June Blog Posts

I'm on a roll. I'm caught up with June. Be sure and check out the boys' first home-brew haircut.  Catch up on the rest of June here.  This puts me exactly 2 months behind.  I can almost taste the finish line. Of course, this is a project that is really never finished, but it will still feel good to get completely caught up.  Until I get behind again.

Fulton County Fair 2008

This year's Fulton County Fair was our favorite yet.  Aaron was tall enough that he could ride most of the rides accompanied by Alex, which meant that I didn't need to ride everything and could watch and take pictures from the sidelines.  There were some rides, like the "1001 Nachts" flying carpet ride that Alex is riding here, that were still to big for Aaron, but he was still able to ride some of the smaller kids' rides that Alex wasn't interested in anyway.

They worked together on the bumper cars to strike fear in the hearts of the other drivers, while I watched and tried not to flash forward to thoughts of them driving on real roads someday.

Alex found that this huge burlap sack slide was faster than he remembered, especially when it tossed him up (and then dropped him) on the bumps.  This was one of Aaron's favorite rides though, and he rode it 4 or 5 times.  Thank goodness we went for the unlimited ride pass.

This inflatable obstacle course costs extra, but the kids love it and so we do it every year.  This year, Aaron could tackle all the obstacles and keep up with his brother.

After our ride passes expired we ate fair food and checked out lots of animals - cows, pigs, rabbits, chickens, goats, and sheep to name a few.  The boys really loved watching a sheep get shorn right before judging.  He was unhappily bleating every few seconds which they thought was hilarious, so we moved on.  All in all, our favorite year here so far.

May Blog Posts

May's blog posts are done.  Please be sure and check out Alex getting his Cub Scout Wolf badge.  You can read the rest of the posts here.

April Blog Posts

Now that I have the Disney vacation blogging monkey off my back, I've cranked through the rest of the April blog posts.  Find the hidden cornbread recipe in the Dad & Lad post.  Here's the rest. May, here I come.

Cannonball!

Red Eyed Tree Frog, Jumping in the Pond

This shot of Aaron launching into the pool from the edge, ready to faceplant and then freestyle his way to Becky reminded us of a red-eyed tree frog jumping into a pond.  His swim teacher posted this on their bulletin board at the pool.

New Blog Features

The blogging host I'm using, Blogger, has rolled out some new features that I'm using with the Evans Family Weblog.  I am editing most of the entries with the text editor from their beta blogging service - Blogger in Draft - but the main Blogger service is better at uploading pictures.

There are also some new "gadgets" that I've installed on the right column.  Below the "About Us"  gadget, I've added a box to search the blog, so you can find that elusive post about a horrible combine warning sign. (Note: as of publishing time, I could not actually get this to work to search the blog, though you can use it to search the internet - hopefully it will work by the time you try it).  The results pop up at the top of the page.

Then below the "Blog Archive" that you can use to find posts by date and title, I've added "My Blog List".  It lists my other 4 blogs and Mark's blog, ordered by most recently updated, with the title of the most recent post underneath it. Below that are buttons you can use to easily subscribe to this blog using your favorite blog aggregator (I use Google Reader).  Below that are some other links and the tag list for the posts I've tagged.  Click on any of those and it will take you to all of the posts on that subject that I have tagged.

As always, I welcome your feedback.

Disney Posts Completed

All of the Spring Break Disney posts are completed, about 4+ months late. Links below will take you directly there.

Disney Vacation 2008 - Day 1 - Volcano Pool & Ohana

Disney Vacation 2008 - Day 2 - Epcot

Disney Vacation 2008 - Day 3 - Animal Kingdom and Date Night

Disney Vacation 2008 - Day 4 - Boma, Fishing, and La Nouba

Disney Vacation 2008 - Day 5 - Magic Kingdom

Disney Vacation 2008 - Day 6 - Disney Studios

Disney Vacation 2008 - Day 7 - Missed It/Repeat It Day

First Day of School 2008

Today was their 1st day at school.  We posed for the traditional 1st day shot in front of the tree in the front yard, though this is Aaron's first one of these. Last year, they missed the first day because of Aunt Melinda's funeral.  Here's Alex in 2006 (with Aaron nearby) and 2005 for comparison.  This year's first day was much better than last year's.

