Back to School

Railey started back to school last week on the 19th. She is now in 2nd Grade. Its seems like she was just starting kindergarten. She kept saying she wasn't ready for summer to be over and go back to school, but we went to back to school night and the minute we left the school she was very excited to go back. I think she was a little nervous because she is going to a different school this year and she was concerned she wouldn't know where to go. They have had two different elementary schools here but this year they combined and did some changes. They now have a preschool, kindergarten center at the one school, and then 1st-4th grade at the other school, and moved the 5th grade to the middle school. She felt comfortable at the one school after having spent the last two years there but now is in the other. We made sure to walk around so she would know where to go. She rode the bus to school on the first day but wanted me to follow it to the school and walk her to her classroom. So I did, and as soon as she got to class she said she was fine and she would see me after school. She got Mrs. Farrell for her teacher. She was excited about that. She knew who she was from school last year. After she got home from school that first day I asked her if she was able to find her way around and she said, "oh yeah, I'm totally fine, I know where everything is now." It kind of made me laugh. All nervousness was gone.
I took Railey school shopping by herself this year. We left the boys at home with dad and spent the day with just the two of us. It was a lot of fun. When shopping with the boys we try not to go anymore places than we absolutely have to. It was great to go to lots of different stores. We could just jump out of the car and head in.....and not have to unbuckle, buckle, unbuckle, buckle, unbuckle a million times with all the carseats. We found some cute stuff for her. We went and had lunch at Cafe Rio. She made sure to rub that in her dad's face when we got home. It was a good day. She commented several times how much fun it was not to have the boys with us. I was glad to have been able to spend the day with her, and have it be a day just for her. We need to do that more often. She is growing up way too fast.

Otter Creek

Rob and Railey took a trip to Otter Creek this last week to go fishing. They wanted to do something else before school started. They didn't have much luck with the fish but they had a good time anyway. Railey was a little disappointed they didn't catch any fish because the last time they went they caught quite a few and she actually caught more than dad. But she was pretty happy because she got to drive the boat all by herself. Since they didn't have any luck with the fish, she got to drive it around for quite a while. She thought that was pretty cool. She kept telling me how good she was at driving. She even told me to call her "Captain" because that was what Rob had been calling her. She thought all the birds, especially the cranes were really neat. So I guess you could say the day was a success, even though the fishing itself was not.

At the end of each fishing trip you always have to show what you caught (or didn't catch)

Oak City Days

Every August here in Oak City, they have what they call "Oak City Days". It is a celebration that lasts all weekend. People come from all over. There are people who were raised here, some that have family that live here now, people from Delta, and many others. They have a parade on Friday night which kicks things off, then they have all kinds of activites for all different ages. They have a rook tournament, ice cream social, movie in the park (all the teenagers take couches up to the park and watch a movie.) On Saturday they have a 5K race in the morning, a choir concert, a turkey shoot, basketball tournament, mud volleyball, horseshoes, and lots of other things. Thay have a big pit barbeque dinner. They cook the food all night in a huge cement pit up at the park. Then all day Saturday the entire park is filled with booths with all kind of stuff. There is all different kinds of things to buy, lots of games to play, a trout catch, and tons of fun for everyone. This year there were a bunch of the blow up jumping houses for the kids. Our kids had a lot of fun that day. Railey started the day with being dunked in the dunk tank. She wanted to sit and be dunked. They had cotton candy, and snow cones. They jumped in the bounce houses for a long time. They had one with a huge slide on it. Except for Robby, they all loved it. We couldn't get him to go. Ryder and Ranger went over and over. Ryder always look scared coming down, but would laugh at the bottom and then head back to the top. Ranger looked like he was loving it. We did finally talk Robby into going up but once at the top we couldn't get him to come down. So he was up there for a while. Then he finally decided to climb back down the ladder. After lots of coaxing and bribing we got him to go back up with Ryder and Ranger. We told Ryder and Ranger not to let go of him, and pull him down the slide when they went so he wouldn't be stuck at the top again. We weren't sure if they would but they held on to him and pulled him down with them. Once he got to the bottom he wanted to go again but he didn't get to because it was time for the trout catch. For the trout catch, they go by age groups, and it is timed, so you have to hurry and try to catch the fish or you won't get one. Last year, Railey tried but didn't end up with one. For the kids ages 3 and under they let an adult in with the child. They let you kneel at the edge of the pool and try to help them catch a fish. Rob, me and a friend each helped one of the boys. We were lucky and each of the boys ended up with a fish. They aren't very easy to catch bare handed, but each of us caught one for the boys. They were so excited. I was just so worried that now because all of the boys got one, that Railey wouldn't get one, because we couldn't help her, but wouldn't you know, she got right in and instead of catching one in the pool, she would flip the water out of the pool when the fish would swim by, and she flipped a fish right out of the pool. Then she hopped out and got the fish off the grass. I was so happy for her, especially after not getting one last year. We took all the fish home and grilled them for dinner, after each kid watched dad gut and clean their fish.

Railey going down the slide

Ranger (Mr. Fearless) Ryder(looking scared but really loving it)
I love this picture. The little boys telling Robby its not scary.
He says it is but is going up with them anyway.

Now at the top, Robby's not so sure but they aren't letting go.

We are at the bottom yelling up to them, "Don't let go, just pull him down"And away they go, and Ranger still isn't letting goEverybody waiting for them to fill the pool with fishRefilling with fish for the next group.

Railey's age group is next.And the 7 year olds are off
Railey with her big catch

Robby with his fish

He got very sad after this because he found out his fish was now deadRanger the happy man

Ryder was happy to have the fish but wasn't sure he wanted to hold

it much with his bare hands. He wanted it in the sack to carry it around.

Our fishermen with our dinner

Railey's 7th Birthday

Railey celebrated her 7th Birthday on August 4th. We can't believe she is already 7. She had a fun birthday. She loves bugs and animals so we did her a lady bug cake with 2 smaller lady bugs. She really liked the cakes. She got a lot of fun things including a game, a new pair of pajamas, a puzzle, some play make-up. She got a card with money from grandma and grandpa. She was so excited about that because she loves to get mail. She also got a card with $7 from Aunt Jeneal in Washington. She loves animals so much and has been wanting more for a long time, so she ended up getting some bunnies. She was so happy to get them. She went with Rob up north on her birthday to get them. We now have 8 Rabbits. She loves them. She knew if she were to get them that it would be her responsibility to take care of them, along with some help from dad. She has really done a good job caring for them. She spends a lot of time out with them. She packs them around like babies. Hopefully she will continue to like them and like caring for them. They are really cute and fun to see.

Holding "Flopsy"

So far he is the only one with an official name

Railey Sleeps Outside

A few weeks ago, Railey kept telling us that she wanted to sleep out all by herself. She wanted to sleep on the swing on the deck, so we decided to let her. She got her little sleeping bag and pillow and a few other things and spent the whole day getting ready for her sleep out. I kind of thought by the time night came she would change her mind, especially with it being dark, but I was wrong. When it was time for bed, she went right out. We got her tucked in and left a little light on in the kitchen so she could see if she got up during the night and she went right to sleep. We kept checking on her and finally went to bed. She came in about 3:30 but only because she said she was hot. We told her she could get in her bed, and she did, but then about 10 minutes later she came back in and said she was going back out. So she headed back out and stayed out until morning. I was a little surprised she actually did it. She was pretty proud of herself.

Getting her all tucked in

Ready for sleep