The Nehring Family Christmas Card

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! This year we were not able to send out Christmas cards to everyone that we wanted to! That would have cost a fortune! So, we are posting our card and letter here for everyone that we were not able to send them to!

Wishing you joy, happiness, and peace this season and throughout the new year!
Merry Christmas and a very happy 2010!
Love, the Nehring family

Giving Thanks!

This year our children decided to make paper chains with all the things that they were thankful for.


Amanda is thankful for family and friends; books and toys; school and education; firefighters, police, CHP, doctors and other people who help people; feelings; movies and TV; the alphabet; and the gospel; food, clothes, warmth, a bed, a house, and everything else I need.


Rebecca is thankful for her family; the gospel; her friends; nature; food; holidays and the earth.


Katrina (who wrote the words she was thankful for herself) is thankful for clothes; food; toys; holidays; cleaning; the house; family; "me"; friends; Jesus; and the world.

It was so neat seeing them help each other put their chains together, helping each other with their spelling and how to write the letters. I am thankful for my sweet children!

On to the next test

All findings on the Endoscopy were considered normal, so tomorrow we are on to the CTscan of my abdomen and pelvis. Tonight I have to drink a whole bottle of gluck and then two more in the morning. Yum! We'll see what results this test brings.
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Upper GI Endoscopy

This morning I went to have my Upper GI Endoscopy done. I checked in and then waited in the waiting room for quite a while. I hadn't eaten anything since the night before, and after a while I was feeling really hungry and my head was starting to hurt.

They called me back and did all the pre-check stuff and then the nurse came in to put the IV in. He tried on my right wrist, and although he initially got in, when he tried to advance the needle it "popped" the vein. I am not sure what that means exactly, because I know it didn't literally pop. Anyway, he gave me a shot of Lidecane (sp?) in the top of my left hand and then put the IV in there. Ouch!! Then they wheeled me out of the pre-op and to the Endoscopy Suite. (I laughed when I saw that they referred to it as a Suite.)

I had a sticky note that I had put on my packet to remind them to make two sets of photos. (Kevin joked that I was going to put these photos in our Christmas card, as with the cost of the copay for the procedure, we were doing this in lieu of a summer vacation.) When the nurse was putting my IV in I joked that I should stick it on my forehead, but instead, I stuck it on the front of my gown. When the procedure nurse saw it, she laughed and said she would have stuck it on her forehead. I laughed and told her that I almost had. (When I came out of the procedure I noticed my sticky note was gone.)

In the "Suite", they hooked me up to a heart monitor, a pulse monitor, oxygen (in the nose) and a bp cuff on my right forearm. They had me roll over onto my left side and they put a block pillow behind me. The procedure nurse said that after they gave me the anesthesia they would put in the mouth block. They said that I would start to feel lightheaded and dizzy, which was normal. They put the block in my mouth and I tried to say something to the nurse and then my whole head started spinning and I said, "Oh yeah! There is the dizzy." And . . .it's pretty much black after that.

I do remember gagging really badly (must have been when it was going in), and at one point I opened my eyes and I could see the screen. I saw pink with red and yellow splotches on it (it looked like a Tutti-Frutti Jelly-Belly), and I could tell it was my stomach with blood on it. The next thing I remember was being in recovery and the procedure nurse was turning me over to the recovery nurse. I lay there for awhile, going in and out, watching the bp reads as they flashed on the monitor.

Eventually the nurse came over when he seemed to sense I was "back" and he asked if I wanted something to drink. I said, "YES!" He asked, "What would you like?" I looked at him for a second and came within a moment's hesitation of being a smart alec and saying, "Scotch, straight up." Instead I asked what they had and selected some apple juice. That tasted really good! They called Kevin to come back to the hospital, and when he got there he, the nurse, gave me my copies of the photos they had taken (one had my pink stomach lining with red and yellow splotches on it), told me that I had mild gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining), that they found two tiny pollops (which they biopsied), and that they saw thickened folds in my stomach lining (which they also biopsied). He said they would let me know the results of the biopsies in a few days. He said I shouldn't eat fatty or spicy foods and I couldn't drive or cook on a stove or use a sewing machine for the next 12-24 hours.

They released me and Kevin and I went to Wendy's to get lunch and boneless BBQ chicken wings and french fries never tasted so good! I felt a lot better (more normal) after I had some food in my stomach. We drove home and I slept for about an hour until Camille brought Rebecca and Katrina home after school. I sure appreciate the friends who took care of the girls today, and Kevin for taking such good care of me.
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First Day of School 2009-2010

This morning started a new school year. The girls were ready and anxious to get started. Their parents, not so much. : )

Amanda is starting 7th grade at Kerman Middle School this year. We know she will do very well, but it is still a little unnerving having our first child enter the world of Junior High. A few weeks ago we went to register her for school and she got her schedule, notebooks and gym clothes. She has all honors classes and percussion. She got to see several friends that she had not seen all summer and she has several classes with many of the students from her GATE class last year. We waved this morning as she and two other girls left to walk to school together. Yesterday was the fifth anniversary that we have been in our home. Five years ago these girls were starting second grade. It is amazing how fast time has flown by. I know that when we were kids you could walk miles to school and it was "okay", but the world isn't the same anymore and so we rely on our many talks about being safe and staying together, prayers for their safety, and resisting the urge to tail them in the car. They would be sooooooo embarrassed!! : )

We drove Rebecca to Sun Empire and the start of 4th grade. She has Mrs. Gaynor this year and we are very happy about that! Amanda had Mrs. Gaynor, so we know what an excellent teacher she is!! The traffic at Sun Empire was insane as usual, so we parked at the canal and walked to the school and across campus. Rebecca is excited to start this new year. She remembers all the things that Amanda did in 4th grade and she is looking forward to doing them this year. Rebecca (and Amanda both) received Advanced scores on their STAR tests last year, so I know that she is going to continue to excel this year in school! Mrs. Gaynor is going to be a great teacher to keep her focused and growing!

