Make Mine a Sasparilla--Columbia Diggins

Yesterday we had the opportunity to participate in an incredibly neat event at Columbia Historic State Park--Columbia Diggins.  Bob flew us into Columbia and we walked to the park from the airport.

Anthony was a little crabby from the walk, so we immediately went on a stagecoach ride.  Richard, especially, loved it and talked about riding the horsies for the rest of the day.

Down below the state park itself (which alternates between cool history and tourist trap), they recreated 1852 Columbia, the height of the gold rush.  We attended a trial, bought lemonade in tin cups a the bakery, and indulged in sasparilla at the saloon.  Anthony's favorite activity was helping out in the gold mine.  We watched the miners work, and Anthony started asking if he could help.  The guy replied that Anthony's hands were full.  Anthony immediately pushed his cookie into my hand and went off to grab a shovel! Richard meanwhile amused himself by playing with rocks.

He also really enjoyed attending school at the schoolhouse.  He learned that gold was discovered in 1848 and they read poetry out of a primer.

Zoo Clue Challenge

 We seem to be stunningly committed to our membership at Happy Hollow, since we've had it since Anthony was seven months old!  Unfortunately, Anthony is starting to outgrow it, right as Richard is starting to grow into the park.

Happy Hollow offers some really neat classes, so we've been taking full advantage.  Anthony does the junior zookeeper classes in the morning while we do baby stuff with Richard, then in the afternoon he rides the roller coaster and sees the puppet show.

Earlier this month, Happy Hollow offered their first ever "Zoo Clue Challenge", a scavenger hunt race through the park.  They originally gave me a hard time because I wanted (needed) to include Richie on the team.  He was a real trooper though, riding on my back as we ran through the park.  We had to solve two jigsaw puzzles, navigate the maze blindfolded, and feed the zebu an apple, among other challenges.  The final challenge was for one person on the team to hold a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach while everyone pet it.  Since Anthony fed the poor drooly zebu an apple, I decided Richie had to take one for the team.  He did great!

Mostly due to my fierce competitive streak (not my best trait), we came in second place and won a painting created by their resident (descented) skunk.

The bottom picture is a meet and greet with a hedgehog, who created the first place prize.  You can see Richie has his two fingers out to pet the hedgehog next!

School Field Trip

Wednesday was Anthony's last field trip of the year.  His class went on four trips this year--a walking trip to the library, the theater to see "Brave Irene", Deer Hollow Farm and Happy Hollow.

I decided to volunteer, I should make a point of doing these things while Anthony still wants me to!

I was assigned a group of four kids to chaperone for the day.  We started off with the rides before the line got too long.  After we rode all the biggies, we had a very early lunch and headed down the hill to visit the animals.

We had a questionnaire to fill out, making sure that we saw the whole zoo!  The first animal we encountered was Sophia the Jaguar.  Visitors to Happy Hollow normally see her asleep in a corner or on her perch.  Imagine my surprise to see her awake and AT the window!  She was NOT pleased to have kids bothering her and let us know.  It was a pretty neat show, even though I know she was unhappy.

The rest of the day was a normal day at Happy Hollow.  The puppet show, the goats...  Nobody ever wants to feed the poor zebu.  Just because he drools and has a long tongue.

The day ended with three rides on the merry go round.  At first they considered it a baby ride, but they happily went on it until it was time to walk back to the bus.

Things Richie Does

Richard is going through a positively adorable phase.  Pretty much everyone who meets him comments on how cute he is.

Things that generally crack me up (and sometimes make me roll my eyes):
1.  His utter faith that I can fix things.  His sandwich breaks in half, he says "Mommy, fix it" and is SURE I can fix it.

2.  His temper.  When he gets made he jumps up and down screaming.  Not exactly endearing, but it cracks me up.  Yes, I know I shouldn't laugh at him when he's so angry.

3.  His little baby voice.  He'll ask a question, I answer it, and he'll repeat back the answer in his little high pitched voice.

4.  Baby talk.  Its rapidly disappearing, though.  Every week after church he looked forward to getting "lade" (lemonade) during social hour.  This week he asked for "lemonade".

5.  Fascination with "shooters".  I could do without that one.  A few weeks ago I was telling him what to expect at the dentist.  His response, "I no want dentist to look at my teeth.  I chase dentist with my shooter!"  It was downright funny watching him battle it out with Anthony the other day.  Anthony had his wand and was in dueling form.  Richard had a shooter made of legos and was shooting away.

6.  In the mornings, he generally just sits up and waits for us to come get him.  A strong contrast from last fall when he learned to climb out of his crib.  Then he would go wandering the house in the night!  When he learned that coming to our room meant being sent back to bed, he started going to play with Anthony instead!

7.  His tongue.  If something icky is on it (banana string, for example), he sticks it out for me to remove the offending item.  I've lost track of the number of things I've wiped off the kid's tongue.

Beach Days

 May was too cold and cloudy for the beach this year, but we've already had two beach days!  Back in January we went to the beach on Martin Luther King Day!  We didn't play in the surf as it was too strong, too cold and it was only me with the two boys AND a friend.  We played in the sand and on the water's edge, though.

Then last month we went tide pooling.  I didn't get any pictures, but we had a lot of fun.  We did a guided (and overpriced) tide pooling expedition with the Marine Science Institute.  Then after lunch we went to a beachy beach (vs. a rocky beach), played in the sand and in the tide pools on the edge of the cliffs.

Memorial Day Flags

 Today we joined a few hundred other Scouts to place flags on the graves at the Golden Gate National Cemetary.  Even Richard did a few.  The results were pretty impressive.

Chocic (Chocolate)

 Richard REALLY likes chocolate.  REALLY likes it.  Santa left a full sized chocolate Santa in his stocking and he was talking about it for WEEKS.  Ice cream, cake, candy, really he's only interested in the chocolate.  Except jelly beans, he likes jelly beans.

When we were leaving Kathleen's house on St. Patrick's Day, he knew there were chocolate coins in his bag.  He said to me "I chocolate, in my mouth, right HERE", pointing in his mouth for emphasis.

More Camping Fun

Honestly, I think Anthony had as much fun playing with the other boys in the woods, playing with sticks, building forts and the like as he did at the program areas.

That being said, he earned his bb gun and archery belt loops.  He hit the target once at archery.  Yes, I'm helping him (and volunteered at the range for an hour with Richard asleep on my back.)  He was kind of nervous with the bb guns and a little disappointed that he didn't hit the target.

His favorite activity was canoeing on the "lake" with Daddy.  He actually went out for several rides.  He's looking forward to boating camp on Shoreline Lake this summer.

The bottom picture is fishing "Tom Sawyer Style" in the little lake.  A few boys did catch fish (marshmallows are the preferred bait).  Anthony didn't catch any fish, but they did catch a newt.

At some point after lunch Richard let me put him down.  Then he had a great time, walked everywhere and of course, played with sticks!

Camping with Cub Scouts

 Last weekend was our first camping trip with Cub Scouts at Camp Cutter.  We had so much fun.  I was a little apphensive, as I'd been warned they were noisy, but they really were no worse than Girl Scouts.  The excessive energy of herds of boys dissipates into the atmosphere nicely.

I gave Bob the choice of staying home with Richard or bringing Richard, and we (I) decided they should come.  Richard got off to a rough start, he refused to let me put him down on Friday.  He even rode on my back while I did my kitchen shift Friday night.

Anthony, on the other hand, immediately joined in the fun.  His pals from the Den arrived a little later.  However, one of his classmates, whose brother is a Scout was there and the two of them had fun together.