Scary

Tornado warnings for here, Really??

We got home yesterday late afternoon from a cub scout family camp out. Great fun and pictures to follow. I was reading a book and the kids where watching t.v. when the NWS broke in with its emergency broadcast. I have seen those monthly test but have never wittiness one for real.

It advised of heavy thunder storms, lots of rain, high winds and possible tornado's. Jason started to panic a little. Anthony got serious and started calling his friends. Megan wondered if she should get off the computer. At one point she put her gold fish in a plastic bag so she could take him if we needed to leave. Our neighbor behind us, came over to tell us to use his basement if things got really bad. I think we are the only house on the block without a basement.

The winds did come up, but the storm went around us. For the rest of the night we had heavy rains and thunder. When I was little and in South Dakota we had tornado warnings. My cousin, to show how brave he was, went outside and stood in the hail. He said "see I told you this doesn't hurt." The hail was bigger then I had ever seen. My Grandmother saw him and yell something about what an idiot he is and get in the house. She didn't have the patience for that kind of stuff. The memory still makes me giggle.

I know for some of you that tornado warnings this time of year is just one of those things, but they freak me out. I'm from California, give me a good earth quake.

Girl Scout Jubilation 2009

Here are the pictures of Jubilation that I have been promising. There are 26 pictures in this blog for you to enjoy. I took over 500, so you are lucky I only posted 26.

Here are Megan and I getting ready to leave. We drove about 6 hours to get into Idaho.




Time for opening ceremonies. The girls are not wearing bags for a fashion statement, it was raining and very windy. The Jubiliation committee had to get evacuation policies together because of a major thunder storm working it's way to us. Thank God, we only got a tiny bit of it.

The next day Megan and McKenzie went to the Challenge Course. This is for the Girl Scout Cadets and it made both girls feel a little special. They where to only two from their troop to go.


Here, they had to get Megan to the other end without her touching the ground. There are about 25 girls on this log.


There are 5 tires hanging by ropes. The girls had to make their way across the tires with out touching the ground. They had to use teamwork to get the tires moving and only 3 girls could be on the tires at a time. Much easier then it looks. Megan is a Monkey.






















Megan is getting ready to go up on the high wire. We where running out of time and the girls moods where starting to fall apart. Because of the storm we had some venue changes. There was a lot of down time and no place to sit without getting wet. By this time emotions where running high and there was a lot of drama. At this course we had 200 girls all between the ages of 11 and 18. I was very proud of my two girls. The three of us worked really hard at staying positive and smiling. Trust me, it wasn't easy, but this was for them not for me.


She is so brave.

When she gets to this point, all I can see is her face through my camera. She looks just like she did when she was two and I started thinking "What am I thinking, that is my baby up there."


Trust me, this is a long way up.




To get down, she needs to sit back and they will lower her down. NO THANK YOU. McKenzie and I where down below cheering her on. At one point she looks down at me and says "Hey Mom.... I was wrong.... I am afraid of heights."



Bags and tents are packed and we are waiting for clearance to go home. There where 1200 girls at Jubiliation this year.




The girls play a game of Red Rover to pass the time. How sweet right? Nope, Sadie falls in a hole and broke her foot. We are thankful it happened at the end of the trip not the beginning.


We stopped at a rest area to have lunch. Look at the clouds behind us. We see them and decide it is time to get moving.


This is what we drove into. Don't freak out, I am not taking the picture, Megan is. There was a point where we could only go 25mph.


All in all this trip was wonderful. Yes, we really tested the limits of our patience. There is no way I would have missed this trip. I had a great time with Megan and she even told a friend of hers that I was cool. Jessie and Jodi helped make this trip great. We would stay up late after the girls where asleep talking and just giggling. This is the second time I have done Jubilation and this was the most fun I have had. Jubilation 2012 baby.

Micheal Jackson

My thoughts on the passing of Micheal Jackson.

