Preschool or No Preschool...That is the Question...

I have not blogged in a long long time...once again.

Time has gone by............and now Lauren is four. So many children are going to preschool at the age of four, but not Lauren. I sometimes feel like I am not doing the right thing by not sending her off to preschool. I know of one person who would be on my side, and that is Dr. Laura. So I must be definitely doing something right.
I'm not against preschool. In fact, next fall we will most likely put her in preschool, since she won't be going to kindergarten for another year and a half.
But, for now I am her teacher. I have to say, I am a strict, but nice teacher. Maybe a little like my mom, who was a junior high school English teacher in my hometown. Luckily, Lauren hasn't learned to come up with any nicknames for me, like my mom's students did. My mom was known as "Goda", which was very clever because it goes well with the last name, Hale. Goda Hale. Get it?
Whatever the case, at least Lauren seems to like me and I like her.

There are so many positive things about not sending her to preschool yet.

1. I get to spend time with her.

2. She isn't learning more bad behaviors than she already knows.

3. I get to teach her what I want her to learn.

For example, we are working on the Pledge of Allegiance:



So far, Lauren is my best student. She might receive an A+ too.

October Fun

As some of you have noticed, I haven't updated in a long, long time. I am quickly becoming less interested in blogging, but, nevertheless, here I am.
I just wanted to update on some things that I have actually taken pictures of over the last month. I'm definitely not the best photographer. This month has been a little more exciting than most because we tend to be a low key kind of family. I'm going to make this blog as short as possible.

We went down to Caldwell/Boise for the Boise State football game against Oregon State, which was actually the end of September. We had a blast! We woke up early and went down to the stadium for College Game Day. Jason and I got down on the field, waved at the cameras, and watched the ESPN commentators there. Then, that evening we had a tailgating party and headed down to the game.



Jason and Lauren rode the tractor.
And then, Grandpa Brown took Lauren out to pick pumpkins.
Back in Pasco, Lauren went swimming for the last time of the year. It was a hot and beautiful day!
Lauren had a birthday. She is 4! She loves Jessie from Toy Story. She had to get her picture taken in the messiest place of the house...the closet. There are those yellow shorts again. We do dress her in other clothes, I promise! We were unsuccessful in getting any good pictures of her birthday.


Halloween! Lauren was Princess Aurora. I was probably an Indian or something at her age. We are definitely different. Me=tomboy. Lauren=a dainty princess.


Lastly, a trip to the dentist. We all had zero cavities. We left with shiny white teeth. This was Lauren's first dentist experience and she loved it.



There you have it!

Two Trips in One Month

What a great month of traveling it has been! We went to the...

Oregon Coast this past week.

Our trip went in this order: We left Pasco,WA, and headed west to Raymond, WA, south to Astoria, OR, even more south to Tillamook, OR, then east to Portland, and further east to Pasco, WA. That is our trip in a nutshell, with several stops in between.

Here are the highlights from our trip:

Mt. Rainer.

A waterfall. (Don't remember what it is called.)
Fort Stevens State Park. This is a great park! So much to do and see. It is just west of Astoria where the Columbia River and Pacific Ocean meet. There is something about the ocean; it is beautiful and fascinating. Lauren's smile explains how we all felt.
One attraction at Fort Stevens is the Peter Iredale, which shipwrecked in 1906. The story is that dense fog made navigation difficult and this ship landed on a sandbar off Clatsop Beach, where it is stuck today. One interesting fact about this area where the Columbia and ocean meet is that since 1792, approximately 2,000 ships have sunk; therefore, it's nickname is "Graveyard of the Pacific."


Here is where we camped at Fort Stevens.

We continued down Highway 101 to Cannon Beach, which is probably my favorite of all.

We eventually made it down to Kilchis River Campground for the Hansen Reunion, which was the reason we were on this trip. It's located just north of Tillamook. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of our time down there, but we had a good time with family. We went to the Tillamook Creamery a few times for some good ice cream and we went to Rockaway Beach too. When the reunion was over, we packed up, and headed for Portland.

Several of us parked in the city, cooked up a hot dog on the side of the road...

and headed to the famous Voodoo Doughnuts--"The magic is in the hole." What better way to end a trip than having a doughnut! (These pictures came from online somewhere.)

At the first of the month, we headed to McCall, Idaho.

Throughout my childhood, my family would head to McCall during the summer to stay at my grandparent's cabin. I have so many wonderful memories there....swimming in the lake, picking huckleberries, taking walks through Ponderosa State Park. The list goes on and on. My grandparent's have passed on and the cabin has been sold, but it is still good to go back because of all that is familiar.

We stayed in a nice cabin over the 4th of July weekend. Most of our time was spent at Payette Lake. Here are some pictures of my crazy family.

The view.
Lauren sporting her sweet goggles.
All the adults sat on the beach while the brave children swam in the cold water. However, some adults went in...I'm not included in that group of adults.



Grandma and Grandpa with all the grandchildren that were in McCall.
I love going on vacation and taking a break from life. Although, it is always good to return home to my own bed.

What a Sight

I looked out the window and what did I see...