1, 2 & 3 - West Tiger Peaks

Saturday, 2/13, Alyssa and I headed out on an adventure. You see, this year, we are slowly piecing all the routes on Tiger Mountain together, "TRAIL and ERROR". It has been so great to take advantage of this mountain in our back yard. WOWZA.

Us 3 girls headed out for the hike. Roxy is enjoying Troy's Valentine's present, his bed liner! Alyssa is enjoying her new gloves and hiking shoes. And I got my ear wind stopper, new jacket and new hiking pants. After 8 years of living here, I finally bought the $9 map. We parked on I-90, exit 22 on Preston Way. The PINK highlighted trail is what we hiked today.

Also on the map, you can see GRAND CANYON at 15 mile creek. WIKI says it is the most remote part of the forest. That is my next planned hike, I hear it is pretty and our own little Grand Canyon here in Washington. HMMM. I will let you know how that one is too! Also, I plan to see the artifacts from a 1924 train wreck near Middle Mountain. (double click on photo to get zoom) It was a 9 mile hike, took us 5 1/2 hours and this shows our elevation. I didn't know if we would hit all three peaks today, but it worked out.

PROOF

Beginning of trail. I knew we would at least go 3.8 miles up but from there, it would be all whim and adventure.

Xmas Tree in February.

We made it. Along the way, we saw a few charred trees. Alyssa asked me why some were burned and others not. Then she reasoned that some trees were smarter than others and they told their leaves to fill with water to resist the fire. UMMMMMM, ok then!! FUNNY.

And what would any good hiker do at the top of a trail called POO? You know me best if you can guess!

Here is the little HIKERS HUT that we sat in for a few minutes.

Quick view from WT1, looking south to Maple Valley.

And we made it to another peak! And another.

This is when we got into a fight because she thought we should not disobey the sign. I made her cross the bridge and she didnt speak to me for 10 minutes. From afar, you can see the bridge has been damaged in the last storm. It was knocked off kilter. I heard this was a $20K bridge, helecoptered in, but poor bridge needs some loving now. Well, it was a beautiful hike, lots of streams and ferns. We saw only 18 people in 9 miles and after this hike, it makes the rest of what I have done, like Disneyland. This very rustic hike was great. I carried my gun with me, but am bummed to say, we saw no wildlife. Darnit!

Now, I am nearly ready for my CROSS TIGER MOUNTAIN HIKE. I have done East Tiger to WT1. I have done WT1-WT3. I have done Issaquah High School to Poo Poo. All I need to do is link WT3 to Poo Poo and I am ready to do the entire mountain (I guess 16-20 miles) from East to West. Park at Hwy 18 and hike all the way to Issaquah High School. It isn't that tough. Who wants to do it with me in April or May?

So now with WT1,2,3, done, I need to do East Tiger Summit, Middle Mountain Summit and South Mountain. In total there are 6 peaks for me to feel accomplished. WOW, what a great mountain. Who needs to travel anywhere else when this one is so close.

Sushi is for wimps, now Sashimi.. that is where it is at!

After Friday night family therapy, we went to eat at I love Sushi in Bellevue. We ate tons of sashimi and some wimpy sushi too!

I was so impressed Alyssa tried everything we ordered, eel, fish eggs, octupus, tuna and salmon.

Don't let her face trick you, she was more concerned with the texture of the nori (seaweed).
But we did not eat Bashimi, raw horse meat. GROSS. That I can't do.

It was a fun night out and a rare occasion for us!

Custom Made Sheets

We received beautiful white sheets as a wedding gift. I have enjoyed them for about 18 months.

Then one day, I washed a load of blacks and didn't know that Troy's black pants had tar on them. So, I was sure to re-wash the laundry. Well, I screwed up and assumed all the tar was out of the machine and a few loads later, washed my WHITE sheets. Now, we have tar stained sheets.

However, as I go to bed each night, I am no longer disgusted at my mistake or Troy's. In fact, I am delighted in the fact that we have custom made sheets and no one on this earth has our exact sheet pattern.

Really, I am just grateful that we are not wasteful and we aren't throwing them away just because they are speckled with black now. We will use them until they fall apart, years from now. Who cares, no one comes in my bedroom anyway and looks at my sheets. The material is fine, I bleach them each week, so I know they are clean! Troy is glad that I didn't feel the desire to go out and waste another $100 replacing them too. We would rather use that money on tuition or other more important needed items.

So, if you are ever over at my house and you want to see this once in a lifetime set of sheets, just ask!

What do you notice?

If you weren't at church today, you missed Troy's recent look!! What two differences do you notice?

Christmas 2009

As I sit here to begin telling you about our trip, it still is weird to me that I am 'old' enough to plan a trip, book a trip and successfully execute all the details. TRIPPY....