Open House

Today we got to bring the kids back to their school for Open House.  It was a chance to meet with their teachers, bring in their school supplies early, and let the kids see their new classroom areas.  Alex is moving up to 3rd grade in the Lower Intermediate Section of the school, which are combined 3rd and 4th grade classes.  His teacher is Mrs. Augustyniak and seems very nice.  This year he'll have to carry around that big green binder with a homework planner in there.

Aaron will be moving up to preschool 5 days a week at the same school.  He'll have Mrs. Choka, the same P-4 teacher that Alex had when he started here.  He liked his new teacher and classroom.  Most of the kids he knows from last year.  He is very proud to be moving up to the big preschool out of the 3 year old building, though he will miss Mrs. Meinecke.

Becky also took this opportunity to recruit for Cub Scouts. She made the posterboard display with pictures of previous scouting activities from last year.

She made Scout popcorn and Alex got in his uniform also to attract 1st through 5th grade boys to the table.  She got lots of people interested in the popcorn (it's quite good) and got several kids interested in looking into Cub Scouts when they start it up in a month or so.  More importantly, she found a parent interested in walking the 1st graders through the Tiger Cub requirements.  She'll make one more appeal in a few weeks at the Parents' Back To School night.

Thank You Nana & Papa

This is the mountain range that Alex drew as a thank you to Nana & Papa for renting the Cascade Cabin in Montana a few weeks ago.  He used the new Crayola True-to-Life crayons with tri-color tips.

Kids Club Family Carnival

The Kids' Club at our gym sponsored a Family Carnival in the gym after swim lessons today.  They had games, crafts, activities, and food set up as a fun thank you to the kids and families that use their facility. Aaron tried his hand at a ring toss game - ring the pop bottle, win the bottle.

Alex clowned around a little...

..and found a spider on his arm.

Aaron made a wacky mask at the craft table.  We all ate hotdogs and popcorn.  The other half of the gym was open, so we played basketball for few minutes before heading home.  We'll look forward to this next year.

Back To School Picnic

With school starting next week (I can hardly believe it), we had one more splash of summer.  The kids' school's parent association sponsored a picnic at Olander Park in Sylvania.  We had burgers and hot dogs and the boys reunited with many of their friends and met a lot of the new kids that will join them this year.

Aaron tried his hand at hula hoops and then just sprinting across the deck. No crashes, no splinters. The deck sits above a large pond and they fed bread to the ducks and watched one kids reel in a catfish from the pond.  It was a fun kickoff for the school year.

Montana Vacation - Day 9 - Wilderness Survival & Jeopardy

Alex had another class today, Wilderness First Aid for Kids.  Here he got to learn improvised first aid skills, and even how to transport and injured comrade to safety over flat ground (drag them on a tarp).  Alex came back with a red stripe painted on one arm as he got to play one of the injured kids.  We tried to meet for lunch after my morning lectures, but a storm blew in and disrupted our mountain picnic.  We still caught up at a table in the resort's coffee shop before I had to go back for my wilderness survival workshop.  One of the neat things about this entire conference, was that many of our lectures were taught by people who had written or edited my wilderness medicine textbooks that I bought last year.  Gary Kibbe was among the best teachers here.  I'll get some of his bio wrong if I attempt it, but I do remember that his is a former Navy SEAL instructor.  He taught them how to survive in the wild, now he had to do it for a bunch of doctors and nurses.  He showed us how to collect and find water, how to navigate using the sun's shadows.  We learned how to find food, including a log full of ant larvae that were packed with protein.  They don't taste like much, but the story was good for grossing Becky out.  We built improvised shelters and practiced lighting fires with flint and steel.  We even learned how to make our own twine by weaving together long blades of grass or other long fibers.  Easily my favorite course and one of the main reasons I wanted to come.  I hope I never have to use these skills, but I'll have them for life now.

