Ryder Bike

How to Make Our Gingerbread House

2009-12-05T08:05:00.000-08:00

Graham Crackers are easy to cut with a serrated knife. Use frosting made of powdered sugar and water (not too wet though) as glue. Decorate with lots of candy! This year I made a train instead of a house and my brothers made the houses.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T09:30:00.001-08:00

Billy Hooten Owl Boy Thanks so much for you guys, and Ryder, for sharing this with me. With all the cool things out there that somebody could be for Halloween, and they chose a character that I created, it's an honor Tom Sniegoski, author
Wolverine
Supertoddler
The Dopp boys 2009!

Billy Hooten's Owl Boy

2009-10-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

These are my favorite books. I've read all four. If you like comic books, then you'd love these chapter books. This morning I wrote an e-mail to the author. This is what he wrote back:

Hey Ryder,

Thanks for the awesome letter . . . and I'm really glad that you're enjoying the Owlboy books that I wrote. As of right now, there are only four in the series. Have you read all four?

1. Billy Hooten: Owlboy

2. Billy Hooten: Owlboy - The Girl With the Destructo Touch

3. Billy Hooten: Owlboy - Tremble At The Terror of Zis-Boom-Bah

4. Billy Hooten: Owlboy - The Flock of Fury

That's it for right now. Maybe I'll be writing some more in the future, but as of right now, there will only be four books.

Thanks for the email.

Best,
Tom Sniegoski

P.S. Just got another note from the author that he's sending me an autographed copy of his book!
Check out an interview with the author here: http://www.sniegoski.com/owlboy/owlauthor.html

D-day Fish Hatchery

2009-10-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

Always fun. Every year is different. Coho salmon run - each one of those fish is worth about $300 at New Seasons.

Herman the Sturgeon.

Collaboration

2009-10-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

A mother/son school bus collaboration. He drew it, I painted it.

Painting

2009-09-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

I just painted this for our school bus.

Dragon Fruit

2009-09-21T17:04:00.000-07:00

Looks like a flower to me.
Weird!
Yummy with a little sugar on it.

Rainy Days in a School Bus.

2009-09-18T23:14:00.000-07:00

Bored in the School bus. This is what you do...

International Food Tour

2009-09-14T13:38:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we decided to buy something different at our Food store every week. Phelan and I get to pick out the item. There are three international aisles in our grocery store. There is an Asian, Mexican and Russian aisle. My Mom said that when she was a little kid her Mom would take her to Mexican bakeries and dim sum restaurants in San Francisco. She remembers steamed bean buns, powdered wedding cookies and piroulines.

Russian cereal - we haven't tried it yet. UPDATE - NOT GOOD!

We decided this tastes like chocolate soda but Papa says it's made with chocolate malted barley. It's very popular at our store.

These cracker/cookies are good but kind of really crunchy. We bought them a second time.

Summer 2009 Creston Pool

2009-09-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

Phelan went from not getting in the water to this in four sessions. When you're ready, you're ready!

Newest Community Member

2009-08-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

Baby Jane was born on Monday. Her name is Jane Luella Junkert. She's in our community group. The first girl born in our community group. We have nine boys and now, one girl.

Ryder's Blackberry Crisp

2009-08-24T23:29:00.000-07:00

Ryder made a blackberry crip from beginning to end. He picked all of them, mixed the ingredients (and I made him double the recipe to boot), baked, served and ate most of the crisp all by himself. It was a good day!

Powell Butte Tree Climbing

2009-08-18T14:50:00.000-07:00

Earth Club 2009

2009-08-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

This is our Earth Club Garden. We plan to give away the plants when they're big enough. Remember our motto - plant a garden, ride a bike, recycle!

Camp 2009

2009-08-17T09:19:00.000-07:00

When I left for Camp Namanu on the bus, we got off and went down a staircase. It was super big. It had maybe a hundred steps. It felt cold, colder than home. First we went to our cabin. They were really new with nice wood. They had no paint. There were only three boys and three bunks. We all got a top bunk. At first I was a little nervous about being there for a whole entire week. By the next morning, I wasn’t nervous because I had met the kids I was going to live with for the week. They were really nice. Their names were Wyatt and Thadius. Wyatt was in the bunk right next to mine. He was really funny and liked telling jokes. Wyatt was smaller than me but says he was nine. Thadius lived on the bunk in the far corner. He had brown hair and liked playing card games like Uno and Go Fish. I liked both of them. They were my best friends there. I played with them everyday

The next place we go to is the cafeteria where CITs are singing outside. If the bell rings once, all of the counselors would go inside. If the bell rings two times, we would line up in the straightest line we could and the CITs singing would pick the best line to enter first. Once we enter, we can sit at any table we want to. The camp is so big, there is usually about twenty tables. I would usually sit with Thadius and Wyatt but sometimes I would just sit with other kids so I could meet them. My favorite meal there was pancakes and waffles for breakfast. We would also have mac and cheese & spaghett. On the first day for dinner, we had a cookout with hamburgers and hot dogs in the meadow, down the hill from the cafeteria. On the last night for dinner we had a Thanksgiving meal and a big party. Ranch, which is for older kids came for the dinner as well. The entire Camp Namanu came. For dessert we had cake with candles and they turned out all the lights. There are activities that we do all day. There is a duck pond which is where we go duck pond boating. I think that was my favorite activity we did. The duck pond is just a small pond next to Meadow. It’s really murky and there are lots of ducks in it. We would paddle around for half an hour and it was really fun to avoid the branches like an obstacle course.
I also really liked doing candles. There were ice candles, crayon candles and dip candles. I made an ice candle. What you do is you put ice in a milk carton, pour different colored wax in it. When the wax hardens, the ice melts away and leaves hollow parts in the candle. It looks really cool. Dip candles where you dip a string into different colored wax and it makes kind of like a ball. You can put different colored wax on it and I even saw someone poking crayons in it. Crayon candles were different. You put crayons in a cup and then pour wax over it. When you lit the candle, you could see the crayons inside the candle.
Leaving was really fun because my parents came and I got to show them around. I showed them the treehouses. When you get older, you get to be in Ballagan where you sleep in treehouses. I had a fun time showing my family those treehouses. I also showed them the wishing rock. Camp Namanu’s favorite rock. Nobody knows how it got there. Lots of wishes have come true from there. Here’s how you make a wish. You put your hand on the rock, close your eyes and circle the rock three times, then sit on it and make a wish. Then we hiked back up a trail to meadow, grabbed my stuff and climbed the big staircase and then left. I would love to go back to camp next year.

