Spokane Trip and After

June 30th, after a single make-up swim lesson (puke in the pool always throws things off) we headed out for Spokane to visit my family.  I hate to admit, I was in full swing of not taking any pictures, so I have basically nothing to show from our trip...  However, we had a great time barbecuing and catching up with family at my Dad's house on the 1st of July.  The kids had lots of fun playing outside and seeing cousins for the first time in a few months, and making friends with my parents' new dog, Lucy.  Ellie especially loved Lucy, and would move around my Dad's yard with her while she was doing her "reading" we told her to do during the other kids' naps each day.

The other events of that week included:

1. A bucket list event for me.  Steve and I went to Phantom of the Opera put on by The Best of Broadway cast while we were in Spokane on the 6th.  It was so much fun and something I have wanted to see since I was a teenager.  Seeing it with Steve made it that much more special.  We could not believe who intricate the stage sets were - like mind blowing - and just enjoyed being "us" for a bit.  It was fabulous!

2. Lots of fun new health firsts for our family.
For instance, we learned (repeatedly throughout the summer after this) that Mckayla reacts rather strongly to mosquito bites anywhere near her face with lots of swelling.  We later did some research and learned that this is not completely unusual, but was a new one for us!  Poor MG looked like she had a good shiner.  Later in the summer she had a huge swollen spot between her eyes on the bridge of her nose, and again another swollen eye...  And then Kassidy had a swollen eye like this a few weeks later.  Fun.

We also learned that Kassidy had hurt her teeth and not just her lip when she sat down hard in the tub and caught the edge of the tub the week before.  We had checked her teeth and not seen any issues and even took her to the doctor because she was acting a little off after.  The poor girl had such a swollen lip and black inside of her mouth for a while, but no signs of issues with her teeth till a few days after we got to Spokane, when they seemed a little shadowed - and were loose.

We later found out she killed the two top front teeth, but they firmed back up so they are viable unless they abscess, loosen up, or rot.  They are now dark grey and I miss her white smile...  I have since learned that it is so common for kids to kill teeth through falls and injuries, but I still feel like they look like we just haven't taken care of her teeth...

Despite these hiccups, we had lots of fun visiting family in Washington. When we left on the 8th we also brought my nephew, Wyatt home with us for a couple of weeks.  We hadn't planned on bringing him home with us until just a few days before we left for Spokane, so we had a big rush of finishing Mckayla's new bedroom in the basement and buying a bed so that we would have a bedroom for him when he came back with us.

While Wyatt was here I was still teaching swim lessons Monday-Thursday and Steve was doing farm work, so we didn't do much special.  However, he had fun with the girls (despite him and Mckayla developing a bit of a sibling rivalry over time) and loved riding in tractors and grain trucks.  Here he was all dressed up for church with Ellie.

We did have one big special trip planned, which was an extended family reunion on the Bennett side that he happened to be here for.  We went camping up East Canyon for a long weekend.  Our extended family was so great and welcomed Wyatt right in.  Kathy and Ryan were especially fantastic with him taking him fishing for hours one day.  We had lots of fun swimming with the kids one day too, until I started feeling sick that afternoon.  We then had a major rainstorm during which I ran out and threw up into the trees during the storm.  I spent the rest of the trip in a bunk-bed room sick at the condo the oldest generation was staying in.  That trip was not fun for me.  However, the kids had so much fun and I'm glad they had a great time with family!

A few favorite stories that I was told: Kathy and Ryan took our two oldest girls and Wyatt fishing, but Wyatt was hooking everything around him.  So, they asked him if he wanted to fish with a lure instead of a hook.  And he did.  For hours.  With just a lure - no hook.  To be fair, he caught the same number of fish as everyone else did, but hilarious none the less... Then Ryan gave the two lures to Wyatt that he had used - just the painted metal oval mind you - and Wyatt was so excited that he would give them to him that it was the sweetest thing I've seen in a long time watching his big grateful hug to Uncle Ryan.

Mckayla also took to family, but to much older second cousins who she decided were awesome.  This was while I was sick, but the teenage girls were so sweet to MG, making her a craft, letting her eat with them, holding hands with her as they walked places, etc.  Mckayla called them her "best friends" to everyone and felt so cool to be with the big girls.

After Wyatt had been here for a week or so my parents also drove down so they could ring him home with them.  One of the best parts of my parents visiting these last few trips is seeing both of our parents get along so well.  We love it.  And we're so lucky.  We're lucky in who our parents are, that they're so loving and supportive towards our family, and that they get along so well.

Before my parents left we also did some fun things with them and Wyatt.  We took them to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden.  There are so many fun dinosaurs outside and they have amazing fossils inside!  This deinosuchus skeleton with Wyatt is so huge!

 We had to take some pictures of Kassidy with triceratops where that's her favorite dinosaur.

 Here are the kids with yet another incredible and huge fossil.

