Conversations with Chuckles

Chuckles

Chuckles loves to talk.  He has been saying some rather funny and interesting things lately.

The kids have been enjoying watching the show " The Great Escape". Chuckles was wondering out loud to himself why they chose certain locations.  Then he bust out saying, " I know because they are iconic."  That really took me back as I don't usually find 10 years old boys using that word. However this is the same kid that regularly says, " I am down in the mouth." So I asked him, "Do you even know what iconic is?"  He said, "Famous." Well "OK", I said.

He starts by saying, "I love marinating Nonna's lawn with that tool."  I am thinking to myself, "What does he mean. Then it dawns on me he means he enjoys aerating Nonna's lawn."

Chuckles Driving a Wheelbarrow

We were listening to the radio and they were advertising Christmas in July.  He remarked, " Christmas in July and Boxing Day in July, what next Christmas at Halloween."  Me thinks, he listens to a little too much Canadian Radio.

My cousin and I are technically brothers except we never argue.  I was thinking to myself, " Yeah, brothers from another mother."

Happy Birthday Annoymous

My friend is celebrating the big one today, 40.  She isn't much for any Hoopla. She is probably mortified that I am posting this.  I just wanted to wish her all the best on this day.  My friend is a very rare and special person - keeper of secrets, finder of agates, namer of bands, recognizer of squirrel moments, and above all a true loyal friend. She is my sister from another mother.  Coincidentally our mother's share the same first name. I found this quote on pinterest and I thought it was fitting for my friend. Happy Happy Birthday!

Rainy Day Thrift

The boys and I stopped at GW, Goodwill, on a rainy Friday after a drop off.  I have to say I am not use to thrifting without my partner, Mrs Epi.  Some of my epic finds have been with her.  It felt odd to just be there with my kids.  I managed to walk out with a new 500 piece puzzle, neat log cabin building kit (new in box), 2 books, and shirt for myself for $10.



It wouldn't be a complete picture without a Lego man with an ax
according to Chuckles

Do you need more thrift inspiration:
Life as a Thrifter
A Little Junk in the Trunk
Mr Goodwill Hunting

Evening Caching

The other night we ventured out to do some geocaching.  We hoped to be the first to find at "Tanks for Noticing Me."  Sadly, we were second to find.  Then we went for a WALK with the dogs to this other cache to discover it not there. All was not lost as we got a good walk in and hugged a Washington Marshmallow.

Washington Marshmallow

Lastly we ventured to Blaine Pier.  We didn't find the cache there either but we did witness an excellent sunset. 

Blaine Pier

We also met some geocachers from Canada looking for the same cache.  We ended the evening with ice cream. Later we were to get a very nice email from the Canadian Cachers telling us that they found the cache and pointing us in the right direction. I have to say most geocachers are of the friendly sort.

Travel Racer Update #3

This is the weekly update on how our travel bug race is going.  For more details click here. Well, Chuckles racer "Crazy" made it to Arizona near the petrified forest.  He is really really in the lead with 2919 miles. The rest of us are eating his dust. #1 Son's racer, Ace, is in 2nd with 130 miles and currently touring British Columbia.  Poor Giant Man Child is pulling up the rear with the grand total of 8 miles. 

Here are the stats so far:

Crazy               2919 miles    Arizona
Ace                  130 miles      British Columbia, Canada
Mrs Honeypot  67 miles       Britsh Columbia, Canada
Shrek                  8 miles       Lynden, Washington

The good news is all of our bugs have been picked up and moved.

Chuckles mapping of the race so far - HARSH



Dreams as Big as Space

Chuckles and I went to the library reading program, Dreams as Big as Space.  We got to meet a retired NASA astronaut,Wendy  Lawrence, and make Alka Seltzer Rockets.  It was informative and a lot of fun.  Wendy has been to space 4 times. I can't really believe a real astronaut lives in our town.  It is neat and yet odd.

