summer is here!

Yesterday was a big day here, it was fathers day and summer solstice. My dad came over to celebrate the occasion with our family, and we took a day trip to check out Mt. St. Helens. It was a really fun day, and the girls had a great time-we learned a lot. This is a cool attraction because there are little visitors centers about every 30-45 miles along the way up, so there is tons to see and do if you have enough time (and money). We watched movies about it, checked out tons of gift shops (finally choosing treasures of a bag full of magnetic hematite and a tiny wooden bug in a nut with wiggle legs). Hours later when we finally reached the Johnston Ridge lookout (the closest you can get from the side we went to) the mountain was cloaked in a big foggy cloud and we could only see her feet. They were majestic. We wanted to go into the visitors center and check it out, but at $8 per person, we took in the fantastic view, observed a friendly chipmunk and hit the road back. It was a great day, and a fun time was had by all (until it was bed time and we had to reassure Layla no less than 10,000 times that the volcano was not going to erupt without warning and if it were to get active again, we would, certainly, go stick it out at Aunt Debby's until all danger had passed) Poor thing cried herself to sleep, it is a big job to take on a volcano's worth of worry all on your own.
Today we were planning to go check out Bonneville dam and visit the giant (Jurassic) sturgeon there, but tomorrow we are headed to Klamath to take Dad home, and we decided that too many long days in the car would work against us in the end. So instead, today we are laying low, getting in some good quality time. We started up our homeschool this morning, and right now, Dad is out on the deck needle felting with the girls. (he made me an angel-awwww!) We have some errands to run, then packing, then tomorrow we are off to spend a few nights in Klamath where we plan to catch up with some old friends, meet a baby, and take our sketch books into the woods for a botany lesson with papa-the girls just love him so much!
When we get back, we have one free day, then Layla and a friend are having a booth at a local recycle fair where they are going to teach other children how to make toys out of recycled household products and possibly earn some money for the things they have been making all year. Layla is so excited she can hardly stand it. (pause to catch my breath) Then on Monday we are headed out with another mama and her kiddos for a camping trip at the coast for 2 nights. in a tent. with 2 diabetics and 2 preschoolers. Funny thing is that I am not really nervous about any of it and getting pretty excited. I am sure there will be plenty to tell after we survive these next couple of weeks, so until then......