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Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Happy Back to School Day, Anth and Mols!

Anthony and Molly headed on back to school this morning! Mols in 3rd, Anth in 5th. Can you believe I've a middle schooler now!? I have no idea how that happened!! Ekk!

Anthony doesn't seem too anxious about being in the middle school this year, which is a good thing because I've been stressing it! He had his orientation this past Monday evening and all went well....except he couldn't get his locker open! Haha, he'll figure it out. I'm really proud of him for taking all this newness in stride. Change can be scary, but he's holding his own! 

Molly is her usual happy-go-lucky self, excited as always about school and being around her friends! She's really happy about her teacher and had a great open house last night. If you were to ask her what she's most excited about, she'd answer her matching scissors and pencil box. Hahaha!   


We are a family of planners and a family that thrives on routine. Or at least I do! Backpacks and first day of school clothes have been ready for a week now! 


As always, Papa made breakfast and I got to work packing lunches and making sure everyone was doing what they were suppose to be doing and on schedule. Being that the bus stop is 3 miles away and we have to drive there, there is little room for a time error when getting out the door!  

 
It was still dark out when we took our back to school photos, ugh, but there was no way around that. Papa couldn't stay to see the kids on the bus this year, he had to get to work, so we had to hurry up and take the photos before he left. They're not my best or favorite back to school photos due to the lack of light and needed use of the flash, but oh well. I got a few of the shots I wanted anyway! Besides, we'll get more on Timothy's first day next Tuesday! 









 




Happy first day of school, Cutie Pies! I can't wait to hear all about your day and what this new year has in store for you! 


With love,
Mama Hauck


Sunday, August 27, 2017

Solar Eclipse Camping at Timothy Lake

We had the pleasure of camping at our favorite camp spot, #25, in our favorite camp ground, Pine Point at Timothy Lake, with Grandma Hauck and Grandma and Grandpa Whitten for the solar eclipse! Ohhhh how lucky we were!


We arrived Sunday afternoon, hindered not at all by traffic, thank goodness, and wasted no time setting up camp and jumping in the water! The kids have become quite comfortable in the kayaks, especially Anthony, and it's great to see them enjoying the water so much. Even Molly worked up the courage to take the kayak out without someone riding in it with her this camping trip! Timothy still likes to be tied off, lol, but he's doing well practicing his strokes! 

There must have been a fire someplace close by because that whole afternoon two planes were landing in the lake and scooping up water every 3-4 minutes. The kids found this fascinating to watch! 


After our water fun, it was time for dinner, hang time, smores, and UNO....a personal favorite camping game! By the end of the day, Molly and Timothy were so tired they went to the camper for bed time themselves! 


Woohoo! Eclipse Day! We wasted no time getting breakfast taken care of and rushing down to the water to wait. We had the perfect spot to watch the eclipse right from our camp spot and felt no need to wander the campground to find a better one.


The eclipse started at about 9:08am and we were there for every minute of it! We all had our solar glasses on and ready to watch! The kids were really excited, and I was excited watching their excitement!!


Lucky for us, not only did we have our solar glasses to watch the eclipse, but we also had Grandpa's 6" binoculars with a solar filter! And the perfect spot to set it up was a little ways out in the water by our camp spot! The kids totally got a kick out of this! Watching the eclipse from the water!? Count us in! Having the binoculars to view the eclipse was AMAZING. I am so thankful we got to experience viewing the eclipse through them, it was a totally different view than what you got through the solar glasses. 

The kiddos did very well taking turns viewing the eclipse through the binoculars, and keeping their solar glasses on when looking at the eclipse. It really was awesome being out in the water, haha, it added that extra bit of fun to an already exciting experience. 


Almost there!! Each time you got your turn to look through the binoculars, you were shocked to see just how much more the sun was covered up by the moon! The kids were amazed watching it. You could feel the excitement grow as we got closer and closer to totality. These are photos I took with my phone through the binoculars! I'm excited I managed to do that!  


Anthony especially enjoyed the experience. He stayed up on his perch in the water for the longest time. It was really eerie watching it get darker and darker. The kids even pointed out that the ducks floating nearby on the water were going to sleep thinking it was dusk!  


Here it is! Totality!