And then we drove home with Katrina. One more year at home and then she will be a part of the fray! : ) We are happy to have her home for another year! She is going to blow Kindergarten away. Last night she said, "Listen to this, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0." Wow!

Mariposa

Today we took the last Saturday before school started and made an adventure of it. Kevin has been to Mariposa, CA a few times on motorcycle rides, but we had never been there as a family. So, we packed some snacks and hit the road.

We drove up 41 through Coarsegold and Oakhurst and then on to Mariposa. We stopped a few miles south at the Mariposa Fairgrounds in a place referred to as Mormon Bar. There is a plaque there explaining why it is called Mormon Bar. We had a picnic lunch and then we went to the California State Mining and Mineral Museum. This is a very cool little museum. There were really great displays about all the different types of minerals found in California, a replica mine tunnel, a fantastic 100 year old model of a Stamp Mill, a few 3D maps of mines, and lots of displays about what minerals are used for in our daily lives, and then there was the gold room with some very cool gem and gold displays. This, sadly, is a museum that is slated for closure due to the state budget cuts, but hopefully, due to it's unique nature and requirements that the state will decide that it is more cost effective to keep it open.

We then drove into the town of Mariposa. We were going to start on the east side of town and work west to see all the sites, but the old church that is on the hill as you drive into town was very busy with a funeral for a firefighter. There were fire trucks all over the place and a lot of cars. So, we went past the old Jail and then on to the Courthouse. The Mariposa Courthouse, built in 1854, is the oldest continuously running courthouse west of the Mississippi River. It is a beautiful old building. We were happy to see that they were offering tours, so we were lead around the building by a docent who told us a lot of the history of the building and the county. While we were in the courtroom, the girls got to sit up on the stand. We also got to see the law library. The building was added on to in the 1930's with Roosevelt's WAP program.

From there we drove to the Mariposa Museum and History Center. This is an amazing little museum. We were not allowed to take photographs inside the museum, so we only can describe how great this place is! The docent told us that this museum was rated as the 3rd best in the nation (for it's size) by the Smithsonian, and we can believe it. There is SO much here! There were displays on Mariposa County history, California history, the gold rush, the Miwuk indians, the loggers, the ranchers, the churches, the surveyors, the settlers, schools, stores, etc. There were an amazing amount of artifacts, and someone had painstakingly hand lettered all the signs that were everywhere in the museum, as well as many murals and paintings depicting the history in the area. It was incredible! Outside the museum there were a lot of mining artifacts. It is a very well put together place!!

We went across the street to The Happy Burger restaurant for an early dinner. The girls were relieved to get something to eat (because you know we had been starving them all day!) and we were relieved to not have to hear how hungry they were anymore. (Sometimes the whining makes us wonder if it is worth it, but in the end it is always good to spend the day together as a family.)

Afterwards we did a little geocaching and looked at some of the souvenir shops, and then we headed for home. This is a beautiful area. No smog, just clear open sky and mountains. It was a lovely day.

Test Post

I am just testing this out to see if emailing a post from my phone works like they say it will.

Into the future...!!
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The Nehring's Travel Blog - July 2009

When we go on vacation somewhere, I like to do research to find out what is available to do and see while we are there. This month we were able to spend a week in the Pismo/Arroyo Grande/Oceano/Avila Beach area of the Central California Coast.

In doing internet research on the area, I found that there was not really any specific site that was very helpful. I had to really dig to find much of anything. Information about the area was scattered over several different and various pages. Sure, if you wanted to know which hotels were available or where the antique stores are, there was plenty about that. So. . . I am creating my own little TRAVEL BLOG about the Central California Coast.

**Oceano

I start here, because that is where we were staying. We stayed in a beach house that was very near the beach. Oceano Beach is pretty, but it is open to traffic, so you have to be very careful. The posted speed limit is 15mph, but it is posted waaaaay off to the side at the entrance where no one sees it. Basically, if you are there to sunbathe, I would pick another beach. If you are there to ride on the dunes, this is your place! Believe me, with the State trying to close State Parks this year to save money, this is one Park they are not going to close. It makes them far too much money. The girls had fun flying kites and they found a lot of shells in the shallows of the waves.

The Oceano Train Depot
Located on Front Street, across from the fire station.
www.oceanodepot.org
This is a great place to visit, especially if you are a train or history buff, or even if you are just mildly interested. It is dated from 1904. It is still in the process of being restored, but they have so much there! They do not have "regular" hours of operation, so you have to call to get an appointment to see the place. There is no fee, but they do accept donations. The number to call (currently) is 805-489-5782 and be sure to ask for Mark Wheedon. He was a GREAT tour guide!!

There is also the Rock and Roll Diner (south of Hwy 1 and Pier Avenue). We haven't made it in there yet, but it is made from two cars from the trains that have gone through Oceano. Looks like fun and kids eat free on Monday nights. Hopefully next trip.