Camp Namanu

2009-08-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

One week at summer camp! You will be missed little man but Mama and Papa know you are having more fun than you could have imagined.

My Little Brothers

2009-07-29T18:58:00.000-07:00

It was really hot today and this is what my family did in the afternoon. My little brothers are crazy!

Destroy Build Destroy

2009-07-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

I like this show where two teams get something such as a semi-trailer. The other team gets to destroy it. There are three choices. The winner of a coin toss gets to pick how they destroy the other team's vehicle. Such as bazooka, slice and dice, and sometimes dynmite. Once they are destroyed, they have to build something with the leftovers. The one I just watched, they had to build an amphibian car out of a car and a boat on a trailer after it had been blown up. Then they race with the vehicle. The winner gets to destroy the other team's vehicle. They also get $10,000/each.

My team Photos

2009-07-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

This year when the photographer came, he took some underwater pictures. They're really cool!

Dog Bite

2009-07-11T09:24:00.000-07:00

I got bit by a dog at the park while riding my bike. It hurt really bad. I had to go to the doctor because it was so deep.

Tour de France

2009-07-05T18:52:00.000-07:00

Dear Lance,

Good luck. We'll be watching you on TV. You're doing a good job. I cannot think of anything else. Phelan is wearing your bracelet and wants to send you a bike light.

Ryder and Phelan

Now he's in 3rd! OK, now he's in 1st, kinda 1st, kinda 2nd! Go Lance, go.

Summer Life

2009-06-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

Happy 2nd Birthday Casey!

2009-06-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

We spent the day at the zoo with grandparents and Aunts. Casey had a fantastic day - thanks to all!

Earth Club

2009-06-17T19:30:00.000-07:00

If you would like to join our club, please contact my Mom for details (503)772-2823

Omy/Opah Camp

2009-06-17T19:19:00.000-07:00

I made this bed a my grandparents house. I made the quilts myself too. My grandma taught me how to sew. I made a quilt for Casey when he was born. That is how I learned. The sheet is stapled down to the bed. The pillow comes off.

A Tandem just their size

2009-06-14T13:11:00.000-07:00

Phelan's 5th Birthday Party in Canby

2009-06-08T00:23:00.000-07:00

Today Phelan is 5

2009-06-03T16:02:00.000-07:00

Today is Phelan's 5th Birthday and this is what he looks like right now. Happy Birthday! These are Phelan's roses because he was born during the Rose Festival. Pink used to be his favorite color.

Best Friends

2009-05-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

My best friend Maretta and Phelan's best friend Gabe went to the fountains downtown today. Phelan rode his bike 9 miles. We had so much fun. It was fffrrreeeeezing in the water.

Today Photos

2009-05-20T23:53:00.000-07:00

Ryder's Weekly Photos

2009-05-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

The Cob Oven Evolution

2009-05-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

The whole family got to help out...

The cob and final layer

The Bee Hive

Impetigo

2009-05-17T19:22:00.000-07:00

This is why you should use bandaids, and antibiotic ointment, and antibiotic cleanser, and and and... It's called Impetigo (OK, you can get it here in the US as well, but here it is called by a much friendlier name of school sores). Phelan got a mosquito bite that would not go away, ever. This is what they all turned into and spread to the other boys. They turn into blisters that get crusty with very contagious pus and are very itchy. Anyway, here are some awesome photos of what a small tiny scratch can turn into...

Semana Santa in Guatemala

2009-04-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

These are called Alfombras. They are a very big deal in Guatemala. To mark the very holy and beautiful Semana Santa leading up to what we call Easter, the Guatemalan people clean and decorate the streets with things called Alfombras. These are pathways made of all organic materials such as pine needles, wood shavings, fruit, vegetables and flowers. The churches make these giant wood structures to carry their Jesus statues out of the church and carry them around the pueblos. Within seconds the alfombras are ruined. It's fantastic.

We were lucky enough to get to help build two such alfombras with friends we had made in Guatemala. I must say that in all my travels, this was a huge highlight for me in particular. I travel for culture, for people, for traditions. This one is a biggy in Latin America. The people of Itzapa, no matter how poor they were, got up in the dark, cleaned the streets in front of their houses and together with neighbors, decorated quite intricately these absolutely breathtaking alfombras. The oldest man on our street directed all of us how to do this one exactly the way his father had done it for years and years before.

These are what the processions look like...

It´s all about the Hair

2009-04-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

I put this photo in here just to show the biggest attraction in our town, THE HAIR. Plus, I had to throw this in here as it was the only day in two months we convinced Phelan not to wear his hat.

Have you Ever Had One of those Nights

2009-04-09T13:38:00.000-07:00

So, those of us that are older reading this can remember those crazy nights that just kinda happen. You laugh a ton and have no purpose but being wild and free. We had one of those nights with our friends at the bike shop recently. We discovered quite a few wheelchairs upstairs in the shop and decided to decorate them and ourselves and race down the hill to the plaza. It was a blast. After the races we ended up having chicken fights with the local kids on our shoulders. I lost my voice from laughing so much and I think we might just have shocked the locals a little. But, so incredibly fun.

Mama loves bats!

2009-04-08T15:51:00.000-07:00

So, bats are cool. I don´t care what you think. Phelan asked me why they are my favorite animal and here it goes (although I think it takes no explanation). First and foremost, they are a flying mammal. Name another, I dare you - squirrels don´t count. They fly without feathers or eyesight, hmmm. Cool. They pollinate flowers like bees and bugs. They eat fruit like other mammals and, oh yeah, some of them drink blood from the legs of animals. But when you look at their little body and face, they´re actually kind of cute and fuzzy, kinda. THERE IS NOTHING ELSE LIKE THEM AND THEREFORE, THAT IS WHY THEY ARE MY FAVORITE.

Now picture this. It´s seven in the evening and my family is climbing into a giant cave in Guatemala. We sit on rock ledges with giant drops on either side of us about 20 feet to a river flowing through the cave. It´s dark and of course, I´m nursing Casey. Then it starts. You hear some squeeks, something flies by your head. You flip on your flashlight and there they are, thousands and thousands of bats circling around your head and heading out the entrance to visit nearby feeding grounds. I have never ever done anything like that before and probably never will. It was really incredible and I was so happy to experience it with the kids.