The first photo I took with my phone through the binoculars. The second photo Grandpa took, I just took a phone photo of it off of his camera. My phone photo totally doesn't do it justice. I didn't capture any amazing shots myself....I was more focused on enjoying the moment and watching the children enjoy the moment! When Chris shares his photos with us, I will have to be sure to edit my post to include a few! 


The kids were out of their minds! You could hear the whole camp ground hooting and hollering as the eclipse reached totality at about 10:15am. We were all in such awe, I can't explain how amazing it was to be there in that moment, watching the eclipse and watching my babies have such a mind blowing experience!


And just like that, the sun started to peek back out! It felt like no time at all, I wish totality had lasted longer!


After watching the eclipse, it was time to refuel, relax, and hang out. Grandma Cathy headed on home and the kids hung around the camp spot and the water, laying in the hammock and throwing stones. 


Once we had eaten and regrouped a bit, a walk was in order! We took Grandma and Grandpa across the dam and a little ways around the lake to explore the walk-in camp spots. I think Sam and I would like to do that next year....send the kids to Grandma's and see what camping in a walk-in would be like. Most of them were pretty private and right on the water! 


By the time we got back from our walk, the wind had really picked up, and the smoke from the fire in the area was now thick and low hanging. I'm glad the wind and smoke didn't arrive until after the eclipse! Sam took the kids out in a kayak one at a time to experience the turbulence, haha, and then the kids all played in the water close to the bank for a while. 


Meanwhile, this happened.....

This photo is on day two....you should have seen it right when I did it, thinking about it gives me the shivers! UGH!


I slammed by thumb in the camper door jam. Hard. Like stupidly hard. Dumb. And sooooo incredibly painful! So much so that at first I didn't realize what had happened....my mind was not registering what my eyes were seeing. I kept thinking to myself, "What just happened? Something just happened. I think this is bad. I think this is real bad." Ohhh but then the pain came, and I had to go running for my Mommy down at the water, hahaha. 

In true Mama fashion, she took care of her baby. For 20 minutes I soaked my thumb in a cup of ice water, wondering if I should just finish the job and chop my damn thumb off. The pain gave me the shakes and I tried not to blubber like a baby so I wouldn't get a migraine on top of it all. I was praying I didn't break my thumb (I didn't.). The kids were all really concerned about me, it was sweet. 

The cut was pretty deep, but cleaning it up and putting butterfly band aids on tightly seemed to have really helped to facilitate the deepness of the gash to close up. It's no where near as bad as it was the first and second day, but the top of the cut is still open and swollen, and I know, because of the way I heal, that I'll be left with a not so pretty scar. I can already tell there is nerve damage. Ugh. I also hope my nail doesn't get weird, as the base of my nail was also caught in the path of the door. I'm sure it doesn't help that I keep whacking it on stuff and sending shock waves of pain throughout. Good fun. 

But hey! I will never forget Eclipse Day! 


Tuesday morning rolled around and to my relief, my thumb was still attached to my body and I could bend it. Hooray! Sammy made a delicious breakfast we all enjoyed around the fire before we took the kiddos to the dock to go fishing. No fish this time, but it was such a beautiful morning, I don't think anyone cared about no biting fish. The wind and majority of the smoke of the previous day were gone and we all just enjoyed the spectacular calmness of the lake.



Once back from fishing, we decided the day was ours for the taking, and so we all loaded on up in Grandma and Grandpa's rig for an outing to Government Camp. We went in a few shops, walked the streets, stopped at a restaurant for lunch, and then made a quick visit to peek inside Timberline Lodge and get a photo of us in front of Mt. Hood. 


More water fun! This time a bit more relaxing for me, haha! A little bit of reading, chatting, kayaking, swimming, rock skipping, and rock stacking. The weather was gorgeous and the water was perfect. Even Grandma, Grandpa, and Lucy (yes, the dog!) got in a kayak!  


Our last night of camping we shared a delicious dinner, gooey smores, a toasty fire, and, of course, a few games of UNO to cap off the night!


I am so thankful for our solar eclipse camping trip and being able to share this experience with family! Seeing the children's faces was worth all the planning to make this happen. We will remember the moment for years to come! Time to plan our trip for the next solar eclipse in 7 years! 

With love,
Mama Hauck