Gaskin Clan

2011 Family Highlights Reel!

2011-12-25T20:43:00.002-05:00

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year! We are looking forward to 2012, as much as we've enjoyed 2011. Here is a slideshow with some of our favorite memories of the last year. Apologies for the low-res version, there is a file size upload limit. Come on by the house and we will show you the high-res photos! Thanks!

Olivia Wins Big!

2011-12-04T15:37:00.003-05:00

Olivia participated in the “Reflections” contest for the arts in October 2011. The theme was “Diversity means...”, and she was so excited to write her very own “essay” for the literature division. She took the effort very seriously and was really proud of her submission. After all was said and done, a first place ribbon (1st grade level) was awarded! Way to go, Olivia!! The below is in her own spelling; what diversity means to a 6-year old...

"DIVRSITEY MEANS...

Divirsitey means that everewone is different from each other.

There are thowsands of kinds of flowers on the Earth and ech one is prity and intrsting and speshle. Its like that with humans to!! We are all different. We are prity and intresting and spechle just like the flowers.

I like my garden to have many different kinds of flowers becase that makes it more fun to look at and allso more intresting. I garden would be so boring if all the flowers were the same. The earth would be boring too if all the people were the same!

Divrsity means that people don't dress the same. And they don't talk the same. They bring different food in there lunch boxes.

Diversity means that everywone is uneek. That's the way I like it!"

Halloween!

2011-11-01T05:55:00.003-04:00

Once again Amy outdid herself as the Hallowqueen. The kids were Seuss characters, with a Star-Bellied Sneetch, Thing 1 and Thing 2, and a Cat in the Hat (the tutu was Olivia's idea, and it made the outfit). We were surprised at how many people didn't know what Dr. Seuss characters are, but everyone over 30 seemed to get it. Amy and I were ninjas at the ward fall fiesta, because ninjas are always cool. Drizzling night keep most of the trick-or-treaters home, but that meant more candy for the kids!

Fall Fun Photos

2011-10-30T17:18:00.002-04:00

Random fall photos: pumpkin-picking with the Blackwells, Sheriff Sawyer, Amy trying to get the kids to smile at the same time!

Tiger Trot Race!

2011-10-30T17:13:00.003-04:00

October 15, 2011 - the day of the Tiger Trot race! Olivia rocked the 1 miler, and Mommy provided assistance along the way. Ella, Hannah, and Daddy did the 5K, and all went well there with respectable times. It was chilly at first, but we warmed up quick. It was nice that Ella and Hannah finished at the same time. They've practiced hard for this, and they did a great job!

Back To School

2011-10-30T17:09:00.002-04:00

September 6, 2011 - the first day back to school. E started 6th grade this year, off to middle school far away. H and O are still in elementary school, right up the street. Daddy was too traumatized by the middle school transition that he couldn't even watch, Mommy handled everything like a pro.

Summer Pool Fun...and a Bonus!

2011-08-20T20:15:00.008-04:00

We love the pool all summer. To clarify: everyone loves the pool except for "Ramon, the pool boy" whose sole purpose in life during the summer is to keep the pool clean and toxic to all life-forms but our own. "Ramon" loves the pool - when he gets to swim in it, and everyone else loves it all the time!

Summer's ending soon, we are about to close the pool, so we thought we should post some fond pool summer memories. It is nice to have a pool in the Richmond summers! First, a video of our Ollie-fish who learned how to swim confidently this summer (we are so proud of her!):

Then, the rest of us:

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For all you faithful viewers, here is a bonus video (unrelated to the pool) of Sawyer and two of his sisters singing "You Are My Sunshine", enjoy!

Hartling Family Fun!

2011-07-31T13:16:00.002-04:00

The whole family went up to Nova Scotia in July, to be with Bert and see all the sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, in-laws, sons, daughters, cousins, and other random relatives and well-wishers that stopped by the Hartling home! There was too much fun had to summarize it all here, so we've put together a quick slideshow with some of our favorite memories, most of which have to do with all the little cousins running around and playing with each other. Thanks to Max and Brody, we can't get Justin Bieber music out of our heads, so we put the whole thing to one of his tunes - so you all can be tortured as well. "Baby, baby, baby - oOOOH!" Enjoy!

Random Summer Photos

2011-07-31T13:11:00.007-04:00

Since the cows invaded and destroyed most of our garden earlier this year, we've had plenty o' time to play this summer! Below are some random photos of some summer memories, enjoy!

Bert and Sharon Getting Sealed!

