanted a turn of his own.  A couple of weeks later in weather several degrees hotter he got his chance.

No fish were caught but there are rumors of ice cream afterwards.

Who knows how this sort of thing gets started?  An innocent little picture taken at the zoo the day before Sister’s birth

and another taken in the same spot 11 days before Brother arrived

means that, of course, we must make a zoo trip in the heat of mid-June to capture this baby’s coming for posterity.

Is it just me or does the current “37 wk” belly look equally as large as the two “past due” bellies from above?

Oh, and we looked at some animals while we were there too.

but mostly we just came for this…

Friday, June 5^th

Today I rode home with Brother and his sister and their mom. We had supper and went to bed a little early because Brother’s mom says we have a big day tomorrow.

Saturday, June 6

This morning we traveled to Bartlesville for an outdoor festival called SunFest. First we got to jump on some cool blow-up toys.

Then we played games like toss the bean-bag and knock over the cans. At one booth Brother decorated a cookie for me. It was really yummy because he used LOTS of frosting.

Later we watched some dogs catching Frisbees and doing special tricks. That was cool because all of the dogs had been rescued from shelters and now they were famous for their catching skills. I guess you can teach old dogs new tricks. Also, I found out why they call it SUNfest. When we got home Brother’s dad covered our burns with cool washcloths and that helped a lot. His mom also told us we could use apple cider vinegar on the washcloths instead of water but Brother and I thought that sounded yucky so we just used the water.

Tuesday, June 9

Today we went to with Brother’s mom to see her midwife. A midwife is a lady who helps mom’s to have their babies. Brother’s mom is going to have a baby in July though she says it might be earlier or it might be later. You just never know with babies. Whenever it is time, the midwife will come to Brother’s house and the baby will be born there instead of in a hospital. Brother and his sister will even be able to see the baby born if they want to!

At the appointment, the midwife checked Brother’s mom’s pulse and blood pressure just like a regular doctor would. She also listened to the baby’s heartbeat with a special tool called a Doppler. The heartbeat sounded very fast to me but the midwife said it was normal because baby hearts beat faster than grown-up hearts. After that the midwife started pushing around on Brother’s mom’s belly. When I asked her what she was doing she said feeling the baby’s position. She showed me how you could feel where the baby’s head or bottom was and that one especially pokey part was a little foot.

Wednesday, June 10

We visited Brother’s grandma today. His cousin E. was there. She will turn three this month. It was very hot so Brother and E. and I got into our swimsuits and Brother’s grandma sprayed us with the water hose. Then she used the hose to make a water slide on the swingset. It was much faster than a regular slide and once I almost fell in the mud at the bottom.

After we got cleaned up and had lunch, we drove over to the library for Lego club. Lego’s are one of Brother’s most favorite things in the world. At the library we found out that there was a rock concert in the same building so after we played Lego’s for a while we walked over to see it. There was a big dinosaur on stage playing the drums. He was really good. There was also a man playing guitars and singing. Most of the kids were up at the front dancing but Brother and I just danced near our seats. At one point in the show, the dinosaur (Thaddeus Rex) ran through the audience and shook hands with a lot of the people. When he got close to us he shook Brother’s hand; then he went over to Brother’s grandma and PUT HIS MOUTH ON HER HEAD! I know you shouldn’t laugh at people but it was so funny that Brother and I both laughed and laughed. We had never seen a dinosaur try to eat a grandma before.

Thursday, June 11

Brother’s sister, Sister has been going to Horse Riding Camp all week long. This was her last day so family and guests were invited to come watch her ride. When we got there Sister and some of the other campers were washing one of the horses. They had painted the horse just like Indians might have done before battle but since they weren’t planning on going into battle anytime soon they also had to wash the paint off.

Before we watched Sister ride, Brother took me through to the barn to see some of the other horses. Most of them were very big but then we found one I thought was just my size. …. UNTIL it tried to eat me. Fortunately, Brother saved me. I thought maybe this happened because of how I laughed at Brother’s grandma yesterday but Brother’s mom said it was probably just a coincidence.

Friday, June 12

We spent this morning at the house. It was very stormy outside and Brother’s mom thought it might start to hail so she ran out in the rain and drove her car into the garage. Then we all sat down on the couch to read a chapter from a book called Henry Huggins. It was a very good story about a boy who finds a stray dog. He names him Ribsy. In the chapter we were reading Henry enters his dog in a contest. Because he wants the dog to look nice Henry sprinkles Ribsy with talcum powder except it isn’t white powder. It is pink! Just as Henry was about to show his pink dog to the judges we heard a loud CRACK! from outside. It was so loud we all jumped. Brother and Sister and I ran to the window and saw that the wind had blown down part of a large tree in front of Brother’s house. It was a good thing his mom moved her van because the tree limb was laying in the driveway right where it had been parked.

