And So it Begins

Morgan woke up very excited for her first day of Kindergarten.

She wanted to ride her bike to school so off she went with her skirt billowing behind her.

She parked her bike in the rack area. As she pulled up a group of older girls saw her and commented about how cute she was and that they loved her skirt. Morgan strutted by proud.

When we got there, Klayton exclaimed with excitment: There she is! Morgan you made it! She ran to him in line, cutting in front of other kids. At first I thought about telling her to go to the back of the line. But then there were Morgan, Klayton and Roan huddled in a circle with their arms around each other whispering important secrets. And I figured at this point, it wouldn't matter if she cut in line. She could learn this rule later.

When the bell rang, there were no tears, no clinging, or whining. The teacher brought the kids inside. Like a row of baby ducks they followed. With one last turn she gave an energetic wave, a huge smile on her face. And then she crossed through the doors.

And so her future begins.

Cha...Cha...Changes

Today was Morgan's last day at her current school. I've never been a huge fan of this place but choices in the area are limited so she's been there for three years. Three years is a long time when you've only been on this planet for five.

While I'm excited that she is moving on, it is bittersweet. There are several teachers that have been an important part of her life: attending her birthday parties even when she's no longer in their class, being an integrated part of our family and knowing what is going on in our personal lives, and sharing stories about the last reality show or concert coming to town. And then there are the parents, a close group of us that have always attending special events together. One special Mom whose child has the same temperament as Morgan, who has been a person to commensurate with, a shoulder to lean on, helping me get through the hard times and celebrating the good times. We have the best intentions to stay in touch, to get the girls together occasionally. But life gets crazy and I know it's harder to keep those intentions when you are no longer running in the same circles.

I am discovering that this change not only affects Morgan, but also myself in ways I would not have imagined. I knew sending her on the path of independence would be hard. I am prepared for the tears of that first day. I just didn't know I would have tears for the last day and the things left behind.

Mortified.

Wow! That sums up my last week. Wow!

Morgan starts Kindergarten on August 12th so we have been busy getting ready and running around.

Tuesday night was her orientation. It went very well. She clung to my arm when we first entered the room but after being greeted by her new teacher and looking around some, she started to relax. Her teacher, Ms D, seems really nice. She's what you think of when you picture a stereotypical Kindergarten teacher: young (this is her third year teaching), petite, pretty, and really sweet. Morgan warmed up even more when she saw Roan from her current school. She will have a total of two kids from her current school in class with her.

We had to drop off her school supplies at orientation. All of the kids share supplies so they were placed into one big pile. She was fine with this except for her pencils. She wanted to bring home her special pencils (she had cat and dog ones) and bring back plain pencils to share. So she placed all her items expect the pencils into the community pile.

The room is wonderful. It's such a difference from the mediocre place she attends now. I really don't understand why people would pay more to send their kids to the corporately run place instead of here. The room is colorful, well organized, clean and up-to-date. Miss D. has the coolest reading area with comfortable cushions and books organized by Fairy Tales, Dr. Seuss, Animals, Space, you name it. Being an avid reader, Morgan was very impressed.

After orientation I was wishing that I could go back to Kindergarten. She is going to have such a good time while learning so much. Morgan was excited, even stating that she wanted to start tomorrow and not wait until next week.

The future looked bright. Little did I know a HUGE storm cloud was lurking on the horizon.

Thursday was assessment day. I didn't want Morgan to be scared or overwhelmed so I simply told her she was going to meet with Ms. D and Ms. D was going to talk to her and ask her some questions to help her figure out how she can better teach Morgan.

We pull into the parking lot and the drama begins. Morgan drops to the ground and starts howling that she must be carried. I explain that she must walk into the school. The howls increase. Mark stays behind while I go in to let them know we are going to be late. I wait at the front door for Mark and Morgan. And wait. And wait. She finally comes in, walking on her own accord. We get to the classroom and she has a death grip on my arm. She buried her head into the small of my back and refuses to look or speak to Ms. D. I try to get her off me, to at least get her head up. I'm maneuvering around the room and she's throwing herself on me like I'm the last life-raft on the Titanic. I sit in a seat and she throws herself over my lap, head hanging down and proceeds to wrap her arms around the legs of the chair. She is unmovable.