The Pismo Nature Center
555 Pier Avenue
Pismo State Beach
Oceano, CA
805-489-8115
www.ccnha.org/pismo-nature-center.html
Open daily (except Tues & Thurs) from 1-4pm, June thru August. (Sept-May it is open Fri, Sat & Sun, 1-4pm)
This is located inside the Pismo Beach Campground in Oceano. It is small, but jam-packed with fun things to see and do. There are displays about things you find in the ocean or on the beach (with a mystery feely box); there is a display about clamming, (with a pitchfork and clams that can be "dug"); there is a display about regional wildlife with pelts to feel, pages to stamp with animal tracks and vegetation, and a sand box where there are large animal track stamps the kids can make in the sand and match with a poster on the wall; there is a display about the Chumash indians; and there are many displays depicting the local animals and birds. The girls had a great time! There are also many different gardens surrounding the campgrounds, but we did not make it to those this time. There is no fee, but they do accept donations. Be sure to sign the logbook, as it helps them with their funding.

**Pismo
www.pismochamber.com/

The city of Pismo is very much the tourist area. There are a lot of shops and places to buy t-shirts and magnets, etc. The beach is nice, and you have to take a walk out on the Pier. We saw dolphins in the ocean while we were out on the Pier. There is plenty of Public Parking and there are lots of pretty clean Public Restrooms. Stop in at the Pismo Beach Chamber of Commerce on 581 Dolliver Street for additional ideas and information. They have a big, huge giant clam out front. You can't miss it. There are good places for fish and chips, Brad's was okay and I have had recommendations for Splash Cafe.

In the winter, Nov to Feb, be sure to visit here to see the Monarch Butterfly Grove. It is on Dolliver Street as you drive between Pismo and Grover Beach. It is amazing! There are butterflies everywhere and docents to talk about all the stages of butterfly life, their migration patterns, etc. It is wonderful!

**Shell Beach

Tide Pools

Shell Beach has good tide pools. There is a stairway down to the beach at Ocean Blvd and Pier Street. Be sure to check the tide schedule. We got a little tide chart from Moondoggies Surf Shop (781 Dolliver Street in Pismo). While we were there the low tides were still a good 1-2' above the average low tide, so we didn't get to see very much, but there were plenty of starfish, crabs, anenomes, barnacles, etc. Be careful on the slippery seaweed though, as a few of us got scrapes and bruises from slipping.

Dinosaur Caves Park
Corner of Price Street and Cliff Avenue

This is a fun park. There are no dinosaurs here (sort of). There is a gorgeous view of the bluffs and the ocean, and there is a park for the kids to play in with all different ocean animals (seals, whales, etc.) to climb on, including a dinosaur and some dinosaur eggs. There is a small ampitheater there as well and we saw some Shakespeare being acted out while we were there. There is also a Farmer's Market there on Saturdays from 8-noon (11am?) and there were some very nice booths.

**Avila Beach

Avila Valley Barn
560 Avila Beach Drive
805-595-2810
www.avilavalleybarn.com
Open 9am-6pm May-Oct, and 9am-5pm Nov-Apr
Do NOT miss this one!! There are no signs on the road to warn you that it is coming up, so watch for the RV Park at the corner of Ontario Road and then it is the next driveway as the road curves to the right. This place is great!! There is a fantastic fresh-picked fruit and vegetable stand, and the gift shops with all kinds of fun goodies. They have baked goods (be SURE to get an Olallieberry pie!! Sooooo good!) They will give you a bag of greens to feed the goats, sheep, cows, and other animals around the barn. There is a sweet shop with really good salt water taffy (we didn't try the homemade ice cream this time). You can go out and pick your own fruits and berries too, which is a lot of fun. Check online for their seasonal U-pick calendar. We picked apricots and olallieberries. We were all covered in dark red juice and we had a great time! There is a hay ride that will take you out to the orchards on the weekends, but it is not too far to walk if you are there on a weekday. We went back there twice while we were in the area!

Avila Beach/Pier
This is a very nice beach, and less crowded than Pismo. There are some fun swings and slides for the kids as well. The Pier is smaller, but we saw a lot of seals while we were out there. Some swam right up to the pier!

A little bit north of Avila Beach is the San Luis Port. There is a really good fish and chips place there called Fat Cats Cafe. We liked this one better than Brad's. Less greasy, bigger pieces, more sauces and curly fries!!

Avila Beach Fish and Farmer's Market
Avila Beach Promenade
www.visitavilabeach.com
Every Friday 4-8pm
I found this one online, and it had a nice, colorful flier advertising fresh produce, local seafood, food booths, family fun and live entertainment. The band was good, there was one booth with seafood and one booth with produce and all the rest were kettlecorn and food. So, not exactly what it was billed as, especially since we weren't there for the food booths.

**Arroyo Grande

Arroyo Grande is the community of the area. There are lots of shopping centers with Kmart, Wal-mart, etc. (if you want Costco, you have to go to San Luis Obisbo). There is also a LOT of history.

Museums of the South County Historical Society
805-473-5077
www.southcountyhistory.org
Downtown Arroyo Grande, between Branch and Nelson Streets and Mason Street and Traffic Way.

Santa Manuela School
Hours, Sat 12-3pm, Sun 1-4pm
This is a one-room schoolhouse that was in use until 1857. It was a lot of fun for the girls to get to see this. They sat in the desks and enjoyed seeing all the things that are different than in their modern classrooms.

