One Class Down!

One class down, 10 more to go..... Yep, I've completed one class and started another in my Master's program. Yeah! Only 19 more months!

This second class is fun - I made paper, casted objects from that paper, painted, drew, sketched - wow! I've discovered that I'm not so fond of the sketching but I loved everything else. Next month we are creating sculptures and masks. And yes, I'm actually learning something from all this!

When I got home, Steve had a surprise for me. Check out the vanity in our bedroom. We have a strange set up where the sink to the master bath is in our bedroom. I've been trying to figure out how to make it less bathroomy while still keeping the essential sink. I'm thinking it's turning out well! The rest of the bedroom is pretty, too, but the bed wasn't made when I took the pictures!

The kids and I are off to Albequerque this week for my Grandma's memorial service. She passed away several months ago but the service was postponed until we could come. It'll be nice to see everyone, but, once again, the circumstances could be better.

A Fun Change of Plans

I should have been getting ready for a HUGE yard sale today. But, I wasn't! I was playing with hummingbirds! So much fun!! My friend, Julia, called me this morning and asked if a graduate student could come and trap and band hummingbirds at our house as they hadn't had any luck at hers. Of course I said yes! What a fabulous experience! Claire set a simple trap made from light netting and a string and as the hummingbirds flew in to take a drink she slowly lowered the netting around them. It was interesting watching the little birds try to process this new development at their watering hole!

The hummingbird trap

Once the birds were in the net, Claire gently caught them in her hand and placed them in a small bag. In the bag, the birds could buzz their wings but couldn't really fly. The bag was just to keep the birds safe until Claire was ready to band their legs.

Can you even imagine the size of the bands necessary to use on a hummingbird? Teensy weensy! Before banding the birds, Claire weighed and measured them and checked for the amount of fat on their bodies. Their skin is see through! The fat shows up as yellow under the skin of the hummingbird. Very cool! I think she may have also recorded several other things but I'm not sure what else she was looking for. After that she'd place a tiny numbered band around the ankle of the bird and then released it.

Checking out the feathers

Dylan releasing a juvenile male Calliope hummingbird.

When you handle a hummingbird, you are supposed to lay it on its back because it confuses them. Sounds mean doesn't it! When you are ready to release the hummer you put it in this position as well and then when it realizes it's free, off it goes! Steve, Dylan and Lyndsi were as intrigued by the whole show as I was!

After a couple of hours at our house, I took Julia and Claire to a hummingbird nest some of my friends had found a couple of weeks ago. The eggs have hatched and Claire was hoping to band the babies. As it turns out, the babies were too little to be handled so we just watched the mama feed and warm them. The babies couldn't have been more than an inch and a half long and that mama shoved her beak right down their throats to give them their lunches! Baby hummingbirds look like big black maggots with a few feathers but boy were they cute! Did you know that hummingbirds eat insects as well as nectar and they feed their babies primarily insects? Something I learned today!

It's hard to see but there's a mama humming bird on her nest. If you look real closely, you can see her long beak sticking up in the air.

Unfortuately, I never got the whole story out of Claire as to what she was looking for. It has something to do with the migratory path of female Calliope hummingbirds and Claire will be back to this area to check again in a couple of weeks. I'm so glad she was so kind as to allow us to hang out with her today!

Look What Steve's Been Doing For Me!

He has taken off the popcorn ceiling, removed the dirty carpet, texturized and painted the ceiling, painted the walls and will be replacing the floor, putting in a new vanity and sink and remaking my bedroom into something I may never want to leave! We've never even painted the master bedroom in any house we've lived in so this is so much fun! Our room is unique in that the sink from the bathroom is in the bedroom. Rather than make our bedroom look so bathroomy, I bought a beautiful vessel sink and vanity. I hope it all turns out as pretty as I think it will!

Guess I should get a little sleep before the yard sale tomorrow. Yes, it's still on, despite my day of fun. I just won't be as organized or as rested as I was hoping I'd be!

Fourth of July Weekend

....started early this year! We had a surprise visit from the Bartletts on Thursday evening. Brett, Heather, Tatum and Evan used to live in Okanogan but moved away 5 years ago. We have remained friends and have enjoyed seeing each other several times over the last few years.

