Ryan Garner Day

It is time once again to celebrate Ryan Garner Day. Every year we celebrate the day we finalized our kids' adoptions. Ryan's adoption became final in July. In the past we have left Abby with a sitter so he could have a special day alone with Daddy and Mommy, but this year we made it a family celebration.

We gave Ryan a couple of options and let him choose which he wanted to do. He chose going to the beach. Usually when we go to the beach, we go to Seaside, Oregon, but this time we decided to try Long Beach, Washington, instead. It's about the same distance from our home, and there are lots of things to do there.

Holding a fist full of fish food.

We had a yummy breakfast at Hump's, a favorite local restaurant. Then as we were driving, Daddy made an unplanned stop at the Gnat Creek Fish Hatchery. There are tons of hatcheries in the area, but we have never taken the kids to any of them. It turned out to be really fun. They had some huge sturgeon to see and lots of good sized trout too. The best part was feeding them!

We arrived at Long Beach at about 11:30 and approximately 61 degrees...burrrr. It was overcast and a little windy, but actually the cool temperature didn't feel too terribly cold. It didn't faze the kids at all, of course. They dived right in to the sand with their shovels and bulldozer. Daddy built a cool sand castle, with Ryan and Abby's help. The tide was out when we arrived, and it took four hours for it to get to our castle.

We had kept the kids out of the water most of the time (the tide was WAY out there, fortunately), but they got into the water the last half hour, and they had a blast! It was still only about 62 degrees and the wind had picked up. They were shivering and getting goosebumps, but they still didn't want to leave. Ryan was very brave about getting in the water this time. Daddy took them out so they could jump the bigger waves, and they all ended up getting wet up to about their waists.

Finally our sand castle was gone, and though the sun had at last came out, the wind and cool temp sent us back to the van. We changed clothes and went to dinner. We got wonderful clam chowder, along with fish and chips at our favorite local seafood chain, Doogers.

Ryan showing how well he colored
inside the lines of kites coloring page.

Now that we had food in our tummies, we got our second wind and went to play on some rides. Ryan said he wanted to ride the carousel, but after he got in there, he kind of freaked out about getting on the horse. He's terribly afraid of being up high. He managed to make it through the ride, and then we went on the bumper cars, his favorite! Mommy and Abby rode too, so we didn't get any pictures.

Ryan is holding on for dear life,
but Daddy did manage to get a smile out of him.

After the rides, we took a walk and browsed through a couple stores, and one of the store keepers gave both Ryan and Abby their choice of a blue glass decoration. Ryan chose the starfish. Then we walked some more and let Ryan chose dessert. He chose Elephant Ears, so we ate our dessert and headed home. It was a full day, but we all had a wonderful time.

First Crush

Daddy graduated yesterday! We're all so proud of him, and Ryan had great fun yelling "Yeah, Daddy!" as he walked to receive his diploma. As excited as he was for Daddy though, I think the big highlight of Ryan's day was seeing Mrs. Lundy again. Cathy has watched Ryan and Abby for us numerous times over the last several years, and I think Ryan has a crush on her. He gets the goofiest grin on his face whenever we mention her name!

As you can see from this picture (a genuine smile, no less!), he's in heaven being with Mrs. Lundy! She was like Mary Poppins with her bag of tricks. She brought quiet toys and games for the kids to play with, and it was a huge hit. I brought some too, but of course mine were old and boring. I had to laugh when Mr. Lundy looked at Ryan after dinner and solemnly informed Ryan that Cathy was coming home with him!

Farewell to Zoo Trips

As far as Ryan is concerned, the zoo is all about the sandbox and the jungle jeep, so he's not terribly heart-broken that our annual pass expires at the end of this month. Still, he had a good time yesterday as we did our final zoo tour. I asked each one which animal they wanted to be sure to see. Ryan said the meerkats. Sadly, they were the only animals that day who decided to hide, so we didn't get to say goodbye to them.

But to Ryan's delight, we didn't miss playing on the jungle jeep. Fortunately for him, there were no other kids around wanting to play on it too, so they played for about 20 minutes uninterrupted! I don't know why exactly, but he loves this jeep.

The stork was very visible today, and we got a good look at him. Who in the world had the bright idea to say that this ugly creature delivered babies?! It's got to be one of the ugliest birds I've ever seen.

New Chores

Ryan has a few chores he does every day. He must get dressed, hang up jammies, make his bed and clean his room before breakfast (usually it's clean when he goes to bed, so there's not much to do really). He also used to put away the clean silverware, but not long after we moved to our new house we passed the silverware chore to Abby and Ryan began sweeping the dining room after breakfast and lunch.

