Spring Break 2013

We wanted to go somewhere warm this year for Spring break and lucky us we live 2 hours away from Redding CA. And it is plenty warm there. Our kids kinda LOVE palm trees and as soon as we pulled up to the hotel you would have thought they believed we were in Hawaii.
We got all the way to Turtle Bay and found out they were on their Spring Break hours and weren't open that day. We were sad but instead we had lunch at the Sundial Bridge.
 

 

 

 

 We headed to the local theater and had the place all to ourselves.

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Had to do Chuck E Cheese. Failed at the photo booth, again. Won hundreds of tickets and got...a sucker for it.

The rest of the time was spent shopping and lounging by the pool. We live for family vacations!!

Fooled ya

I kicked this month off with a bang for the kids on April Fools morning. I had been saving up ideas for a month because I was so excited to pull some fun pranks all day.

So first thing in the morning they were surprised to see that their teeth had been turned blue while brushing them... 

 

Then when getting their clothes out for the day each child was surprised to see that all of their underwear in their drawer had been sewn together...

 

 

And while gathering up their backpack's they found out that they had all been turned inside out and zipped up...

 

They also discovered that all of their light switches were taped down and they got a spray in the face when getting a drink. Needless to say they were on edge as to when the next prank was coming.



 

For dinner we invited our Macdonald cousins and family over and Grandma and Grandpa Mortenson to enjoy our Fools Café. This dinner was tricky because each person was given a menu with 20 coded food items. They each had to write down 5 items per course, not knowing what they had ordered.

 

Some choose wisely and got utensils with a course (even if the food you got that course called for them or not)

 

 

Some ended up with ham and finger foods, but no potatoes for their gravy, and no ice cream for their chocolate sauce...

 

 

I think this order was my favorite of the night. All the silverware at one time including a toothpick and a water. yum.

 

It was so fun for us to watch the kids try to figure out how to eat random things. Like Jello with a knife.

 

 

They did some good improvising.

 

 

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We are already plotting for next year!

 We had a happy April Fools.

 

4th gradeTrain trip to Eugene OR.

(Ellie and Sara)

In March, Ellie's class took a guided tour on a train to Eugene OR. I was super excited because I got to go with her. In fact there were more adults that volunteered to go than there were kids.

Neither of us had been on a train before and we were in for a treat.

 

We headed down to the station just as the sun came up. All of the kids were smiling from ear to ear waiting to catch the first glimpse of the Amtrak.

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Believe it or not the train was on time and we all filed in and found our seats. When I imagined being on a train I thought we would all sit in our seats and watch out the window till our train stopped... this was not the case AT ALL.

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We found a seat and set down our things and then took off to explore the train before ending up in the Observation Car. (aka, the coolest seats on the entire train)

 



 (Ellie and Ruby)

Floor to ceiling windows allowed the kids to see everything around them on both sides. And we had a man and his wife from the Museum come and give us a guided tour over the loud speaker of everything we saw.

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Mr. Young had booklets for all the kids to keep record in and it was filled with questions and things they had to find and answer. I had more fun than the kids I swear.

One of the kids favorites, besides all the tunnels, was "Root Beer Falls" (which is really seen best by train and not from the road)

 



 

We pulled into Eugene around 1pm and walked a short distance to a great park where the kids got to run and stretch their legs.

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Before we left the park Mr. Young had the kids find all the different planets hidden in the park. Then we went on a small hike up the hill to get to our next stop which was the historic Shelton McMurphey Johnson house.

 



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I am a sucker for old historic things so I ate this up. All the kids had to put on clothes fitting to the time period, the girls in white petticoat aprons and the boys in vests. So fun.

 

The tour through the house was broken up into 3 sections and in each the kids got to actually go into the rooms and touch things that belonged to the house. Even playing with toys from that Era.

Ellie's favorite room was the nursery where there were some creepy looking dolls and baby buggies.



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In the attic her group sat down and learned about different things that were used in the house that we don't normally use anymore. When they first got the items they had to guess what they were and what they were used for before they learned the truth.

 



 

The girls thought this particular item was used as a spanker. :) Turns out it is for beating rugs. 

