Weekend Fun Trips - Fire Trucks and Racing Cars!

We went to two birthday parties over the weekend: one was at a REAL Fire Station with an old fashioned fire truck, and a modern fire truck they could sit in.  We got to take a tour of the working fire house and saw where the firemen sleep, eat, hang out, and do office work.  My daughter thought it was cool that they had three refrigerators (one for each shift).  The other birthday party had a racing car theme, so they brought in a REAL old-fashioned race car the kids could sit in!  AWESOME!  (It was pouring down rain that day, so they kept it under the cover on their trailer)

Weekend Fun Trip - Corn Maze and Harvest Fun!

We got to go to a costume birthday party at a Pumpkin Patch today!  My son was being a cling-monster, attached to my leg for half the time, but he snapped out of it once he realized how much fun he was missing!

After the birthday festivities, we went with some of our friends through the corn maze!  Our friends were smart and brought changes of clothes (to change out of their costumes), but this Mommy had a frazzled morning and forgot.  Luckily, Cinderella was wearing a dress underneath - it is really too short to wear anymore without leggings, but I let her strip down half way through the maze.  My little Fireman was not so lucky - he was able to remove the coat, but he wasn't wearing any pants under the overalls, so he had to keep them on.  It was HOT today!

About halfway through the maze, we came to a set of doors, Alice in Wonderland style!  You must choose which door to go through, taking you on a new path.  Our first choice was a dead-end, so we came back and chose a new door...

Throughout the corn maze were fun animal sets - of course, my daughter liked the horses the best!

We came to a bridge with a great view of the Corn Maze... although it was pretty daunting to notice the parking lot waaaaaaay over there!

After we made it out of the Maze [alive], we got to take a hay ride around the farm with some of our friends...

The driver stopped in the patch along the hayride trail to show the kids how pumpkins grow, and asked for mini volunteers to come help demonstrate how to work an assembly line... bringing pumpkins in from the field to the market.

The last event they tried was the apple-chuckin' catapult!

Weekend Fun Trip: Everything's Beachy [Day Three]

Decided to make our way down from Lincoln City to Newport today instead of going home!

When we woke up, there was a Mommy and Baby deer in the back yard of the beach house!  The kids said it was like they were at the zoo.

Found an awesome play structure in Lincoln City!

Stopped for some Whale Watching at Depoe Bay - the visitor center said they saw some Grey Whales the day before and to keep our eye out for spouts, but we didn't see any.  As you can see, the wind there was a hair-raising experience!

The World's Smallest Harbor!  Awwwwe, so cute.

The Yaquina Head Lighthouse was built in 1872.  At the Visitor Center, they have good, old-fashioned, 19th century games for the kids to try their hand at.  Above is the Game of Graces.  Below is the Ball and Cup game, and the Hoops game.

Then, we learned about the difficult (by our standards) 19th-century life lead by the lighthouse keeper.

Race ya to the Lighthouse!

You have to be 42" to climb the stairs to the top of the lighthouse, and my son was 40", so we didn't get to go up, but they were able to look up through the spiral staircase pretty much straight to the top!

Time for Tide Pools!  We timed it just right and were there as the ocean was approaching low tide, so we got to spy some sea creatures: Anemone, Sea Stars, Mussels, Barnacle, Sea grasses and Seaweeds of many colors.

It was SOOOO windy there, that it ratted and permed my hair!  I don't wear hair products at all, but the wind was still wild enough to make my hair stay stuck-out even after we got into the car!  It's a Natural Perm!  We decided to take a picture pretending that we were scared of a ghost, and that is why my hair got stuck like that (below)

Weekend Fun Trip: Everything's Beachy [Day Two]

It's fun to have friends!

My daughter noticed this sign and wanted to know what it meant, so I reminded her about our lesson about Natural Disasters and what a Tsunami is.  Although it would be very rare to see a Tsunami, you still need to know what it is and what to do if it were to happen.

Before we could get settled in, the boys were already running from the waves and throwing rocks!

The girls got busy building a trench and liked watching the water fill it!

The three of us moms got to take a shopping/art/coffee break while the dads played with the kids on the beach: Daddy Day Care!

Later that evening, we took another beach walk and found a neat sandstone cliff with eroded cave holes.  Check out the upper left corner of the picture - somebody's shadow looks like Nosfaratu sneaking up on us!! 

Watching the sunset cliffside (they weren't sitting up that high - it's only about a 3-ft drop - the photo angle created the illusion of height)

Stomping Sea Foam at Sunset!

Before bed, the kids did some kinder-art together: coloring and painting.

Weekend Fun Trip: Everything's Beachy [Day One]

We took a three-family trip to the coast, where my kindergartner learned how to really fly a kite!

The three of us Mommas walked with all the kiddos from the beach house, down to the shore so we can catch the sunset.  I'm sure it was a spectacle to see us coming down the road!

We found a great spot to rest and watch the ocean swallow the sun!  We tried to tell them not to look directly at the sun until it was a became mere sliver above the ocean.

Good Night, Mr. Sun - see you tomorrow!

A few adjectives the five kids used to describe the sunset sky were: "Amazing," "Beautiful," "Pretty," "Rainbow colors!" "Magical".

It was the Harvest Moon this weekend, and it was HUGE!  It was much bigger before I snapped the picture, before the sun went down.

Weekend Fun Trip - Flock and Fiber Festival

Today, we got to see the whole yarn-making process, from flock to fiber, at the Flock and Fiber Festival!  It was a coordinated field trip through the Connections Academy, so my daughter got to talk to and play with some of the other students.  There was also a scavenger hunt list the Connections Academy teacher made for the students - if they found all of the items, they got a prize at the end.  We got to see an Alpaca and a Llama side-by-side, and my daughter got to pet them both!

Then, we watched the Blue Ribbon contest for the sheep.  It was fun watching the judge walk up and down the row, checking each sheep's legs, mouth, head and tail.  Then, he took two steps back, observed the whole lineup from left to right, scratched his chin, and checked again... and again... and again.  He then separated the herd into two groups and we weren't sure which group were the 'keepers' until a moment later, he motioned to one side and shewed them toward the exit.  The field was narrowed to eight.  After a scratch to his chin, he checked each sheep again... and again. Finally, he made a decision!  The sheep we liked the best came in fourth.  It was interesting to see the range of ages for the animal caretakers - there were young kids, older kids, young adults, middle aged adults, old adults... and a couple really old adults!  Anyone can raise and show sheep!

We learned that wool and fur from rabbits, alpacas, llamas, sheep and goats can be spun into yarn after cleaning and brushing it.  We watched wool being spun into usable yarn on a manual spinning wheel.  The woman was very nice and stopped to show the kids all the parts of the wheel and how it works.

Then, the kids got to try their hand at weaving at the free kiddie project booth.  My son wasn't that interested in doing it, so their grandma (we call her Oma, and she got to tag along on the field trip too) helped my daughter while I occupied him.  The little girl sitting next to her is one of her new Kindergarten classmates; they hit it off really fast, and seem to get along well.