cubscouts trip to the firestation

Yesterday evening, the cub scouts went on a trip to the local fire station. We received a very detailed tour of their "house" and equipment.

This is their kitchen and dinning area. He said when the alarm sounds, it shuts off all of the gas and electricity (except for the lights, of course) so if they are in the middle of cooking, they don't have to worry about turning everything off before rushing out the door.

A special washer that removes the smoke residue from the fire fighter's clothing after a fire.

The EMT showed the kids a heart rate monitor.

She hooked one of the boys up and printed out his info. The kids loved this.

Learning about the fire vehicles equipment.

While we were there, the EMT received an emergency call. We were able to hear the call and watch them prepare and rush out to their emergency.

Lexi and her friend, Sasha. Sasha starts kindergarten at the same school as Lexi this year. I have my fingers crossed that they will be in the same class.

AG fest

Today we spent our day at the agricultural festival in Salem.
The first thing we saw was a face painting booth that also sold these ribbon tiaras. We asked Lexi what she preferred, well you can see...
waiting in line for his face painting

Princess Lexi

He loved it!

The petting zoo:

a baby cow

a little lamb
(Lexi's favorite)

a chicken

Little goat

Miniature horses. When I was a little girl, I spent a summer with my cousin taking care of miniature horses in California. I have been fond of them every since. They have such attitudes for their little bodies. I guess it's little man syndrome. :)

Petting the miniature horse.

Llama

Little goats, they were SOOO cute.

(Kyler's favorite)

Bunnies!

(Jared's favorite)

Lop eared bunnies. I had several pet bunnies as a kid, lop ears are probably my favorite.

The highlight of the kids day: PONY RIDES!

Tractor ride:

They planted their own corn.

They also planted about 3 other plants each.

Baby chicks, so cute.

Watching them hatch.

Ice cream, yum!

Kyler is the luckiest person I've ever known. At his young age of 8, he's won more contests and prizes than any adult I've ever known. He won a free ice cream today.

On the way home, aww how I love when they are so tuckered out and cozy in the car that they fall asleep on the drive home.

We had a great day. We ended up coming home with about 6 new trees to plant and 8 plants. There were so many more events that I had my hands too full to capture on film (digging for potatoes, making grass babies, playing in corn, etc). It was a day I hope the kids remember.

new blooms

I am in love with our garden. Every day there are new blooms it seems.

oops! This one didn't rotate...

lovin' the warmer days...

Fishing day in the boat. We had a great time. Weather was beautiful, the kids were catching steelhead left and right, granted they were smolt, but they were still happy. It was wonderful to kick up my feet and absorb the sun as the kids and Jared had fun with the fish.

Waterloo. This place is so gorgeous. We saw 2 bald eagles fly overhead.
Mr. Kyler, the fisherman. He out fished everyone. I believe we stopped counting at 8 for him, so in reality he probably caught about 12-15 I'm guessing.

Jared doesn't mess around...in his waders and all. He was going for the bigg'ns but the smolt kept biting.

Sassy Lexi. She fished for a minute, then played Barbies, then fished, then snacked...etc... She caught fish all by herself, no help. Big girl.

One of Lexi's little guys. Steelhead are beautiful fish, super fighters though. Wow...

Kyler holding one of his little guys.

And another...

Lexi holding hers.

Reeling in another.

She thought the babies were "so cute."

His favorite thing to do:

Kyler took this picture of me. 13 weeks and a few days along. I am showing sooner this time than I did with the other two. I am LOVING being out of the horrid 1st trimester though, phew...my nausea has lightened up and my exhaustion isn't as extreme. Now I have headaches and dizziness, but I'll take that any day over the other symptoms. :) Can't wait for my next doctor appointment, May 5th.

Another belly shot:

I LOVE Kyler's school. They always have SO many amazing activities for the whole family. Yesterday they had a carnival. They had bounce houses, games, snacks, balloon animals, treats, and raffles. We had a blast.

Kyler going down the slide:

Lexi's turn:

On this one the kids raced each other, this was the finish line:

Lexi in the Scooby Doo bounce house.

Kyler's turn.

Standing in line. Lexi looks miserable in this photo, but in reality she had a blast.

The slide again:

Playing one of the games, fishing for treats.

This one was funny, the kids sit or stand on their square and throw this ball at each other. Lexi was battling much older boys, ha ha, she is a tough girl!

Kyler playing the "T.P. toss" game.

The sun canvas was made by Kyler's class.

Lexi playing the "snack walk". She won a cookie. Kyler won on his first try, he won donuts.

The weather has been perfect-60s and 70s...love this time of the year. Unfortunately we took Kyler to the doctor yesterday for a week long, relentless cough and it turns out to be walking pneumonia. He has the best immune system in any kid I've ever seen, he's never had an ear infection (neither of them have), has only had a few colds and the flu a few times, so this was surprising. The doctor said he has an incredible immunity and that his oxygen saturation was at 99% which is unheard of for a person with pneumonia (perfect oxygen saturation is 100%). She prescribed him an antibiotic and a codeine cough syrup to help him sleep. She said he'll be over it in a few days.