This year, our small family of three, decided to spend the Holidays alone and on vacation. Here is how we did it!

December 24 - leave at 6am, arrive in LA at 8:30, rent a car, drive to the LA Temple for a few photos.
Before I get much further, Alyssa gave me permission to discuss her little friend she brought with us on the trip. This doozy didn't leave the entire time. He stuck around to haunt all of Alyssa's photos. :( Universal Studios. Grinchmas Christmas!

Christmas Day: Disneyland. Here is Alyssa on Minnie's bed, in Minnie's house.

It's a small world, after all!California Adventure Park - December 26/27

Troy was not thrilled we were waiting in line for these Princesses.. but if you travel to Disneyland, you have to see Snowwhite.and Cinderellaand Sleeping BeautyMonday, December 28. Knott's Berry FarmTuesday 12/29. San Diego Zoo

Wednesday 12/30. San Diego Temple. We met our Missionary's parents there, Elder Gemmell's family! What a treat, best looking temple I have every seen too! We spent 4 hours inside. Thursday 12/31. New Years Eve. Sea World. Beluga WhaleManatee eating his lettuce breakfast. Who knew you could get so big on lettuce?1/1 - USS Midway, ship 41. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Midway_(CV-41)Sailor kisses Nurse statue, on display next to the USS MidwayFinal day 1/1 - Breakfast with my highschool friend Tonya. She drove down from Palm Springs to meet me in Temecula and we ate at the Swing Inn Cafe. It was great to see her after 6 years, before that it had been 10.... my how time flies. She is a quality person and one worth investing into friendship with, something that becomes more important to me as I get older. And after all that, this little gal is tuckered out. Now the answer you are all waiting for: "did we hit our budget?". Our budget was $3000. We used miles for 2 of the 3 airline tickets. We bought the multi-park pass at Costco. We used the Microsoft car rental car discount. I searched on expedia for hotel fares and then called the hotel directly for negotiations. Our hotels were under $100 per night. And most importantly, we grocery shopped and prepared our own breakfasts and lunches. So, as you can see, we only went over budget by $301.35 and I am VERY OK with that! We didn't buy food in the parks or water and we never went hungry with our packed snacks. Overall, we were pleasantly surprised there were NO long lines and NO big crowds. It was amazing. We got up early each day and were the firsts in the parks and after about 8 hours each day, we were all done and back to our hotel for a good night rest. I am pleased with how we vacationed, smart! You may call it boring to be this detailed, frugal, or calculated..... for us, we loved it.

Here is our New Years card we will snail mail out soon! These were some of our favorite photos.

Now, it's back to re-filling our vacation savings fund so we can go to Hawaii or Whistler next Christmas. It was so nice to 'skip' Christmas, not shop, not wrap, not stress, and feel no obligations for gift exchanges. What a great holiday season it was for us.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

* 2010 *

Alyssa successfully had her first babysitting gig

We are so proud to announce that Alyssa has graduated her first babysitting session. The Page family took a chance on us and allowed Alyssa her first experience. Thank you Lindsay.

Alyssa went to Lindsay's house at Noon on Friday to begin learning and getting her bearings! Lindsay showed her how to change Isaac's diaper and put him down for a nap. Alyssa played with Eden and they all felt comfortable. Lindsay tested out the situation by going grocery shopping.

Later, all was going well, so Lindsay and Ryan were able to leave Alyssa with Jack, Eden and Isaac for nearly 4 hours. They were able to go to the airport (drop off the Pace family) and then go to dinner in Bellevue alone, which you know is a treat for them since Ryan lives out of town 4 days a week.

Isaac chose yesterday to be his first day to climb out of the crib at bedtime, so that made Alyssa a bit nervous. Alyssa was most pleased getting the kids to the dinner table to pray and eat together, she felt that was important. (CUTE)

Alyssa is offering her first 5 sittings free to get references and gain comfort of the local moms. With Alyssa homeschooling, we have more daytime flexibility. Give us a call and call Lindsay for her reference. Alyssa's official babysitting class is on 1/30 at Seattle Childrens Hospital and then we will sign her up for CPR class soon after.

Babysitting Class

Alyssa has found a babysitting class geared for 11-13 yr olds taught at Seattle Childrens Hospital in January. Before we spend the $40 for the class in January, would any of you local MV mom's even feel comfortable with an 11 yr old or do you tend to wait until the girls are 12? Alyssa is quite mature and responsible and does not have trouble staying attentive. She enjoys spending time with kids at all ages and she would not be a tv watcher or phone talking babysitter. She is not afraid of the dark and is used to spending time alone unsupervised. She also has no trouble cooking on the gas stove or doing dishes and cleaning up.