My little Carebear

2009-04-07T08:08:00.000-07:00

I dedicate this to the heartiest of travelers in our family, my little Phelan.

When planning this trip, we never thought about what would or could happen to each and every one in our family. We thought about things like we need to find kids for them to play with, we need to keep Casey off the ground so he doesn´t get sick, we need to teach the kids to walk with rocks in their pockets to throw at crazy dogs. Never did we think that everything bad would happen to just one of them. My poor little Phelan. Phelan has suffered more than anyone else in our family. He´s at the hardest of ages to travel with. Ryder is rational enough to know he needs to be quiet when things are tough, help out when we need him and go to bed when we say go to bed. We are rational enough to know that Casey can be shut up with food or in worse case scenarios, an orange Crush. But Phelan, oh Phelan. He´s young enough to still need naps, old enough to know how to scream for everything he wants. He´s been more sick than anyone else, hotter than everyone else because he´s completely attached to an old nasty Angels baseball hat someone gave him in Mexico and he´s been wearing a piece of elastic cord around his neck for almost two months that he calls his necklace. He wears the same clothes every single day probably in an attempt to keep something normal in his life. He hoards things in his pocks and when you rip his jeans off him late at night so that you can wash them, you pull out probably three matchbox cars, 15 nails, wrappers bottlecaps, ball bearings - it´s ridiculous.

But here´s my little guilty story about my little Carebear. Two days ago we went to this Biotopo hoping to catch a glimpse of the elusive Quetzal bird. Phelan was pooped as it was a 3,000 foot climb to the top and the night before we had gone climbing as well. I told him I´d turn around and do the easy loop with him and the rest of the group could catch up with us down the trail. As he was heading down the hill, he tripped and did a complete flip in the air and landed on his face. He knocked one of his teeth loose. I figured the reason he tripped to begin with is because of this - he´s been on antibiotics for a week as one of his fingers got REALLY infected. In this week it has blistered, cracked, peeled and turned several different colors. The previous 24 hours to the fall, he´d been throwing up while we traveled eight hours on different buses and made many runs to the bathroom. He also had only slept eight hours two nights in a row because we had to catch buses or get up early enought to see the elusive Quetzal.

The most amazing part of all of it is that he never once complained. Maybe he said he was tired or maybe hungry but that was it. As long as his pockets are filled, his elastic cord necklace is on, his baseball cap is on backwards, he´s good. He´s great in fact.

Don´t get me wrong, Ryder is a trooper as well. But, we expect him to be for some reason. We´ve all had our meltdowns, fit throwing, panic attacks but truly, Phelan has taken the brunt from puking, injuries, icky belly, scary experiences - you name it, Phelan has dealt with it. So, I raise a toast (of Orange Crush) to my little Trooper Bear. If I could invent a Carebear for him it would be red, with a camo shirt, an eyepatch, baseball cap and army boots. He´d love it and right now, I´d spend a fortune on it for him.

Volcano Pacaya

2009-04-02T08:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an epic day for both Ryder and Steve. They hiked uphill for two hours to see the lava flowing down this volcano. It has been flowing for three years straight and erupting for twenty years. They roasted marshmallows over the 2000 degree flow and played hot potato with lava rocks. I am pretty sure that Ryder will never forget this day, EVAH.

San Marcos Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

2009-04-01T09:06:00.000-07:00

On a recent weekend trip to Lake Atitlan, the boys were inspired to make flower arrangements and take lots of photos. The construction of the local houses were of particular interest as they used everything from plastic soda bottles filled with old plastic bags to this beautiful construction of glass bottles set in bamboo chinked with mud, then painted reddish with clay. Absolutely gorgeous! All of these photos are from Ryder or Phelan except the one of the boat with a volcano in the background. The lake had three volcanoes around it. So, we have felt MANY earthquakes while here. Small tremblers and there is always ash on the ground. No one seems phased by it.

Typical Guatemala

2009-03-24T15:58:00.000-07:00

This is our street. You can actually see our house behind Phelan - it´s yellow and two stories.

Hanging in Itzapa Guatemala

2009-03-22T10:33:00.000-07:00

It´s early in the morning. I´m in an internet store that also sells yarn, powder, sodas and cookies. Outside there are Mayan women and girls walking up the cobblestone streets carrying small baskets of dried corn on their way to getting it ground up for morning tortillas. Dogs are barking and roosters are crowing EVERYWHERE. Somewhere far off, I hear a band playing and the sounds of birds and tuk tuks fill in any other background noises. Occasionally a horse carrying firewood goes by accompanied by a man probably waring a cowboy hat and machete. I love the sound of the horseshoes on the cobblestones.
We arrived in Itzapa and moved into our beautiful house five blocks from Maya Pedal. Our hostess, Telma, makes us breakfast and lunch everyday which thus far has been really good and hearty stews accompanied by black beans and thick tortillas. We have two rooms in her house and our own bathroom. For three weeks and two meals a day it´s $300.
The best part for us as parents has been watching our kids become these amazing outgoing world travelers. Ryder met some kids in the plaza and they´ve been hanging out together everyday since. They play intricate games of tag and soccer as well as bike around the neighborhood together. Phelan has made friends with Telma´s grandson Robinso as well as the street kids at Maya Pedal.
But honestly, Casey is the rockstar in town. Everyone knows him. Latinos love kids but they love babies even more. When I go to the plaza without him, the women ask where he is. Everyone touches and kisses him and constantly tells me how beautiful he is. It´s cute but also somewhat annoying after awhile. One night Casey woke up from a nap starving. I walked him to the main plaza for a snack. There was a woman making french fries. I tried to buy some while he was crying in my arms but instead, all the women crowded around us staring, touching, singing and asking me questions. I honestly just wanted some french fries. Ryder says whenever he walks through town, there are girls following him, hiding and giggling. He tries to hide his hair in his hood but yeah, with those dimples and blue eyes, there is no hiding.
The people here are much friendlier than Baja but also far poorer. Which just goes to show that money does not bring happiness. They have been helping me with my Spanish soooo much. I´m taking classes in Antigue every other day and it´s really hard work. I´m constantly asking if I¨m saying the right thing or sometimes, they just laugh at me.

