1st Day of School

Summer went by FAST once it finally got here....and the school year has started.
Wednesday the 24th was the first day!!  Kolby is a 4th grader, Kassidy is a 2nd grader, and Derrick is now a Kindergartener!!!!

I was going to drive them ALL to school on the first day...like I do every year...but the boys really wanted to ride....so we headed down to the bus stop ;)  Then I drove Kassidy to school and still got to be there for the first day of school.


Here it comes 7 a.m.!! 
Derrick has been waiting for this moment for ..well as long as he can remember!!

 Such a big boy!  *tears* for me...he of course was Fine :)

Here are the school kids ...so excited to be at school!!!  Derrick seems to be doing great adjusting to being in school all day- all week!  He does come home a bit tired but plays with his cars and plays with them again in the morning before getting on the bus :)

It has been like the HOTTEST week of the summer....

and so we waited in the hot for the bus with squirt guns ;)

 Here they come!!  they made it through day one!

After a day at school and being so HOT the driveway sure looks Long- which it is- but we all made it ;)

Weekend "Up the River"

After meeting up with Grandpa Boyd and Nana Sharon in Spokane to finish up some school shopping...they took the kids to their house so I could attend an all day CPR/First Aid class.  Then I was able to join them for a couple days ;)  Had a water fight with Aunt Lindsey, Nana, and some other friends....got to hike around on the beach and eat s'mores ;)

 Kids on our beach hike :)  Kolby was being goofy....just incase you couldn't tell:)

 One morning we went Huckleberry Pic'n 

Kids of course ate more than they kept

 The view of the horizon from near our "secret" place ;)

 When the kids and I headed home...it was DEERthirty!!!  Starting near Calder we saw a doe and twin fawns and among some other sitings these twins we saw near Clarkia....and had to slam on the breaks.....must be a twin year ...Oh yeah we even saw a cow..."moo cow" that is ;)

Chickens Chickens

Here's our 14 little chicks that are going on 2 months old

Our big "chicks" in their outside pen...using the ramp the kids helped make ;)

Chicken House Project

Well after weekends, some days and evenings here and there all summer long- the New Chicken Coop/House is done.  O.K. back-up....some people might wonder why we needed a new chicken house...the one we had was small but functional...Well...we had around 14 chickens (some have passed since) but anyway...Tom decided that we weren't getting enough eggs for the amount of hens we had...so this spring he ordered some chicks...and a nice lady he knows kept them for us with hers since she had a warm place to keep the chicks....and early this summer we brought them home.  We gave some to a friend and so we had a total of 26.....so we were going to need a NEW chick house. 

So what we thought would be a fairly quick couple weekend project...turned into way more...but it is now Done --for the most part ;)

2 walls and a roof...only need the other 2 walls ;)

 Working on the roof

 North side with flap door for retrieving the eggs

 West side

 South side

 East Side with door (still need step) and another egg getting door

 Chicken moving night...Tom had to show them the roosts...they weren't sure what to think of their more spacious dwelling...with an actual roosting area ;)  They like it now though!

The best chicken muck'n boots ever--aren't they superb!!

Thanks Dad & Mom for the b-day present ;)

Heather's Birthday

After Tom's birthday in June and ALL my July kid's birthdays....then it's mine:)

We were still camping on my birthday...Tom and the kids cooked me breakfast and let me have the first pancake :)

They gave me cards and kept telling me happy birthday all day.  They even gave me a present at camp...a much needed curling iron!!! (the one I really liked died on me last fall while on our trip to Belize)  Anyway...I had to laugh...cause here we were camping and I got a curling iron ;)  I've been using it ever since we got back home!!!

We packed up and headed home...after looking at a map, we decided to go home through the mountains a different way...well we only got kinda lost on some high mountain roads...but it just allowed the kids to nap a bit longer ;) It was HOT like 92 up high!! and VERY DUSTY!!! We stoped by a creek near the Emerald Creek Garnet area for a lunch break and to cool off in the creek.



Look at that dust!!

Tom continued my no cooking day by BBQing hot dogs while we played in the creek ;)

Kids looking for garnets

If I remember right garnets are only found around here in Idaho and in like Africa!

Pretty neat to see all the purple garnet "sand"  Tom said wouldn't that be cool in a sandbox!!

My Big Garnet Find ;)

Tom's Big Gold Find...it sure looks like a flake of Gold!! Maybe ;)

Here's our loot we found

These rocks were cool- the garnets are imbedded in them

We got home, and being my birthday Tom was so nice to let me to take the first shower while the kids and him unloaded all the camping stuff!! Then they all showered and took baths and we headed to town for dinner at Shari's.

And of course--Dessert!!  A turtle sundae is what I picked....YUM...I should of just had that for dinner...It was huge ;) 

Kolby's picture of Shari's to end the night.

Thanks to my family for the wonderful day!!

Camping at Laird Park

July 26-29 we went camping at Laird Park...about 40 minutes away from our house ;)  The kids had fun riding miles of circles around "the loop" with some camping neighbor girls. Kolby had fun jumping off the little bridge that was there into the water.  We went on a drive to find a Look Out...never quite made it ..but cut a bit of firewood and found mostly green huckleberries...kids found only a few ripe to eat ;)  They had fun hiking around in the Palouse River that was right next to our camp spot. Smokey had fun in the "Dog Swim Park" fetching a lot of sticks in the water ;)  Kassidy lost another tooth and the tooth fairy found us camping!!  Derrick got the extra confidence he needed riding with no training wheels..and he was keeping right up with all the "big kids"!!
Kolby's bike tire popped one night...so Tom ran back home early the next morning (since we were so close) and brought back another bike we had at home ;)  It was a fun trip!

Random July Pictures

The kids were signed up for the Summer Reading Program at the library.

On the last day of the program, they held a drawing at the party and everyone there got a prize...well Kassidy received the Grand Prize...a scooter...she's pretty excited!

 I love this purple clematis!!!

 Some strawberries from the garden :)

 Clara being silly

Kolby on a scooter...not Kassidy's....after Kassidy won one...wow we has some sharing issues!!  But after lots of talking and researching...we found out they were on sale at Shopko and that he had enough money to buy it himself....so we were in Lewiston and the kids got to shop with birthday money and Kolby proudly made his first Major purchase! ;) 

Yep, it has the cool feature of sparking!!  And as of now he still brings it in most nights and keeps it in his room...pretty funny ;)

Kolby took this photo of the farmers haying on the hill across the highway from us.