Later that afternoon, Brother’s mom and dad had to go to a meeting to sell their old house so Brother’s grandma came to stay with us. We did lots of stuff but one thing we did was read a chapter from the book Homer Price. It was about a doughnut machine that keeps making doughnuts and won’t stop. It was a funny story. When Brother’s parents got back they had a plan to put up the swimming pool for the summer. We worked all evening on getting it set up and filled and then we discovered A LEAK!

I think it was frustrating to Brother’s dad but we kids had fun anyway because we still got to swim for a while.

Saturday, June 13

This morning when Brother and I woke up the first thing we thought about was the story of Homer Price and the doughnut machine. We told Brother’s mom about it and she said that sounded yummy and maybe WE should have doughnuts for breakfast. Of course this was what Brother and I wanted her to think but we didn’t say that because sometimes it’s best to let grownups think that they come with ideas all by themselves. When we got to the doughnut shop Brother got a chocolate one with rainbow sprinkles for us to share.

Wednesday, June 17

Finally, the pool is really ready to swim in.  After Brother’s dad found the leak on Friday, he had to empty the pool AND let it dry out.  This took a long time because when the pool was finally empty it started raining.  Eventually, everything did get dry and we put a patch on the leak.  Then the patch had to seal overnight.  Once the patch was sealed we filled the pool AGAIN and it took most of the day.  But even then we could not swim in it.  Brother’s pool has a saltwater filter.  That means that you put salt in the pool and let it dissolve. Then you turn on the filter and it turns the salt into chlorine.  This is cool because even though it is chlorine and will keep the pool clean it is not as harsh as regular chlorine and it doesn’t hurt your eyes.  It is also not cool because it takes a long time for the filter to generate the chlorine for the first time. When it was finally finished, we swam for about an hour but then we had to go inside and get ready for bed because tomorrow we are going on a field trip!

Thursday, June 18

This morning we met up with some friends and traveled to Bartlesville to see a bird show by the Sutton Avian Research Center.  It was awesome!  The birds flew right over our heads and one of them even touch Sister on the cheek.  Even people who don’t know about the Sutton Center have probably heard about the work they do.  For example it was the people at the Center who invented programs to keep the Bald Eagle from becoming extinct.  They have lots of information about birds on their website (www.suttoncenter.org).

After the bird show we found a spot downtown to have a picnic lunch and after that we went to the Phillips 66 museum.  Actually, I got lost in Brother’s mom’s purse so I didn’t go to the museum but Brother said it was really neat.  It tells a lot about the history of the Phillips Petroleum Company.  Also, they have a biplane INSIDE the building which is really cool.

Brother’s mom found me just in time for the next event - a science show.  A man from the Tulsa Air and Space Museum showed us all sorts of experiments with water and air and even electricity.  Did you know that you could make water boil just by removing the air around it?  Pretty cool, huh?

Tomorrow I will go home to be with my own family but I had a great time with Brother and think that I’d like to come back again someday.

***Don’t know who Flat Stanley is??  Look here.

*obviously from May … not certain why I’m only now getting around to posting it.

Because I will probably not want to travel after this month and because Memorial Day adds an extra bit to the weekend, we drove across the state to spend some time with the in-laws.  As usual we weren’t the only ones and, as usual, I met at least one relative whom I’d never met before.  After 10 years you’d think I’d be getting to the end of them, but no.

There was much thoughtful (and not so thoughtful) conversation.

Smiles galore.

And my 7 yr old daughter turned 16 … except for her knees which remained 7.

Random dog that I like.

After we left Grandma Mary’s to travel back east we stopped here.  Because there is nothing better to do when you are 30 some weeks pregnant than “mountain” climbing.

A little FYI - there are no potties at the top of these mountains so maybe not the wisest destination choice for a pregnant woman. ….. I’m just sayin’.

After the mountains and another 2+ hours of driving we arrived home where more than one of us looked like this.

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This week Grandma is in Morocco.  Can you say that, class?  M-O-R-O-C-C-O  She got there via Chicago, Madrid and Barcelona.  She’ll be there for a week visiting with the Moroccan government and several Islam officials regarding the refugees in the Western Sahara.  That’s the Sahara desert.  She’ll return via Casablanca, Madrid and Washington D.C.

Geography is so much more interesting when it’s relevant.  Don’t you think?

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