Travels | Amy Scott's Thoughts

Summer Camp 2023 August 13, 2023

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Family Time,Homeschool Adventures,Simply Me,Travels — Amy Scott @ 1:51 pm

Wow, we’re almost halfway through August! Sorry I went radio silent there. August has been a different month. After two months of hosting all the playdates and pool parties, we hunkered down at home the first week of August as a rest/prepare week. Even though we had no company or out of the house plans, it was a hugely productive week. Jeremy was prepping for directing a full 7 days of kids camp and I got all the prep work for the school year done. I’ve filed our intent to homeschool with the school district, officially planned the 1st quarter of school, and printed our first day of school signs. I am as ready as possible to start the school year at the end of the month. Woo hoo!

Last Sunday, Jeremy took off for kids camp. He directed two camps in one week. Camp One was Sunday through Wednesday and Camp Two was Wednesday through Saturday. Our church joined Camp Two, so I had a few days of single “momming” at the start of the week before joining Jeremy at camp. I had my permanent crown placed last Monday which means I’m done with my summer of dental appointments. Praise the Lord!

Owen went to camp last year while Graham and I stayed home. Graham wasn’t old enough to be a camper and we wanted Owen to be all-in on the camp experience (and not feel torn between family nearby). It was a great experience for Owen, but a hard experience for Graham. He missed Owen terribly. As the director’s family, we get the option of tagging along at camp and we decided to take it this year. Graham slept on an air mattress in Jeremy and I’s cabin while Owen bunked with our church boys. Next year, Graham will be old enough for the full camp experience. For his first camp experience, Graham got to choose when he wanted to participate and when he wanted to chill out at our cabin. We’ll see how he handles the full schedule next year. One of the highlights of camp was going with the cousin. Two of my nephews joined the fun and we’re hoping for even more cousins next year. The kids would tell you that cousin time, the lake, and the snack shack were their favorite parts. Owen took the chapel messages to heart and we had some good conversations as he processed what God was doing in his life. It was fun to watch the kids enjoy all that camp had to offer.

To raise money for a missionary family, the kids got to turn Pastor Jeremy into a human dog. What does that mean? The leaders sprayed condiments of ketchup, mustard, and relish and then the kids stuck hot dog buns on to Jeremy. He was a good sport about it all… but what a mess! The stinky “hot dog” laundry is washing as I type. It was the last load to run… I put it off for obvious reasons. We are unpacked and ready to rest!

One more highlight, Graham lost his first top tooth last night. It was wiggling before we left for camp. A few foods made it bleed and that freaked Graham out. He doesn’t do well with blood. At camp, Graham was super concerned about what foods might bother his tooth. I’m glad it’s out now so he can eat whatever he wants again. Done with the drama!

That about covers this mid-August update. We are enjoying these last few weeks of summer vacation before the school routine starts up again. School is almost here, but we have one last hurrah planned before we settle down. I’ll keep you posted!

Splurged on mini murphs while Jeremy was away.

Packed and ready to go! These kids were hyped up for camp!

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Zipping Through Summer July 30, 2023

Filed under: Family Time,Homeschool Adventures,Travels — Amy Scott @ 2:16 pm

We are two-thirds through Summer 2023 and it’s zipping by! It’s crazy to think that we are less than a month away from the start of school. We have plenty of adventures between now and then so school oddly feels like a lifetime away and right around the corner. Very mixed feelings here!

For now, let’s focus on wrapping up July. It’s been a fun filled month! Each week has had it’s own unique set of adventures. After my last post, we visited the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. Our local library gives out free zoo tickets with their summer reading program. My whole motivation for doing the reading program is for my kiddos to get those free tickets. Graham enjoyed the big cats – the tiger and the clouded leopard. Owen loved the budgies and puffins.