2011-07-31T13:08:00.002-04:00

Amy and Sawyer went up to Nova Scotia over July 4th weekend, and Amy was able to attend the temple sealing of her parents, Bert and Sharon. This special day came after 41 years of marriage, and will henceforth be celebrated by annual fireworks! It was a special weekend for Amy and her parents.

July 4th Carolina Trip

2011-07-31T12:58:00.003-04:00

Amy and Sawyer were up in Canada unexpectedly, so Daddy and the girls trekked to North Carolina to visit with first the Blackwells in Silar City and then with the Woolleys in Charlotte! Swimming and dancing dominated the time with the Blackwells, the girls did their own thing together in their own pretend world! The adults caught up and toured their new house/property. With the Woolleys we saw their awesome house, and then boated on their amazing boat on Lake Norman! Everyone went tubing for hours, and walked very tenderly from sunburns for about a week after! The highlight was floating in the Lake altogether watching the holiday fireworks over the lake...that was pretty cool. We can't wait to go down to visit again!

Camping at Lake Anna!

2011-07-31T12:54:00.004-04:00

In late June we went camping with the Running and Anderson families, at Lake Anna State Park. Everyone had a great time, it was hot but the beach was nice and wet and the kids played non-stop! It's good to have camping friends!

James River Rambler Train Trip

2011-05-31T12:27:00.004-04:00

On 5/21/11 we went on the James River Rambler, a 3.5 hour historic train trek from Dillwyn, Virginia through Buckingham County. This particular day featured a "train hold-up" robbery by the Tom Mix Rangers. The kids loved it...the parents are glad its checked off the "to-do" list (it's a good one-time thing, a little long).

Here are the kid reporters:

(O) We went on a train ride today. This train ride is the first train ride I'v ever went to.

(H) The Gaskin Train Ride - The train ride was so cool! It took us over the James River. Dillwyn (the town we were riding through) had a lot of slate! I mean, there were mountains of it! There was a souvenir shop on the train! Daddy bought all three of us a pin, Sawyer a train hat, and he let me buy a railroad crossing pencil sharpener! It is a three-D railroad crossing sign, and it has a pencil sharpener in the back. I bought it with my remaining birthday money. We got to sit in the part of the train where it has a fence on the outside so you can just look out the side of the train and see all the things outside the train. Halfway through the train trip, they showed us what it was like to get robbed on a train. I mean, people really robbed it. They dressed up in costumes so they looked like real cowboys and Indians, and pretended to rob the train. I really liked it!

(E) WILD WEST TRAIN RIDE!!!!!!!!!!!! We went on a Wild West train ride. The train was full of robbers and cowboys who tried to rob us! The cowboy’s costumes were very detailed and they looked like real cowboys. When the robbers robbed the train, the cowboys came out and shot them. It was really cool. We went past a lot of pretty nature like enormous walls of slate. I think Mrs. Hall (editor's note: school science teacher) would have jumped overboard to get some of it. We went right over the James River!! Daddy said that there were bears in the woods, but sadly, I did not see any. Sawyer threw his sucky (editor's note: pacifer) overboard. After that, he sucked on his lip. We went to the souvenir and snack car, where I got a little pin with a kitty on it. It is very cute. I named it Tadpole. I had a lot of fun.

Easter Trip to the Beach - Crystal Coast, North Carolina

2011-05-13T16:14:00.007-04:00

Another wonderful trip to Crystal Coast, North Carolina for Easter weekend. We've had a lot of good family memories there. This time we met the Lee family, which was a nice treat! Eric and Edwin spent most of the time working on the house, while Amy and Shannon spent most of the time sunburning on the beach (they are STILL peeling!). The kids had a blast together, and were thrilled to find that the Easter Bunny left them a surprise on the seashore.

Spring Hike to Humpback Rocks

2011-05-13T16:09:00.003-04:00

This is great hike up off the Blue Ridge Parkway near Charlottesville. It's pretty short but steep. Sawyer got a free ride because he fell in the parking lot and scraped his knees up, before we left! The views are terrific from up top. Ella was in her element hopping from rock to rock, and Olivia almost made it the whole way up and back without falling down. Hannah was the lead scout most of the time, and Mom and Dad puffed along. The ranger station was nice with a fun Junior Ranger program for the kids.

Trip to Prague

2011-05-13T16:05:00.002-04:00

Amy sent me on an early birthday trip to Prague so I could visit my friend Will and his girlfriend Jana. Prague is terrific, a beautiful city with much to see and do. Berlin and Vienna were cool too. I had great hosts and had a great time! Lots of amazing things to see, including the 500-year old shriveled arm of a thief hanging from a church cieling (see below)!