We topped off the day and the week with a banquet that included a Wilderness Medicine Jeopardy challenge.  We were the giraffes, and Aaron volunteered to be our mascot for part of the evening.

The questions were pulled from topics from the weeks lectures, and a few random trivia facts thrown in.  Our team was victorious, thanks in no small part to me standing on stage and demonstrating how to move quickly from side to side when urinating in certain rainforest streams to avoid a having a parasite travel up my stream to lodge in a very bad place.
After the banquet we got to hear from Jim Whittaker, the first American to summit Mount Everest.  This was the first highlight of his career, but not the last.  He got to climb to the top of the newly named Mount Kennnedy in Canada with Bobby Kennedy to commemorate his brother John. He led a team of American, Russian, and Chinese climbers up to the top of Everest to show that if they could climb up to the top of the world's largest montain together, then their nations could come together to make peace.  It was an inspirational lecture and a great capstone to the week.
Tomorrow we have to pack up and fly back to Ohio, hopefully arriving with our luggage this time. 

Montana Vacation - Day 8 - Junior Yellowstone Rangers

While I had my classes this morning, Alex took a course designed for his age group called Wilderness Survival for Kids. They learned how to wait for help to arrive, how to improvise a shelter using a tree, scattered logs, and/or a plastic trash bag.  He also learned a few easy food souces, including the tender bases of long stalks of wild grass.  After my lectures were over, we had the afternoon free, so we jumped into the rental car and headed back to Yellowstone to see some of the sites we didn't see the first day.  First we stopped at a ranger station and attended an outdoor lecture on the difference between gray wolves, coyotes, and foxes using pictures and pelts. We turned north then and headed toward Gibbon Falls.  We had sneaked by it on our way out on Saturday, but this time we stopped to check it out.  On the middle right of the picture, you can see where the lodgepole pines that fall into the Gibbon River make what appears to be a sloppy beaver lodge.

A little farther north we found Roaring Mountain.  The mountainside is dotted with fumaroles that make a roaring sound as they expel their volcanic gasses.  These places remind us that most of Yellowstone sits atop an enormous volcano that in theory could go off any day, but for now just lets of steam in the fumarole, geysers and other thermal features.

As we drove north again, we hit a patch of drizzle by the time we hit Mammoth Springs.  Usually that rocky plateau over their shoulder has cascading water, but it has been running a little dry.  We'll have to try this area again when we come back.  Even though is was drizzling at this point, I got the gang out to pose.

At the next ranger station, the boys turned in the Junior Yellowstone Ranger workbooks they had been working on since the first ranger station.  The workboooks contained age appropriate activities that they could do to learn more about Yellowstone.  When they turned them in, the ranger quizzed them on what they had learned, including details from the earlier "Dogs of Yellowstone" lecture.  They each earned a Junior Yellowstone Ranger patch for completing the program.  The patches are shaped like the actual ones the rangers wear, but Alex's has a bear print on it and Aaron's has a wolf print on it. 


As the drizzle let up, we realized we were running out of daylilght for what we'd planned yet to see.  A little further down the road we made it to one of the largest waterfalls in the park, Tower Falls, which was amazing to behold.  We drove up over a mountain and got above the cloud line. OK, actually we drove through the cloud line most of the time, which is like driving through a really thick fog, except the mists were more heterogeneous and swirling all around us.  As cool as the moment was, we were eager to get back below the cloud line before it got dark

As we cleared the cloud line, amongst the burnt remnants of the 1988 fire, we found an elk family picking their way through the woods.  As we got a little further down the road, we tried to stop near a line of parked cars, but there was nowhere close to park.  The people there said they were watching grizzly way down the hill.  Instead of trying to walk back to that spot on a narrow mountain road from a parking spot further down the road to try to see a distant bear in the fading light, we pressed on to Artist Point.   We missed this spot the other day, though we were close.  This waterfall, near the beginning of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, is the most painted feature in the park.  It was just past dusk when we got there, but we got to see the falls there by moonlight.  It was a nice topper to our second Yellowstone day. 