Last week was another dentist appointment for me. I had my crown prep and temporary crown placed. While I spent hours hanging with the dentist, the boys had piano lessons and adventures with Nana & Papa. The kids definitely had more fun than me that day… but I’m one appointment away from being completely done with these dental shenanigans. I’m grateful that there is a light at the of the tunnel.

Hosting has been a big part of our summer schedule. We love having friends over to play in the yard, run through the woods, or swim in the pool. We’ve done our best to be the summer party place and I feel like we’ve succeeded. This week we hosted a playdate, a co-op planning meeting, and a family dinner with friends. The co-op planning meeting was kind of a big deal for me. We had 26 people over and that is our largest group since the pandemic. We kept the party outside and entertained the kiddos with yard activities. The co-op moms were able to sit down for a few hours and plan out the whole next school year. It was a super productive meeting! I’m really excited for this coming year at co-op!

Our big outing for this week was a visit to Mt. Rainier on Friday. Jeremy is adamant we must visit Mt. Rainier every summer. It’s not truly summer unless we spend a day at the mountain. Last year’s mountain mission was mountain goats (and we found them). This year we were on the lookout for marmots and we succeeded in our mission! The kids got so close to one marmot they could have petted it. We saw lots of marmots including baby marmots. We also saw ptarmigans with chicks. The boys love seeing new creatures and identifying animals. While the hiking was beautiful and the animal enjoyable, I appreciated our stop at the Paradise Inn for treats and a rest. We talked about how neat it would be to stay there someday. Just another spot on my travel bucket list.

That wraps up this installment of Amy Scott’s Thoughts. I’m looking forward to my monthly book post tomorrow! I’ve been re-reading favorites this month and I can’t wait talk about books with you. Summer reading is meant to be extra fun, right? I’ll see you back here soon with all my bookish thoughts to share!

Perfect day to pull out the Slip’N’Slide

Nothing like an 8am game of badminton in pajamas and rain boots!

Taking a break with treats at the Paradise Inn

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Sunriver Summer Vacation July 19, 2023

Filed under: Family Time,Parenthood,Travels — Amy Scott @ 2:04 pm

Last week, we were blessed to take a vacation to Sunriver, OR with Jeremy’s parents and his brother’s family. If you recall, we took a trip to Sunriver this last October. While it might seem odd to take a vacation to same place within year’s time, we jumped at the chance to go when it was a suggested destination. We love Sunriver!!! We’ve visited it now in many variations and we’ve loved them all. We’ve been with my parents in the spring, just our family in the fall, and now with Jeremy’s family in the summer. The only season we haven’t visited in is winter. It’s my new life goal to make that happen. Bring on the Sunriver snow! Someday!

Sunriver is one of our happy places. There is so much to love about the location. Forgive me while I gush! The biking trails around the resort are awesome. I got up early most days to have some quiet, walking time to start the day. Each walk was beautiful! We also rode bikes around the area and did a little geo-caching. The Cove is the aquatic center for the resort. It has two pools, two hot tubs, and two water slides. We were there everyday and it’s probably the boys’ favorite part of the resort. Around the house, we enjoyed yummy meals, played games (card games, board games, Switch games), and I found plenty of moments to sneak away with a book.

We went on a few outings outside of the resort. We visited the Lava River Cave and made it all the way to the end. This was a site the kids wanted to visit in October, but it had already closed for the season. They were so excited for the chance to hike in the underground cave. The experience was similar to ones we’ve at the Ape Caves here in WA. Our boys love adventuring, especially in caves. We also visited the High Desert Museum. It’s a combination museum and small zoo. They had a super interactive gray fox and a playful group of river otters. They were the highlight of the visit. We also enjoyed their birds of prey exhibit. After wandering the museum, we did mini-golf and an arcade at a local fun center.

After checking out on Saturday, we were still able to hit the pool for a couple of hours before hitting the road for home. The kids were so bummed to leave. It was truly a fantastic trip. Good times with family and plenty of awesome activities! It was hard to say good-bye. But like I said, I’m hopeful we’ll be back again!