South Anna Spirit Stride Race

2011-03-19T10:47:00.003-04:00

We all went out for the South Anna Spirit Stride Race this morning, a 1-mile fun run, sponsored by the girls elementary school. Hannah and Ella both ran really strong, Ella placed third in the school in the girls rankings! She is very proud of that, and said she is going to try for first on the next race. Olivia ran almost the entire way, helping Mommy along. Daddy did fine on the 5K (his first 5K ever!), though the 2 monster hills almost killed him. Sawyer cheered us all on from his stroller. Between this springtime race and the fall race in the fall, we are starting to become more of a running family, bit-by-bit. We parents are trying to convince the girls that a 5K next year is perfectly doable for them.

Various Photos, Catching Up

2011-03-19T07:14:00.003-04:00

No real rhyme nor reason here, just catching up on some fun memories from the last few months. Hannah doing a photo-shoot with Sawyer, Ella helping Olivia with a terrific FHE lesson, everyone in the wagon, Sawyer hanging out with Daddy, Ella with her YW basketball team, and Olivia flying kites!

Pinewood Derby Racing!

2011-03-19T07:06:00.005-04:00

Our church Cub Scout pack opened up the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby race this year to all who wished to participate. The kids were enthused about making their little race cars, and we had a good time carving, sanding, and painting. While no one from our clan actually medalled in the races (the actual Cub Scouts dominated the awards podium!), it was a lot of fun just racing the cars. I got to help the Bishop make the race track, that was a really interesting project!

Daddy-daughter Hoe-Down

2011-03-19T06:56:00.007-04:00

Our ward put on their first annual daddy-daughter hoe-down a few weeks ago. Line dancing, cowboy/cowgirl games, the works! Kids got to roast marshmellows, shoot targets, and even lasso a fake bull! Amy created the rustic decor, and the whole Primary Presidency made the night grand. It was a fun tradition, sure to continue.

Hannah's 9th Birthday

2011-03-19T06:49:00.002-04:00

We had a very fun "Minute-to-Win-It"-themed birthday party for Hannah this year. The kids had a great time, it was terrific fun, the games were insane!

2010 Gaskin Family Highlights

2010-12-29T05:44:00.013-05:00

With 2010 coming to a close, it's nice to pause for a moment and reflect. Sure, the past year has been insanely busy and mind-bogglingly crammed full of this, that, and everything - but that's the way we like it, as it keeps us from getting bored.

We’ve had a healthy mix of adventure, good friends, yummy food, family time, good health, and generally uplifting experiences (we try to forget about the bad stuff). Good times were had by all. It’s nice having such amazing children – they make it all so fun and worthwhile. We feel very blessed and grateful for those blessings.

We wish you all well for the coming year, and please stop on by if you are in the neighborhood – we would love to see you! Please find below a few of our favorite memories from the year. Enjoy!

School Photo Time!

2010-11-23T16:20:00.003-05:00

Long Ago In A Halloween Far, Far Away

2010-10-23T05:19:00.003-04:00

Confession...we've been a bit obsessed over Star Wars lately at our house. So, when Amy (I'm-So-Busy-So-Why-Not-Do-Something-Else) decided to MAKE all the Halloween costumes, the genre selection was a no-brainer. We were thrilled with the outcome. Hannah just nailed the 1977 Princess Leia, Ella was a perfect Jawa (complete with sound effects), and Olivia is a natural R2-D2. Sawyer stole the show as Jedi Master Yoda, and had his light saber in a death grip much of the night. I was going for the Tatooine (Part IV) Ben Kenobi (sans beard of course). The Imperial stormseamstress dressed all of us galactic fiends, but declined to disguise herself, preferring just to have us all call her - "The Force". Our "Stars Wars Cookbook" and various coloring books we found helped us with the costume details, and gave us yet another opportunity to see the original trilogy. It was a perfect family Halloween get-up.

Bahamas!

2010-10-18T10:14:00.001-04:00

Amy and I spent a great few days in the Bahamas. We met some good friends there from North Carolina, and all together we spent some terrific days swimming, sunning, kayaking, parasailing, rock climbing, trapeze swinging, eating far too much, chatting about life, and staying up way past Edwin's normal bedtime! Much fun was had by all, and we look forward to the next adventure!

The Little Prince

2010-10-18T10:08:00.000-04:00

It's tough to say how much this little brother is loved, we aren't sure a chart exists that could quantify how much adoration he recieves at the hands of his sisters! Here are a few sample photos that show much attention and love he receives at the hands of his loving sisters!

First Day of School!

2010-10-18T10:01:00.000-04:00

The first day of school is always exciting! This year we have 3 in the same school, with our 5-year-old making her kindergarten debut!