The Barn
Hours, Sat 12-3pm, Sun 1-4pm
This is filled with all kinds of fun stuff. There is a player piano, an old printing press, lots of house and farm implements, some old vehicles and tractors, including fire fighting equipment that was used to help in the 1906 San Francisco fire. The docents here were wonderful, showing the girls all kinds of fun stuff, like how heavy the old irons were, etc.

Heritage House Museum
Hours, Sat 12-3pm, Sun 1-4pm
This is a beautiful house with some great displays in it. Lots of old clothes and furniture, a full kitchen with antique refrigerators, washers, butter churns, etc., and more pianos and organs than I think I have ever seen in a heritage museum of this size. One of the docents even played the pump organ for us. It was really fun!

The Swinging Bridge
Right next to the Schoolhouse is the Swinging Bridge, which is one of it's kind in California. It has been reconstructed, as the original, built in 1875, was destroyed in a storm when a tree fell on it. As you walk across the bridge, the whole thing shakes and sways, so the girls enjoyed running across it.

There is also the Pauling History House (Open the 1st Sat of the month from 12-3pm), Ruby's House (Open weekdays 1-4pm) and the Historic Hall (Open Fri & Sat 12-5pm), but we did not get to these on this trip.

The Pismo Beach Historical Park
Hidden way back where you almost can't find it is a historical park that is in the process of being restored. Take Highland Drive up the hill and then go left, down Pismo "something" Drive. (It's not even on my map, so I can't remember the name of the street, but it is in an undeveloped residential area at the bottom of the hill.) There are two historical landmarks, the Price house and the Meherin house, and a Chumash Indian village being constructed. The houses are surrounded by a fence, and there is a box that advertises newsletters put out by The Friends of the Price House, Inc., but the box was empty when we were there. You can walk up to the indian village. It is pretty neat.

Arroyo Grande Library
If you need access to a computer, or a good book, the Arroyo Grande Library is located on Branch Street, right next door to the Arroyo Grande Chamber of Commerce. It is a very nice library.

Klondike Cafe
104 Bridge Street, Arroyo Grande
805-481-5288
www.klondikepizza.com
A really fun place to go for something to eat in Arroyo Grande is Klondike Pizza. They have an Alaska theme and there are peanuts on the tables and shells all over the floors. The pizza is really good, and it is a lot of fun! They have an All-You-Can-Eat on Tuesday nights from 5-9pm.

We had a wonderful time on our vacation and can't wait to come back again to visit and explore some more!

Close call - Scared silly - Did everything right

Yesterday we had a scary situation come up, but everyone handled it exactly as they should, and so it all turned out okay in the end. I start this blog with the end of the story, because it has to do with a rattlesnake and a 3 year old girl.

We were in Auberry, at Kevin's parents' house, and the kids were playing outside after dinner. We have told the kids countless times what to do if they see a rattlesnake while they are walking around on the property, because it is such a serious possibility. Laura and Stone had already walked over the bridge that Dad built over the gully on the north side of the house. Now Katrina was going for a walk with Papa over the bridge. She got to the far side where the boards extend past the end of the bridge. Here there is a two foot gap between the edge of the boards and the rocks. Katrina saw ants in the dirt at the end of the boards and turned around (she has recently been bit several times by red ants and does NOT like to get near them). When she did, she heard the rattle of a rattlesnake and screamed, "snake!". It was only a foot and a half away from her. Papa couldn't see the snake as from his vantage point it was obscured by a rock, but he heard the rattle too. He went running by it and grabbed Katrina up.

Laura was still outside, so Dad yelled to her to bring a shovel. This was the point that Kevin and I (we were inside the house) realized what was happening. We saw Laura running (in that way that you instantly know it is an urgent run, not a run for exercise or anything) and then heard Katrina crying. When I got to the bridge, Laura was holding Katrina and Dad was whacking the head off the snake with the shovel. I took Katrina in my arms and she cried, "the snake almost bit me!". We watched to know that Papa had taken care of the snake, then as we walked back to the house I praised Katrina for doing exactly what she was supposed to do and we talked about how this is why we ask Heavenly Father every day to keep us safe.

Dad brought the headless snake up from the gully and Katrina was very brave and wanted to feel the snake. She felt it's skin and shook it's rattles. I made a little video of her talking about what happened. She said, "Papa saved me.". Thank you Dad, and thank you Heavenly Father!

Dad and Kevin measured the snake. It was 44" long and had 13 buttons on it's tail. It had a big bulge in it's side, so we could tell it had recently eaten, and Kevin thinks that is why it didn't strike immediately. Whatever the reason, we are just very grateful it didn't!

California State Train Museum (weekend post: part 3 of 3)

We made a wise choice and decided to stay another night after the State Finals. We figured that as long as we were there, we ought to take advantage of the situation and go do some things that we hadn't been able to do otherwise - make a vacation of it. Sunday morning we drove from Brentwood to Sacramento and went to the California State Historical Train Museum. We have been wanting to go there for years, but it has always been an all day trip that we never got together.

We had a fantastic time! The Museum is very impressive! There are amazing displays and TONS of information. The girls loved it and there were times that I looked at Kevin and he had such a child-like, sparkle-eyed look on his face! It was as if he were four again! There were locomotives, box cars, passenger cars, mail cars, dining cars and sleeper cars. There were all kinds of displays about the history of the railroad, our favorite being the display about the surveyors. There were photos and artifacts. It is an amazing place.