Now that we’re back home, it’s still pool time everyday in our backyard pool. It’s not quite a cool as the resort aquatic center, but it gets the job done. We’ve hosted two pool playdates this week with another one planned for tomorrow. We love sharing our pool with friends. It’s supposed to be 90 today, so I’m pretty positive I’ll be reading poolside today while the boys have a splashing good time.

I’m cherishing these sunny, swimmy, summer memories. Each week flies by with it’s own set of adventures. Oh! Graham mastered the art of swimming while we were away. He took off like a little fish in the deep end and surprised us all. We decided that with this new development, we don’t need another around of swimming lessons this summer. We love our local pool and swimming lessons were a big hit in June. They also fill up the calendar and make for longer days. We’re all okay with the extra margin in our days, especially now that Graham is swimming like a champ. It’s a joy to watch the kiddos reach these milestone moments!

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The Many Celebrations of June! June 20, 2023

Filed under: Family Time,Travels — Amy Scott @ 6:31 pm

It seems like we’re jumping from celebration to celebration on our family calendar! Lots of big reasons to celebrate this month. At the beginning of the month was my nephew’s birthday. The following week, we celebrated my in-laws anniversary and retirement. Since we had the Scott clan gathered for a retirement party, we also added my brother-in-law’s 40th birthday, an uncle’s birthday, and Father’s Day into the mix. With celebrating 5 occasions on one day, I felt like throwing confetti all day long and wishing everyone I passed a “happy celebration day!”

We sandwiched the big Scott shindig with some birthday fun. We celebrated my mom turning 60 with a family meal on Saturday and a waffle brunch on Monday (her actual birthday). After all that partying, we took a Father’s Day trip to the Oregon Coast and celebrated Jeremy and my dad on Father’s Day with a meal. Wow! That’s a lot of parties! We also mailed off multiple graduation cards this month. Also, the June party vibes aren’t quite finished yet, but I’ll save that for a future update!

In non-party news, the boys started swim lessons yesterday. The process changed from in-person registration (where Jeremy would wait in a long line that formed before 6:00am) to online. The online format had me nervous because I could only register one kid at a time. I wondered if Kid 2 would lose their class space because I was registering Kid 1. Luckily, we got the classes we hoped for. It was also nice to register the boys while we were out of town at the beach. The boys have done great with their swim skills these first two days. I can tell they’ve been practicing. Graham, especially, has much more confidence this summer. Yesterday was a wet lesson and today was a cold one. Thankfully, the forecast looks better for the rest of the lessons ahead. June weather is a bit unpredictable around here.

As you can imagine, I have lots of pictures to share. I could use a lot of words to highlight each of events above, but I’m going with the “a picture is worth a thousand words” concept today. Enjoy!

Celebrating Grandma’s 60th birthday with pizza, strawberry shortcake, and Animal Crossing.

The Scott Clan gathered to celebrate Nana & Papa’s retirement.

The Bethel Church Staff – notice how the shirts match the screen. Haha!

At Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach, OR looking for puffins. Owen was thrilled to find them!

Always adventuring together! Photo credit: Graham Scott

Ice cream at cute shop called Zinger’s in Seaside, OR.

First time visiting the Seaside Aquarium. Don’t let their faces fool you. We all found this octopus fascinating!

At Fort Clatsop to finish a trail we didn’t complete last summer.

Back to the pool for another round of swimming lessons!

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The Unofficial Official Start of Summer May 30, 2023

Filed under: Family Time,Homeschool Adventures,Travels — Amy Scott @ 1:40 pm

I realize that the official start of summer isn’t until June 21st. We’ve unofficially (but officially) started our summer! The boys wrapped up their school curriculum last week and we are now in summer mode. It feels good to have 36 weeks of school completed and in the record books. We don’t ever fully break for summer, though. We just scale back our school over the summer. This means the boys will do about 30-60 minutes of school work about four days a week. It’s a super flexible schedule and keeps their minds engaged over the summer months. In the past, we’ve done between grade workbooks as a our summer school, but we’re changing it up this year. Graham will continue to focus on his reading program and Owen will do a slow start of his school books for next year. The goal is for Owen to be roughly two weeks ahead in all his subjects by the start of our school year at the end of August. Graham might also get ahead if he is motivated. We’ll see!

