Roadtrip to Seattle and Spokane

Well we had to leave our food storage in Spokane, there just wasn't room to bring it. But living here in earthquake land and watching the natural disasters all around the globe, we decided it was best to be prepared so Madison and I bravely drove to Seattle and then over to Spokane. We couldn't go all the way to Washington and not see my family too. The only thing that was a challenge was the fact that we were driving in 105-110 degree weather in a little black pickup with no air conditioning in July. No fun. On the way home, from Spokane it's quicker to go through Utah, so we drove through Southern Utah, Arizona and Nevada death valley etc. It was lovely. We survived by having squirt bottles and being drenched the whole time! What fun memories-at least we weren't walking right? Anyway enough of my whining!

So when we were in Oregon there was a sign that said "Seaside and Cannon beach" 1 hour away. It was 9 pm, not too late. I decided it would be a fun part of our trip to go to the Oregon Coast. We had to stay in Oregon anyway so why not be there? = ) (This is a dog we made friends with)
Now everyone said I was so brave to drive over 3,000 miles alone, without my husband, and I thought, I'm tough, I can handle whatever comes! Then right around 10 pm when I was getting close to the beach, it hit me what they were talking about. I was (and had been for at least 30 min.) completely surrounded by trees on a narrow, windy road in the middle of nowhere. I hadn't seen another car for about that long either. So I thought, what would I do if the car broke down or I ran out of gas? Madison was asleep on my lap and I was alone. Normally you would wait for someone to stop and help. But would I want anyone stopping? Normally I would stay with Madison while Carson walked to the nearest gas station. But this time it would be me in the dark most likely carrying Maddi to....where? So yes, after that, many prayers were said. We made it safe and sound. I talked to the front desk and they said the lowest tide point was 8am.
So Maddi and I woke up at 7:30 to walk down to the beach. We had so much fun. There were so many people there clam digging. They were digging for the long yellow ones that you have to dig around 3 feet to find. We met a family who who were visiting too and learning how to do it. So they let us watch. They were so nice. You looked for a dimple in the sand and plunge a PVC pipe with a handle into the sand around the dimple. When you are all the way down you plug your thumb over a hole and pull it out.
The suction pulls the sand, water and the clam out. It was so fun. Maddi and I found tons of the dimples and we were told to draw a circle around them in the sand so the guys would know where to go next.

Madison spent literally hours writing and drawing in the sand.
She wrote "Madison Lee, Kande". She also wrote "pbskids.org"! She's so funny. These are the sweet, dirty little hands that made so many pictures in the sand that day.

On the way to find breakfast we saw this "End of the Trail" monument of Louis and Clark. It was really cool to stand at the monument and look out over the Ocean.

Now this sign struck me funny. It says "Tsunami evacuation route." Now first, if you see a tsunami coming, I think you'll know which way to go! (AWAY from the water!) Second, do they really think that during that chaotic event people would be looking for a sign to follow?


Next We went to the famous "Haystack Rock" at Cannon Beach. It was only a couple miles down the beach. We had fun. There is so much driftwood! After a few pictures all Madison wanted to do was draw in the sand. She couldn't get enough.
When we got to Seattle we had a welcoming crew!
She had many aunts and uncles ecstatic to see her. We all went out to dinner sometime during that week and she had fun with her CRAZY uncles! Yes Darren did his eyes like that on purpose! How does he do it? Madison made a sign like a beggar and she and Cory decided to go outside (in the backyard) and pretend that they were begging for money. They are so nice to indulge her active imagination! Then she had him be the prince at Cinderella's ball and ask her to dance and she, of course, suggested a dip for the finale!

It was hard to leave, but we had such a fun place to go next! On to Spokane with more family and Grandma Lee! We got our food storage all packed up. And can I just say that it was mostly because of the thoughtfulness of a certain family that I just love. They are the Collins. They don't have the internet so I know they'll probably never read this, but I am so grateful to them for being such great neighbors and friends. They volunteered their family (their kids from 5-17 years old and an uncle staying with them) to come to help me lift all of the heavy wheat and rice etc. I thought I could do it alone, but after all of their help I realize I couldn't have. They are the most thoughtful and serving people I know. I strive to be more like them.
Madison had fun being on 80 acres again and being able to run wherever she wanted and not have to worry about people "taking her" as her mother is always worried about in California!
All in all it was a great trip and hard to leave the great Northwest! We are so blessed to have a great family. Thanks again guys.