Mark and I are mortified and at a lost on how to handle this. It's the teachers turf so we don't want to step on her toes, yet we don't want to be the parents that don't try to control their kids. What do you do?

I tell her I'm going to the bathroom, hoping she will behave better if I'm out of the room. I come back and she has now glued herself to Mark and his chair. After 15-20 minutes of coaxing, Ms. D gets Morgan to agree to see the playground with us. All three of us go outside and Morgan is finally making contacting with the teacher.

Unfortunately, the girl we bring back inside is now the complete polar opposite of the one who went out. She takes hyper to a whole new level, running around the room, tagging the teacher, dumping things on the floor. I have NEVER seen her behavior this extreme before. Ms. D finally gets her to sit in a chair and asks her to count some Lego for her. Morgan does it in baby talk, she randomly calls out number and then she throws the Lego at the teacher. OMG! At this point I'm thinking the teacher is going to recommend we wait a year. Who is this animal we decided to try and pass as a child?

Ms. D sticks to it though and proceeds to ask Morgan to get a pencil and write her name. Morgan grabs a crayon instead and starts laughing hysterically. This is not going well and I want to crawl into a hole. Finally, Morgan does what she is told. Then Ms. D asks her if she can write anything else. Morgan writes Moo. Ms. D asks her if she can tell her what she wrote. Morgan replies by furiously shaking her head, whipping her hair back and forth across her face. Then Ms. D asks her what else she can write. Morgan writes mom, dad, and cat. Things are going better. She's settling down and concentrating. Then she write dog, only she writes dgo. Ms. D asks her if that's dog. Morgan takes a look at it, flips the pencil over, erases the g and the o and writed the correct order. She's become her normal self again.

The next assessment is her letter. Ms. D gives her a sheet with random letters on it and asks Morgan to tell her each one. Morgan's focused and she's answering with her normal voice. The first set of letters where all upper case letter, she then has her tell her the lower case letters. Morgan catchs this and makes a comment. Whew, she's proving that she does indeed understand things.

The final assessment was repeating back 12 sentence that Ms. D reads out loud. By now she was completely calm and focused. So we got there. It just wasn't pretty.

When we got home we had a LONG talk about her behavior and how it wasn't acceptable. She seemed to understand, but I'm still scared to death about Wednesday. I hope we both survive.

This and That

I've lost my camera. I've needed a new one for a while, so it's not too bad that I lost it. I had pictures of this weekend on it so that part isn't so good. Maybe it will show up somewhere or maybe it's off with the cell phone I lost in the house three years ago.

This weekend was super busy. Fun. But busy. On Friday we took Morgan to Elich Gardens Amusement Park. We got a free ticket through the Library's Summer Reading Program as well as a coupon for $15 off each person. We still paid $40 for the three of us to get in, $10 for parking, $40 for lunch and $10 for a snack. Not quite a deal. I really don't know how people can afford to go here, plus the park is not that big, there isn't much shade and the lines can get long. There weren't too many rides we could all ride together. We spent most of the time in the kiddie section. The weather was cold and cloudy so we didn't do the water park but we did ride the Rapid. Morgan looked terrified the whole time. Her eyes were as big as saucers. She claimed she liked it, but I'm not so sure.

Unless she gets another free ticket as a reward for the reading program, I don't think we will be returning here anytime soon. I would much rather do Water World.

Saturday we meet the Moores at the Great Plains Park so the kids could have some fun at the Splash Park.