Incan Adventures

2010-08-29T18:58:00.000-04:00

We've started a family tradition, that when a child turns 10, we get to do an awesome adventure together. This serves multiple purposes: creating a fun memory, opening up some overseas experiences/perspective for the child, and allowing Dad to milk this incremental mid-life crisis he has been having. This month, Ella and Daddy when to Peru together, and had a great time. Here is a day-by-day break-down of the adventure...

DAY 01 LIMA:

We flew on TACA airlines out of DC/Dulles (red-eye flight, nice because you avoided the NOVA traffic). We liked flying Air TACA - Ella because they gave you TWO meal choices, Daddy because they were on-time and the staff was very friendly. The connection through El Salvador was easy and uncomplicated. TACA (amusingly close to TACO) also gave you a kids coloring book that allowed Daddy and Ella to have a Yoda-drawing contest. Ella experienced using an airplane bathroom in-flight for the first time (!). Ella wrote what she liked about the plane trip: French toast, window seat, pillow, tracing stars into shapes, controllable air-conditioning - the turn-off little lights alone produced squeals of wonder. I tried to explain how flight happens; my sketches deserve to be preserved for posterity.

DAY 02 - LIMA - NAZCA:

We arrived in Lima and no one was there to pick us up. Daddy got a taxi and that guy tried to exploit us several times but we made it to where we needed to go. After checking into the Hotel Girasoles (in an affluent suburb of Miraflores) and the nice lady there (Milagros) fixed everything with the tour company), we toured the city. The Lima traffic was nightmarish; it was crowded and not terrific by any definition. At least where we stayed was nice enough (the hotel was very nice), you could walk around and there were shops and restaurants and such. Downtown Lima had some nice sites around the Plaza de Armas, but we walked fast and held hands and didn't stay too long after nightfall! After returning to Miraflores after a heart-stopping taxi ride, we eat in a little restaurant that Ella proclaims is her favorite place ever to eat ("extremely delicious" a powerful review for the hole-in-the-wall Rinconcita de Emma restaurant). We had a lot of discussion about poverty, bars on windows, petty crime, etc.

We woke up and had breakfast (Ella likes hotel breakfasts), literally by ourselves because of the early hour - which means exclusive access to the yummy fruit plates. We go to the bus station and take a double-decker bus on the Cruz Del Sur lines, from an admirably well-organized and clean bus station. The ride is long (8 hours) but we have the front two seats on the upper deck of the tour bus, which gives us an almost IMAX-style perspective of the crazy "mano-a-mano" traffic combat the bus engages in. If that weren't exciting enough, we watch 3 movies! We drive through some crazy isolation in a desert section of Peru, passing villages and isolated shacks that look that they could (and did) survive the end of the world. If we had known better then, we would have liked to have stopped at Paracas (coastal sea life tour we've heard good things about) and gone further down to some Condor canyons - but maybe for the next trip.

We arrive at the Hotel el Nido del Condor outside of the sleepy town of Nazca. The hotel is a little...not too nice, but Ella is thrilled because they have in pens an alpaca, a llama, and a taruka (Andean deer) - which she promptly names Ja-hooty and bonds with for life. She almost got spit on either by the alpaca or llama (I'm still not clear as to the difference), but she braves the potential for animal spittle to hang out with Ja-hooty many times during our one-night stay. Ja-hooty was the highlight of that hotel stay, with the notable exception of discovering the joys of "Inka Cola", a bright-yellow/cream-soda-esque soda that becomes a trip favorite of both Ella and Daddy. We hang out by the pool and talk to some British vagabonds, and take frequent trips to see Ja-hooty. Ella dropped her socks in the toilet and thus prompted the first of many pillow fights. It was a slow day, and a long night highlighted only by a 3am hunt/search/destroy mission for a cricket living "la Vida Loca" in our bathroom. It shall no longer reproduce, and I got back to sleep after the second 3am mission that was more successful than the 2:45 am aborted mission (they are hard to find when silent).

DAY 03 – NAZCA - LIMA:

Breakfast was hurried and spartan by decision, there had been frequent warnings not to eat very much given what we were about to do. We took an aerial tour of the famous Nazca lines. Cut into the stony desert are a large number of lines, not only in parallels and geometric figures, but also of forms of a dog, whale, an enormous monkey (the best kind), a hummingbird, spider, etc. The lines evidently represent some sort of vast astronomical (pre-Incan) calendar. The flight was fun, lots of heavy banking (hence the no breakfast warning), and the view was pretty cool. You can see plenty of Nazca flight images on YouTube, which are really quite nice.