Amanda brought a notebook and wrote down all sorts of information about the different trains. Amanda's favorite train was the Governor Stanford locomotive. (She did a whole report about Stanford University this year.) Rebecca loved the sleeper car because it actually moved like a real train does. She thought that was really cool! Katrina was at first disappointed because she couldn't get on the trains and the displays, but the farther along we got in the museum, the more you could climb and she was loving it! Her favorite was the smiley face train.

The coolest part for Kevin and I was when we were looking at the humonsterous cab-forward locomotive. They had all been dismantled, but the museum got the last one in the world and reassembled it in the museum. It is amazingly huge, and weighs over a million pounds! They had a staircase that allowed you to go up into the cab and look around. Since we had the stroller I stayed down on the floor while Kevin took the girls up to the cab. I was standing near the front of the train when two ladies walked up and one was going to take a picture of the other in front if the train. I offered to take a photo of both of them. When they came back for the camera, we got talking and one of the ladies told me that her father had driven this locomotive. I said this type of locomotive, or THIS locomotive? THIS locomotive, she said. How cool is that?! She said he had driven it for 16 years inbetween Southern CA and Bakersfield, until the mid-1950s when the trains got switched to diesel. We stood and talked to them for quite a while. Her husband, the other lady's father, also drove the same train. When Kevin came down from the cab with the girls I introduced them and he was just as interested to hear what they were saying as I was. And, no kidding, the first lady had been the financial secretary at McClane High School where Kevin graduated. (Not at the same time though.). We talked about famous train museums and sites and when we mentioned the Tehachapi Loop, they said they had ridden over the Tehachapi Loop many times. We have been lucky enough to see a train go through that loop twice, whereas they had been able to actually ride it! It was really neat to get to talk to them! (We wish we had gotten their names.) Another really cool thing we heard about this huge locomotive was that since it was built in 1944 that means that it was built by women. Very cool!

We were asked by a docent later on if the kids were enjoying the museum. We told him that the girls were enjoying SEEING all the trains and things, but we were enjoying HEARING and LEARNING all the great things that there was to know about this great part of our nation's history. Trains changed this country in a dramatic way, and it is wonderful to see so much of that history preserved!

At the end there was a toy train play area for the kids and you know we had a very hard time getting Katrina to leave that area. We are not ones to bribe our kids on a regular basis, but the occasion called for it and it was the lure of a toy from the gift shop that got her to move along.

We were there for four hours and could have stayed longer. Okay, Kevin and I could have stayed longer, maybe Amanda, but the girls were tired and hungry. They were soooo good for having been in the museum through lunch time! We treated them afterwards with lunch and ice cream. We had a wonderful day and we highly recommend this museum to anyone and everyone!

We also saw the terminus for the Pony Express and then went by the State Capital building, and then we headed for home! We had a great weekend!

See all the cool train museum pics HERE.

Found it! (weekend post: part 2 of 3)

There were several breaks in the State Finals competition that allowed us to do some geocaching around in the Brentwood area. We will always take any opportunity we can get to geocache together as a family!

We found sixteen this weekend (with only one no find, not bad!) and even reached our 1300th find mark! We found ones with magnets, ones with spiders, and even an ammo can! (You don't see those much any more, so we love them when we do see them!) Our favorite one had to be the Horse's Petunia cache. (Can you see the cache? It's there!) The girls thought it was hilarious! We also managed to crash a wedding in the process! Okay, so it was more like we crashed the reception. And, okay, we were sort of invited. There was a couple in the Brentwood area who met through geocaching and they were getting married and decided to make their reception into an Event Cache. There were several cachers there, including ones we had met before. It was neat to meet cachers whose caches we had been finding all day. One couple had a cache that we had a no find on, so I asked her if my assumption was correct on where the cache was located. I was correct, so later we went back and were able to find that one. We really enjoy caching in other towns and getting to see how other cachers hide their caches and what they think the ratings levels should be.

One of the things that we have really been enjoying is being able to cache using our phones! With the internet right in the palm of our hands, we can look up caches and log them right there in the field - on the fly, as I keep saying. Last night when we were driving home we stopped at a rest stop and we said, I wonder if there is a cache here? We looked up our coordinates, found that there was a cache 225 feet from us, found it and logged it. Technology is so cool! Geocaching is awesome!

Odyssey of the Mind State Finals (weekend post: part 1 of 3)

Five months of work went into this very day, as the Liberty Intermediate Shock Waves Division II Team headed into the Weigh-in at Heritage High School in Brentwood, CA. (Between Antioch and Concord, not the SoCal one.) They had worked hard,a nd this was their chance to prove it. The way here was not without "shocks" however. . .

After the team won first place at Regionals, they went about making another structure, with a few modifications. The judges had given the kids a few ideas, so they wanted to see if they would work. At the test, it held 326.3lbs. The kids were thrilled! That was the highest weight held to date!

The next night, the team appeared before the Kerman Unified School District School Board and were recognized for their achievements! They also did a presentation of their problem, which held 275lbs. As coaches, Tammy (the assistant coach) and I were so proud of them and excited to see them recognized for all the hard work they have done.