Montana Vacation - Day 7 - Swimming, BBQ, and Wolves

While I spent the morning in the conference and the afternoon learning practical improvisation of medical skills and equipment in a workshop, Becky and the boys swam in the heated pool under the shadow of Mount Andesite.  The pool was so warm that they had to take breaks to avoid getting overheated.

That evening we had a BBQ dinner at a nearby restaurant and then went on a hayride around the resort.  It was misting a little, but it was still fun.  Our horses were John & Wayne.


 That night we attended a special presentation by Bob Landis who has made several documentary films based out of Yellowstone.  The one he is working on now will be called Wolves - A Legend Returns to Yellowstone.  We got to see raw footage from it and he narrated the footage for us - kind of like the behind the scenes commentary on a DVD, except live.  This was such a treat, especially since we had not seen any wolves there the other day.  As we found out tonight, wolves are rather secretive and don't like to come near areas that people frequent.

Montana Vacation - Day 6 - Heading to Big Sky Resort

Nana, Papa, Marli and Marcus had to start their 3 day drive back to Oklahoma today so we posed the kids in their stamped shirts and visors along with the bags they helped decorate the other day.  After many tears and hugs they headed out.  We packed up our stuff and drove down the road to the Big Sky Resort.

This resort was the setting for a Wilderness Medicine Conference that I've been wanting to attend for a couple of years.  I realized that my medical training had done nothing to prepare me for practicing medicine outside the traditional settings.  I plan on taking my kids camping, possibly with their Scout troops and I felt I needed to be prepared.  Plus it looked like fun.  We checked into a beautiful room that had a pull-down Murphy bed for the boys.  I attended my first few lectures, including one titled "1001 Uses for Duct Tape and Safety Pins".  That night we attended a bluegrass music reception that evening and saw some of a magic show that the conference had set up for the kids.  His tricks included all the basics, but Alex really enjoyed it - he even figured out how some of them were done.

Montana Vacation - Day 5 - Nature Hike and Craft Day

After breakfast we climbed back up that hill behind the cabin that ran near the ski lift to see if we could see the moose family again, but they were nowhere to be found - probably hiding.  We found a plastic tub that had been discarded and used it to gather other trash off the mountain - the kids really got excited about helping the environment in this way.

Nana pulled out some more crafts for the kids.  We used paint and stamps to decorate shirts and visors.  Becky also brought some pet rocks for them to paint and decorate.  It was neat because each creation was different and reflected their personal style.

After lunch we broke out the Wii again and let the kids play each other in Mario Kart - a racing game with the Mario characters.  You steer by holding the Wiimote horizontally and turning it like a steering wheel.  We had rented the game, but a purchased version comes with a steering wheel-shaped controller that accepts the Wiimote plugged horizontally into the center. 

This evening we tried the hot tub again for the kids at a lower temperature and it was more enjoyable.  Nana even decided to soak awhile with them.  While no one in the tub had longer toes than Nana, they could all bend their great toes backward toward their ankles, proving that they were all true Evans grandkids :)

After they dried off and warmed up, we used the fireplace again to make s'mores.  Aaron got this glazed look in his eyes that was a combo of a full day, a relaxing hot tub soak and a sugar coma.


Marli asked Becky to teach her some basic crochet techniques and she spent the evening before bedtime curled up in a blanket by the fireplace practicing her new skills.

Montana Vacation - Day 4 - Gallatin River and Soccer

After a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes (Melinda's specialty) Nana and Becky helped the kids make necklaces and bracelets with beads and yarn.  Alex wasn't as interested, so he sat at the table and led us through several Mad Libs, letting each of us in turn filling in a silly word. We had to say good-bye to Mark and Leslie who had to get back to Oklahoma.