Rather than giving Ja-hooty more of us to miss, we high-tailed it early back to Nazca with the hopes of taking an earlier bus to Lima. While waiting for this bus, we walk around the little town, and are pleased to find the central plaza, where local elementary school is doing some sort of parade, complete with flowering speeches by local politicians. Just beyond this spectacle, we find an actual street market that stretches for about 20 blocks. Ella is amazed to find this post-Incan version of Wal-Mart, where everything from underwear to apples to furniture is sold to the locals (we stuck out like a couple of sore thumbs) from roadside stalls. It was really cool to find this place, far away from the tourist zones. We even found Ella number-one favorite Peruvian delicacy, churros filled with dulce-de-leche (sort of a deep-fried sugary dough tube stuffed with caramel); Ella writes about churros in her journal "EAT IT! EAT IT! EAT IT! EAT IT! EAT IT!” We single-handedly supported the Peruvian churro industry while there, a sort of targeted micro-stimulus package. We bought some drinks and fruit and headed back to the bus station.

After the churros and some more Inka Cola, we took the long bus ride back to Lima. Back to the wonderful Hotel Girasoles, that we appreciated all the much more after Nazca (though they didn't have animals to bond with).

DAY 04 – LIMA - CUZCO:

The good folks at the Hotel realize that the tour agency scheduled us for taxi pick-up about the same time that our actual flight was leaving. Milagros and company work hard to get everything corrected, and the night crew prepared a special breakfast before-operating hours so we have something to eat before we leave (they were really awesome) for the airport at 5:30am.

We fly Peruvian Airlines to Cusco. The plane was nice and the flight more pleasant than most US flights we've ever taken. We arrived in Cusco and we properly picked up this time and we check into the Hotel Mabey. Ella and I walk around the city and immediately feel the effects of the high-altitude location - Daddy had to stop and catch his breath after a few blocks - Ella was largely unaffected. She overheard folks talking about high-altitude sickness and wrote in her journal that "when you get sick, that means your brain is swelling"...I wonder if that is true!

Cusco is the ancient capital of the Incan empire, and the Spanish built colonial masterpieces on top of Incan masterpieces. The city is quite lovely and there is a lot to see and do. The city was clean and it felt safe, we could have spent the entire time in Cusco and been very happy.

Ella and I took our time exploring the city and the street vendor in an around the main plaza. There were friendly people to talk with and lots to see. We did some souvenir shopping at the craft market. In the afternoon we connected with our tour group and got an excellent tour of the inside of many of the sites we had seen from the outside. We toured the main colonial structures built on top of Incan ruins, and then took the bus to see surrounding Incan sites around the City. These included the gigantic zigzag stone-walled temple/fortress of "Sacsayhuaman", which is curiously pronounced as a drunk would slur out the words "Sexy Woman". We saw the shrines of Kenco, briefly saw the fortress of Puka Pukara and the Incan waterworks/fountains at Tambomachay. The tour was excellent, our guide was terrific. It was well into nighttime before we got home and we slept well.

DAY 05 - CUSCO - SACRED VALLEY:

After some much-needed aspirin and a bunch of water, Daddy finally adjusted to the altitude (Ella never was fazed). Much to our delight, our next day tour was with the same tour guide (Edith), and we had a full-day excursion to the Sacred Valley of the Incas. We went to the Indian market of Pisaq, and in the afternoon explored Ollanta, a fortress under construction when the Spanish conquered the Incan empire. We saw raided tombs and hilltop villages, and terraced mountainsides that were by any measure impressive.

We ate lunch at a restaurant and had a delicious sweet dessert made from purple corn, it was really quite good. The fortress of Ollantaytambo was amazing, with some of the finest stonework ever achieved by the Incas.

We went to Chinchero and saw a terrific demonstration of some local weavers of the various natural color dyes used by the ancient artisans to dye the alpaca wool used in many of the handicrafts for sale (including one where the dye had to be peed in by pre-adolescent boys!).

We saw the amazing local church and local market. It was a great day, and a great tour. We were dog-tired when we got home, but we caught a meal at a local place up the street and eat our meal watching the televised soccer match while being stared at by the locals. Ella declared to her tired Daddy that she loved climbing rocks and wanted to know when we could climb more. It's a good thing that Incas were all about big rock structures; Ella was a happy as a mountain goat at all of them, with her wheezing father trying his middle-aged best to keep up with her.