 Here are the four kiddos talking to one of the paleontologists working in the office.  I have to say, it's so awesome that they have the windows open so that the kids can come right up and watch them work and speak to them!  This was my favorite part of the dinosaur park.

 Here's Kassidy with another ceratopsian.

 There were so many incredible dinosaur statues outside.

 They just added a new Spinosaurus which was neat to see.

 Kassidy took to my Dad in a major way when we went up to Spokane, and picked that right back up when my parents came to visit.  It makes my heart happy to see one of my girls so close to the man that I have always been so close to and means so much to me.

 Wyatt loved the displays of dinosaurs attacking each other.  They were pretty cool...

 Gavin spent most of his time in the backpack.

 The kids just wanted to get through the outside displays so they could play at the park.  It was a pretty fantastic park.

 Gavin enjoying the shade while the big kids played.

All the kids after lots of fun play at the park.

We also took the kids and my parents to Golden Spike where the Trans-Continental Railroad was completed.  They did a reenactment of the driving of the last spike that we watched.  It was hot, but really interesting.

 Here Dad was teaching Mckayla about the construction of the railroad.

 Everyone watching the reenactment.

 The cast of the reenactment afterword.

They also had these AMAZING old engines.  The downside was that they have some broken track so the trains had to stay in the shed instead of bringing them out.  The upside was that because the trains couldn't be moved they were letting the kids go through one of the engines, which they loved.

 Our last stop with my parents and Wyatt was Orbital ATK.  It's a business just a few miles from Golden Spike where they build rockets - like, real rockets. They have parts of missiles and rockets out where you can see them, and the kids loved climbing on them.

This was my favorite piece there - a huge part of a rocket with the NASA logo on it.

The kids were running in this huge tube, and Kassidy was counting to play hide-and-seek which was hilarious with the other kids five feet from her.

 A view of most of the missiles from the parking lot.

 My parents left with Wyatt on the 23rd and we were sad to see them go.  It's always so fun to have them visit and see family.  We are so grateful they make the drive to come see us and the kids!

Mini Summer adventures Part 1

Here are a few of the fun things we did with the kids that we actually remembered to take some pictures of...

First, in June we went and rode horses at the neighbor's house.  Our neighbor Lena is so good about getting the kids on her best trained ponies and horses.  We planned to do a lot more of this through the summer, but between farm work and my work schedule it didn't happen more than a couple of times sadly.

Lena was great working with Ellie on leading Twix by the reins on her own.

 And each of the girls got a ride, of course.

 Kassidy mostly rode with Mckayla, but in typical Kassidy fashion was much more interested in the other horses, cats, cows, or any other animals around.

 Or, this pink ball.

 Even Gavin enjoyed sitting in the saddle for a few minutes.

Steve and I also got turns because Lena and the girls insisted, but those were some really bumpy, awkward rides on such a little pony...

Another day we took the girls fishing again at a local reservoir.  Ellie's early fishing luck continued.  We couldn't believe she caught this fish - before we even had all the kids out of the car!  We decided it was a little Blue Gill.

 Mckayla got her own massive catch as well - a little Perch.  Those were our only other catches of the summer between our few, quick fishing trips.  We hope to do more fishing next year as the girls loved it.

Another fun hobby we had this summer was watching killdeer nests.  Our first nest got destroyed, but this second one got marked so it would be safe.  Then one day Mama killdeer was going nuts - which honestly is amazing to me to see to this day - doing the broken wing act.  We went and checked the nest and sure enough it was empty!

 We eventually had to listen closely and watch where mama went to check after we walked away and found three little baby chicks!

 Steve was careful to wash his hands in alcohol before he touched this baby to show the kids and then we put them back.  After just a few days the chicks are mobile and we didn't see them anymore - although we "enjoyed" listening to killdeer in the early morning hours all summer long...

Ever wonder what 144,000 lady bugs looks like?  They fit into just two canvas bags...  We had a weevil problem in one of our hay fields and Steve and Ray decided to try using ladybugs to kill the weevil where the timing wasn't right to spray insecticide.  So, when the ladybugs arrived, it was a family affair releasing the lady bugs into the fields.

 Steve took the two little girls (Kassidy was in front) out on a four wheeler to release his sack.

 And Ellie accompanied Papa.

 While Grandma and Gavin hung out.  These two are such good buddies and it's awesome.

So, there are a few of our mini adventures from the first part of summer.  We had a pretty fun June, even working around pipe and my swim lesson and guarding schedule.

Free Fishing Day

The second Saturday of each June is Free Fishing Day here.  We missed last year, but wanted to make sure that we got to take the kids this year.  There is a fish hatchery here that does fishing for just kids on free fishing day each year, and we figured that was our best shot of the kids catching anything, so we headed there first.

We did mess up in assuming that June 10th would have nice weather, so when the day started off chilly and drizzling, we didn't actually have any coats for the kids...  But they had fun anyway.

The Gav-man watching everything from the background.