Sunday we took our neighbor Madison to the zoo with us. It was our first trip taking another child someone without the parents and it was a success. These are the pictures I lost. It amuses me how one can have a family pass to the zoo, but can still manage to spend so much money there. We rode the train, the carousel, had a snack and feed the birds - all which are an extra cost. I think the girls looked at the animals for 1/4 the time we were there. The girls got along great until the very end and that was our fault. It was hot and they were tired, but they still wanted to see the giraffe on the other end of the zoo. We should have told them no. By the time we got there, they were fighting - both walking with their arms crossed and crying. We saw the giraffes for a few seconds and then high tailed it out of there. By the time we got back to car, they were getting along again.

Hey Boo Boo (Jellystone in Estes Park)

After reading about my girlfriend Jamie's visit to Jellystone in Texas, we decided to give it ago and planned a trip to the one in Estes Park Colorado. I have mixed reviews about the one here.

When we arrived, we were told we needed to wait in the parking lot for a safety escort to bring us to our site. I thought it was great that they wanted to make sure everyone drives through the campgrounds safely and they show you the proper route, but when we got to our site I realized that this was not the reason for the escort. Our site was small. Really small. So small a five year old see it and says in a disgruntle voice - Great there is nowhere for us to play. And it's steep. Really steep. As in cut into the side of the mountain in tiers so that you could literally spit on the site below you. The escort is there to make sure you can park your camper without driving off the site. Crowded, cramp sites with steep hills to walk up = a negative.

The weekend we were going was a Christmas in July theme. We didn't bring any decoration but wished we had. We meet a family that went all out. They brought a whole truck load of decorations including a fully decorated tree. In the morning, they were going to place presents under the tree for the kids. What a great idea!

On Friday we spent the afternoon playing on the playground. They have two of them and they are both up-to-date and well maintained. The kids had lots of fun on these. These are the only places that kids can really run around. There is no area to bike and there isn't an open field area for free play either.

Friday night was karaoke night. It was bad. We left after about 10 minutes and spent the rest of the evening hanging out at our very cozy camp site.

The next morning we decided to participate in some of the activities. They had tattoos. Both Morgan and Kaitlyn were a bit leary of the lady giving them.


But liked the end results.

Then the kids wanted to get their pictures taken with every status there.






Next it was craft time for the younger kids while Keaghan, Mark and Tim played some miniture golf. The kids made Christmas tree and snowman magnets by gluing together small pieces of foam paper.

Afterwards it was time for the wagon ride with Yogi. I didn't have my camera for this but it was unimpressive. They crowded everyone into a flatbed trailer that was pulled by a tractor. There were no seats/benches and we were very smashed in. Then they blasted Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, B-I-N-G-O and the ABC song while we drove around one of the loops. Not sure if the kids were impressed with this or not.

Then it rained. And rained. And rained. We were so thankful we had a pop-up and not a tent. Many tent campers had to go into Estes for the night because mud slides had covered their tents in several inches of mud.

The rain didn't stop the dance that night even though the pavillion is an open air structure. This was one of my favorite thing at Jellystone. The DJ played lots of kid and adult friendly music such as the Chicken Dance, the Limbo complete with a stick, the YMCA, the Hokey-Pokey, as well as current dance favorites. Morgan was being really shy at first and didn't want to get on the floor, but when the Chicken Dance started, she dragged me out there. She still hid behind me, but at least she was dancing while she was hiding. After a while she was fine.

On Sunday morning, I took Morgan down to the pool. This was my second favorite thing. It is heated at 85 degrees and starts at 3 feet so it's really kid friendly. It's not very big, but it wasn't crowded either.

When we were leaving Morgan wanted to know when we were coming back. I don't think we'll be coming back to this Jellystone, but we might try one in Canon City or in Castle Rock.

Five Year Check-Up

It was weird having to schedule Morgan's doctor appointments around her school schedule. I wanted to make sure she got in for her yearly appointment before school started. I figured it probably wouldn't look good if I was pulling her out for a day within the first couple of weeks.

