Pumpkin Train, Halloween...NOW October is OVER

MY favorite thing about Halloween is the Pumpkin Liner train ride to Banks, Idaho. This year the weather was spectacular and we had so much fun! Halloween for the grands is always celebrated with fabulous costumes and parties and a parade!

October!

SO...where did September go??? For that matter, where did August go? In August, we took our annual trip to the Oregon Coast. We met Missy, Kip, and McKena in Seaside for some fun family time. Eden had her baby boy, Durham, on August 13...then we sped along toward the first day of school. I took a long-term sub job which started with the "Sneak Peek" the day before school started. I had the most wonderful group of fourth-graders (32!) for the first four weeks of school...they kept telling me, "Mrs. Bates, you're like our REAL teacher." That's how I felt too. I did Back-to-School Night, and an all-day field trip to Celebration Park. September just flew! Reed and I both celebrated birthdays. We took a quick trip to SLC for Conference last weekend. The men of the family are enjoying the BSU football games. The leaves are turning. I just put up Halloween decorations. How can it be October already? Vaca photos will be up soon. Hopefully, I'll catch up.

Grandma Camp...The 9s

Three of my granddaughters are nine years old, in the fourth grade, are great friends, and decided to all have french braids at camp!

Oops...out of order!

We tried our hands at Native American beading...

Of course, we read in the "reading tent"

We "hiked" the Oregon Trail following the markers throughout Boise.


We finished camp by making "fairy houses" our of leaves, seeds, twigs, pine cones, etc.

Yellowstone (in May 2011)

We went to Yellowstone with Eden, Dan and kids the last weekend in May...who knew the weather would return us to frigid temps, rain, sleet, and snow. I had never been there...it is spectacular! We met visitors from France, Germany, Japan, and all over the U.S. Fantastic!





Right on time...we got there, the snow came down, Old Faithful erupted, the skies cleared, all within about 15 minutes!!

Love the Sky

My granddaughter, Bailey, shared photos she had taken of the sky with me one day. I was astounded at the beauty she had captured. I guess I had never paid much attention to the sky...not anymore...I rue the times I don't have my camera, because, as Bailey said, " I take pictures because I know I'll never see that same sky ever again!" So...here are some photos from my own little patch of sky.

Wildlife

Yep, it's a snake...I'm just glad Reed got home first to see it slithering onto the driveway...this photo is postmortem!

I thought I was chasing a butterfly, but realized it was a moth...and I find moths a little creepy...but, certainly not as creepy as the aforementioned SNAKE!!

Amongst the Blooms: Enjoying Our Yard

Cache Camp 2011

What's our next project, Grandma??" Unfortunately I forgot my camera on our expedition to the park to ride the paddle boats, but we made a "field journal" out of a 3-ring binder, and a clipboard with an "outdoor alphabet chart" to note special sightings on our adventure...f for feathers, p for poop...LOTS of g for geese, thus the p for poop of the goose variety!

In the "Reading Tent"

Cache chose "King Burger" for dinner, and the best part was the play area!

We finished the evening at an indoor, blacklight mini golf venue...as Cache said, "I got a 1, Grandpa got a 1, but Grandma didn't!"
Saturday was the Grandpa part of Grandma camp! Cache and Grandpa went fishing and then did "man" projects until it was time for Cache to go home. Another happy camper!

Bailey's Grandma Camp July 2011

In the "Reading Tent"


We watched Roman Holiday, and made scrapbook pages of the famous sites in Rome.

Bailey loves Olive Garden, and she introduced us to her favorite bottled Italian water.

Bailey's Grandma Camp had an Italian theme...we studied Italian art, culture, food...and wished we could be in Italy!

Christmas---I am SO far behind!

Winter Garden Aglow...newly discovered this year...will be a tradition from now on!

Christmas Eve at Jay and Christa's...



Sing-a-ma-jig...hilarious!

Christa's handiwork...crocheted headbands with removeable flowers for the girls.

Catch Up

Back to December...our traditional Nutcracker experience at the Morrison Center...Bellamie is still too young, but next year, ALL the girls will be able to go!