We´ve arrived in Guatemala

2009-03-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

After spending a day with the Browning family in the land of plenty, we hopped aboard a plane and flew only 4.5 hours south from LA to Guatemala City. It was supposed to be a sleep on the plane flight but our seats had computers in front of them so the kids played computer games until we landed. Needless to say, three kids traveling in a foreign country is a lot, now add the fact that NONE of us got a minute of sleep all night and you´ve got the makings for at least one meltdown. Phelan was a mess. But, we had pre-planned to land, go to a nicer midrange hotel (nice for us) and sleep and watch cartoons in Spanish. It proved to be a good plan and we all slept about four hours. We woke up, hit the streets and went to this very good museo http://www.museoixchel.org/ to learn about the local fabrics and how they´re made. The women´s hair pieces remind us a lot of the Quechua women in Ecuador. I cannot wait to find some women to do my hair up! We will take a chicken bus in the morning to our tiny Mayan village where we will be living for the next month. What, you don´t know what a chicken bus is?

Canon De Guadalupe and Border Crossings

2009-03-15T10:05:00.000-07:00

Our hot spring oasis. We drove on a dry lake bed in the middle of the desert for 30 miles to reach this oasis compliments of a hot spring coming out of the mountain. Each campsite had its own private rock made bath filled with warm water. We watched the sunrise on the reddish mountains surrounding us with hummingbirds visiting the ocotillo in bloom. It was magnificant to spend our last two nights in Mexico under the most beautiful full moon, sitting in warm waters reminiscing about our last two months in Baja. Phelan's favorite day was a day spent with Steve and the boys and about 30 army plastic guys in the sand in San Felipe. The built a fort against the waves and would dive away and retreat from the waves. I wasn't there but he remembers that very clearly. Ryder's favorite experience was playing with his friend David in San Felipe, riding bikes around the campground and attempting to play games speaking not a word of eachother's language. Steve's favorite was driving the epic Highway 5 for six hours and mine was a hike with the boys in the desert where we tried to figure out the different animal tracks in the sand. It was all good and all beautiful. We will miss Baja and will definately return, hopefully with friends and kids and many many bike tubes!

Heading North

2009-03-11T17:43:00.000-07:00

We left our lovely little palm strewn village to the south and began our migration north, stopping to see whales. We drove the "worst highway in Baja" today and survived it, it was a mighty trip. Only one other car on the road, the rest were dune buggies or jacked up trucks, for a reason. We lowered our air pressure in our tires to 15 psi and took off slowly. It took us six hours to go 60 miles - yes, I'm serious. It was awesome and we have photos to tell the tale. Tomorrow we go to hot springs for three days before crossing the border and flying off to the land of Mayans!

Kinda Weekly Photos

2009-03-03T16:06:00.000-08:00

Most of these pictures were taken today. The sink is our kitchen which is outside, kinda cool. The bird is an oriole, there are many around our kitchen. The desert is where we go hiking and there are some caves in this picture. The river is outside our little house about 100 feet away. The outhouse is a dream of ours to one day own but instead we have to go swimming in this swimming pool found at our campground.

Burroback Riding

2009-02-28T15:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the kids and I went for a once in a lifetime experience of riding burros through the deserts of Baja. We met a caballero that told us he had some burros and horses for rent and would we like to go. Of course I said! We drove to his ranch in the mountains where he loaded me up on a horse and the two big boys on the cutest and tiniest of burros. Phelan´s burro was like a stuffed animal it was so cute. Ryder´s burro was fairly lazy though and we had to wait for it several times and Ryder had to learn to ¨whip¨ it if he wanted to get it anywhere. Our guide was a true caballero though and taught the kids to throw rocks in the caves before entering because of snakes and taught all of us desert tracking of coyotes, rats, rabbits, lizards, snakes, etc. It was sometimes difficult as you do have to watch your legs with the cactuses and Ryder and I also experienced a bit of bushwhacking while trying to pick oranges from a trees while on a horse. We hope to go again this weekend before leaving Muluge and heading north.

Lots of Weekly Photos

2009-02-23T12:47:00.000-08:00

These aren´t our best photos but I´m just trying to catch us up with all that we´ve seen. Please scroll down and see other photos we´ve added to other blogposts!

Muluge Baja Sur

2009-02-23T10:54:00.000-08:00

We have arrived in the absolutely gorgeous town of Muluge Baja Sur. It´s on the Sea of Cortez side and it´s warm. Actually HOT. We are camping in a campground that was devestated by a hurricane two years ago and have been attempting to help the owners recover their losses by creating a website for the campground as well as doing some kitchen remodeling. The town is located on the Rio Muluge that leads to the Sea. It´s so lovely with a small town built into the rock siding of a mountain. It reminds us so much of Ecuador and Peru. The kids have been playing in the tidepools and walking to town with us to eat giant chicken sandwiches and tacos. The hiking is superb and tomorrow Ryder and Phelan are going burro riding into the hillsides. I wish I could post a photo of Ryder right now. He has evolved since we´ve left. His hair is getting long and he wears this giant dirty sand dollar he found on the beach around his neck. Phelan, not one to be left out, also has a necklace made of elastic cord and has a constant dirty face from the powder we are camped in. We sometimes worry they are not getting much out of it and then they surprise us and talk about the difference between the birds, octopuses, starvation, families with 11 children vs. 3 and so on. We bought Ryder a soccer ball which is now his opening line with all kids ¨quiere jugar¨ They kick his butt but he doens´t seem to mind but does get nervous when they talk to him. They have learned so much adventuring with us, valuable lessons we hope last a lifetime. When they complain they are bored we hope to remind them of the day we spent all day rolling a round rock down the road.

The Most Beautiful Desert in the World CATAVINA

2009-02-18T14:17:00.000-08:00

Good-bye Campo

2009-02-12T16:02:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow we leave our rented house and move south to places like Mulege, Santa Rosalia, Ensenada and San Ignacio. We plan to see lots, camp much and eat well. Our conversations might not be very plentiful but please shoot us an e-mail and then we'll get back to you soon. Thanks for everyone's constant support!

Our Aquarium

2009-02-12T11:44:00.001-08:00

When we first arrived at the Campo, a neighbor gave us an empty aquarium. He told us to put some salt water from the ocean in it and gravel on the bottom and start it up. Whenever the kids find something cool under the rocks, throw it in and see what it does. This, I must say, was a huge highlight of our month here at the Campo. We've had everything in there from crabs and snails to squishy sea anenomes, limpets, sea stars and the star of the show - the OCTOPUS. It was a tiny octopus that the neighbor caught and gave to us. The coolest part of the octopus is that it would catch small crabs in our tank and eat them. It would also change colors from white to orange to sometimes red. Eventually we would empty the tank and let everything go and start over. It waw hard to let the octopus go but we didn't want to accidentally kill anything.