At this point, we had run out of balsa wood from the box I bought at the end of last year, so we ordered a new one. In the meantime the kids had to relearn the skit, as one of the kids, Devin, would not be able to go to State and John had to learn his lines. (Amanda, Wyatt and Brenda were also in the skit.) When we got the new balsa wood the team built a new structure, and we bought a small gram scale so we didn't have to keep borrowing one. When we weighed the new structure it was 3 grams over the weight limit! Huh?! We tested the new scale and it was accurate. We could not fathom why the structure weighed so much more!

In the meantime, a week ago last Wednesday, I was calling one of the girls, Brenda, to see if she wanted to order trade pins. I got her sister, who said she (the sister) was at the hospital. Thinking something had happened to her, I asked if she was alright. She said they were there with their mother, who had stage 4 esophygial (sp?) cancer. I was so startled! Brenda had never said a thing! We had absolutely no idea! Her sister said that they hoped that Brenda would be able to make it to the State Finals, but they just didn't know. We completely understood, but at this point we didn't know if we could even compete with only four members if the worst were to happen.

After a few phone calls we found that thankfully they can, so we also started to prepare for the contingency that Karina would need to learn Brenda's lines as well. Last Monday Brenda came to the meeting to tell us that her mother had passed away on Saturday. The funeral was going to be on Friday. We hugged her and told her how very sorry we were. On Friday morning, Tammy and I and two of the team members attended the funeral. From there we went straight to Liberty to help the team complete the structure during their lunch hour. That night we all left for the State Finals. Time will tell whether the distraction of State Finals was the thing that Brenda needed as a consistency in her life that would help her through this most difficult time in her life.

In the meantime we think we had figured out why the structures weighed so differently. The wood that the kids used first had been sitting for a year, curing. The new wood weighed more. Crazy. So, with one week left the kids had to modify their structure. They had to cut the cross supports down from two to one piece of balsa wood. And, despite months of planning, we went to State Finals without having tested it. (Sound familiar?)

We all drove up to Finals on Friday night, except for Brenda, who was going to be driving straight up on Saturday morning. We had the weigh-in at 8:35 and the Long-term Problem (skit and weights) at 10:30. At 7am (with a three hour drive ahead of her) Brenda had not yet left Kerman. The team went in for the Weigh-in and handed in their smaller structure. They were nervous about it, but with the original structure being so far overweight, they couldn't even take the "over weight" penalty and use the one they knew would do well. And then, Karina began feverishly trying to learn Brenda's lines.

It was a gorgeous morning and the sun was shining, but it was VERY windy, so it was pretty chilly. Heritage High School is a very new campus, and it is huge! Several of the team members had purchased pins, and during the breaks Amanda had a great time trading pins with the other kids. They got eight pins of their own region and then traded with the other kids for one pin from each of the other regions. That process was like a feeding frenzy! She also got a tshirt. They were really cool! The back listed the school and each of the kids that were represented at the State Finals. (Amanda's name was almost right smack in the middle of the shirt!). There were six different choices for the front of the shirt and then they screen printed them right there! It was really cool to watch the printers do it right there in front of you.

At 10:00am the team went to check-in for the Long-term problem. They got ready with their costumes, props, etc. and at 10:25, just moments before the team was called in to present, Brenda arrived. Karina was very relieved!

During the presentation the kids were a little bit off, having had so much to deal with in such a short time, and their skit, which was only supposed to be less than 2 minutes long ended up being three and they hesitated when they were putting weights on and kept putting small weights on. Anyway, when they timed out there was 305 lbs on it! That was the most they had ever done in competition. The judges put a piece of paper on the top weight and then they added another 100 lbs! 405 lbs on a structure they were worried would take less weight! Never in any practice has their structure held that much! Tammy and I were so thrilled, but absolutely heartbroken for them that they timed out when they could have had 405!

The team members commented later that they liked the judges at the State Finals better than the experience they had at Regionals, as the officials here made them feel more comfortable. Their instructions and questions were clear and not confusing.

At the time of their performance they were far above any of the other teams, but as the day progressed, several teams did much better, with the highest weight being 580lbs! Wow! (We had checked the Regional scores and knew there was a team that had held 560lbs at the Regional level, but we never shared that with the kids so they would not walk into State Finals thinking they couldn't win.).

There was still a chance that with their Spontaneous competition scores and Style points they could pull off a medal. They went in to the Spontaneous Problem with cheers from their coaches and parents. They came out smiling, telling us that the Spontaneous Problem official told them that they had done really well. (They aren't allowed to tell us about the problem until after World Finals.)

There was a four hour break, in which we did some geocaching (see part 2 of 3). We returned to the campus at 6:30pm and after sweating it out for two hours in a crowded gym with 300+ screaming kids (that part always takes WAAAAAY too long), they announced the top six teams in each problem and division. (Thankfully they started with problem 5 this time and worked backwards. We were problem 4.) They said sixth, fifth, fourth, (we were getting all excited at the prospect that they might have even placed as high as third) and then . . .oops! We missed a tie for sixth place. Liberty Intermediate! Yea!!! The team stood up and got their applause and then we all got the heck out of there!!! As we walked out of the building and into the cool night air, I realized how close I had come to fainting. Whew! It had been way too hot in there!

The thing is, no matter how well they did or didn't do, they had fun! They worked out issues together! They stood by each other! Amanda, Brenda, Devin, John, Karina and Wyatt are awesome!

See all the Odyssey of the Mind State Finals pics HERE.

Out of this world!