Dylan and his buddy, Max were eagerly awaiting Evan's arrival as all three are the same age and have very similar interests. They have a good time together.

Lyndsi loves hanging out with the big girls, Tatum and Aidan O'Connor. Aidan lives in Okanogan and she and Tatum have remained friends through the years. The two middle schoolers graciously allow Lyndsi to follow them around.

Brett and Heather are always fun guests to host and we look forward to their visits.

So, why, you may be asking, did I say this was a surprise visit? I was expecting them on Friday! No worries - This family comes prepared! They brought a lovely salmon, caught the day before, and a dinner suggestion and we had a fabulous meal complete with wine. Yum!

Grudge Croquet

You haven't played croquet until you've played by Dennis' rules! Grudge Croquet is an annual Fourth of July tradition at the O'Connor home. Only the most competitive and skilled dare play this game! Dennis is a master at setting traps and a stickler for rule following. Balls are thrown across the yard due to cheating. Nope - I don't play. I tried one year and decided I just don't have the drive necessary to be a grudge croquet player! This year's winner was Jeff Cheeseman - Congratulations to him!

Dennis sits alone - watching for that wayward soul who might think it's profitable to cheat!

In addition to croquet, Dennis and Julia prepare food that we all supplement and we eat to our hearts' content. Before heading home we were also treated with a "safe and sane" fireworks display. The kids love it all!

Again this year, our neighbors, the Baums, lit fireworks after we returned home. The kids and Brett B. watched as Steve and I took care of poor

Coco

Unfortunately, our cute bunny became ill while we were enjoying our evening. We came home to find him lethargic and dehydrated. He was a mess and and had also made a mess on our bedroom floor so while I attended to him, Steve cleaned up the floor.

Bunnies develop problems quickly and Coco passed away sometime between 4 and 7 this morning. I don't know if he ate something he shouldn't have or if the noise of fireworks created stress on his system. Whatever it was took its toll on the little guy. I checked on him throughout the night and even got him to drink water so I was pretty upset to find him this morning. Needless to say, the kids were also upset. Dylan was devestated. He and I shared lots of teary moments today. I'm such a sucker for animals!

This was Coco the day we brought him home.

High Flying

What form!

Look real closely and you'll see something flying through the air as she leaps off the high dive. Yep - that's Lyndsi at age 6!

Oh, Where to Begin?

School's been out for 2 weeks now and I'm not sure when I ever thought I'd be able to accomplish all those summer goals! Oh, sure, I've slept in several times and taken a nap or two, but our family hasn't slowed down one bit!

The kids both attended Challenger soccer camps the week after school was out. I was thoroughly impressed with what they learned! The coaches at these camps are soccer players from Europe. Their skill and patience were highly extraordinary! The kids respond well to them and it was a fun camp to watch.

These last 2 weeks have been devoted to swimming lessons. Dylan wasn't too thrilled that I wanted him to take one more year of lessons but he's adapted well to HAVING to be in the pool every day! His goal is to go off the high dive this summer. However.....his little sister beat him to it last night! She bravely went out and jumped off that thing! I couldn't believe it when she leaped into the air without a care in the world! She did it again today in lessons, much to every one's amazement. I'm impressed because I won't go near it!

We went camping for Father's Day weekend. We met my parents, Robyn and Kim and Erin at Lake-Wenatchee_State_Park. This part of the state is gorgeous right now. Unfortunately, the weather threw some pretty heavy winds at us so we didn't get to get the boats out and no one was able to fish, but the weekend was outstanding!

After packing up camp on Sunday, we stopped in Leavenworth for beer (some of us) and brats.

Steve and Dylan spent the weekend at Cub Scout camp while I attended one of my classes. Dylan, once again, raved about the BB Gun target practice and the archery. No pictures of their weekend but lots of stories! Dylan got to go out biking with the Cheesemans yesterday. He came back after riding 13 miles full of energy and stories. Apparently they found a geocache and a hummingbird nest. Not bad for a summer afternoon!

While the rest of the family was gone, Lyndsi got to go to Spokane where she was treated as royalty! She and Nana put on a tea party for Grandma and friends Nancy and Claire. Apparently it was quite the event! Then she and Nana and Papa went to McDonald's for dinner - I think Nana and Papa were exhausted! On Sunday, the 3 of them went downtown to Hoopfest and were able to watch David Pendergraft (from Gonzaga basketball) play. They had lunch at The Olive Garden and played in a waterpark that evening. Holy canoli! I'm exhausted just writing it all down!