It’s really been too long since I last updated you on the happenings of our crazy crew. Oops! You’ll find that I’m short on words today and heavy on pictures. The recap of our life looks something like this… Jeremy went out of town for a men’s conference. The boys had a sleepover in my room with a movie night. We got pizza and visited Silver Lake, the Mt. St. Helen’s Visitor Center, and Seaquest State Park in Castle Rock, WA. Grandpa & Grandma joined us for that adventure. We got donuts one day and went down to the empty church parking lot for bike riding and scootering. We had a cavity-free dentist appointment. We wrapped up school and co-op on the same day. We visited NW Trek with family to celebrate my nephew becoming a teenager. We visited our sweet GG (Great-Grandma) and the boys got to share their love of birds with her. We’ve a had sunny park playdate with friends. We’ve also had friends over to swim in our pool. The weather has been sunny and dry so we’ve been outside often. It’s been delightful! May has been a lovely month!

Here is the recap in pictures!

Movie night and sleepover in Mom’s room while Dad is away

Papa Pete’s Pizza with Grandpa & Grandma

Birding at Silver Lake with Mt. St. Helens in the background

What a wonderful view of Silver Lake and Mt. St. Helens

When your driveway is made of gravel, sometimes you have to find some pavement to ride!

Cheers to summer! I gave the other co-op moms a small appreciation gift for the end of the co-op school year.

End of school rewards: Graham rediscovered Ryan toys and Owen selected a 6.5lbs. bird book!

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Conferencing April 22, 2023

Filed under: Amy's Bookshelf,Children's Ministry,Family Time,Travels,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 3:36 pm

The antibiotics I mentioned last Friday kicked in and did the trick! I was well enough on Saturday to start a full week of conferencing. Last Saturday, our church offered an all-day parenting conference. I wasn’t sure if my throat would heal in time for me to attend, but it did! Being a homeschool mom has scaled back my ministry participation, so it was nice to jump into a one day event and be a support to our pastoral team. The conference was a full day with breaks for parents to discuss what they heard and make intentional plans forward. We received many positive comments from those who attended. It’s always a joy to equip and encourage parents. This is where world changers are formed – in our homes, with our parenting! The investment in our families has an astounding ripple affect. It’s neat to be a part of something much bigger than I can see and understand in this moment.

After the full day at the parenting conference, our family packed up on Sunday and took off for another conference. The boys got a “spring break” with Nana and Papa while Jeremy and I attended a ministry conference with our Assemblies of God network of ministers in Idaho. We are so thankful for Nana and Papa! They gave our boys an awesome experience while we were at both the parenting conference and Network Conference. We couldn’t have achieved all this conferencing without their support! Coeur d’Alene, ID is a beautiful location for a conference. We enjoyed eating out with our pastoral team, connecting with other children’s pastors, and learning from engaging and challenging speakers. My favorite moments of the conference were slipping away for time with just Jeremy. We don’t get a lot of kid-free time, so it was a treat to have a few “date” like moments for ourselves in the midst of the conference. My favorite times were walking around the park near our hotel and taking a hike along the lake. It was so nice to get out of our seats and stretch our legs. The hike along the lake was delightful and the fresh air (though chilly) was invigorating!

Now our family is back together and settled at home. I had book club last night, which is always a highlight of my month. I’ve had plenty of laundry to tackle and just general resettling to do around the house. The boys purchased Uno Attack and Uno All Wilds yesterday, so we’ve been alternating between variations of Uno and Wingspan at the dining room table. It feels good to be home! The margin for rest is appreciated. Between holidays, illness, and travels, all our social plans have landed in this coming week. I, personally, need to recharge before we tackle the week ahead. I’m thankful for the buffer this weekend offers before we dive into more good stuff!