Day 6 – CUSCO - MACHU PICCHU

We woke up early and transferred to the train station at Poroy, and we took the cool train for 4+ hours to Aguas Calientes (Ella liked it because they "gave snacks! Yum!" (I liked the Vistadome see-through roof). At a few stops some travelers got off and starting hiking the Incan Trail (which is a must for the next trip, at least the last 8 miles), which can be a 4-day/3-night trek from its starting point. We didn't know enough to do this, but it looked cool. The scenery we were passing through on the train was amazing, so much to see. We arrived at Aguas Calientes, which should be renamed "Gringo-ville" for the number of tourists walking around, waiting to see Machu Picchu. The town was really small and really quite boring, but we did eat alpaca for lunch (Ella refused on moral grounds but she did killed a perfectly innocent lemon meringue pie) and a yummy sweet drink made from this same native purple corn. We ran into a pair of missionaries there (one Bolivian and one Peruvian) who told us the town had a branch of approx. 12 people in it. The scenery was amazing, extremely steep hillsides and raging rivers...all in a fairly tropical yet highland climate. The town had some sort of natural hot springs right next to it, but we decided not to head that way, given the number of drunk and mangy-looking Caucasian tourists headed through those gates!

Day 7 - MACHU PICCHU:

We had to wake early to get to Machu Picchu by sunrise. We had a guided tour with just one other couple, so it was really cool - most groups looked like they had 20+ people in them. The bus ride there up the mountain was certainly thrilling, the road was dirt with only the occasional (very dented) guardrail, and a sheer drop-off at the crumbling edge of the road - it was stomach-churning to look down the drop-off, which unfortunately you had to do occasionally when you averted your eyes from the other buses that were descending the mountain in a chicken-like duel with those headed up the same.

The tour was terrific, I can't really describe how awesome Machu Picchu is - it is very much worth seeing. Unfortunately, we didn't catch the whole sunrise affect, it was too misty. But, the site was practically deserted for the first few hours we were there, and the tour was excellent. Ella writes that Machu Picchu means "Old Mountain", and we learned that it was built over a period of 400 years, with evidence of pre-Incan civilization work there. Afterwards, Ella and I decided to climb the trail to the peak of WaynaPicchu, the almost-sheer peak that is in the background of most of the Machu Picchu postcard pictures. That was quite a climb, and Ella didn't seem to mind the almost sheer drops and crazy Incan stone staircases. Daddy on the other hand almost died, and was soaked through with sweat by the time the top was conquered! the trek down was almost worst, because you could see DOWN the slopes just beyond the non-existent handrail - I'm glad Amy wasn't there to see the crazy trek Ella was doing! The view from the trail and the top were unforgettable - the entire area was other-worldly with natural beauty and the awesome presence of Machu Picchu. Ella was delighted with all the wildlife we saw up there - a few chinchillas, a lizard, and a few birds that seemed to love the tourists - the terraced sloped had llamas and such grazing all over them. We had our scriptures with us and we sat on a terrace overlooking a sheer drop and read several passages from the Book of Mormon about Lamanite/Nephite cities and their defense systems - that was pretty cool.

Afterwards we took the buses back and had a nice lunch in Aquas Calientes. We grabbed our gear and took a train back to the station to Ollantaytambo. We had a terrible trip from there back to Cusco, but that was a rare low point, and the tour group was apologetic. A friendly taxi driver and a good night sleep at the Hotel Mabey cured most of my anger over a terrible bus ride.

Day 8 - FLIGHTS HOME:

We woke up, flew from Cusco to Lima, and killed about 4 uneventful hours in the Lima airport (Ella writes that we got "swirl ice cream"). Then we took flights our TACA planes home (another good experience on TACA - I wish they would take over the US airline industry) , arriving at DC/Dulles about 2am. Ella and I played lots of hangman games, and actually read a book page-by-page together to pass the time! After customs, a bizarrely-slow shuttle bus ride to the long-term parking lots, and the 3am traffic delays on the Beltway, we arrived home about 5:30am.

POST-TRIP-THOUGHTS:

We would definitely do it again, though we would contract with Rainbow Trail Tours directly for a next time (the California group we bought the trip through just out-sourced it to them), "Juan" there is an excellent contact and trip compiler, and his English is very good. We wish we had hiked that last leg of the Inca Trail (about 8 miles), even though there are a few 15,000 foot passes (you can hire porters if you need to). Also, we might have supplemented the Nazca side-trip with a few stops along that route OR ditched the whole side-tripe in favor of either more time in Cusco OR time in the Amazon portion of the country. That's all 20/20 hindsight of course, but we did have a wonderful time with what we did - and there is only so much you know before the trip. The National Geographic book we bought was excellent, and really helped understand the sites.

Ella was a wonderful travelling companion, never complaining once and a wide-eyed wonder full of questions the whole time. She really enjoyed the adventure and saw lots of things that a 10-year-old probably should see to expand their horizons. I'm not sure that we feed her enough at home, because almost every journal entry she made included a very detailed list of everything she ate. She eyes were closed almost as they hit the pillow almost every night, so I know she had a good time.