The Brownings Visit

2009-02-12T11:18:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the Brownings for making the effort to get all the way down here! We had a great time hiking, exploring, collecting, sand surfing, chicken shackin', kissing, drinking, howling, riding and watching. Thanks for the sweatshirt and you're welcome for the lice and colds. Much love.

4 Wheelin'

2009-02-11T08:16:00.001-08:00

In the desert - everyone goes 4 wheelin. The roads here in Mexico are bad, like really bad. You turn to go a short distance and suddenly you're on a road that has grit your teeth and pray washboard or potholes or mysterios dips out of nowhere. Driving a 20 year old VW van makes these adventures sometimes a bit more nerve racking. So, for fun, a neighbor has leant us some 4 wheelers! Steve has been taking the bigger boys out together for small forays into cactus land. Ryder says it's more fun than Legoland (but then he says that almost everyday). Everyone has dune buggies and Baja bugs too.

Is Mexico Cheaper?

2009-02-10T18:47:00.000-08:00

The answer is yes! Here are some prices to compare...

5lb. cantaloupe $2.15
5lb. bag of navel oranges $1.00
six pack of Corona/Tecate $4.00
1/2 gall of fresh squeezed OJ $3.25 like fresh squeezed!!!
3 fish tacos, beans and rice $2.50
1lb. fresh, just off the boat giant shrimp $5.00
30 fresh corn tortillas $1.00
1 giant, as big as your head, apple fritter 50 cents
1lb. cactus $1.00

Tonight for dinner I made cactus salad. Steamed cactus is kind of like a citrus green bean. I'm sure it has some sort of goodness in it but I thought we ought to start eating it regularly as it is found everywhere down here. Ryder almost barfed while trying to eat it. It's got an okra kind of sliminess to it. I think next time I'm going to add it to some meat and fill a tortilla with it.

The Weekly Photos

2009-02-08T20:40:00.001-08:00

We're having technical difficulties loading photos. I don't have the mental energy to figure it out right now so this is all I've got. I can tell you that we saw dolphins today completely jumping out of the water, right off our deck. It was fantastic!

We've been hanging with Deirdre and Alex for the weekend and like usual, it is easy to just "be" and drink mucho margaritas. Thanks Alex for bartending. We took them to shell canyon yesterday, showed them the giant cactuses and we walked a beach with whale and dolphin bones on it. We ended the day by howling at the moon over the ocean. It was a good day! Everyone was pooped by 8:00. For more pictures of our house and beach check out Richard and Marlene's blog at www.rmdopp.blogspot.com

Seriously old Cactuses

2009-02-05T17:16:00.000-08:00

What these photos don't tell you is that these are 1500 years old! I'm not joking. When they're Phelan's size, they're 50 years old. They were all in this one valley and Richard, Steve and I went for a hike around the valley to check them out. They come in all different shapes and sizes and they were really quite incredible.

Panaderia visit

2009-02-05T09:00:00.001-08:00

We have a favorite panaderia (bakery) here in San Felipe and last Saturday we went on a tour of the back room. Eduardo was very kind and served us freshly baked cookies and coffee while we watched. The kids got to help make pineapple pies and we stole their secret recipe as well. Do you see the fancy imprint maker (a coke bottle)? It was really fun but Omy said she didn't think the room would pass inspection in the U.S.

We got a New Camera

2009-02-03T16:53:00.001-08:00

Nothing better than holding your baby, drinking some tea and watching the sunrise over the sea with the ones you love. Peace to all.

P.S. Thanks to R&M for the camera.

The Weekly Pictures

2009-02-02T19:44:00.000-08:00

Hot Springs, Dead Dolphins and a Well Traveled Shovel

2009-01-29T18:17:00.001-08:00

When Steve and I got together for the "last" time in 1995, we were traveling in his VW van along the Olympic Peninsula. He found this shovel on the beach and immediately kept it because he is a scrounger by nature. I have since made fun of him countless times about a man and his "shovel". That shovel has gone to Alaska and back with us as well as across the country to D.C. and other roadtrips over the years. Most of our friends know that when Steve hits a beach, out comes the shovel as he begins to dig gigantic ramps and mounds that turn into awesome castles with moats and barricks. Well today, "the shovel" got us out of a very very BAJA experience - getting out of the sand. Before we left for this trip, we read a lot of blogs about what emergency items you need to travel Baja. In our stash we have an extra 5 gallon water bottle, extra gas, a battery booster and inverter, oil, spark plugs and numerous other thingies that I don't know what they are. We also have the shovel. HAIL TO THE SHOVEL!

Yes, that is a dehydrated dolphin. We found three of them, one a baby. It looks like they got beached and someone dragged the bodies out into the desert. We're guessing they stunk. We took a spine piece and a jaw bone for Christmas presents:) They were really surreal to find where we did - so far from the ocean.

The last of the epic adventures today was our actual destination - the awesome ocean front hot springs of Puertocitos. It took us an hour to drive there and the veiw was absolutely fantastic. The hot springs were quite hot and the ocean was feet away. Apparently when the tide comes in, it somewhat cools them off but we had giant swells today and I wasn't digging the waves near the kids in the water. We stayed until it got too close and headed home. We finished the day off with naps for all three boys.

Updates

2009-01-27T17:27:00.000-08:00

Well, it is week two here in San Felipe and today is COLD - like 60 degrees cold. Oh how that makes me giggle knowing it snowed again in Portland this week. But seriously, we have heaters on in the house here. We've been inside all day doing origami and paper airplanes and staring at our aquarium we've put everything from the tidepools in. We even have a baby octopus in there that ate a tiny craby last night. "That was so awesome" says Phelan.