I packed 5 books with me on this trip! Good thing we didn’t fly. I would have been over the weight limit, for sure!

This chilly hike might have been my favorite part of the week! It started to snow on us at the end, but worth it!

Jeremy and I each got a personal sized “Gooey” at the hotel restaurant. They are known from their over the top ice cream desserts!

Home time = Game time! The boys are loving the cardholders they made with Nana.

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A Little March Madness… March 23, 2023

Filed under: Family Time,Travels,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 2:48 pm

The title of this blog has a double meaning. Yes, we do the whole March Madness thing around here. Jeremy and I select our own brackets. This year the boys are sharing a bracket. Owen, especially, takes the brackets seriously. We have them printed on the counter with a yellow and red highlighter to mark wins and losses. As someone who doesn’t follow basketball at all, it never shocks me when my bracket is a bust. But it’s fun to guess and see how the cookie crumbles…

The other madness of March is not sports related. St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday my kids love to celebrate. I’ve tried to make it less of a “thing” this year, but some traditions have taken deep root. Leprechaun traps were made. Some minor mystical shenanigans ensued… Owen tried a Shamrock Shake from McDonald’s for the first time. He is my mint kid so I wanted to see his thoughts. He didn’t love it but he was fascinated with the color. I, on the other hand, had no problem sucking my green drink down in a matter of minutes. (Side note: Shamrock Shakes are as close as you’ll get me to a “green drink.” Don’t follow my blog for nutritional value.)

St. Patrick’s Day also coincided with a women’s conference I was invited to attend in Tacoma. I spent Friday morning with my family before adventuring off with my forever friend, Christa. We checked into our hotel, grabbed an early dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, and took a walk around a lake at a local park. It was a beautiful day in the PNW and it was lovely to be outside. It was a treat to find little piece of nature in the city to take a walk. The food, walking, and talking are some of my highlights of our time together. It’s a trifecta when you get a good friend, tasty food, and a beautiful day all at the same time! Another dear friend of mine was the conference organizer so part of attending the conference was to cheer her on and see the fruit of her labor. The sessions we attended were fantastic and I’m so proud of my friend for pouring her heart into so many women. Watching her shine (and seeing shine Jesus through her) was a joy!

An unforeseen thing happened Friday evening which changed my conference plans. Jeremy texted saying that my uncle was bringing my grandma down to visit on Saturday (technically, to visit my dad, but since we’re neighbors, it pretty much the same thing). It had been too long since I seen my sweet grandma. In fact, Friday morning I told my mom I was trying find a time to visit her soon. The chance to see GG in my neck of the woods was good to pass up. Christa completely understood and graciously allowed me to cut our conference time short so I could get home to my family. I arrived home with enough time to tidy up after my bachelor boys and then invite my family over a visit. My aunt and cousin joined the road trip as well and it was my first time for my aunt to visit our house. We love giving the house tour and sharing our space with others. It was a fun surprise! My only sadness was missing part of the conference. Maybe next year I’ll shoot for perfect attendance. You never know with life, though. Plans find a way of changing. Am, I right? Overall it was a great mix of friendship and family with a dash of holiday cheer all in one weekend.

Then things went a little haywire… Last week, after Graham’s weekend flu, Jeremy went down with the same bug. After 5+ days of being symptom-free, I thought Owen and I were in the clear. Apparently, we came into contact with something similar at church on Sunday, because on Monday evening, it was Owen and I’s turn to go down with the flu. Now all four of us have had it. Such a bummer! The good news is, apart from missing co-op, we’ve had a quiet week to rest and recover. It was no problem to catch up on up on the missed day of school. Our fun weekend plans are still on because we are back to our normal selves. It’s sad that it happened, but it happened at the “best” time possible.