It's time again for the 3rd grade Science Fair. At Sun Empire Elementary the 3rd graders learn all about the Solar System and they each create a poster or project that shows what they have learned. Rebecca decided to do her project to show how far away each planet is from the sun.

We got styrofoam balls and yarn and Rebecca painted each of the styrofoam balls to look like the planets and then she used bright yellow yarn (to represent the sun's rays) and we calculated how far each planet is from the sun in terms of inches. For example, Mercury was 5.25" from the sun, while Pluto was 291.8" from the sun. (Yes, no matter what the Planetary Council says, 3rd graders still believe that Pluto is a planet.) And, of course, in between was Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Rebecca put a small note around each one saying how far each planet was from the sun in actual miles. On the base there was a paper with all the planet facts.

When she completed it, we took it out on the driveway to see how far it really was. The string for Pluto went all the way down the driveway. Rebecca thought that was soooo cool!

Today was the Science Fair where all the other classes and the parents get to come in and see all the great projects. The 4th graders, who did the year before, get to vote on which project they like the best in each class. Rebecca is really hoping that hers wins!

In the classroom, they tried to give her project enough room, but really, it didn't have enough and so the farthest planets were kind of draped over another project. But when I was walking into the classroom I heard other kids calling to their friends to hurry and come over to see her project because it was so cool!

There were some really creative ideas for displays. There was a solar system made from rice krispies and candy melts. There was one that was 3D. There was one that was a hat. There was one with the sun made from a large Tupperware bowl. There was one with a telescope that looked inside. There was one that the girls stood before and turned a knob to make the solar system spin. Katrina really liked looking at all the displays and on of my favorites was one with a smiley face on the sun!

Rebecca did a great job and we are really proud of her! She is out of this world! : )

Keyboard + Gatorade = new keyboard

Oh the irony of it all! We had our computer on the kitchen counter for almost three years. The potential for it to get food or liquid in the keyboard was very high. A few days ago it was moved into another room. Yesterday Katrina was not feeling well, so I let her play a game on the computer while Amanda's OM team met in the kitchen. I brought her a little bit of Gatorade in a cup. Rebecca, who was supposed to be doing her homework and not playing with Katrina either, knocked the cup of Gatorade onto the desk and it ran off into the keyboard. Arg!

I took the whole keyboard apart (not an easy task!), dried it all off, cleaned under the keys, put it back together. . .and. . .nothing. Sigh! It was working before I took it apart, so should I have left it that way with all the Gatorade sloshing around in the bottom? Hmm. I guess we will never know.

So, now I have a new keyboard. It's not a Mac keyboard, so I don't have all the buttons I used to have and I am trying to figure out ways to do things I have had buttons for all this time, but I will adapt. We always do, don't we?

No drinks by the computer!!!!!

Gardening 101

This year we are planting a garden. We have been wanting to do this for several years, but kept putting it off until it was too late in the year. This year. . .no excuses!

Earlier this week, we figured out where we wanted to put the planter box in the backyard and then Katrina and Rebecca put soil into starter containers and then they poked holes with their fingers and planted the seeds for basil, mint, oregano, and strawberries. They should be poking their little green heads out in a week or so.

Today we drove into Fresno to Home Depot and bought the wood to build the planter boxes, some soil and compost and a cherry tomato plant. Katrina had a great time helping put the wood on the cart and then got a ride around the rest of the store.

When we got home Katrina helped to plant the cherry tomato. She dug the hole and patted the soil back over the plant and then watered it. It is fun to see them get so excited about this whole process.

This next weekend we are going to get the planter box put together and get the garden growing! I can't wait to be eating vegetables out of our own garden!!!

Blogging my weight loss journey. . .Month. . .yeah. . .whatever

Two things happened this week that have finally given me, I think, the impetus to get my act together and quit eating like an idiot! First was this photo:



Good heavens! Am I really trying to gain back EVERY pound I lost? For crying out loud!

The second was the fact that a friend of mine has lost over 100 pounds this year, and I gave her some of my "fat" clothes as she was on her way down. A few days ago I was bemoaning my weight gain to her, and so she gave the fat clothes back to me. How depressing is that!?

I try for a couple of days to eat right and then something knocks me off track! I just have to try harder. I just love chocolate SOOOOOO much!

We will, we will SHOCK you!

Today was the Regional Tournament for Odyssey of the Mind in the Central Valley. I am so proud of this team! They have worked together so hard this year and they have accomplished so much! (See previous post)

This morning we drove down to Hanford High School. The team was competing in Division II, Problem 4 - Shock Waves this year and there were two other teams that we were competing against. The kids went to their Spontaneous competition first. They were given a verbal and non-verbal problem to work out as a team. They said that they did well on the verbal and terrible on the non-verbal (they are not allowed to discuss the problems until after World Finals). They had to weigh in at noon and then wait until 4:00pm to present their Long-Term Problem - their structure.

The kids did their skit and then they started putting weights on. They did a great job, but the crusher board started to lean, and it created an uneven weight dispersement. The structure held 206.8 pounds! (That is a fantastic weight, but disappointing, as the one they tested the day before held 283 pounds!) The other teams only held 188 and 66 pounds. We weren't celebrating yet, however, because they still had to add in the points from the Spontaneous competition, and Style (how they presented their over-all problem, including the skit, costumes, sound effects, team poster, etc.).