Daddy was glad he knew Spanish, that ability cured quickly most of the hiccups on the trip, but enough Peruvians knew enough English to make that a luxury, not a requirement, for a good trip. It was fun travelling as a Daddy-daughter team.

The Cusco Incan wonders were amazing, and worth the time to explore closely. We only hit about a third of what we could have seen in that area, and it's worth exploring fully.

It had been a long time since I had travelled like that, and we always enjoyed meeting the fellow travelers backpacking, motorcycling, and touring the sites by other means. Ella was a big hit with other travelers, they were amazed to see a 10-year old on such a trip (we occasionally saw a few family groups and some kids, but not very often - though everything was perfectly fine for an older child to manage). It's always fun to chat with so many folks from around the world who appreciate the fun and adventure of travel, that's an amazing experience (and an important one) in and of itself.

Mutton Bustin' (Yep, that's what I said)

2010-08-01T06:39:00.000-04:00

Today we had an unexpected treat. In the endless quest for Saturday morning entertainment, we ventured way out to the Goochland County Farmers Market. Little did we know what adventure awaited us.

Of course you had the typical farmer’s market stuff: the banjo-picking family band, the alpacas to pet/feed, tasty booths everywhere. We especially liked how the Goochland Fire Department had rigged up a mini-house with a smoke machine inside of it, and then let the kids blast at the "house on fire" with the fire hose...that was pretty cool. There was a craft tent with fun stuff, a story time, and the kids got to paint a planter box and plant some seeds to take home!

However, the big winner in terms of an event goes - hands down - to the Mutton Bustin' contest, which basically consists of kids less than 60 lbs donning a helmet and some type of anti-sheep flak jacket then riding some scared sheep rodeo-style out of shoot/launch-pen across a course. Yep, that's how we have fun out here in the country. We had thought it was going to be a simple race to the end of the course, but - given that it was rare that a rider/survivor made it that far before being thrown off - the basic event was essentially just to hold on for dear life for as long as you could!

The event appeared pretty intimidating. All the kids deserve credit for stepping up to the task for this one, there was no question about signing them up - when are they going to be able to do this again!?!?!

Ella bravely went first as older sisters are supposed to do, and she went a fair distance before being caught underneath the sheep hooves and being run over. In true Ella style, she stoically walked off the course with her head held high, no tears. Despite being trampled, I think she went further than any of the boys in the first round. Later little Olivia bravely climbed up to get on her sheep, despite there being a crying/scared girl ahead of her in line - she didn't get freaked out, and she got right on there and grabbed the wool as tight as she could. She got thrown off pretty quickly, but - don't worry - neither sheep nor girl was harmed. She went up to Amy afterwards and asked proudly "Mommy, wasn't I brave?!".

The real surprise was Hannah, who got on her sheep and rode that wooly wonder all the way to the end of the course - becoming the Mutton Bustin' Rodeo Champion of the Goochland Farmers Market on 7/31/2010! She won a $25 cash prize, a T-shirt, and the healthy respect of the other competitors she trounced! After her prize-winning race, they took the 4 fastest riders from all the rounds and did a separate "Dash for Cash" race with all four riding at once (Don't think I'm trying to pull the wool over your eyes, ewe can just imagine the sheepish mayhem as they rammed along trying to bleat each other!). Hannah came in second for that race, because she slipped underneath her sheep and rode it from underneath for most of the course! The sheep banged Hannah's head into a barrel, knocking the barrel over (combo: hard head and helmet = one hurt barrel), but yet still Hannah stayed on the sheep (at least underneath the sheep), racing along! My video of that race was useless because I was cheering with both arms and my video is all yells and sky - but trust me, it was a sight to behold! Here is the video of Hannah's championship run, if you dare...

Veggie Tales

2010-08-01T06:23:00.000-04:00

This year we experimented quite a bit with our garden, and we had probably the most productive gardening adventure that we've ever had!

We bought seeds in February, when it was sleeting outside. In a fit of defiance against Old Man Winter, we went to Ashland Feed & Seed and demanded our seeds. The clerks thought we were deranged, but they opened boxes and packages that were still back in storage and gave us our seeds, costing about $15 total (because they will sell in part-ounces for some seeds versus whole packets which are usually far too many).

We juiced up the ground with as much composted horse manure we could find, and expanded the plot size by a third (to about 45 feet by 25 feet). We started everything from seed, including the tomatoes, and some plants we sowed directly into the ground. We started [;anting outside pretty early (around 4/15), betting that the harsh winter was over (thankfully we were right). We harvested our first yellow squash on 5/24/2010, and soon thereafter we were inundated with all sorts of squash.