At first he was delighted at this task, but soon enough the novelty wore off. I noticed today, however, that he's actually doing a pretty good job! My expectations haven't been very high, but I have been training him how to do it correctly. I told him that once he masters this job we can maybe find a different one for him to do, so perhaps he is motivated to perfect it so he doesn't have to do it anymore. At any rate, he did a great job today!

School in the Great Outdoors

We have been plugging along pretty steadily with school the last month. We have gotten into a routine, and it suits us all pretty well. Keeping Abigail busy can still be a bit of a challenge, but she has really lengthened her attention span, thankfully. Ryan pretty much does his school by himself, except for reading to me. I give him math flashcards or a math worksheet, and he does those by himself. I am nearby listening to make sure he is actually doing them though. Then he does the writing assignment I gave him.

We're currently working on addition and subtraction up to 6, and he is practicing his alphabet and numbers still. Last week he had fun practicing writing Happy Father's Day, I Love You, Ryan. I know Daddy will treasure his handwritten card!


We took our first break since we began this two months ago. We went camping, and though we did do school one day while we were there, we took a break the rest other days and the rest of the week that Daddy was home from work. I wondered how much a week break would effect Ryan's reading and math, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well he did that first day back.


We also had lots of learning opportunities on our camping trip. Both kids learned a little about lichen, aka Spanish Moss, (it was everywhere). We saw deer, ground squirrels, Stellar Jays, frogs, ospreys, and several different kinds of ducks. Daddy gave some lessons on fishing gear, which really grabbed their attention! It was fun, tiring trip, and we're looking forward to our next one.

Cars

Ever since Ryan saw the first preview for the movie Cars, he has been dying to go see it. Since Daddy was on vacation opening day, we took the kids to see it. Ryan absolutely loved it! His favorite character is Mater, and he was thrilled yesterday when he got a toy Mater in his Happy Meal at McDonald's today.

Little Fisherman

Last year (or was it the year before?) Ryan received his very own fishing rod, though he hasn't had too many opportunities to use it. On our camping trip last week, he got to use it several times. Though he didn't catch anything (the bank fishing was terrible), he told us his favorite part of camping was fishing. This made Daddy pretty happy! As I was getting dinner ready on our last evening camping, Ryan asked to put his rod in the water. So Daddy got him rigged up and told him to go have fun. He walked to the campsite across the way to the lake shore and sat there fishing all by himself for about 30 minutes. It was really cute! We hope to take him to a local fishing hole soon so he can actually catch some fish.

Timothy Lake Camping

Ryan has been asking to go camping for over a year now. We took him once when he was six months old, but we haven't been since. So this year we wanted to make sure and go at least once. I wasn't very confident that he would enjoy it because he is more of a homebody than I am, but the only way to find out was to go. So we made reservations for three nights and four days, and headed to Timothy Lake in the foothills of Mt. Hood.

Overall we had a good time, but there were some rough patches, especially at bedtime. Ryan did ask to go home several times, but then an hour later would say he never wanted to go home. We took a three-mile hike to another part of the lake, and the kids splashed in the water, which was a highlight for them both. Ryan got to watch them put a boat in the water and take one out, which was exciting for him. He got a blister on the hike home (time for new shoes) and was a little grumpy, but for such a long hike, both kids did great! Once we got home, they both forgot how tired they were and began playing around our campsite.

Since we had the entire campground to ourselves, with the exception of the camp hosts, the kids were able to run around and play at the other nearby campsites, climbing on rocks, jumping off of picnic tables and finding hiding places. Except for the rain the first day, we had a near perfect conditions...sunshine though not too hot, and no other people around!

We are already planning at least one more camping trip this summer, so it turned out more positive than negative. We were all tired and worn out (not to mention unbelievably filthy) by the time we piled into the van to leave. Ryan tried to stay awake, but he only lasted about 20 minutes before falling asleep for most of the ride home.

One Ride

It was Family Day at the Portland Rose Festival today, and that meant free admission and $1 kiddie rides. The kids were really excited to ride on some rides, even Ryan! Unfortunately, the $1 kiddie rides ended at 2:00pm, and we missed them. Big bummer since the regular price is $3. We explained our mistake and let them each ride one ride, and then left the midway. They both chose to ride the same ride, and they had fun and were pretty good sports about the whole thing. Ryan especially felt better when the owners of this cute little race car let him sit in a real race car and pretend to drive!

Tall Ships

The Portland Rose Festival began this month, and one of the fun things they offer annually is a tour of tall ships. The Lady Washington and The Hawaiian Chieftain were open for free dockside tours, and we took the kids aboard. It was educational and very fun.