I wish I had something exciting to tell you about what we do down here but really, it's not that exciting and yet, it is. We eat oatmeal for breakfast after watching the sunrise over the water - every morning. I'm confused by that because it seems like I'm looking south when the sun rises but I know that it cannot be and it is east. So much for that geography degree helping in my inabled spatial awareness. We hang out on the deck for most of the morning watching the ocean and picking through the tidepools. When we get ansy, we talk about possibly doing something. About half the time we do something and half the time we widdle the day away with reading, playing in the sand. The other day all the boys, including the big one, had a massive army fight in a giant bunker they made on the beach. They had their swimsuits on and sat in a hole in the sand, when big waves would come, they had to retreat into the bunker with their army guys ($1 store purchase on the way down). They were having so much fun. We watch the shrimp boats come in, we make food, we shop for food, we eat at the different taco stands. One thing we do every single day is go to a different panaderia. Our favorite one has apple fritters but another one has cinnamon sugary long things. Today though I got cabin fever. I ended up driving around to all the different campos to check out houses that gringos have built and locals. There are a lot of retirees down here and they build these giant houses that look like Arizona. It's a little weird but I suppose you get more for your buck.

Right now Steve is playing this game with the boys that we found in our campo. I don't know if I understand it but there is a stand made of PVC pipes and then there are a bunch of golf balls on strings. You apparently throw the golf balls towards the stand and try to get them to land on it. OK, that's it. Our luxury Mexico trip - sitting on our butts, playing in the sand, eating tacos and baked goods. This is why we don't have much to say. Here's a picture of the kid's favorite toy. Yes, it is an ice grabber for cocktails or in our house, a spaceship. Nice toy, eh. Only the best for mis hijos.

The 1/2 Weekly Photos

2009-01-27T17:14:00.000-08:00

Campo Las Arenas, San Felipe

2009-01-25T22:11:00.000-08:00

Taken tonight from our back porch. The stars were out, low tide, kids and hubby asleep.

Just me, a candle and a beer.

Phelan

2009-01-25T16:56:00.000-08:00

This is what Phelan bought with his money. He calls himself the Green Arrow or sometimes the Lean Green Smackdown Machine. We had to make him take it off to eat dinner. Pretty, isn't it?

Ryder's Art Class

2009-01-24T18:14:00.000-08:00

Ryder brought some money on this trip and wanted to spend some on local art. The problem was, he couldn't pick what to get. We came up with a solution using a little ingenuity. A very nice family here owns a curio shop and Maria paints the art herself. We simply asked her if Ryder could paint one. They kind of ended up painting it together - at times using grunts and gestures to communicate. He ended up having a one of a kind creation using traditional and Ryder's art styles.

The Weekly Photos

2009-01-22T19:28:00.001-08:00

Giant Squid

2009-01-21T09:39:00.000-08:00

This is a giant squid we found on the beach! It was huge, alive and we rolled it back out into the water and it swam away. Now it just sounds like I'm making it up - but seriously, it was the size of Phelan. No joke. For anybody that really knows me - they know this made my year probably! My cousin would call me a nerd but that was the coolest thing evah! Yesterday was filled with firsts. We saw tracks in the sand from snakes, lizards, rabbits, bobcat and roadrunners. Then the squid rolled up to shore with its eyes blinking and it blowing water out of its propulsion hole. Lastly, to top it off, a fisherman checking his nets gave us a bag of sea bass for dinner - because he thought Casey was cute. The kids ate fried fish - the whole thing, with the skin. Oh yeah, Obama was inaugurated. It was a big day! Hope all of you are good.

We've Arrived

2009-01-17T09:51:00.000-08:00

So, for those of you that follow Ryder's blog, I'm taking over temporarily to catch-up on what Ryder and his family have been up to - I'm his Mom.

We left Portland, Oregon on Monday, January 12th at around 6:00 a.m. The kids ate in the car wearing their PJ's and had a great day traveling. Our new car configuration with the baby between the big boys worked out perfectly. Casey was happy that he could see all of us and they could help him eat, drink and play. It was great. We arrived that night at my Mom's house in Sacramento and spent a few great days playing and biking with her bike club. Both Steve and I got some nice rides in and the kids got to ride in the golf cart and Grandpa's old truck as well as hit golf balls and they also saw some wild turkeys and river otters. It was quite fun. It took two more days to get down here to San Felipe, Mexico but boy, have we arrived. It's gorgeous here - 78 degrees today. I left the man boys building a sandcastle and walked to town (about 1 mile on the beach).
We found a great little market yesterday and stocked up on all the necessities such as limes, salsa makings, avocados, homemade tortillas, black beans, spices and carne asada. The food is really cheap here and our new friend "Dunie" told us on Sundays the groceries are 20% off. I have no idea why though. We went out to eat last night at a taco stand and had dinner with drinks that came to $8.00. We'll take some photos soon of all these places for ya. the kids thought it was so much fun when we took giant water containers to a place that fills them with fresh drinkable water for $1/five gallons.
San Felipe is a very sleepy town this time of year. When we came two years ago, it was exactly the same. You can tell in summer this place is packed with people and hotter than heck. I'm glad to be here in the winter. Last night at around 8:00 we had chips and guacamole on the deck overlooking the water with candles and drinks. Steve and I were showing Orion to the kids in the sky and listening to some pelicans squaking on a nearby shrimp boat. I just kept thinking how epic this was going to be for the boys.
This afternoon "George" comes by with the shrimp boat to our campo. He sells fresh caught giant shrimp for about $6/lb. Our campo is a group of houses that have kind of an association. There is a manager of the houses that takes care of garbage/gas/ broken stuff, etc. She also watches out for the safety of the houses. There are 45 houses in our campo and only 12 are on the water - they're called first row. Our new friend Terry told us we were lucky to be first rowers. He's lived here 22 years after retiring in the states. Ryder likes him because Terry has 4-5 dunebuggies in front of his house. Ryder thinks he'll let us borrow one. Hmmmm, I keep saying.
The boys are definately getting different takes on things because of their separate interests. Ryder keeps talking about renting dunebuggies, ATV's and bicycles for the beach. He wonders how the shrimp boats actually catch the shrimp and he was obsessed with going through our garage looking for beach toys as well as setting up all the chairs and umbrellas for the decks. Phelan loves the birds. He watched them this morning through the binoculars and collected seashells. He's talked about how much he wants to see a rattlesnake and a scorpion when we're in Mexico. When he saw his first giant cactus he yelled so loud it made Casey cry. Then there is Casey. He's obsessed with taking his hat off and climbing to tallest chairs he can find. He's kind of scared of the camp dogs including the one that apparently comes with our house "Osa" - a very sweet black dog that puts his head on your lap when you sit in a chair. So far, they are all very sweet dogs.
OK, I apologize for the length but we are also using this as a way to communicate with family, etc. We wanted all of you to know that we are fine and happy and healthy. Epic adventures ahead!