THE ROCKET

Charlie waiting for Launch

Launch with Wendy Lawrence

Madgascar 3

#1 Son

My oldest has been wanting to go to this movie for a long time.  I promised at a surprising easy dentist appointment with 2 fillings and 4 sealants that I would take him.  Movies are hard for him so I figured it must be something he really wanted to see to endure the dentist.  Movies are sensory overload for him. We have walked out of so many movies because he just becomes overwhelmed.  I was pleased to say he stayed for the whole movie.  He did talk a lot during the movie.  We were lucky that the movie theatre was pretty empty.  There were probably 12 people including us.  It was really a good movie.  My son kept saying, "This is awesome."  He was really impressed with the villain and we saw the movie on Saturday and he is still talking about it. There is a theatre about 30 minutes away that offers Sensory Friendly Movie Screenings.  The lights aren't turned out and talking is expected.  You even can bring your own gluten free snacks.  I hope to check that out soon.

Beach and The Adventure Crew

Last week, we had a perfect beach day.  We headed there with the crew.  This rock is perfect for sliding.

Queen of Quite A Lot - love the sunglasses

Some of us waded in the somewhat chilly ocean water and playing with seaweed (Ewww!).

#1 Son

This is the only picture I took of the whole crew though far away.

Queen of Quite A Lot, Bones, #1 Son, Chuckles

It was incredibly great way to spend an afternoon.  We didn't find any Japanese trash.  We did find some agates and some beach glass.

Linky Love

It has been awhile since I have sent out a little linky love.  Check out what everyone else is blogging about.

I really like this post by Teacher Tom about Teaching Preschoolers on the Spectrum. I wish I could bottle this Mom that he writes about.

It is School Supply time again.  The Coupon Project has the stock up prices and when the deals will be happening.  I love that our district sends out the supply list with the last report card of the year.

I found the blog- Hands Free Mama through Ali Edwards 52 creative newsletter. The blog post about seeing the light is touching.

Travel Bug Race Update #2

This summer we are having a travel bug race within our geocaching team, Two Man Wrecking Crew.  More details can be found here and first update.

Oh, the race is on.  Some of us are struggling and some of us are going places! Chuckles racer is in the lead having made it all the way to Skagway AK.   He is in the lead with a total of 866 miles and his racer " Crazy" has been picked up again.  Rumor has it that "Crazy" is headed to Phoenix AZ.  The rest of us are hoping that isn't true.  Both my racer and #1 Son's have made it to British Columbia, Canada.  Only my lovely husband's racer has made it to the next town over. His racer Shrek has the grand total of 8 miles.

Here are the stats

Crazy - 866 miles - Skagway Alaska
Ace - 150 miles - British Columbia, Canada
Mrs Honeypot - 50 miles -British Columbia, Canada
Shrek - 8 miles - Lynden, WA

July Booking It

Please check out what everyone is reading at Life as Mom.

Continuing along with my theme of hiking books.  This one is about Appalachian Trail called Becoming Odyssa by Jennifer Phaff Davis. Odyassa is Jennifer's trail name.  She does the Appalachian Trail solo.  The Appalachian Trail is a 2175 mile trail stretching from Georgia to Maine. This book is about her journey for college student to becoming a student of the trail.  I thought it was a good book.

I also read Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay which is about an aging Russian Dancer who put up her jewelry collection for auction. The book is about secrets and a mysterious amber pendant and how it ended up in the hands of a professor.  I really liked it.  The ending seemed incomplete to me .  I had some questions that weren't answered.  All in all it was a decent book.

I love to geocache so I picked up the book Local Treasures: Geocaching Across America by Margot Anne Kelley.  I love all the stories that went with the pictures at various caches.  There was one quote in her book that struck a chord with me
"... he wished we'd found the cache, but that, sometimes, one simply fails. I started to argue, to say that we hadn't failed, that we'd just had a different experience than the one we set out to have. But , even as I spoke, I could hear how ridiculous, how disingenuous, the words sounded."
We have had this experience many many times.  We don't find the cache.  Sometimes you simply fail for a whole bevy of reasons.  Margot delves into the wider social implications of geocaching- how technology is actually facilitating human explorations and interaction. There is lots of food for thought in this book.