Ryan really wasn't that excited by the tour, but Mommy, Daddy, and Abby had a great time. He was terrified to get near the cannon (or let Abby get near it), but we finally convinced him it wasn't "loaded" or dangerous! Once he was convinced it was safe, he wanted to have his picture taken sitting on the cannon, though he only reluctantly let Daddy take this picture of Mommy and him with a "pirate."

As a fun side note for my Disney-loving readers, The Lady Washington was The Interceptor in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. There is a piece of the Interceptor's name plate tacked up on the galley wall that is signed by members of the cast and crew.

Side Trip

We took a drive up to Mt. St. Helens last Sunday, and before we got there, Daddy spotted this beaver lodge. We pulled over and hiked down to this pond. The beavers had dammed up a small creek with several tiers and built this big lodge. It was a neat side trip to our outing, even though we didn't get to see any of the beavers.

King of the Hill

We are trying to rake up all the rocks in our yard so we can lay down topsoil and sod soon. It is beginning to seem like an unending task. However, the kids love being out in the dirt and hauling rocks in the dumptrucks. Ryan isn't quite as helpful as Abby in actually helping us move the rocks to the big pile, but he loves making roads and piles of his own in the dirt. This is our first of what's likely to be many large piles of rocks in our yard! They love to climb on it, but of course I couldn't get them to look at me while I took a picture.

Sprinkler Fun

We went to visit some friends of ours yesterday, and it was warm enough finally to let them play in the water. Gramie sent new swimsuits for the kids, so they suited up and ran through the sprinklers. All four of the kids took a while to really get into the water because it was so cold. Oregon ground water is freezing, even in the dead of summer! I think it took Ryan the longest, but he finally got into the game and ended up having a blast.

Little Gentleman

My family took me to tea for Mother's Day at The Windsor House of Tea in Astoria. We stayed all dressed up from church and drove to the coast. Ryan looked like such a little gentleman, and for the most part he behaved like one too during our luncheon. The tea house has a special children's tea, and Ryan thought it was the neatest thing that they cut the crust off of his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (and cheese sandwiches too)! Now he wants to go to tea all the time...no crusts! He also enjoyed his hot chocolate, though it was about 80 plus degrees outside.

After tea we walked along the boardwalk and browsed the local outdoor Sunday Market. We watched the ships come and go from the ocean to the Columbia River, and saw the trolley taking people up and down the boardwalk. It was a beautiful day, with just the right amount of breeze to cool us off.

Finished Reviewing!

Today we finished reviewing 100 Easy Lessons, and I am amazed at how quickly we went through that book the second time. It took four weeks instead of the 16 or 17 it is supposed to take. He is reading so well, and he keeps taking his book and teaching Sprinkles (his stuffed baby hippo) to read when he can't convince Abby to sit still and learn!

Trackho Driver

We made some money by having a yard sale, so we hired someone to come level out our yard and haul away piles of rocks in preparation for laying top soil and grass. Ryan was in heaven watching this guy move his pretty orange trackho all over our yard! The driver, Lars, has a three-year-old son and knew how cool it was for Ryan, and at one point he let Ryan get up in the seat to see what it would be like to drive it!

Chuck E. Cheese

The kids has their first trip to Chuck E. Cheese this weekend. It was Ryan's friend Jake's birthday, and they were celebrating there. Ryan had a blast! He loved all the rides and games he could play. The music, loud video games and rides, lights, people, smells, etc., were way too much for Abigail. She kind of shut down, and so I decided we needed to leave, much to Ryan's dismay. I think it will be a long time before we attempt that place again.

Crane Ship

Ryan has been into cranes lately, so when Daddy heard that a ship carrying a large crane would be passing by our town on "our" river, he called to let us know. I piled the kids into the bike trailer and we headed down to Pixie Park to watch the show. The Columbia River is just about four blocks from our house, and there are often large cargo ships and barges going by. However, we have never seen such a large monstrosity as this before. It's hard to tell from the picture how truly big it is, but when it passed under the Lewis and Clark Bridge miles up the river in Rainier, it only cleared it by three feet. That bridge has a clearance of 210 feet!

Ryan was thrilled to see it, though he had a hard time comprehending it's size. He said, "Mom, look it's bringing a bridge with it!" The kids ended up getting soaking wet playing in the river and a tad bit sunburned since Mommy forgot the sunscreen (we hadn't seen enough of the sun so far this year to worry about sunscreen). It was a fun break from the usual routine, and I was surprised to see about 50 people show up on our little bitty beach.