Tea Party

Check out the strawberries dipped in chocolate - yum!

The babies got their own table.

Tea Party Guests

Ruth had a bit of a scare this week. She had a growth on her head that continued to grow so we opted to have it removed. Poor thing had a reaction to her anesthesia and had what the vet called "Malignant Hyperthermia". Scary word! Basically, Ruth had a panic attack. That, combined with the anesthesia caused her body temperature to rise so high that the vet had to give her fluids and douse her with water to cool her off. I guess it was a bit of an iffy situation for a while. She's fine now, other than the yucky looking stitches on her head, but she was pretty shaken for a couple of days.

Dylan and I worked on cleaning out his room today. Wow! That kid accumulates junk quicker than I can count to ten. I was pretty proud of him, though. He went through all his toys and got rid of several boxes full. Guess it's yard sale time!

School's Out For Summer.....

aaahhh...... No, no, no! I can't relax just yet! I still have a classroom to clean up, a doctor's appointment to go to, a camping trip to get ready for and a Master's class to read for! The good news is that I can do those things when I want to - not when I have to. Well, all except for the doctor's appointment. I should probably show up when they want me to.

Steve and the kids hit the pool last night. A sure sign that summer is here! They'll be going again tomorrow. I'll be heading to Spokane for my Monday doctor's apt.

Another sure sign of summer is bar-b-cuing. We had the end of the year BBQ for our district here at our house on Thursday night. What a perfect evening! It started out a little warm but cooled off to a pleasant temperature for the rest of the night. Lots of people came to relax and eat. I like that we do this district wide because I get to see people I normally wouldn't get to talk to.

Dylan had perfect attendance this year! It's a first for me! I've never had perfect attendance, neither has Steve. I was very happy for him! My parents came to watch him receive his certificate and pin. They brought him a bouquet of balloons and a card. Then they took Dylan and Lyndsi fishing at Leder Lake. It made the last day of school very fun for the kids.

Tonight we went to an annual cook off at a friend's house. Another sign of summer! Good food and a fun band. Lots of people we didn't know but still fun.

We'll spend next weekend camping with my parents and sisters at Lake Wenatchee. I'm looking forward to our first campout of the year - hope I'm ready!

Grandparent's Day 2009

This was the first year that both kids attended the annual Grandparent's Day assembly as students AND they had a grandparent to sit with! We had a surprise visit from "Grandpa Richard" this week. He called on Wednesday evening to let us know that he was en route from his home in Alaska (which has now been put on the real estate market) to his new home in Arizona. He and his wife, Teresa, would be traveling through Omak either late Thursday night or sometime Friday and he'd call when they got here.

We expected to hear from him some time on Friday so we were pleasantly surprised to get a phone call on Thursday afternoon. He was about an hour out of Omak and could we meet up for dinner? Of course! So, after a lovely dinner at Rancho Chico, the kids invited he and Teresa to the Grandparent's Day Assembly at school the following morning. They accepted the invitation and Friday morning were in the gym with about 500 others, listening to our principal sing, laughing at teachers' tell bad jokes and watching kids perform various acts of talent. They even won the award for the grandparents who had traveled the farthest to be with their grandchildren that morning! Perfect timing for a short visit! Needless to say, this was a memorable day for all of us.

Today was Okanogan Days, our town's annual festival. It's held every year around graduation time. Many groups of past graduates hold their reunions on this weekend so it's pretty exciting for those who grew up on Okanogan. We like it because it's an excuse to get downtown and visit with everyone. Part of the festivities is a parade. Both kids were in the parade with their scouting groups. I didn't get picture of Dylan with his Cub Scouts but I walked alongside Lyndsi with our local Girl Scouts. The girls started out on this float but walked when the trailer flattened a tire. They were pretty funny as they RAN down the street waving at everyone. I couldn't keep up without running myself and I wasn't going to do that! I cut a couple corners and met them at the end of the route - Girl Scouts are always full of unexpected surprises!

Lyndsi is on the far left.