This appointment was a fun one. They tested her eye sight by having her tell them what shapes she saw on a chart and her hearing by having her say beep when she heard the beep. There was also a four page "test" of different physical and mental skills such as having her hop on one foot and tip top across the room. When it came to completely the following sentence, she had the doctor cracking up. "I am hungry so..." The normal answer is "I'm going to eat" or "I'm going to have a snack". Not my little girl. Her answer was "so I'm starving". She was also supposed to write her name on a piece of paper. I noticed that she was doing it funny and was wondering what was going on. When she was done, I saw that she had written it upside-down and backwards so that the person holding the paper could read it. More proof we are in trouble!

She is still our little peanut weighing in at 33.5 pounds (10%) and standing tall at 41" (24%). The doctor was impressed with how much muscle she has and called her a little lean, mean, muscle machine.

The End of the Road - Day 7 and Day 8

We didn't take any pictures the last two days. Funny how we started out taking so many and then they trickled down at the end.

Spent our last leisure morning at Out N About. We were sad to leave here but are carrying wonderful memories. We needed to leave at 10:30 am in order to make it to Grant's Pass for our reservations on a Jetboat trip through Hellsgate. It was 104 degrees out and it was very hot waiting to board. We were far back in line so we had to wait for the other two boats to board and leave before our boat docked. These boats are supposed to get you drenched, so we were looking forward to getting splashed.

Our guide must have been new. He must not have been comfortable with the boats yet because we did not get as wet nor did we have as wild as a ride as the other two boats we were out with. When he did spin us in 360 - it was great. When he stomped on the brakes so water came over the windshield it was awesome. This just didn't happen very often. And we were hot! Even Morgan was mumbling "come on, come on, spin... spin". It was still fun, but I have to admit we were a bit jealous of the people on the other boats.

We climbed into our air conditioned car and prepared for the long drive back to Portland, where we would be staying at our only corporate hotel during the whole trip. While it was nice to patron mom-and-pa run places, I must admit, I was looking forward to a little more luxury.

The last day we were planning on driving to Gorge in the morning but we were beat and done with driving so we slept in as long as Morgan would let us, slowly packed, had a leisure breakfast and then stopped for some shopping at Ikea before hitting the airport.


I heart Ikea. The stores are like Disneyland. I wish there were Ikeas in Colorado but alas, there is not. I'm sure that monopoly-controlling Jake Jabbs as something to do with that! I could have easily stuffed my suitcase full of all the wonderful treasure I found but I controlled myself and only added one small item then it was off to the airport and home.

Just a Swinging - Day 6

Out N About Treesort is such a great place! The Treeloon was really cool and Morgan loved that her bed was upstairs in the loft. While the windows have glass doors in them, there are no screens once you open them. Not a problem for us, but if you aren't an outdoors person, you may not like this.

Swimming hole from our window.

Side of the Treeloon.

Front of the Treeloon.

Looking out at the Treesort from below our treehouse.

In the morning, we were doing the zip-lines. Morgan only weighs 33 pounds and you had to be 40 pounds in order to fit safely in the harness so she hung out below the lines with two other boys. Our first line was called Chicken Little and it's a short line about five feet off the ground where you learn how to get on the line, where you place your hands and how you stop. After that it was on to the real course. After our second line, we ended up at the end of the field. I looked back to check on Morgan and her and the boys had put the disc seat on Chicken Little and were zip-lining that way.


I guess I didn't need to worry about her being bored. From there Mark and I walked up a short trail to the rest of the zip-line. We flew through the trees, landed on platforms and climbed from one level to the next until we were at the end.

After that, we collected Morgan and I decided to try the Tarzan Swing. If I knew beforehand what I was getting myself into, I might not have done it. They took the main rope and clipped it to my harness in the back. Then they handed me two rings attached to two ropes that go up into the tree, back down and clip to a golf cart. I held these rings while the golf cart drives forward, hoisting me into the tree by my arms. Once I'm up 50 feet, I let go of the rings, free fall until the rope attached to my harness catches up to me, at which point I swing. I'd like to know who first decided to try this!

We don't have any pictures of us on these things since we couldn't really bring a camera on the zip but here is someone else doing it so you can get an idea of what it looks like. I circle the guy in the tree so you can tell how high you get.