Reading Buddy

Ryan has really grown in his confidence in reading. I was getting a slow start today, and when I went to round the kids up for breakfast, I found Ryan sitting on Abby's bed reading her a story! It was sweet to see him reading to her, and it was encouraging to me that he is enjoying it enough to pick up a book and read it aloud.

Park Day

After church on Sunday we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and have a picnic. We went to our local Trojan Park to eat lunch, do some fishing, some walking, and just plain enjoying God's creation. Ryan didn't last long fishing, but he had fun picking daisies, throwing rocks and sticks into the lake, and spying out the biggest tadpoles you've ever seen.

The lake and park are absolutely gorgeous, but it's so odd to be there with the ducks and fish and trees and wildlife and then look up and see this huge nuclear cooling tower looming up above the treeline! In a couple weeks they will demolish the tower, and it will be a "normal" park.

Who Needs an Easter Basket?

We had to do our Easter egg hunt indoors this year because it was raining pretty good. The kids didn't mind a bit, and Ryan decided to use his dump truck instead of his basket to put the eggs in. That's my boy!

By the way, this has to be the finest gift we ever gave this child. He got it on his first birthday, and he still plays with it almost daily three years later. The best part is we got it for free from a client at Ed's work who had filled it full of Christmas candy for the office staff!

Still Reviewing

During our second week, Ryan has continued to fly through his review. He is reading much more fluidly than he ever has, and it is neat to see him get so excited about his math worksheet. It's amazing how motivating a smiley face is to four-year-old!

This week also brought about our first complaint. "I don't like school," was the cry, but I think it had more to do with the fact that Daddy had a rare day off and was home with us than it did with actually disliking school.

I have been amazed at how well Ryan is doing at creative drawing! Two months ago, he wouldn't do anything but scribble, but now he loves to sit and draw cars, trucks, vans, semis, etc. He adds antennas and bumpers and roof rack cargo carriers, and they are really adorable pictures.

Giving

I established a new incentive/reward system in our home recently, and Ryan seems to be really motivated by it. The kids earn credits (poker chips) for doing their chores, having good attitudes, being kind, etc., and they can cash them in for computer time, staying up a little later, and other small treats or privileges. One of the things I allow them to "purchase" is a trip to the Dollar Tree to buy any one item they want. So when I went there to pick up some party plates and napkins this week, Ryan decided he wanted to "buy" this reward. He chose very carefully, and clever boy that he is, picked a package of five small cars instead of the package that only had one!

While we were there he said he wanted to get Abby a birthday present. I reminded him that it would cost him some of his poker chips, and he said, "That's okay. I want to get her something." I told him to pick out something that he thought she would really like, and he chose this hula hoop. Being unselfish and giving does not come easily to Ryan as it does to Abby, so my Mommy heart was so proud to see this spark of generosity!

First Time for Everything

This morning Ryan slept a little later than usual, and I was helping Abby get dressed in her room. I looked up and saw Ryan standing in the hall, and my first thought was, "Did we put him to bed in his clothes last night?" Then I realized he had got up and dressed himself! He has never dressed himself without being told before, so it kind of stunned me for a minute.

A few weeks ago I started implementing some new routines in our home because I knew we were going to begin homeschooling soon. One of those things was that both kids needed to be dressed, have their beds made and rooms clean before breakfast. Usually it's a joint effort with me helping them along and reminding, etc. But this morning Ryan stepped up to the plate and got dressed and made his bed without being asked. Way to go, Ryan! My little boy is growing up.

Box Crane

Ryan loves the PBS show George Shrinks, or should I say loved it. They took it off our local PBS station, so he can't watch it any more. But back in December there was an episode where George's mom used a large box and made a crane out of it. Ryan has been wanting me to build one ever since. Sigh. I am not good at that sort of thing, but he was really excited so I told him after we moved we'd use the moving boxes to make one for him.

I've been procrastinating for months, but Saturday I finally brought in the boxes and large tubes Daddy brought home from work and put together an odd-looking crane. I made an arm on each side so both he and Abby could play at the same time. Ryan was thrilled, and spent hours lifting cargo into the laundry baskets. Maybe this week we'll decorate it because it's pretty ugly, but at least I finally kept my promise to him.

Artwork

I had to up the contrast so this would show up.
It's not actually fluorescent.

Ryan does not really like to color or draw, and up until just a couple weeks ago, all he would do is scribble. But seemingly out of nowhere, he just started drawing real pictures. He drew the cutest picture at a restaurant yesterday, but I could kick myself because I walked off and left it. He wanted to draw some more today, and this is what he drew. Unfortunately, he doesn't press very hard with the crayon and it didn't show up very well.