We couldn't put poles in until 9:00, and at about 9:010 and 20 seconds Ellie had one of the first bites of the day, leading to one of the first fish of the day.  She was a little excited...  She caught her second fish about 3 casts later.  You can see how thrilled MG was for all of her big sister's success...

 Our next fish came two at a time as Kassidy and Mckayla both caught their first fish at the exact same time.  Kassidy also was jumping up and down, and soon after one of the rangers was over talking to us about all the excitement.  The staff there were great interacting with the kids, ours and others who needed more help.

 Kassidy caught her second fish soon after, but MG kept losing fish and breaking lines.  Also, all the fish with no caution got caught pretty quickly, so by 20 minutes in everyone around the pond was getting a lot fewer bites.  Poor Mckayla was getting a bit frustrated as she had seen her sisters catch fish so quickly.  Eventually though, she caught her second fish (limit 2 each) and all of the smiles were well worth the wait.

  Here were the big fisher-women with their catches.

Right after we went to a reservoir in the area, and Ellie reeled a fish in to where she could see it before losing it - once again on her very first cast.  I'm afraid she may have rather unrealistic expectations when it comes to how successful she will be each time she goes fishing.  However, this was such a fun day and was one of Steve and my very favorite memories from the summer.  We will definitely be making this fishing trip a yearly tradition!

End of School 2017

On May 24th Mckayla had her preschool graduation.  I was at my American Red Cross WSI class for work - and not happy about it.  Steve and Ellie went to graduation while Grandma and Papa Bennett watched Kassidy and Gavin so he could get pictures of MG.  Technically Mckayla still has one more year of preschool, but we put her in the 4-5 year old class last year to challenge her, not knowing that Idaho won't let you put a child in Kindergarten before their 5th birthday.

Mckayla had a great year with Miss Cherie, her preschool teacher.  She had some ups and downs with following the rules and interacting with her classmates, thinking she should be able to have her way all the time, but we have seen a lot of improvement in her writing and coloring as a result of preschool.  Mckayla also started reading some BOB books at home this year, which has been fun.  Here are some pictures from her graduation.

 The kids all sang some songs on the stage first.

 These next two pictures are of a goofy song where the kids eventually have thumbs up, elbows back, bums out, knees together, tongues out, and eyes shut while turning around.

 Then all of the kids got diplomas and trophies.  Steve said all of the kids got a trophy just for finishing the year, but if you ask Mckayla she got the hand trophy for being the best at shaking hands.  Classic Mckayla stories...

 Mckayla and Miss Cherie.  I love that if you look at her diploma picture, our happy girl who always makes goofy faces for pictures made a mad face - supposedly because the light was bright in her face.

 Steve also loves that there is a typo on her certificate so that it says Mckayla "competed" preschool, because he says that is more accurate.


May 25th was Ellie's last day of first grade.  What do say about Ellie's year?  She liked her teachers.  That's right, teachers.  We ended up switching Ellie just after 3rd quarter started.  Although her teacher was nice enough, we kept hearing different stories at home about a lack of control and classroom management that had us concerned.  We met with the principal and teacher a few times and thought we had things fixed to hear more troubling things from Ellie that seemed like the teacher was just trying to cover her tracks more with us.  The worst part was that Ellie had gone from a mostly self-directed table in Kindergarten and having no trouble and a great attitude to having a terrible attitude about her school work and only doing what she thought she absolutely HAD to.  We worried that although Ellie could coast through the year (her grades were fine) and be ok to start next year, that the work ethic, attitude, and expectations she was creating for school now would follow her through the rest of her life.  So, we changed teachers, because we had completely lost faith in her teacher as sad as it was.  Ellie's very first day in her new class she came home with about 10 times more school work she'd gotten done in the day.  Her class even felt different.  Kids were more on task and focused.  It was a great change for Ellie.  Ellie left Kindergarten at a beginning second grade reading level according to her state test.  At halfway through the school year Ellie only had 34 reading points in her old class.  She finished the year in her new class at 167 reading points.  That's the kind of difference we saw as she switched teachers. It was also fun to see Ellie get really into these chapter books about fairies by Daisy Meadows, even though they're honestly too easy for her...  Ellie's test scores the end of the year had her reading around a 4th grade level. She did have some ups and downs feeling like she had friends in her new school this year, but Ellie also tends to be a bit dramatic and emotional...  Our biggest issue was that Ellie consistently found other girls who she was convinced were her friends, but sounded to us like they were bullies.  Hopefully our many talks about how real friends act will eventually lead to Ellie standing up for herself more...  All things considered though, we came out the other end of the school year fairly well, if more nervous about who her second grade teacher will be.  Here was Ellie on the last day of 1st grade.

It's so crazy to me that next year we will have a second grader as well as two kids in preschool.  Mckayla will go to a new preschool next year to get ready for kindergarten and Kassidy will go back to Mckayla's old preschool for her first year in the 3 year old class.  Here's hoping that she doesn't lead a revolt and try to take over the preschool in the first couple of weeks.  We already apologized to the teacher for our "Wild One."  But she sure is fun!