Click HERE for a great video of the swing. It's done by the owner of the place and you get a great view from all angles.

When not in use, the Tarzan Swing can be used as a regular swing. Morgan had a great time swinging higher and higher on this thing. And Mark also participated in the this milder version.





The rest of the day was spent exploring, feeding the horses, swimming in the freezing swimming hole, swinging from ropes and riding the Chicken Little disc. At night, there was a fire where the kids could roast marshmallows and continue to play while the parents visited.

Swinging on one of the rope swings.

Collecting bugs

Exploring a swing bridge in the trees.



The communal eating and fire pit area.

I thought the day might go by slow, but it went really fast and before we knew it, it was 10 pm. We were so busy while we were here, that Morgan never took a shower. It wouldn't really have mattered if she did because we kept wiping her off and an hour later she would be covered in dirt again. We started to call her Moonbeam.

I can't say enough good things about this place. It is such a unique and wonderful experience. The staff was helpful and friendly as were the other patrons we met. The breakfast buffet they provided was delicious with lots of choices. We also loved how green they were. Everything was either recycled or put in a compost bin. We absolutely enjoyed our time here and would love to come back some day.

Moonbeam is already asking when we get to go back.

A Splunking We Will Go - Day 5

Time to leave Crater Lake and head southwest to Cave Junction and see Oregon Caves National Monument. The drive through the entrance of this park is crazy. No trailers are allowed on the road because it is so curvy. By the time we got to the top, my stomach was not doing well at all.

In order to enter the cave tour, you need to be at least 42". I could have sworn Morgan was this tall, but when they went to measure her, she was an inch too short. The ticket lady said that she really should tell us no, but she would let Morgan complete a physical test by a ranger and let him decided. She had to walk up and down a special flight of stairs (steps were almost as tall as she was) while hanging on to a railing that was really wide apart. She passed with flying colors and got the go ahead to enter the cave. You could tell she was really proud.

I was a little worried about her being scared in the cave but she really enjoyed it and listened intensely to the ranger's speeches.

After the tour it was time for my parents and us to go our seperate ways. They stayed at the Lodge in the park, a really neat old building that has that campfire smell to it. Originally, they were supposed to stay at the Cave Junction Motel, but when we drove by it, it looked pretty scary. Luckily, there were still rooms available at the Lodge so they snagged one up. Meanwhile, we headed to Out 'N About Treesort.

Around the Rim - Day 4

Today we decided to complete the loop of Rim Drive, stopping at most of the overlooks. Before heading out we stopped at the Visitor's Center for some shopping and to view the short film on the park. We picked up the National Park Passport for Morgan. It's a small spiral notebook color-coded for specific regions in the country, including pre-visit information, illustrations and photographs. Each region includes area for you to collect rubber stamp cancellations at each National Park site you visit like the ones you receive in an international passport. Morgan thought it was neat to be able to stamp her pages and was excited to be getting another stamp at Oregon Caves later in our trip.

Behind the Visitor's Center is a short trail called the Lady of the Woods. Below is our own Ladies of the Woods as well as the real lady the trail is named after.



After fighting off the swarms of mosquitoes on this trail, we started our drive around the crater.

Wizard Island - a mini volcano inside the collapsed volcano.

The air is so clean that you can see for hundreds of miles

Left over snow from plowing the roads.

The Pumice Castle

On the trail leading to the Pinnacles


Back at Sun Notch Viewpoint

In the evening, my parents watched Morgan so we could attend the Ranger Program on the Pacific Crest Trail. It's a trail that runs from Mexico to Canada through Crater Lake and takes people around 6 months to walk. The ranger giving the speech was Don, our ranger from the boat ride. When he was 57 years old, he did the Appalachian Trail so he had lots of insight into what these type of trails entail. It was an extremely interesting presentation and I give huge kudos to anyone who is able to complete these type of trails. I still they must be a little off, but they definitely have my respect.