Grandkids Day Number 3

This was our best day yet!  The last two days with the kids have been fun, but exhausting.  Now we have a routine down, and we end in a more relaxing manner.  We went to the MK Nature Center, Municipal Park, and my house.  I think the kids liked the Nature Center with the taxidermy animals better than the zoo.  The park was great, lunch was healthy (and they were hungry), and we were able to finish Hudson's blanket before his trip to Salt Lake.  We watched whatever was on PBS Kids while we tie, and it's pretty relaxing.

We started by walking down the greenbelt and taking 45 minutes to wade, throw rocks, and play with sticks in the Boise River.  I use to know how to do picture collages with Picasa.  I need to learn again.

 

Then we went to the MK Nature Center which was a big hit - bigger than the zoo!  We ran into a docent that let the kids make animal prints in molds with plaster paris, a woodchuck, cougar, and bobcat.  Then we went inside to check out more animals, activities, air conditioning, and a nice bathroom.

Putting their paw prints safely in the trunk.

And these exciting pictures from the kid's camera:

A snake skin

Stumpy's tail.

They still had some energy left to play for a while at Municipal Park.

And finally we went to our house for a healthy lunch and finishing our blanket making project.  I had some pictures of our lunch, but the kids didn't look happy.  (They were very happy being healthy, they were just tired.)  It was another success.

Hudson, happily wrapped in his finished blanket.

My First Wreck

I don't even want to write about this.  It was just a little wreck.  No one was hurt.  It happened on a pretty quiet street.  The police arrived in just a few minutes and everyone was nice.  If it was going to happen, it happened in a nice way, but I could have gone through life without that experience.

I caused the whole thing.  I was just around the corner from my house, on my way to work, and I looked down at a dead raccoon that was on the side of the road.  He was big, and his face was looking back at me.  When I looked up, traffic was backed up in front of me and I screeched to a stop, but didn't make it.  I hit the car in front of me, and she hit the car in front of her.  When we got out, the person in front of me was a teacher from my school!  When I called the office to let them know that I might be late, the secretary was shocked.  She said, "Weird, Emma was in an accident this morning too."  We both made it to school on time, but I was greeted all down the hall with comments and questions.  I thought I should have sent out an e-mail.

I was shaky, a little sick, and greatly embarrassed all day.  Even though it was just a minor fender-bender, it's going to add up to a big expense.  My car didn't look much worse than a bent license plate and a couple scrapes, but the estimate is $1,300.  I am grateful for the best insurance company on the planet - USAA.  (Thanks Dad, for being an officer in the military.)  Now I just have to deal with my fine for the inattentive driving ticket that I received. 

Hike

Just down in the Meadow we found a trail head leading to Ousel Falls.  It was only .8 miles, but we knew that hiking down would mean hiking back up.  It ended up being more than .8 miles - just more fun and beauty to enjoy.  There were grizzly warnings posted and moose territory signs.  When I move here I'll have to carry around bear spray.  My hundreds of visits to Yellowstone instilled in me a love of bears, but they are SCARY - especially grizzlies.

This area is a community treasure.  Everything is very well maintained.  The switchbacks lead down to the west fork of the south fork of the Gallatin River.  When we arrived at the mini-falls above, we thought we had been hiking for at least .8 miles.  It was pretty, but I'm glad we kept going to the real falls.

 These are the real Ousel Falls.  There were paths to the top and the bottom.  The funny kid about to dive in is standing at the same place Terry was at the top.  It was so cool in the mist.  Every thing you looked out was beautiful.  We wished we had brought our lunch.  There was a little picnic table in an alcove at the base of the falls.  Great hike!  And it was easy hiking back up too. 

All the Way from Alice Springs, Australia

A co-worker, our counselor at Trail Wind, has spent the last year teaching 3rd graders in the Northern Territory of Australia.   Her husband took a two year contract to work there, and she found something to do too.  Alice Springs is a town in the middle of nowhere with about 29,000 people.  They are having a big adventure. 

Connie is in Boise visiting for a couple weeks, so we had a little get-together in the school nurse's back yard.  It was interesting hearing about her class.  The Aborigine children have no rules at home, so they're a little hard to fit in the system.  They're also horrible at math.  I guess their culture has no need for math.  They count, "one, two, three, a lot" (except they have a different word for a lot). 

It's hard work and a lonely place, but Connie and her husband are meeting people from all over the world, learning about the culture, enjoying the beauty, and working hard.  If they were LDS, it would be like a mission, except with vacation time.