10 Things About Me

2008-12-25T16:50:00.000-08:00

Gracie asked me to say 10 facts about who I am so here I go:

1) I enjoy changing the flow of creeks by moving rocks around.

2) I am an omnivore

3) I have been to Legoland two times

4) I am going to save up my money with Maretta and buy a shop to sell toys made of bike parts.

5) I am on a swim team

6) Once I went to my grandparent's house on a plane by myself

7) My birthday is Christmas Day

8) I made $80 selling Otter Pops this past summer

9) We are about to go on a three month trip to Guatemala and Mexico

10) I drive my Mom crazy because when she takes me out in nature, I always seem to find something made by humans instead and focus on it.

More Photos and my Week

2008-12-23T14:02:00.000-08:00

Snowy days. Gingerbread houses. Snow forts. Sledding. Bonfire parties. Bone books. Jumps. Friends. Fires. Buses. Shoveling. Christmas - I'm almost 8.

14 Inches of Snow!

2008-12-22T14:59:00.000-08:00

The Weekly Pictures

2008-12-20T15:36:00.001-08:00

Snowy Days

2008-12-18T08:52:00.000-08:00

Do you like snowy days because I like snowy days. I like going sledding on the hill at the park down the street. I like riding my bike in the snow. When we were riding our bikes, we got about a block from the house and had to turn around and come back. The snow was in our eyes. I went inside and got my swim goggles to keep the snow out of my eyes. I like playing games inside with my brothers like rokenbok, hide and go seek, puzzles and other games like that. Phelan likes playing with his Carebears.

Physics Pro

2008-12-03T09:46:00.000-08:00

If you look at the movie of the claw opening and closing, that comes from a pump that runs on water pressure. When one pump opens, the other pump opens connected by a tube that goes from one to the other. I built last night before I went to bed.

The Dog and the Jaguar

2008-12-03T09:35:00.000-08:00

A dog and jaguar got on a bike. Then they rode and rode and rode until they got to Legoland. They saw a big giant lego guy. Then they started to go on rides like the jaguar ride. Then they forgot their food so they went back home and and got their food and ate it. Then it was nighttime so they went home.

By Phelan

Birthday Photos

2008-12-03T09:19:00.001-08:00

This birthday party I invited eight kids. We played tag outside. I thought that was lot of fun. Every kid joined in. My presents were two Bionicles, a rock tumbler, a bike jersey, a Peanuts comic book, an airplane modeling set. My Mom painted my play room green, my Dad is going to make me a desk, My Grandma made me curtains, my Grandpa is making bookshelves and my other grandparents bought me a sorter so I can sort out my toys. I thought that was a really good present from them. Another one of the games we played was my Mom gave us a piece of paper that said a word on it. My word was tow truck so I built a tow truck. Each person built what was on their paper. Some of the other words were airplane, space ship, tractor and car. We made a comic book where each one of us had a page. Now we are going to make it into a comic book.

Letterboxes

2008-11-28T08:25:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago, I went letterboxing with my friends Gabe and Maretta. Their Mom printed out the directions on the computer to find the letterbox. We followed the directions until we came to one trail where it splits into three other trails. It said that Reedies (college students) don't usually chose the middle trail. We didn't go on that middle trail and we went a different trail. It said we had to pass three planks and six earthen risers. We couldn't figure out what six earthen risers were. It said that it was in the heart of a Y before six earthen risers. We looked all around and we couldn't find it. So we went back and chose the middle trail. We walked down that one and after three planks we found six earthen risers - which were steps! We found it in a log that was shaped like a Y, down in the middle of it where it was hollow.

A letterbox is a box that you hide out in the woods. Inside there is a book and a stamp. You follow directions to find it and when you find it you take the stamp in the box and stamp your book which is called a passport and then you take your stamp and stamp it in the book in the box. It's a lot like geocaching.

When I came home I made a letterbox to hide up on Powell Butte. I named my letterbox the crying tree because I'm hiding it near a crying tree which is a tree with sap dripping down it.

I LOVE LETTERBOXING

Cyclo Cross Race

2008-11-24T09:48:00.000-08:00

Cycle cross racing is on the road and in the dirt and mud. The adult cycle cross race was 1.5 miles long. I rode on the whole entire course when they were all done racing for the day and taking it apart. I also got to race in the big kid's race. The kid's race is called the Kiddie Cross. I had a fun time at that place because there was a corn maze I got to go through and ride my bike off of jumps. My friends Christopher, Caleb, Elliot and my brother Phelan all came with us. There is a bonfire you can see on the movie with the jump on it. There was a bonfire because it was really cold that day.

What we Like to Do

2008-11-19T12:23:00.000-08:00

Here are some things I like to do:

Swim, roller skate, mountain bike
Hike with friends
Read comic books like Tiny Tyrant and Casper
Draw, paint and do ceramics
Build inventions with my Dad like motorized skateboards
Play games like Gin Rummy and Uno
Play with my brother and my friends Asa, Isabel, Caleb, Maretta and Lucas

But mostly, I like to go on rides at Amusement Parks

My brother likes to:

Learn about bodies???
Play Carebears with Isabel
Go Outside
Play Speed Racer with Elliot
Anything to do with dinosaurs
Do paper mosaic art
Take pictures
Learn how to rollerskate

Do you know how to spin wool?

2008-11-16T11:01:00.000-08:00

Spinning is pretty hard because the wool will break on you if the string is too long. I learned with my friend Connie with a drop spindle. I made the spindle myself. I took a long stick and put a wheel on it and a hook on one end. First you take yarn and practice spinning it back and forth. Then you use these brushes to make all of the alpace fur go in the same direction. Then you then wind that up into big chunks that you take strips of and wind into yarn.

Un sol is money. Notice in the movie she is asking for un sol. She is asking for un sol because she wants money for her picture being taken. My Mom told me because she's been there. It's in Peru where the deepest canyon is called the Colca Canyon. My Mom told me she hiked to the bottom with my Dad, spent the night and the next morning hiked up. Notice she is also spinning alpaca wool like me.

My photography from the Old Days

2008-11-11T08:26:00.000-08:00

I used to do photography and these are some of my photos.

