Bad Bloggee

It's been over a week since I've posted. I've just been procrastinating. That's all. There haven't been major outings or events to post about. Here's what our family has been up to...


Josh had his final band concert for this year. I couldn't find my camera anywhere and was running late so no pictures or videos from the concert but this is just after we got home.


Carley had another dance "show". It's the last for the Spring season. Summer sessions aren't long enough to invite the parents to see the final class but there will be more in Fall. She's in Level III now and doesn't find the steps as easy to grasp. It's a challenge for her.




The weather has warmed up considerably so I've taken the kids swimming a few times over at my friends', Wendy and Chris, pool. This weekend has a mid-80s forcast and I'm looking forward to a little relief from the heat.



Our container garden seems to be healthy and happy. We have about one strawberry a day now. It's not much but it makes the kids very happy to pick and eat something we grew together. I can't wait until the tomatoes are ripe.




Carley has been on her dad about building a bird house together. I have no idea where she came up with the idea but after a month of begging they finally built it. Granted it was mostly Walt but Carley was so excited when it was done. She was dying to paint it. I'm not sure if she'll get around to it.


My friend, Amber, who moved away to North Carolina a few years ago was out for a visit over Memorial Weekend without her kids. I spent most of my time hanging out with Wendy, Amber, and Amber's sister, Cai. Occasionally we had the kids around like here at their school playground.


While in the mountains with girlfriends, I got to play around with a slow shutter speed on the river. I didn't have my tripod or remote but I made do without them. I'm hoping I'll get back up there before the river is too low. So pretty.

... and there you go.

Open House

May has been booked up with school something or another. That's how the end of the school year goes I guess.

Tonight it was open house at Josh and Carley's school.



It was Carley's first open house. She was very excited to show off her work to her daddy who had never been to her classroom before. At least not when it was her classroom. Josh had the same teacher in Kindergarten.


I help once a week in each of their classrooms so I am very familiar with the projects they have done and the friends they have. Walt really enjoyed seeing everything they've accomplished during this school year.


This is Josh's last year in the lower grades. Next year is 4th grade and he'll have a different recess and lunch time than Carley. Not that they have the same anything now. They never will during elementary school. At least next year they'll both have the same drop off and pick up times. That will be a relief to me.


Boy he's grown up so much. We stopped in his Kindergarten class (obviously. I said it was Carley's teacher.) and his 1st grade class. Both teachers commented on how much he's grown. Of course that's what happens between Kindregarten and 3rd grade but I really realized when I heard it from teachers that haven't seen him for a while.

Just a few years from now I'll be thinking the same thing about Carley.

Time flies.

School Project

Josh had to do a report and diorama on an endangered species. He picked the Chimpanzee. We learned lots of neat information about them and why they're endangered. The project is due today and the kids had about a month to complete it. Josh started way back when but then slacked off so there was the last minute crunch.


This is what my table looks like when something like a project due causes all other business to come to a screeching halt. I won't show you what the kitchen counters look like.


Most of what is on the table is diorama stuff. He had a fun time putting that together. I helped by printing the background picture at the right size and using the glue gun. Josh learned the hard way that the glue is hot. I showed him how to quickly get it off the fingers before a blister starts. What a good mom, huh?


He drew a chimpanzee for the cover and the diorama came out pretty good. Phew. Done.

Boy, the end of the year can be exhausting.

Another Field Trip

Josh's grade went on a field trip to the Maidu Interpretive Center to learn about Native Americans that lived in this area hundreds of years ago.



There was an hour tour through a nature trail. We learned about various plants they used and saw petroglyphs and grinding stones.


There were examples of their huts.




This is a horsetail plant. The skin of it is very abrasive.


We learned about the grinding stones.


We got to hang out under a fig tree near a creek. The fig tree wasn't around when the Maidu were but it provided us field trippers some nice shade from the hot sun.

After the nature trail and a lunch break, we toured the inside of the Maidu Center. There were old artifacts and loads of information.




The kids got to make bead bracelets with colors that the Maidu used.

I found it to be a very interesting field trip with loads of information. The kids seemed to get restless and roudy a couple hours in. We were all wiped out by the time we were headed back to the school.

Mother's Day Hike

Lately I've started feeling a little claustrophobic in this suburban town so for Mother's Day I suggested that we go for a hike and the family was on board.


We went to Bridgeport State Park on the south fork of the Yuba River, which is about 90 minutes from our house. The main attraction there is an old covered bridge, 251 feet long, built in 1862. It is one of the longest covered bridges still standing in the United States. How's that for a history lesson?






It was a toll bridge back in the day.



We looked around the bridge and then hiked a ways down the trail. After taking a break by the river, Carley decided it was time to head back because her legs had had it.






Unfortuanately that kept us from finishing the loop but it gave us time to check out the self-tour of the grounds and check out the visitor's center.


Josh is fabulous at posing for me.


He will do almost anything I tell him. I asked him to sit on this old rock steps which used to lead to a greenhouse.


This, on the other hand, is how Carley poses. She was already sitting on the steps and I tried to grab a shot of her. Instead of a smile she just rolled her eyes.


This photo is taken from the bridge currently used for cars.


If you look closely you can see Josh, Carley and Walt in each window opening.


Here are wildflowers we saw along our hike. I don't know the name of any except the California Poppy. I just learned last week that it's illegal to pick the California Poppy. Not that I ever have but I thought it was interesting that's illegal and apparently I'm the only Californian adult to not already know that.

It turned out to be a great day together as a family.

Ghetto Pool

Carley, who has been aching to go swimming, made her own pool in the backyard a few weeks ago.


It's a plastic storage box that somehow ended up in the backyard and eventually she filled with water.


She will sit in this thing for hours.


Okay, maybe not hours but it occupies her for a long period of time.


Coming home from the hot park today, she even mentioned how she should fill her box so she could cool down.


Aaah. The simplicity of childhood.

Field Trip

It's the end of the school year and time is moving at warp speed. There was the Carnival on the 1st, both Josh and Carley have field trips, there will be a band concert, award ceremony. Only four weeks of school left and then it will be (hopefully) lots of rest and relaxation over the summer.

Carley had her first field trip with the kindergartners this week and it was her first time ever riding on a school bus. In fact, it was the first time I've ridden on a school bus since I played sports when I was 16. The seats seem a lot smaller than I remember.


There were so many parents that I only had two kids in my group. Carley and her classmate, Lindsy.

We went to the zoo. There isn't much attention span in the five-year-old world so it was really moving quickly from one animal to another.


The chimpanzees held their attentions for a quite a while though. The chimps were pretty active and trying to get snacks out of boxes. The kids were intrigued by the chimpanzee butts too.


Carley is in the middle of the crowd.


The small toys were actually the biggest hit. The whole class lined up to climb on this.


At the end of the zoo tour the whole class got together for a group picture with their teacher, Mrs. Steiger, and student teacher, Mrs. Woodbeck.


After leaving the zoo, we had brown-bag lunch in the park before getting on the bus to head back to the school.

What a fun day.