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I found the inspiration for the wreath at the Flower Patch Farm Girl's website. Now, I want you to know that the book (that I took pages out of) for this project was a stinker. Trust me, I read some of it. No great loss. :)
The instructions are pretty simple:
This year for the first time, I have my weekdays free from 9 am until 2:45 pm. Bizarre, eh? Now don't start bugging me to go back to work, OK? I want one year of freedom and then maybe I'll think about that work thing. Maybe part time but doing who-knows-what?
That's Big Papa Bear that C is holding. The kids were instructed to bring a teddy bear to school on the first day. They're doing a unit on bears. C seems to be adjusting fine to 1st grade. His teacher is the same one that big brother had for 1st grade.Pin It
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.Pin It
(Catching up since I'm behind in my blogging.) My oldest son wanted a tree climbing party (for his 8th) but that idea was negotiated and morphed into a treasure hunt/obstacle course designed my talented hubby. Here is his description.
The boys naturally had some trouble with their aim at first, but within about 5 minutes each team was able to knock a treasurebox down and gain access to the clue inside: a Treasure Map!The map was a deliberately simple map of the backyard with a circled 'x'. The only instructions were: "X marks the spot!". The first team to open the map got into the correct area quite quickly but then scoured the ground slowly instead of searching a larger area quickly for any obvious signs of buried treasure. The actual target was a 1' by 1' by 1' hole with three small wooden treasure boxes at the bottom, buried with fresh sand from Lowe's. 
An 'X' made from two sticks was placed on top to make it even more obvious. The leading team eventually needed a little help to get them to the right spot, but then they went fast to work. Some digging tools were provided nearby in a bag if they wanted to be industrious and look around (which they didn't). By this point the second team had opened their (same) treasure map. The birthday boy immediately determined the whereabouts (having watched Daddy set things up!) and ran around to join the dig. The first digging team gave the other teams help by unearthing most of the sand, evening things out time wise. The clue inside the buried treasurebox said: "Look to the trees". The idea here was that they would each have to climb a (pine) tree to get a treasurebox from about 20 feet up. Unfortunately a freak gust of wind 30 minutes earlier had knocked down two of the boxes, and so the first team was able simply to grab a box off the ground. The other box was nowhere to be found. So the birthday boy did the only tree climbing of the day, and shared his find with the 3rd place team.
This clue read: "You will need 4 letters from the Birthday Boy's last name and a special number!" The next box was hoisted up a tree by a rope over a pulley,
and locked in place at the bottom via a combination lock going through 2 loops in the rope. The lock was one of those word combo locks you can get from Lowe's and make up your own code. 
The leading team asked for our last name spelled out and went to working trying some combinations. Another boy guessed the "special number" was the birthday boy's new age. Daddy helped by confirming that they were on the right track and getting the letters lined up just right (the lock is very fussy and you can easily have the right code entered but not have it open because of being off by a few millimeters). This freed the rope and they started to lower this larger treasure box to great excitement.
The last clue: "Your key is in a plastic egg at the bottom of a black tube!" The treasure box was easily accessible next to the tube, but it was wrapped in 8 feet of metal chain, bound with a padlock. The key to the lock was in the egg. The tube was too long and too narrow for them to reach in and get the egg. This was a little physics brain teaser for them. I wanted to let them work on it on their own to see what they could come up with before giving them any clues. They were not allowed to turn the tube. After they pondered a while I told them to look around at some available objects/tools. There was a hammer nearby which they jumped to first. That was accidental, but it's never a bad idea to consider smashing something! I told them to try something else though. I pointed out the garden hose. At that point one of A's sharper friends figured it out: fill the tube with water so the egg floats to the top, and then just grab it. The look on his face when I nodded at him was priceless! 
They went to work, but unfortunately at this point everyone was crowded around waiting for this egg to rise to the top so they could grab it. It was mayhem. The thing was the egg just sank back down if everyone grabbed at it at once. Eventually they realized that the only way ANYONE would get the egg was if they let just one person take it gently.
Thanks so much to my amazing hubby for organizing the game. Maybe a new side business??
I didn't make a cake this year. I was scrambling to prepare for the party since we arrived back from vacation 2 days previous! Plus, my tendinitis makes it a very bad idea to create fun icing designs, even though I enjoy doing it. I bought a cake from Costco which was delicious.
This is what you get when you ask an 8 year old boy to smile for a photo. :) I still can't believe my son is eight years old and that I've been a mother that long!
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.
Sandpoint has a HUGE beach so we spent lots of time there. It was fun watching kids we didn't know make friends with my boys both at the beach and at the pool in Spokane.
And for just relaxing in the calm shallow water outside our condo:
We returned to Silverwood Theme Park (we went last summer) and spent a full day there. I used my little camera for the first part of the day (mistake) and therefore some pics aren't that great. Like this one of A and I on the ferris wheel. 
Bumper cars:
Our favourite part of Silverwood is the lazy river in the water park (Boulder Beach).
The lines for the waterslides were pretty crazy so we stuck with the wave pool, the lazy river, and the splash zone area. At the end of the day, we had a delicious meal (really!) at this restaurant at the park - The High Moon Saloon. This "saloon" lets little guys in.
Another fun thing the boys did was go-karts at Triple Play, closer to Couer d'Alene, Idaho:
It was hard to come home. Here's a photo taken in the morning just below our condo:
Here are some more photos of beautiful Bayview.
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See all those towels? That's where we stayed. It was a walk-up building so we had the added bonus of getting more exercise. :) This was our first time doing a vacation rental. It was a good way to save some money on meals and have more space. We made breakfast and lunches ourselves but went out for supper. Our first night of vacation was spent in Spokane. We got a room at the Doubletree for $55 dollars! We loooooove Priceline. :) We were treated to freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, sumptious beds, and a great outdoor pool.
We took some time to explore Spokane a bit. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast in a restored antique rail car at Frank's Diner. Recommended! While the boys played in the pool with my hubby, I explored Manito Park on the south hill area. It has a huge rose garden as well as many other beautiful spots. 
In Sandpoint, Idaho, we returned to a fun place we found last year called The Dive. It is family friendly and they have affordable food and drink prices plus you get to play various games for free:
They have lots of different intensity levels including one suited for kids. He's going down!
Here are a few more photos from our rented condo.
C enjoying the kid sized recliner. I enjoyed all the brand new appliances in the kitchen. 
We went on a fairly short hike on our first full day in Idaho. We went to Round Lake State Park but I forgot my camera! Oh, the horror! ;) It was about 3 miles hike around the lake with some inclines and most of it was shaded (important since every day it was 82 degrees or hotter). After the hike, my hubby rented a canoe and he and the boys went out on the lake. I *attempted* to stay mostly dry while floating on a inflatable mattress at the beach area. Here's a tip - you really do get what you pay for with those things! I didn't stay dry.Pin It
I believe this rose is called Charles Aznavour. I'm linking up with Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound.
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.
Boy, my windows are dirty! Sorry about that.
The paper has images of lemonade stands, watermelon, kites, and lemons. I love to make seasonal banners which I hang above the sliding door to our backyard.
view from the hotel window in Wenatchee
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