Payette Lake

McCall sits alongside Payette Lake.  The MOSS campus is located right along the shore with its own little dock and benches.  It was my favorite place to sit.

Especially in the evening as the sun began to set.

Look at those mountains in the distance.  They were glowing pink as the sun set across from them.

So peaceful.  Except for the fifty rambunctious fifth and sixth graders running around.

Thankfully, you can't hear them when you look at the picture, which makes it seem especially nice! :)

Outdoor Science

Last week was a fun three day field trip for Morgan and his classmates.  I got to go along as a chaperone.  We went to McCall, Idaho (south from Cottonwood about 2 hours) to the McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS).  It's a great, hands-on, science-based camp with cabins located on the shores of Payette lake.

The program is run by University of Idaho graduate students who are working on their masters degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Education.  These students live on the MOSS campus for one school year and have students arriving every week for outdoor instruction.  So cool!  Our County Commissioners pay for our students to go every year, which is pretty awesome.  Our girls got to experience MOSS as well.

I especially loved their flag.  Go Vandals!

On day two, we had a three mile hike in the Ponderosa State Park with lots of stops for exploration and instruction.  We were in the field for over five hours.  The weather was fabulous.  I guess a lot of years that Prairie has gone, it's been super cold and rainy.  I am incredibly grateful that this was not one of those years!  (Morgan is in the blue and gray sweatshirt with the red pack on the left side of the above pictures)

The deer were obviously used to humans.  We stood and watched this mule deer eat her breakfast for quite some time.

And then found another one just a few minutes later.  I've seen plenty of deer in my life, but never so close and for so long.  They usually run away within moments of spotting a human.  It was fun to watch them, but made me think they wouldn't last long in hunting season!

We stopped at a marsh and the kids played in muddy water from identifying different creatures they could find.

I love when people use their sense of humor to get a message across.  The above sign indicates that dogs should keep their humans on a leash to keep them safe.  Great idea. :)

After stopping to eat our sack lunches that we made for ourselves before leaving camp, we went out in a HUGE canoe on Payette Lake.  So fun.

In the middle of the lake, the kids used various high-tech equipment to test the water.  Morgan is using a probe attached to a hand-held electronic device to test the pH of the water.  

Then they interpreted and discussed their results of the water testing back on shore and looked at whether the results would indicate the lake is a good home to trout.

The final activity before heading back to camp was learning about topographic maps.

The kids got to create a replication of the topographic map in the sand and learned about the watershed for that area.  

It was a great experience.  I'm so grateful I got to tag along.

It was a great group of kids (55 of them).  All the chaperones were ready to come home on day three, but the kids were sad it was over.  I just wanted my own bed.  My aging body doesn't do as well on bunkbeds like it once did!

Clothes and Ice Cream

Took the girls school shopping a while back.  Didn't get many pictures, but love this one from the dressing room door.  They had picked out so many things to try on at our favorite sweet little consignment shop that the saleslady didn't even bother writing an actual number on the door. :)

We ended our fun day with ice cream from McDonald's.  Ice cream cones and a root beer float.  Yep, they even serve hard ice cream!  Yummy!

So, the moral of the story..... Fun, new clothes and ice cream.  Life is good!

Anniversary Celebration, Part One

My sweet husband surprised me with tickets to the Vince Gill concert in Sandpoint to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary.  Unfortunately, it was scheduled for the same day that we were coming home from a week long camping trip, but we made it.  It was great fun, but a super quick trip.  Hubby tells me he has other plans to continue celebrating.  I'm holding him to that.

The drive over the lake into Sandpoint does something to me.  All nostalgia and warm fuzzies.  I love Keuterville and it feels like home, but so does Sandpoint.  I don't know that I'd ever want to move back, but I always wish we'd go visit more often.  And then life gets in the way.  It was nice to be there, even briefly.

Every summer, Sandpoint has a series of different concerts at the football field along the lake.  They call it The Festival at Sandpoint.  Locals just call it the Festival.  Glenn and I went to a Jan and Dean concert at the Festival when we were dating, so it was fun to go back as an old married couple!

You still sit on the lawn or bring in low chairs.  It's first come, first served, but it just so happens that the mill Glenn works for was a major sponsor and had a special area reserved, so we got great seats just a few minutes before the show started.

There were two opening acts and we enjoyed them both.  The weather was delightful - not too hot, not too cold.

And as the sun went down, it became magical with the stage brightly lit.  And Vince Gill knows how to sing.  Yes, that is Vince Gill in the photo.  You'll have to take my word for it!

I listened to Vince Gill a lot back in the day, so I was pleased that I knew most of his songs.  So fun to go to a concert and be able to sing along.  With your husband.  Of twenty years.


Thanks, darling, for a fun evening and great weekend adventure.  I'm ready for the next one......  :)

Four Years of First Days

This has been our first week back at school.  Frankly, none of us were ready for it to start.  When I had tiny kids in diapers and toys all over my house, I used to think I would long for and look forward to the first day of school every year, but that's not how it is.  When you have the privilege of staying home with your kids, you get accustomed to having them around every day during the summer.  Then school starts and you feel like you're being robbed when they're away from you for 8 hours a day.  I tend to like my children.  Crazy, I know.

So, as a tribute for back to school and the tendency for time to fly, I've taken the liberty of compiling my past blog pictures of first days of school.

And man does time fly.  I think it should be a law of physics.

2011 (1st, 5th & 7th grade)

2012 (2nd, 6th & 8th)

2013 (3rd, 7th & 9th)

2014 (4th, 8th & 10th)

2015 (Almost all grown up!!)

So, there you have it.  Amazing how much kids change and grow up in just four short years.  And just think, in another four years, I'll have a junior and a freshman in college and a junior in high school. WHAT?!!!

No, I don't think so.  Maybe I'll go get my basement ready so I can lock them up with their crazy mama forever!

Berry Picking

Yum, yum!  Fresh blackberries.  Nothing better.  Morgan is an excellent little blackberry picker (although many of them go into his tummy, but who can blame him?).

Grandma joined us also, but I forgot to take a picture of all three of us.  Morgan had hoped we could get lots of berries this year, but with my ankle injury, we didn't make it out until late in the season. Hopefully, we'll do better next year.  Until then, we'll enjoy our berries!