Now that we’ve said good-bye to the March flu, we are excited to dive into Jeremy’s birthday weekend! Lots of fun plans and celebrations are ahead of us. We are excited to honor our favorite guy and give him the attention he deserves. Birthdays are a big deal in our household, so we can’t wait for birthday weekend to officially begin. Time to party!

Played a game of Wingspan before leaving on St. Patrick’s Day. I used only green eggs to be on theme.

So fun to getaway with my forever friend, Christa!

Loving a bit of nature on a beautiful PNW day

Christa’s friendship is such a treasure! She was a fabulous conference buddy!

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Gingerbread and Snowflakes December 14, 2022

Filed under: Family Time,Getting Creative,Homeschool Adventures,Travels — Amy Scott @ 7:05 pm

We are officially on Christmas break! Christmas traditions, festive foods, time with friends and family. Bring it on! Actually, as you can guess, we’ve been in full holiday season mode this whole month. It’s just nice to take school out of the mix for a bit. I love homeschooling my boys, but this teacher is ready for a rest! The kids might be a little excited, too. They worked extra hard this week so they could start their break today instead of tomorrow. We’re all ready for a change of pace.

Some of the festivities this week revolved around gingerbread. Every year we buy the gingerbread house kit from Costco. Owen informed me it’s actually a gingerbread mansion. (It’s important to get these details correct.) I love this kit because the house (aka mansion) comes pre-assembled. No struggles with structural integrity. Hallelujah! We always purchase the kit in November to make sure it doesn’t go out of stock and the kids beg to do it right away. Waiting for December is hard. This Friday was a home day and the perfect day to dive into our gingerbread kit. My favorite part is Jeremy’s icing snowman that literally melted within minutes of him making it. It feels very authentic and a unique touch. More fun with gingerbread this week included decorating gingerbread cookies with friends and a foam gingerbread house craft for school. I’m hoping to make some gingerbread myself in the next week or so. Graham is my cinnamon kid so he is just as excited as I am for this spicy, sweet treat!

Now for the snowflake bit of the week. On Saturday, we traveled up The Bellevue Collection to watch Snowflake Lane with friends. We love this parade filled with music, dancing, costumes, special lights, and (my favorite part) snow! Well, the snow is actually soap, but the effect makes me so happy that I don’t mind it’s not the real deal. We don’t make it up to Snowflake Lane every year, so it’s always a special celebration. This was our second time meeting friends for the event and that makes it even more festive. This time we met early enough to have dinner together and then grab treats from Starbucks before finding our spot on the road. Saturday was a rainy PNW day, but thankfully, it dried up in time for main event. A visit to Snowflake Lane is always a favorite Christmas experience. “Snow” much fun!

Another highlight of the week included Graham losing his second tooth. He swallowed his first lost tooth and now his second one went down the drain! What are the odds? The kid hasn’t been able to leave a tooth for Tooth Fairy yet. Thankfully, he handled the loss well. He doesn’t care too much about the tooth as long as a dollar is the end result. Turns out the Tooth Fairy is very understanding of mishaps like this. She’s a sweetie!

I love this time of year! Christmas cards are collecting on the fridge. Christmas music is often playing the background. The yummy treats and special gatherings make each week feel like a party. One day last week, I saw a post on social media with the message “hold on to your peace” in reference to this time of year. Then the very same statement was in the devotional I read with the boys at the start of school. When a message repeats itself in my day (this time within the hour), I know it’s not a coincidence, it’s the Holy Spirit. The holiday season can get anyone amped up and stressed out – myself included. I can get overwhelmed and let anxiety rule my thoughts unless I’m intentional to hold on to my peace. We’re coming off of a busy season and I can’t say peace has been my priority. Heading into this break, I hope to schedule a little less activity and let myself (and my family) rest. The holidays don’t have to be a mad dash through a Christmas calendar obstacle course. I’m hoping to keep peace in mind as we celebrate over the next few weeks. I hope you can do the same. Merry Almost Christmas!