My earliest memory of him was when I was little. Not really sure how old I was but the Jackson 5 was my first record. I remember my blue little turn table, standing in front of the mirror and signing his songs.

"ABC", "One Bad Apple" and of course "I'll Be There" where my favorite songs. I watched the Motown 25th anniversary and saw the moon walk. I sat with my friends and watched "Thriller" on MTV. Back when MTV was nothing but music videos. These old songs brings back some really good childhood memories. I remember staying at my Aunt and Uncles house during the summer. Going with Gina for drives around the vineyards in Lodi. Popping in good old Motown music in her eight track tape player. As Jason would say "Good times, good times".

His bad childhood and all the things he did to his body when nobody new any better, I am sure contributed to who he became. In all the craziness that his life became, I forgot just how good his music is.

All three of my kids like his music. Several months ago they saw the video "Thriller" and where hooked. They had no idea just how old that song was or the history it made. Jason and Megan both have his songs on their Ipods. I remember liking Elvis and watching his funeral on TV with my Mom. Today Megan is watching Michael Jackson's funeral with me.

The First Kick of the Season

This was the first kick starting our soccer season off. Megan starts tonight.

Here are some more pictures from the game. Jason's team lost and lost bad. However, while he was goalie nothing got by him.




Here is the best picture of the moon that I took last night.

The kids where getting ready to sleep in the tent with Steve and I stayed out and played with my camera. You can see the focus is on the trees. I couldn't get it to focus right on the moon. Oh well, just need some more practice, or another camera. Hint hint.

Yes, I will admit it. I have the Micheal Jackson memorial on while I am typing this. I have a blog post all figure out about him. Stayed tuned.

Peaceful Sunday

I will be honest, it's peaceful because the kids are still asleep.

We had a very nice day yesterday. Some friends of ours invited us to their home for a bbq. They have a beautiful house that overlooks the valley. We sat around and had great food and talked about everything from fishing to politics. We could have stayed there to watch the fireworks but there is something so American feeling about being at the stadium. It starts with the small town band playing some great old rock, the stadium being lined with American flags and being mauled by cheerleaders to buy their cookies.

The fireworks show was a little shorter this year. Our fireworks show is a community sponsored event. Our little town is so hard hit by the economy it amazed me that we still had such a good show. For those keeping track, we had another plant close last week. If the "cap and trade" goes ahead, it will be devastating to Eastern Oregon.

Jason danced while the band played, Megan scoped out the area looking for friends. Anthony helped the cheerleader's sell their cookies. I think there is one cheerleader in particular that he might like, just a little bit. Andrew and Skeeter showed up and then joined us at our house to light our fireworks. Our 4th of July wouldn't be the same without Andrew and Skeeter.

The most shocking thing to happen this 4th: I only took pictures of the fireworks. The rest of the time, I sat and just relaxed. I hope everyone's 4th was just as good.

Here is one picture of the fireworks. Not a good one, but what do you expect when I am balancing the camera on my chest and holding my breath. I didn't want to be bothered with a tripod.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Uncle Rick.

I stole this picture from your facebook profile. The last picture I have of you is at Andrews graduation last year. That's bad, time for you to come for a visit.

Have a great birthday and we will be thinking about you.

Church Picnic

Today was the annual church picnic. We had a really good and relaxing time. Both our priests are from Niagara so they kept score: Americans vs. Africans. Africans won in soccer but I believe the Americans pulled it out in ping pong. Fr Francis is the only person I know who can play soccer and talk on the cell phone at the same time. I did what I do and took lots of pictures. Megan hung out at the skate park and played soccer. Jason didn't last long at soccer but Megan let him borrow the skate board for a while. Anthony played soccer but only because no one would take him up on a game of football. The food and conversation was wonderful. I am so glad that Steve was home to be there with us.

Here are some pictures from today.

Megan trying it out on her skate board.



Jason giving it a try:





This baby belongs to noone in this picture:

but she loves Anthony

And one last one of Anthony