Notice a theme here? He's really into vans and trailers right now.

Well, That Was Fun!

We finished our first "official" week of homeschooling. I must say that despite a few difficulties, it was so much fun! Ryan learned that he loves "doing school" and he has already memorized the Pledge of Allegiance, Abby is learning to sit still and do quiet activities of Mommy's choosing, and Mommy is gradually being conformed to the image of Christ while at the same time watching the joy of accomplishment on Ryan's face.


The hardest thing so far has been being disciplined enough to actually stop the household duties and just do school. I hope that as we settle into our new routine this will be a little easier. I thrive on routine, and, frankly, so do my kids. The second hardest thing was trying to keep Abigail occupied and somewhat quiet while I helped Ryan. I made a list of things that she can do at the table somewhat independently, and I gave her one to do each day. It's gone fairly well this week, but I can tell this is going to be an ongoing struggle until she is more able to entertain herself or she begins to do school with us.

I thought it would be best to start with some review of things he had already learned to make sure we were starting with a solid foundation. I'm so glad we did because it gave me a better picture of where he really is in his learning. I started by going back through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons again (I love this book!), and Ryan just flew right through 20 lessons the first day! He didn't want to stop, so we just kept on going. By the end of the week we had finished lesson 45, so I can tell this review was probably too easy for him. However, I'm pleased that I decided to do it because his confidence has really grown this week, and that has been lacking.


We also reviewed some basic math by practicing addition up to 12 with 0 and 1 addend. He likes the flashcards, but he really enjoys the little worksheets I print out for him from a free customizable program I found online. Lastly, we worked on writing numbers and letters, not Ryan's favorite thing to do at all. Still, I saw improvement in just this first week.


One of the best things that I saw this week was that Ryan sat down with his reading book and was teaching Abby. I was a little surprised Abigail participated, but she was repeating the sounds he told her to. It was precious. Also, instead of taking his usual Hot Wheel or small toy when we go on a car trip, Ryan chose to take his reading book yesterday! It thrills me to see him so charged up about learning. Only the Lord knows how next week (or next year) will go, but I am very pleased with our first week.

I Had a Mother Who Read To Me

I love reading to my children, but the last several months I've taken it up a notch or two. In addition to reading dozens of picture books per week, I read a devotion during breakfast and a couple of chapters from our latest chapter book of choice. Then during lunch we read several more chapters from our chapter book. Both kids have really enjoyed this, Ryan especially. His vocabulary has been growing too, and it's so neat to hear him using some rather large words. He was talking to himself while we were waiting for the streetcar last month, and he said, "She doesn't know her competition!" Everyone waiting, including me (oops) starting laughing, and it hurt Ryan's feelings. I tried to tell him we weren't laughing at him and that it just surprised us to hear him say that word, but he didn't seem to buy it.

I highly recommend the book The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. It was very useful in inspiring me to read even more to my kids. Along those lines, I ran across a poem that I want to share.


The Reading Mother

I had a mother who read to me
Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea,
Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth,
"Blackbirds" stowed in the hold beneath.

I had a Mother who read me lays
Of ancient and gallant and golden days;
Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,
Which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales
Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales,
True to his trust till his tragic death,
Faithfulness blent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me the things
That wholesome life to the boy heart brings —
Stories that stir with an upward touch,
Oh, that each mother of boys were such!

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be —
I had a Mother who read to me.

- Strickland Gillilan

Teaching Abby to Read

I took the plunge and began homeschooling Ryan this week. I'm only doing about an hour a day, but Ryan is really excited. We started by reviewing his phonics reading book from last year, and he was so excited he zipped through the first 20 lessons on the first day! His excitement has bubbled over onto Abby. I "caught" him teaching her to read with his reading book. It was precious to watch!

Taking a Deep Breath

This is the moment that I've been preparing for and anticipating for years. I have looked to this day with trepidation and excitement, and now it is here. We are beginning to homeschool this month. Of course, I've really been homeschooling for years, but now I feel like it's "official" and that I need to be more structured. My son learned to read almost a year ago, and he's been learning math facts and some geography too. However, our learning has been pretty hit and miss, and I feel the need to have more structure, or at least routine. We will only do "official" school for about 30 minutes to an hour per day, but my goal is to do it every day, not just when it works out.

But it is April, and you don't begin school in April, you say? Well, I guess I want to get some routine and structure going before our first full school year begins this fall. It's a little like practicing. I think my son is ready, and I am too. So here goes...