The San Diego Zoo!

Well we finally made it to the zoo. We had so much fun. It was labor day and the last day before Maddi started school.


Madison was an excellent tour guide!







There was a fun petting zoo. They had a ton of goats, pigs, mini horses etc.

Carson reached his hand in and tried to get the meerkat to come to him and it did! They do this little grunting noise when they reach for something!





We waited in line for atleast 30 minutes to see the panda bears. There was a mother, father and a 1 year old baby. She was so cute!!

Maddi's favorite were the hippos! These are two hippos resting their chins on a rock while they sleep in the water! So cute. My favorite were the orangutangs. They are funny. They wrestle and tease eachother. There was one baby who ran around and would go behind the other ones and junp on their heads without them seeing it coming!
Maddi loves to take pictures of us and actually does a pretty good job at putting the objects in the center!At the end they had hoola hoop contest and Maddi had fun. Would you believe a boy won? Well we had a blast. I definately recommend flying here to see it!!

My baby went to SCHOOL!!

Sniff, sniff sob, sob....yes that was me this morning when Maddi went to school! Her first day of Kindergarten was today. Wow I hadn't truly prepped myself for this transition and new stage of our life! And today was only a half day! It will probably hit me harder tomorrow!

We bought new school clothes and she was getting more and more excited to go to school. Then we went to the Kindergarten orientation last Friday and they informed us that our school is a Uniform school! So we had Friday and Saturday to return EVERYTHING and start searching for clothes that fit certain criteria. On bottom, navy blue pants, shorts or skirts. On top they could wear red, white or blue. But the shirts have to have a collar! The hardest part was trying to find navy blue shoes. THEY DON"T MAKE NAVY BLUE SHOES FOR GIRLS!!! So we found some red ones for when she wears red and some navy blue "crocs" that may or may not look ridiculous. White you say? Well the only plain white shoes they make are lace up ones but she can't tie her shoes yet, and "Keds" that are $35.00! They can't be open toe shoes. No sandals. We found some white closed toe sandal looking shoes that are velcro. That should do it. So this is what she wore on her first day of school. This other picture is what she WANTED to wear to her first day of school. I let her keep one of her original school shirts. She loves this shirt and well, so do I.

Carson laughed so hard as he told me this story. He asked Maddi how her kindergarten orientation went on Friday. She said "good". He asked her if she made any friends. She said "yes, a girl named Isabel. She had on a pink shirt, a skirt with rainbow ruffles at the bottom and her hair was...." He said "She is such a girl!"

There are 90-100 Kindergartners. 10% in the school are white. So divided up into 4 kindergarten classes there one or two white kids in her class. Which is so different from Utah! I wanted to put her in a spanish immersion school so she could learn spanish. Technically she isn't, but it's looking like she'll learn it after all! Well the official report from her after her first day of school was "Mom, I had too much fun that I didn't miss you." Such bitter sweet words!


So, a couple of funny first day stories. One of the reasons for a dress code (uniforms)one mother was telling me is that kids will get beat up for a specific kind of shoes and then they steal them. Or if kids are wearing the wrong colors certain gang members will make trouble for the ones wearing those colors etc. Even in elementary school!! So today she announces that there was a boy in her class that wore navy blue and gray and had to go to the principle's office to call his parents. So Maddi finishes the story with "the good thing is that he didn't even get beat up, he just had to go to the office!" Oh she's so funny. Also she said that at recess the boys chased her and her friend Isabel! Does that take anyone back? I made Carson promise that he wouldn't tell Maddi the story that in kindergarten he kissed a little girl on the cheek every day on the bus! (His parents had no idea!) Oh memories. : )

So I ran 6 miles after dropping her off so as to distract myself. I listened to the Book of Mormon on my Ipod. Very helpful. We are working on getting our website going and I will run that so I should be able to stay busy while she's gone and maybe even make a buck! I also am going to be doing data entry for the church for a few weeks for Proposition 8. It is the proposition to overrun the judgment of same sex marriage. Right now it is legal. The church never gets involved in politics but we in California have been asked to specifically do all that we can do to help this pass. As I now find myself with extra time on my hands, I will be going door to door and calling hundreds within my zip code. I am excited to help. Well, that's it for now. I still have so much to write about, but for now you have the first day of school!This last pic is a cake for Maddi's first day of school.
Since I couldn't post this until the morning of her second day, I thought I should throw in the picture of her second day too!