An Introvert in her December habitat – hot chocolate, Christmas novel, fake fire with instrumental Christmas music, and white lights on the tree. Very *peaceful*!

Threw together a batch of Christmas cookies for the scavenger hunt. This is around two of Christmas cookies with hopefully one or two more baking sessions to come.

We braved the mall in December for Snowflake Lane (and got a Mickey Mouse calendar).

Red Cups and family adventures with my forever friend!

How my kids decorate cookies… Abstract art…???

Now for the foam version… the gingerbread theme was strong this week!

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The Many Adventures of October! October 23, 2022

Filed under: Amy's Bookshelf,Children's Ministry,Family Time,Homeschool Adventures,Travels — Amy Scott @ 4:07 pm

October is such a fun month for our family! Our adventures this week included a chocolate fountain at our church growth group, a birthday meal with family, Graham’s 7th birthday, a trip to the Oregon Zoo, hosting book club, and pumpkin carving! The whole month feels like one adventure after the next. It’s been a bit of a pace – keeping up with all the good times. I love all the activities of October, but I also look forward to the hibernation vibes of November. We’ve had an unseasonably warm and sunny October. It’s been perfect for adventuring! Now the rain moves in this week and I’m honestly ready for it. Give me a reason to hunker down at home. I’m all for it!!!

Chocolate fountain at church! Then the kids got to bounce off their energy in the bounce houses.

Celebrating a belated birthday for Papa and an early birthday for Graham!

Graham started his birthday with a candle and a song!

I loved sharing cookies, cider, and books on Friday night. It was my turn to host book club and I went for all the fall vibes!

Owen’s Bowser pumpkin! This year we carved our homegrown pumpkins. Owen and I helped clean out the pumpkins, but Jeremy was the MVP who did all the carving magic!

Graham’s Goomba! Graham supervised most of the pumpkin carving, but wasn’t into getting his hands dirty.

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First Co-Op Field Trip October 15, 2022

Filed under: Family Time,Homeschool Adventures,Travels — Amy Scott @ 5:24 pm

We had our first co-op field trip this last week. We visited the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery in Salkum, WA. It was super educational. I was surprised by how hands-on and informational it was. I’m not sure what I expected, but it surpassed my apparently low-bar expectations. We started the experience by watching the salmon get sorted at the top of the fish ladder. All the kids who wanted to participate got to help sort the salmon. Owen loved the experience and declared he could see himself sorting salmon when he grows up. Graham did not want to sort the salmon. That’s okay, too.

After sorting the salmon, we learned about the complete lifecycle of a salmon. From there, we went to feed the fry, which I learned are small salmon. The kids got to grab a handful of fish food and toss it into the tank. All the fry made the water splash as they gobbled up their meal. We all reacted to the feeding frenzy. I didn’t watch the last part of the presentation too closely. There is a viewing window in the visitor center where you can watch the employees harvest the eggs of the spawning salmon. This process was explained very well and the kids were fascinated. I just didn’t need the visual!

We played around with the visitor center displays for a while after the tour ended. Soon, it was lunchtime and part of our group made our way down to the river shore to eat sack lunches on logs. The kids wrapped up our field trip by throwing all sorts of rocks and sticks into the river. Nothing quite like being kid – throwing rocks into the river on a sunny day. Life is full of simple pleasures.

Field trips are one of my favorite parts of homeschooling. I love adventuring with my boys. We all learned so much at the salmon hatchery. It was an unforgettable experience. The rest of our week has been quieter. The boys combined their birthday money to buy the biggest LEGO set they’ve ever had. 1,216 pieces. It took them about 24 hours to complete it (with sleep in the middle, obviously). They are so proud of themselves! We had friends over for tacos last night. I attended a baby shower today. Tomorrow we’ll do a chocolate fountain and inflatbles with our church growth group. We are thankful for friends, community, field trips, and October sunshine!