After lunch today, we decided to find a good spot to stick our toes in the Gallatin River that we drove past on the way in. I used Google Maps to follow the river north and found a spot where we could pull off into a trail head that led into the Gallatin National Forest. Instead we found that the parking lot was near a little tributary creek that fed into the river.  This time we were prepared with water shoes and did a little bit of wading in the COLD water.  After a few minutes it wasn't as uncomfortable because our feet were numb.  Papa stayed on the parking lot side of the creek and documented our adventure in pictures.

We walked a little further down the trail and hooked up with the Gallitin River and found a shallow eddy at the edge that we could wade in a bit.  The river rocks were moss-covered and slippery, so we bailed after several of the kids slipped into the water.  That's when we discovered we were sharing the eddy pool with a small water snake that was startled by our presence.  We agreed to leave each other alone and dried off to go back to the cabin.

After dinner we set up and impromptu soccer match in the circle drive in front of the cabin.  Grown-ups vs. kids - Mostly Nana and I against Alex, Marli, and Marcus.  Becky and Aaron played catch nearby and Papa got more pictures of us.  The goal we had to defend was much larger than the kids', but Nana and I held our own.  It was actually fun to watch the kids realize quickly that they little chance against my defense if they charged me directly, but that if they worked together and passed around me, they could more easily score.  It was hard to run at that elevation, so the thinner air finally forced an end to the game.

Montana Vacation - Day 3 - Moose Baby and Scenic Lift

This morning Mark, Leslie, the kids and I went on a nature hike up a large hill (small mountain?) near the cabin.  There is a ski lift practically in the backyard.  At the base of the ski lift we found this marmot that kept poking his head up near the cabin.

Further up the road we finally found the moose that we missed in Yellowstone.  A moose cow and her baby were hiding in the woods, which makes for lousy pictures. But later they came out of the woods and went across the road ahead of us. Look just above/beyond those concrete dividers at the bottom of the hill.

After lunch we went just down the road to the Big Sky Resort where they still had one ski lift repurposed as a scenic lift.  It took us to the top of Andesite Mountain.  We forgot to put down the guard on the lift, leaving us holding on tight and leaning way back so we wouldn't fall, but Mark yelled at us from the car behind to remind us.

We paused for a group photo at the log cabin lodge at the top of the mountain.  Then we set off exploring looking for some great vistas.

It didn't take us too long.  Becky and I had found walking sticks that helped on the rocky terrain.  We found a great view at the edge of the mountain and took a lot of pictures of everyone, including this shot of the 4 of us.


After a snack on the lodge's porch, almost everyone took the lift back down.  Mark and I decided to walk down the mountain.  There was an access road that vehicles used to get up that they recommended we use to walk down.  We started that way and then found a "shortcut" that took us down a steep hill.  It was so steep that we had to stop every few dozen yards to catch our breath - you'd think going downhill would be easy until you realize that what you are doing is working really hard not to fall down the side of a mountain.  Our legs were shaky at the bottom, but it was a lot of fun walking and talking with him.

After dinner the kids wanted to try a dip in the hot tub, but I got it a little too hot.  So they spent a short amount of time and we promised to try to get them back in later this week at a lower temperature.  We broke up the evening a bit with a family skit night where Mark divided us up into teams and had us put together spontaneous skits based on props he provided.  Becky, Mom, and I had fun coming up with a Swedish Chef skit that stole the show until Mark and his two kids pulled out a funny skit with a a surprise ending.

After we put the kids down, we broke out the Wii that Becky had fit in our luggage and we introduced Mom and Dad to Guitar Hero. Mark had been practicing on his Wii at home, so he came prepared to rock out.  We even coaxed Mom to try her hand and she did really well.  It was worth hauling that stuff to Montana from Ohio just for that night.