I love Mr. Allan!

Well we finished our first week of Homework and Hayden is still going to school and we haven't had any serious meltdowns!  Our little 1st grader has homework Mon-Thursday and it is due the next day.  It has been an adjustment for all us.  The best part is that Mr. Allan is trying to teach the kids to be responsible - and if they do not do their homework at home -- guess when they get to do it?  At recess in the class!  I think that has scared the you know what out of Hayden and he has not made a fuss and even told his friends (without me saying a word!) that he would be outside to play "as soon as I finish my homework."  Yeah for that! We'll see how long this lasts but for right now it is great.

I sure hope that this helps him create some good study habits.  I remember that it was 6th grade when I learned about study habits!  It was Mrs. Thorsenson at Whatcom Middle School.  That was a hard year for my Mom.  ha ha...it was a hard year on both of us and I recall a lot of screaming, crying and my Dad leaving the room.  I even remember ironing my paper because I got mad and crinkled it up and she would not accept a crinkled paper.  However, I credit her with creating some skills that have been with me throughout my entire life!

1st Grade

I'm a little late for posting this as we are into the 3rd week of school -- but Hayden is now officially in school all day. What a difference that makes! He's loving 1st grade and has class with his best buddy, Clara Johnson. Homework starts week so I'm sure he'll be "over" loving school soon!


Hayden and Fischer on Hayden's first day of 1st Grade.



Hayden and his friend Clara chatting it up before the bus comes. You can see the bus coming down the hill. It was made clear to me to not take pictures so I had to sneak this one in!

Ukie - Conclusion

Well it has been a few weeks since we concluded our Ucluelet Trip.  Honestly, it took me a few weeks to readjust.  Let's just say on a scale of 1 to 10 - for a fishing trip it was a -1 but for a good family time it was at least a 10!!!  Our family tends to have adventures when it comes to a vacation.  To summarize -- one fish, rough seast, great company, and now that we are home and the sleeping bags are finally dried out we can totally laugh! Shannon is one of the few people that I trust completely in a boat.  But it was really rough on several days where I was scared and I grew up commerical fishing and being in boats so it takes a lot to really freak me out.   We headed out one morning - before the fishing guides (you'd think that was a sign!!!) and once we turned the corner it was nasty.  12 ft seas with 3 meter chop on top, tide and waves bouncing back off the rocks!  Well we head out -- I can't panic because the kids are with me and Hayden has already told me to just close my eyes and pretend I was somewhere else if I was scared (remember he's 6 and he and his dad are betting on when I'll barf!).  So we go off one wave and go straight down and I sort of screamed.  Well, I screamed!  Shannon looks at me and says "Maybe we should go back?"  You think?  We were able to turn around because we were quartering the waves and we could basically just ride the swell around.  We  go back in and have breakfast.  So the wind dyes a few hours later and ST is anxious!  So what do we do?  We head back out!  Again before the guides.  Same spot - this time the direction of the waves have changed and we get out and we can not turn around.  I am sitting backwards and there were a few times that all I could see was water on all three sides of me and I had to look straight up to see the sky.  Yes, I was freaked out but we had to get about a mile down the shore to get into a calm spot.  Remember, we'd not caught any fish so someone (we don't need to mention his name) was determined to get a fish!  We got to "Little Beach" and started fishing.  Yep, about this time I did barf!  Hayden one that bet!  That kid has his father's iron stomach.  If he didn't get sea sick in that crap, he'll never get sick!  We did have an incident all over the sleeping bags so Fischer has my stomach - but he has the Terrell power to "puke and party."  As soon as he barfed he asked me for some pop and food.  Seriously!!!

The rest of the trip - pretty much resembles the same.  However, on the very last day.  We left our ice chest outside under the trailer.  We know that was "dumb" because it is Bear Country...but guess what?  We did have a Yogi help himself to our cooler.  He loved Gogurts!  He ate everyone one of them.  He got every ounce of that yogurt out of them!  The only things he didn't eat were the pickles (in a jar) and the bottled beer.  So I came home with no food and no fish and lots of wet clothes. 

Guess what?  We are going back next year!

Fischer after a tough day of bobbing around like a wet rat!

 

I think that this is what Hayden does a lot on the boat!  However, he is listening because he can hear the sound of the reel if it gets a hit.  He'll yell -- is that a fish or are you checking the lines?  If it's a fish, he's up in a flash!!!

 

Here are the cousins.  Fishcer, Adrienne, Hayden and newest member to our crazy clan Mary Catherine