At the Awards Ceremony we were thrilled when they called out the Division II, Problem 4 - Shock Waves first place winner was Liberty Intermediate!!! The kids were so excited! They had huge smiles on their faces and were hugging each other as they ran down to get their gold medals! We got the scores back and they had even won the Spontaneous portion, even though they thought they had done so poorly. This team is AWESOME!!!

Now they are going on to the State Finals in Brentwood, CA on April 4th!

Tour of California - Stage 4 Merced to Clovis

We are big cycling fans! Kevin has been cycling for years and we can both remember the day that Greg LeMond was the first American to win the Tour de France! (For instance, I was in a cafeteria eating breakfast at the University of Oregon for a Summer Architecture Academy.) Of course we watched as Lance Armstrong won every single one of his seven Tour de France titles. So, needless to say, we were very excited when we heard that the 2009 Tour of California was going to be coming to Clovis! Right here in our own backyard (so to speak)! Kevin signed up to be a volunteer and was assigned to be a Course Marshal. (His mom, Carol, did as well.) He would have loved to be on the course as motorcycle support, but you have to have done it for a while and be "invited", so maybe another time in the future.

Kevin's office is a block from where the race was taking place, so I was getting calls from him periodically throughout the day. First it was that everything was being set up all around Old Town Clovis, and then it was that there were helicopters flying overhead all over the place, then it was updates as he watched the live feed of the race on the internet. He was beside himself with excitement! The largest stage race in the United States was happening right outside his window!

I got the girls out of school early and we drove to Clovis. We parked at Kevin's work and went up to his office just in time to see a crash on the live feed. One of the victims of the crash was Floyd Landis. He is on the Ouch Team and I thought it was ironic to see Floyd Landis walking around with road rash all over his arms and legs with the word OUCH emblazened all over his clothing!

We walked out to Clovis Avenue between Seventh and Eighth and sat on some grass. It would be another hour and a half before the cyclists would arrive in Clovis. Kevin and Carol checked in with the volunteer supervisor and then took their stations on opposite sides of Clovis Avenue. We walked around and saw the race progress on the Jumbotron and then the girls hung out on the curb. Speaking of Clovis Avenue, it was pretty cool that the City of Clovis changed the signs on Clovis Avenue to read The Tour of California.

Just before 3:30pm the traffic on Clovis Avenue thinned as they closed off the street. There were official cars, photo motorcycles, a fire truck, and lots of California Highway Patrol driving up and down the street. There were people running out into the road to write things on the ground in yellow chalk. Then we could see the helicopters. We knew that when we saw the helicopters that the riders were very close.

It was almost 4:00pm when the peloton came into view. It was an amazing sight to see all those riders, so close together and moving so fast, as they screamed down Clovis Avenue. There was no way that we could even remotely pick out any specific riders, so we just held down the button on the camera and took as many photos as we could! In fifteen seconds it was over, they were gone around the corner. (Kevin's boss described the experience of seeing the peloton speed by as the most exciting fifteen seconds he has ever experienced!)

We all turned and ran to the next block west where the finish line was on Pollasky Avenue. There was no way we were going to be able to see anything, so I threw the girls up on a wall so they could see over everyone's heads. I had the big camera and held it up to get some shots, and Amanda took photos from the wall.

When we were done we walked back over to where Kevin was, and as it turns out, we should have stayed there. We didn't know it, but the racers, after crossing the finish line, turned and rode through the parking lot past the spot where we had been standing to watch the race. Since we had both cameras, Kevin could only take photos with his phone. As Lance Armstrong went by him, Kevin said to his mom, "It's Lance Armstrong!" and Lance looked over at them. Cool! Floyd Landis went by as well.

After the racers had all gone by we went over to where the racers trailers were to see if we could get any photos. Kevin talked to one of the motorcycle marshals and the girls went over to see the Jelly Belly car. We could tell where Lance Armstrong's trailer was, as there were a ton of people crowded around with their cameras up in the air. I was too short to get a photo of anything other than the backs of people's heads, so Kevin took the camera to try to get some photos of Lance Armstrong. In the meantime I helped the girls to get up to the barricade to get an autograph from Lance. Right as they got the barricade, Lance turned and got in his car and was driven away. Bummer!

We went over to Floyd Landis' trailer, but he had already left. We asked how he was, seeing as he had crashed earlier, and they said it was really nice of us to ask and said that he was alright. We went around to the Quick Step team trailer and Amanda got an autograph from Tom Boonen, a Belgian who won the World Championship title in 2005. We also got a signed poster from Tom Fowler, a rider on the Canadian Cervelo team.

While we were in line to get that poster, we saw a commotion down at the end of the parking lot. Kevin went down and when I saw him start running I knew it was someone important. We all went down and it was Levi Leipheimer, the captain of the Astana team! He has been in the Tour de France (on Lance Armstrong's team), and he has won the Tour of California twice and he is in the lead this year as well. The girls got an autograph and then they got a photo with him! Amanda was jumping up and down with excitement to have the autographs!

Mark Cavendish of the Columbia Team won the stage by the way. Tom Boonen placed second. Levi Leipheimer is still in first place over all. Lance is in fourth. It was so cool to be there and see all these great cyclists! We had so much fun!

See all the Tour of California - Stage 4 pics HERE.

Award-winning Writer

Amanda won the Essay Contest at the library for the second year in a row! She won a $25 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble for her essay on hibernation. And this year, they did a decent write-up about it in the Kerman News.