Catch up time again!

I know it's been quite a while since I blogged last, so let me try to catch you up on what's been going on around here.

Last Thursday was Rachel's first day of school. This girl was so excited she could hardly be contained! The night before school she picked out which of her new clothes she wanted to wear and helped me make her lunch for the next day. She made sure she had every thing she needed, even double checking her supply list, to make sure she didn't forget anything. She was still in bed, but wide awake when I went to get her up. She got dressed faster than I've ever seen her get dressed! She was dressed and fed and ready to go in all of about 10 minutes, which meant we had more than half an hour before it was time to go to the bus stop! Of course we went down early. Of course the bus was late (first day, plus there's major construction near our house which slows down EVERYTHING). But she didn't look back even once. She was ready to start her day as a first grader! What's better is that she came home even more excited than she was when she left, and was up and dressed before my alarm went off the next day! This girl LOVES school. She likes her teacher, she has friends in her class, and she loves going all day long and eating lunch at school. There isn't anything she doesn't like about it!

I tried to post a picture of Rachel on her first day, but it's not allowing me to post it. But if you want to see it, check here: http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/lizzybb/rachelschool.jpg

While Rachel was at school, it was time for me to start processing my peaches (pears should be later today, so more to come on that). I don't know why, but this crop of peaches was harder to process than others I've done. Usually I can soak the peaches in hot tap water in my sink and the skin peels off pretty easily. Not this time. I had to cut away much more than I wanted to and it took much longer than I remember it ever taking before. It was frustrating and my back ached terribly by the time I was done, but when I got up the next morning and saw that all 42 quarts of peaches had sealed, I was thrilled! 75 pounds of peaches is a lot to do in a day, but it is so worth the effort it takes. Plus my very kind husband helped with my last box after kids were in bed. Thanks Babe!

Scott had Monday off, and instead of just sitting around the house like we would normally do, we decided to actually do something fun as a family! We got up and packed a picnic lunch then made the long drive out to Sequim. Yes, Sequim. We took a slight detour to look at Troll Haven, a couple of houses made to look like a castle and other medieval buildings with lots of carvings of trolls (we forgot our camera so we don't really have pictures to share). Then we stopped at a little country store that has really great produce and interesting foods. Scott goes there for a ginger ale that is so strong I can't even drink it. They also have local flavored honeys, lots of organic foods, and lots of small brand (often local) foods. You're not going to fing Nabisco or Kraft in this store. They also have samples of some of the fruits in season. I got to try a kind of melon I'd never even heard of before, and Scott tried some golden honeydew. It's remarkably busy, but I totally understand why. We had fun just walking up and down each aisle looking at everything. We did get a few things from their bulk department. My choice was dried cantaloupe slices. YUM!! They're sweeter than candy and oh so good! Rachel wanted some raspberry flavored yogurt covered pretzels. We haven't tried them yet, but they sure do smell good! We got some more ordinary things as well, then head off to our real destination of the day. We drove down to Dungeness Spit. I knew the walk down to the lighthouse was probably more than my kids would want to do, but I thought it would be a fun place to go. Just out of curiosity, anyone remember just how far of a hike it is to the lighthouse?? Anyway, when we got there, our sun seemed to disappear. The hike down to the beach was fun, but chilly. When we got onto the beach, with the wind off the water, it was downright cold! My kids wrapped themselves in their towels while they ate lunch. They abandoned them soon after though so they could go play. There was a little fort made out of driftwood that someone had started to build that my kids played in. Rachel spent most of her time trying to make it better, looking for more sticks to plug up the holes. Tyler found some driftwood clumped together that he said was a spaceship. I got to climb up and be the look out for aliens and asteroids! Rebecca just ran around, doing everything and seeing all she could. Sometimes she would be helping Rachel, sometimes playing with Tyler, sometimes just doing her own thing. We walked long pieces of driftwood pretending they were balance beams, Rachel found a stick that looked just like a sword (and gave it to Tyler!), and they tried to build a sandcastle, but we didn't have any buckets (oversight on my part). We were told we couldn't take our frisbee or kites down to the water because it is a wild life preserve, so that particular activity was out. It was high tide so there wasn't much beach to play on, but my kids still had a blast. They definitely want to go back to the beach again. But next time we'll check the tide chart and take jackets. After a couple hours on the beach, we went a little farther west up to Port Angeles where we met a friend for a quick dinner at McDonalds. They had a pretty cool play area, so my kids played some more, running around like they hadn't just spent hours at the beach! Overall it was an exhausting, but VERY fun day.

Scott did manage to get a picture with his camera, but again it's not loading. Here's the link: http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/lizzybb/spit.jpg

Today is Tyler's first day of school. He was up even before Rachel this morning! He's in afternoon kindergarten, so being up early isn't actually necessary for him, but he was up anyway! The moment Rachel left for the bus, he started asking me when was it HIS turn to go to the bus stop. I told him we had a few hours, but that didn't mean anything to him. I told him it would be after lunch, but that just got him asking if it was lunch time. I told him what time on the clock it would be when it was lunch time, but he kept saying we missed the time and we were late! Finally I just set a timer and told him when the timer went off it would be time to make lunch. Then after lunch we would do his spiky hair and take a couple pictures and then, finally, it would be time to go to his bus stop. He ran out the door so fast, he ran right past our neighbors without even knowing they were there! He was down to the bus stop before I was even down the stairs! His excitement definitely matched Rachel's. I can't wait to see how his first day went.

I know Scott and I really talk up school to our kids, but even I am amazed at just how excited they get over it. I really hope this excitement continues throughout their entire education. As a parent, it makes me so happy.

Fizzy Joys: dried cantaloupe, cozy blankets, old friends, tylenol, blogs, school starting, the sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing a large project, fresh peaches and pears, books that can be read in a day, surprise good mail, afternoon church, good advice.