We definately have not done any baby care so we/she has no experience in changing diapers. BUT I bet she is willing and could learn.

Let us know if you have short time frames she can start practicing. She is willing to do some short jobs free of service to build up trust and comfortableness.

Home School update

Alyssa is loving her home school, however with 13-30 degree weather, ROXY really loves the new home school schedule. She has a permanent place inside by the fire and she gets daily walks with Alyssa.

See her smile?!

Duped

This Thanksgiving weekend, our lives have been changed. It was not what we expected. (And I am not talking about the 5 days of no hot water either). We had never known much about 'home school', in fact we had negatively stereotyped this process. However, after 4 days of research and interviews, we want to change our life. After learning that other local families have been successful into getting their children into college by using their home studies, I feel duped by society. We just didn't know we had options, that we didn't have to follow the boring traditional route.

We learned that these other kids didn't keep transcripts of their education. They learn the knowledge they need in life, test each year for tracking their progression, and prepare for the community college entrance exams. The public school system doesn't create the perfect protocol. They do the best they can in bulk spitting out 7200 students in this district, but we can do just as good of a job at home. Our kid is well socialized and will get what she needs via other avenues (such as swim team and church activities).

TIMELINE

Thursday Night: We met Cathy's nephew Ryan, an 11 yr old fifth grader who studies independently with the coaching of his mom when she comes home from work. After hearing about his life, schedule and curriculum, our minds started spinning.

Friday: We told Alyssa about it and she was intrigued. She liked the idea of learning at her own pace, onine, with coaching, but without all the daily disruptions at school. She wanted to learn more and we spent the day talking about how it could work for our family, with our schedules. We discussed how much responsibility she would need herself. We would coach her, but much of the learning/studying would need to start with her reading, watching DVD's, and taking online tutorials.

Saturday: She brought it up again while we were working in the garden. I called Ryan's mom and learned about WAVA. We visited the Vachs and learned how they put 5 kids through home studies. It was amazing to me that at age 16, the Vach kids take a $10 compass exam to be accepted into GRCC where they begin running start. 2 years later, with an AA in hand (no high school diploma), they get accepted into BYU. What I love about the Vachs and Petersons is that their kids are AMAZING. I feel they got that way through living the gospel and keeping those kids away from the daily disgust that kids bring to the schools. I feel so proud that Alyssa wants to keep that junk out of her life.

Sunday: Spent time learning about the Peterson's process and how they put 9 kids through different home study programs in the past 20 years. We learned how their oldest kid got a full ride scholarship into BYU even! He is graduating from Vet School this year at WAZZU.

All of these moms have chosen different routes. There are no wrong or right ways to do this. We feel relaxed to just start allowing Alyssa to learn and we will figure out her path as we go along through life. I feel armed with enough to get us started for now. Our family is praying about this decision and we hope to start in January.

It is amazing to me that we can pull our kid from school with a letter of home school intent and that is that. In 20 years, my friend Christy has never once been questioned on what she teaches her kid. No proof of curriculum is required. Wierd, at first to accept, but again, I just didn't know we had this option.

Alyssa is excited to leave behind the icky talk at school, the disruptions, the farting 5th graders, the girls already 'going out with' the boys and changing boyfriends each day, and the wasted minutes of the drama that occurs with 30 other kids in a classroom. The nice thing is that if a homeschooler wants to do something with the public school (such as be a part of the school play, attend honors biology, or drop in for an art class - the school welcomes the partcipation).

There are so many programs out there we can tap into and many are funded too. With all the sports we do, she doesn't need school PE. With her piano lessons and daily 60 minute practices, her music subject is being covered. We do plan to encourage her to study music history on her own. We can definately teach her home ec too! We are already starting her on typing tutuorials and she wants to take a Spanish online course. We are ready to bear this responsibility.

We welcome support, but not criticism. Please trust our decision making skills. You'll know in 5 years if we made the right choice.

Our first experience with Applesauce

Thank you to Camilla who gave me all the knowledge I needed today to use 80lbs apples. AND for her loaning me her juicer/steamer and food mill. It was a steamy day in the kitchen indeed. Our family all worked together for many hours processing applesauce and apple juice. It was a great experience. I am so glad that Alyssa gets to learn how to do this at an early age.

Alyssa washed and cut.
First batch in the steamer.

The whole set upMashing and cranking
Troy did a whole batch on his own.

The finished product.

All stored for winter.

So pretty, I don't want it to be eaten and my feet/back ache from standing so much today.

Boot Camp

In August and September, I did 2x a week Boot Camp at the Proclub.

Here are my before and after testing results. I improved.

Now, I am onto Winter Sports Conditioning and eyeballing some K2 Tough Luv skis!!

Panoramic pics of SLC

WOW..

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