The Weekly Photos at Bridal Veil Falls

2008-11-08T11:19:00.000-08:00

My Brother Phelan

2008-11-06T07:57:00.000-08:00

Halloween 2008

2008-11-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

I'm Ritchie Rich and this is my dog, Dollar.

My past Halloween Costumes

2008-10-31T11:29:00.000-07:00

My race track

2008-10-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

I got the idea to build this track from when I went to my friend Christopher's house. We made the same thing but out of sand. When I got home, I just started building this. I started by gluing a bunch of pieces of scrap wood together. Then I made the track out of chopsticks. I made one tunnel that didn't work. I had to take that apart and build a different one. The tunnel fell apart because I didn't have any supports. It just kind of collapsed. I also put clay on it to make a mountain and that was what made the tunnel collapse. It was too heavy. I took the clay off and then put supports next to it that I'm going to glue the top of the tunnel too. Then I'll add the clay again to make it look like a tunnel going through a mountain. A river and a bridge is also on it. I made a suspension bridge with triangle supports. All that I have left to do is fix the tunnel, put the clay back on top and paint it. I might make some trees and add those.

Pumpkins

2008-10-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

The pumpkins that you see in the picture, my brother and I carved last night. the one with three yes is supposed to be an alien. I carved it myself. I also carved a little one myself.

Our trip to the Seattle Zoo

2008-10-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

This was our trip to the Seattle Zoo. If you have been, I hope you have seen the Red Panda. It is the cutest. There is a Zoomasium which is a place you get to play around with a slide, rocks and a cave that you can go through. There is even a place for littler kids to play. There is a tree that you can climb all the way to the top. There were lots of really cool animals that I have never seen before such as the Red Panda, Jaguar, Gorillas, Toucans and a Lion.

As you can see from the pictures there is a baby gorilla. The day we went it turned one year old. One of the gorillas was throwing up and then eating it. The zookeeper said it was a bad habit. It was really gross. The girl next to us said that it had done it 10 times while they were there.

Ryder's Trees

2008-10-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

Funny Farting Dinosaurs

2008-10-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

One of a Kind Bike Show

2008-10-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

My Grandpa, Dad, brothers and friend Caleb's family went to a bike show on Saturday. There was a tricyle that was motorized and it was so big you had to stand on it. It could hold two regular size bikes on the back. There were lots of hand made bikes.

My First Swim Meet this Year

2008-10-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of days ago, I went to my first swim meet this year. I had a lot of fun racing. In the video, I'm doing breaststroke. It is one of my favorite strokes. I came in second place. I went as fast as I could. If you see one hand hitting the wall it means I got disqualified. Watch the video to find out. In freestyle, I got first place and I also did backstroke and got third place. I'm the one with the red cap.

Michael Curry's Puppets

2008-10-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

Just yesterday we went to the Oregon Historical Society Museum to see the puppets. There are great puppets. If you like puppets, I bet you would like that museum. There was a place where you could play with some of them. They were huge. Some of them were like backpacks that you would wear. There were handle bar breaks for bikes that would open eyes and mouths. He designed them for all sorts of puppet places. He designed the horses from the Olympics in Salt Lake City. He designed the puppets from The Lion King too. They had a design for the wall of china with a dragon head puppet. They had this huge bear for the Olympics in Salt Lake City. It was as bigger than a door. Michael Curry's puppets are here in Portland. They were all pretty cool puppets.

My First Slumber Party

2008-10-07T14:16:00.000-07:00

As you can see from the picture, there were five kids that came. The two twins with curly hair are named Evelyn and Lily. The girl up close is Isabel and she lives three houses away. The girl next to her is Maretta and she's my best friend. Henry has the brown shirt with red sleeves and he's the brother the the twins. It was a great slumber party except for at night. Everybody kept talking when we were trying to go to sleep. We had hot dogs. We played in a really cool fort. We played legos. We wrote messages on paper and folded them up into airplanes and sent them to eachother. We had chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and m&m's. We played with glo sticks.

Transforming a bike into a Family Van

2008-10-04T08:44:00.000-07:00

This is our new family bike. It can hold four people. This bike takes up a lot less room then a tagalong and a bike trailer. We got this bike and sold the tagalong and bike trailer. It's called a Kona Ute cargo bike. I haven't seen one before except ours.

One night a whole bunch of squirrels opened our garage door. They all jumped on our new bike. They rode the bike to their home in a tree on Mt. Hood. But the squirrels wanted to go to Legoland. So the squirrels packed sandwiches and carrots for the big journey. They even had some cucumbers. So they rode their new stolen bike to Legoland. They rode on every single ride. They had a good time. Then they went back home. They went back to our house and put it back in our garage. (by Phelan Dopp)

The Little Vampire

2008-09-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

If you found this book in the library, you would probably think it is about a scary little vampire, but it's not. It's actually about a vampire that wants to make friends. He wants to go to school not like a vampire would do. There are three stories in it. It is a graphic novel which is a comic book. I like this book because it is a book you can read over and over again without getting bored.

OMSI the Best

2008-09-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

If you like science and machines, come visit OMSI. It is a great place. It's got robots, machines, computers that are taken apart so you can see what is inside, animals, dinosaur skeletons and it even has its own cafeteria.

They also have great classes for homeschool kids. Last year I went to Lego Robotics for a year. I learned to program a lego robot to go on a table and do these things like make an elevator go up, make a ball drop down and take something from one side of the table to the other. This year, I am taking a science class. Last week we dissected an own pellet. This week we separated out animals into groups like snakes in one pile, grasshoppers in another. We were supposed to learn what animals live with others.

I like the homeschool classes because they are only for homeschoolers. After all the classes, we get to play at OMSI which is the most fun.

The Weekly Pictures

2008-09-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

Not Back to School Camping Trip

2008-09-05T11:07:00.001-07:00

A couple of days ago we went on a camping trip with a whole bunch of other homeschoolers besides me. It is called the not back to school camping trip because it was the week that school started. We went to Oxbow Park which was next to the Sandy River in the woods.

On our trip we found a bear footprint on the beach, we saw some deer, we learned of some plants we could eat like oxalic that tastes like sour apples.

There was a field next to our campsite that had lots of different animal poops in it such as deer, bear, rabbit and bird.

One of the kids brought walkie talkies which was fun to play with in the woods. We also played capture the flag in one of the fields. We had lots of campfires and made sun prints, pet rocks and god's eyes.

There were 34 people that came. We are going to do it again next year.