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They had to read parts of a story based on the people who lived in the house and the kids loved it. What a neat experience these kids had.

After we left the house we all walked into town and did a little shopping and got ourselves a VooDoo Doughnut. Then we all meet back at the train station and boarded an even nicer train than the last.

We had a nice dinner in the dining car and I got to snuggle and chat with my girl all the way home.

Such a fun day for the both of us. 

Ready to go again!

100th day of school

The kids had their 100th day of school a while back and they each got to celebrate it differently in each class. In Ellie's they had a party, and in Connors they made all these fun projects that had to do with 100. But thought Macie's class had the cutest idea and I had to share. In her class they all had to dress like they were 100 years old!

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So stinkin' funny to have a class full of 100 year old Kindergartners.

Macie was all for it and we headed out and did some shopping, and then did some sewing.

I thought she was the cutest 100 year old I have ever seen.

Hero's

 

Around Memorial Day in Ellie's class they had to do a report on a Veteran. Also, the kids were required to either interview this Veteran (if still living) or a relative (if deceased).

Ellie's teacher, Mr. Young, is also an amazing painter who has painted many murals on the walls of buildings in our downtown. Ellie's favorite painting of Mr. Young's is his mural of David Kingsley, of whom the Kingsley Field Air Force Base is named after. So she choose him!

 

If you don't know the story of David Kingsley it is just amazing and I was so glad she picked him to do her report on. Here is a quick run down of his story:

Second Lieutenant David R. Kingsley, an Oregon World War II hero killed in action on June 23, 1944, during a bombing mission over the oil fields at Ploesti, Rumania. Lieutenant Kingsley served as a bombardier on a B-17F aircraft which became severely damaged by intense flak during the bomb run and from attacks by German ME-109 enemy fighters during egress.

When his pilot commanded the crew to bail out, Lieutenant Kingsley immediately began assisting two wounded gunners into their parachute harnesses. The tail gunner's harness, believed to be damaged, could not be located. With disregard for his own means of escape, Lieutenant Kingsley put his own harness on the wounded tail gunner and aided the men in bailing out.

Lieutenant Kingsley's body was later found in the B-17 wreckage. Lieutenant Kingsley, directly responsible for saving the life of the wounded gunner, posthumously received the Medal of Honor award for his heroic, gallant action.

Because Mr. Kingsley was killed in action Ellie decided to contact family or friends of his. She discovered that 2 months earlier a woman was traveling through Klamath Falls and saw the Kingsley mural on the wall in our downtown. She immediately recognised the man in the painting as the "sweatheart" of her friend Harriett (Fox) Zalabak.

She pulled over and contacted the museum and told them that Kingsley had sent numerous letters in 1942-43 to his sweetheart, Harriett. 

To make a long story short, Harriett was contacted and brought to Klamath Falls to visit the Air Force Base that is named after him and see the mural.

(this is the mural Mr. Young painted, sorry so fuzzy)

 

On Oct. 18, 2012, Ms. Zalabak donated seven of Kingsley's letters, two post cards, and a Christmas card to the Klamath County Museum.

Ellie, contacted the friend of Harriett and we got some great info for her report.
 (Click HERE to see a video of Harriett's visit to the Klamath Museum)

Ellie even invited Harriett to a Hero party held at her school for all the hero's and/or their families to attend. Sadly she lives in California and wasn't able to come.

This was such a great project for Ellie and her class. She learned so much about serving our Country. I am so thankful for all those who bravely serve and for the fantastic teachers who keep their stories alive!

ice skating field trip #2

On the day that Ellie's and Connor's class went ice skating the weather was much warmer. We had so much fun. Both had been a time or two before and they skated pretty well on their own. Connor didn't want any help from me at all, he was super independent. They said riding with mom on the bus and drinking hot chocolate were their favorite parts.
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ice skating field trip #1

My kids all had field trips at school to the local ice skating rink. Macie had never been before and was so excited. The day we went was FREEZING! It was a bit miserable with 2 classes of kindergartners with frozen toes. But all in all we had a fun time.

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And this is how she spent the entire ride home on the bus...

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