Yet another book on the theme of hiking also about the Appalachian Trail called Hiking Through by Paul Stutzman. This book is about Paul's personal journey on the trail. Paul lost his wife to cancer. He quits his restaurant management job. His trail name is Apostle Paul. Paul is searching after his searching for his purpose after he lost his wife.  He is questioning God. On the trail, he rediscovers God. Of all the books, I have read about the Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian trial this one really touched me the most. This is a very spiritual book. Paul's favorite verse from the bible is Psalms 91.

The hot reads at the library got me again. I picked up the Voluntourist by Ken Budd.  This is a true story about Ken and how he becomes a volunteer and tourist.  He started doing this after the death of his father and when he realized that fatherhood wasn't in his future. He did 6 different volunteer stints. He volunteered in New Orleans after Katrina, China with special needs kids, Africa with an orphanage, Costa Rica with scientists studying climate change, and Palestine at a refugee camp.  He had some interesting insights.  I particularly like the chapters on China and Africa were Ken worked with kids.

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The Full Pioneer Experience

We hung out with the Adventure Van Crew. As part of the summer library program, we got to tour some of  Pioneer Park. 

This is a real treasure in our town. Usually the 2nd graders do this as part of their pioneer unit.  The kids really enjoyed walking around the park and listening to our guide talking about how are town used to be called Jam for the mile log Jam on the Nooksack River.  They even got to see a log that someone kept from the jam. 

Chuckles examining the log

We also got into some of the pioneer building including the school room.  All the kids sat in the desks and wrote on little chalkboards with chalk.

Princess of Quite A Lot at School

On the classroom chalk board were the rules.  I love the last one that you must wash your hands and feet when entering.

The guide also discussed the teacher rules which included that teacher's must not loiter at ice cream shops. We stopped for lunch at the Golden Arches.  We even culturally enriched there as a man was playing the violin in the play area.  He was pretty good. We then headed to the Hovander Homestead Park and fed the animals, walked through the gardens, and ran through the bushes.  We got the full pioneer experience.

The Adventure Van Crew
at Paul Bunyan Garden - Hovander Park

A Girly Rag Quilt

The Front

The Diva and I created this quilt.  We worked on it before the school year ended.  I finally did the finer details. I wanted to give her something before she moved.  Her and her family are moving to a nearby town.  We worked at this together.  I think it turned out pretty awesome.

The Back

Low Key 4th

All in all, we had a very quiet 4th of July.  We actually sat around our fire pit in the backyard. We roasted hot dogs. Well maybe isn't quiet what I should say as fireworks were exploding all around us. All of our neighbors put on quite the show.   Let's just say our 4th was low key.  The moon was so beautiful last night. 

My hubby worked really hard to get the moon and the fireworks in the picture.

This is the first 4th of July that we let our oldest do some lighting of the fireworks.  We are some those over protective parents.  He was over the moon.  He kept saying this is so AWESOME!  This probably made his whole summer.

The 2 man wrecking crew - Chuckles in his happy pants - LOL

Earlier in the day we went to the Old Fashioned 4th of July Parade in Blaine,Washington.  Despite the sun being mostly out.  We were shivering in our shorts and short sleeves. The ocean breeze was keeping it cool. The parade was nice and just the right length.

Blaine Parade

Happy 4th of July



#1 Son, A, Big E, Chuckles

This is one of my favorite picture from a 4th of July way back. I love the expressions as they watch the fireworks. Have a wonderful 4th of July.

Travel Race Update #1

We have movement.  Two of our travel racers were picked up out of the North Bound I-5  "Them" Cache. More Information about our travel race can be found here.  Our current leader board is pictured below.