The last hurrah

We always try to do something fun the last weekend of the summer before school starts. This year, we had free passes to Silver Wood (local amusement park). Before we could go, Jack and I went to a baptism of his good friends Zach and Savannah (twins). On the way home, the fire fighters were in the street collecting money for Jerry's Kids. I told Jack to roll down his window. We were in the prism which does not have automatic windows. Jack looked at me like I spoke a different language and asked, "How do I do that?" Am I seriously getting old enough that kids don't know how to roll down a window? Once we got home from the baptism and made a quick change, we loaded up in the car for a fun trip!

When we got into the gates, Sam looks at me and says, "Mom, just drop me off in the kid's area." He was totally serious as if it as OK to just drop my 4 year old off to play on his own. For a while, we stuck together while Jack and one of the grownups rode a big ride. Jack is fearless and wants to ride every thing possible. Here are some fun pictures of him and Tyler on the Panic Plunge. He was not nervous at all.

Then we moved to the kids area where we all rode the elephants. This is the first ride for Logan. He LOVED it. The lady yelled at me to make him sit down, but I couldn't keep him in his seat. He wanted to push the green button that made us go up high. I also love that Jack was just as happy to ride the kid's rides with Sam. He is such a cute big brother.

After a round on the kids rides and some lunch, we split up. Tyler went with Jack for a while, and I hung out with the kids. Sam was hilarious. He would get in line, and then make a friend. He would spend the whole time in line making plans with his "friend". They would discuss which color they were going to ride and what their "mission" was going to be. If he saw a baby, he would tell me that it was Logan's friend. Logan was so good in his stroller. He didn't take a nap, and didn't melt down once. We stayed until closing (10:30 pm). As soon as Sam and Logan got into the car, they were zonked out.

Tyler switched with me, so that I could ride some with Jack. I love rides too, and I can ride almost anything. Age has made me a bit queasy on the round and round rides, so I only ride a few of them. Coasters are my favorite. It is so fun standing in line with Jack. We have awesome conversations about anything that pops into his head. Plus he holds my hand and thanks me over and over again. I like him at this age. I like that he likes me.

Today (Monday/Labor Day) we got a bonus fun day. What do you do for fun when you are married to a total geek and live with three dirty little boys? You go digging for garnets. Tyler did not explain this to me very well, so I was not prepared. He said we would get "a little dirty". When do we not get a little dirty? I dressed the boys in their cute outfits and off we went.

To find garnets, you first dig holes from a big pile of dirt, clay, and rocks and put what you dig into buckets. You can have two buckets per person. I figured 1 bucket per person was plenty.

After your buckets are full (and very heavy), you go to a sifting area where you sit on dirty buckets and sift out the sand. Our four buckets yielded one full (and very very heavy) bucket of rocks. Then you go to a washing area and clean your rocks to see if any of them are garnets. Seriously, a little dirty Tyler?!? This is also the spot where you ask each other 5000 times, "Is this one?" I loved that they all kept asking me like I had ever done this before." I just said sure to every question. When you find the garnets, you put them in to a baggy.

After a couple of hours of this, you think phew our bucket is empty and we have some garnets in a baggy. Lets go to a cute restaurant and eat something, but that is when your geeky husband and his prodigy decide that you definitely need to go dig some more. So off you go to fill another bucket, which actually ends up being two buckets. Then repeat the steps and now we have more garnets in our baggy. This time, I found some large ones that got praise from the bored forest service guy who stands around and answers the question, "Is this one?" When you are done, you take the baggy to the forest service desk. They shamefully go through your bag and pick out the rocks that apparently are not garnets, and weigh those that are. We came away with 4 oz. This, I was told, is pretty good. The limit is 5 lbs per person. They assured me that no one ever gets the limit. Jack was pretty happy with his bag. He is going to use them to start his rock collection for one of his cub scout requirements. I will put the bag next to the other bag of rocks and the box of fossils that we keep in his closet. Hint to Tyler, NO MORE ROCKS!

After garnet hunting we were going to go to Paul Bunyan Day's (or as Sam says, Small Onion's Days) in St Maries Idaho, but we were "a little dirty", and it was all shut down. We ended up driving home and grabbing some dinner on the road, so that we could get Jack in bed on time. Tomorrow I will take the traditional pictures of him standing on our porch in his darling school outfit going off to 3rd grade. We had a great summer, and we will miss the freedom!

P.S. To the locals that read my blog, garnet hunting season ended today. Sorry, you will have to wait until next year. Also, you will not get a little dirty. People were wearing rain gear and boots. Additionaly, if you tell your four year old to stay out of the muddy puddles, people will laugh at you.