Thankfully, other vegetables soon followed, but squash mainly ruled out lives until the end. Our potatoes were a tasty success, the cucumbers did well. The broccoli was a bust, as was the corn, and the green peppers never seem to live up to our expectations (nor did the peas this year, oddly enough). However, the tomatoes, pumpkins, and all squash varieties were plentiful, and we even got some decent watermelons a few times. Carrots proved too hard to harvest usefully, and the beans were killed off by our laziness.

The cows only rampaged the garden a few times, and we kept the weeds away until late June, by which time we gave up and let the mature plants fend for themselves (this probably killed off our bush bean plants, but I can live without beans).

We happily gave away at least two-thirds of our garden to friends and neighbors, and we probably could have harvested at least a third more produce had we picked and weeded with some sort of scheduled regimen. But, we committed to only garden while it was fun, and that required some slacking every once in a while. We've now given up for the year, and let the cows in to have their way with the place, it took them a day to clear the place out.

We actually learned how to preserve a few things this year, and we made some sauces from our vegetables that were surprisingly tasty!

All in all it was a real success, not terribly too much work, and mostly a lot of fun. The girls really liked picking and cataloging the yield. We keep an imperfect count of our bounty, described here: zucchini - 70, yellow squash - 47, snap peas - 200(+), cucumbers - 132, beans - 112, pumpkins - 19, tomatoes (cherry) - 383(+), potatoes - 100, spaghetti squash - 74, butternut squash - 30,carrots - 114(+), tomatoes (roma) - 339, watermelons - 5, cantaloupes - 4. Yum, yum.

Little Man Turns 1

2010-08-01T06:18:00.000-04:00

We had Sawyer's birthday last week, turning the grand old age of one.

He is 50th percentile for weight, 75th percentile for height, and his head-size is literally off the charts.

Birthday highlights include a piñata the Ramirez family made especially for him, a cupcake mash-in-your-face-as-quick-as-you-can-before-Mommy-takes-it-away contest, and a birthday box train carefully decorated by his big sisters. It was a grand old time for a grand old boy.

Chess Champion

2010-06-06T08:42:00.000-04:00

Hannah had enrolled in the newly-formed chess club at her elementary school. She did well throughout the year, practicing on her computer game and playing her dad (yes, she beat him a few times), as well as attending her chess club meetings and matches. During the year-end tournament, she routed all of her opponents to clench the "1st Place Champion" prize in the Beginner category. We are very proud of Hannah for learning something new and working so hard to become good at it! Congratulations to our chess champion!

Spring = Baby Animals

2010-06-06T08:38:00.000-04:00

We tried really hard this year to incubate baby chickens. Our first attempt in April failed miserably. I think I accidentally had bumped the temperature too high during one period of thermostat adjustment (needs to be at 99.5 degrees), and none of the eggs hatched, resulting in much sadness in the humans of the household.

After that disappointment, we tried again with a smaller group of eggs (spaced apart), and we decided to really read the directions this time (usually helpful but rarely done). Of the approximately 24 eggs we placed in the incubator, 13 hatched after the approximately 21-day incubation period. Nine chicks survived in all, a few from the Barred Rock breed we already have, and a few from the eggs that the Walsh’s gave us (they were all green eggs, so we are excited to see if we get green eggs from them). There are few things cuter in the world than baby chicks, newly hatched.

At the end of May we purchased to additional baby calves, both bull calves. "McKinley" was about 4 weeks old at the time of purchase, and weighs about 100 lbs. "Taft" was only 2 days old and weighs about 90 lbs. We will bottle-feed them for about the first 8 weeks, and then they we will join their older brothers in the pasture (both of whom are about a year old and weigh about 900 lbs). All four are doing "mooo-ey" bien.

Disneyworld Trip!!!!!

2010-06-06T08:24:00.000-04:00

Here are some reports from our May Disneyworld trip, from your favorite youth reporters. As a parent, I always find is amusing what they remember versus what I think they will remember.

Hollywood Studios, by “E”:

When we went to Hollywood Studios, there was a cool ride about Toy Story. You got to shoot at stuff for points. I got 36,800 points and 39 percent for shooting accuracy. There was this ride called Star Tours. You got in a space ship and you felt like you were riding around the galaxy because of a simulator. It was really cool. We had meaty macaroni for lunch. Hannah spilled hers. I couldn’t figure out why there was macaroni on the ground until the next day. It was really funny. We went to the show Beauty and the Beast. The actors were really awesome. The dances were really good. There were really fun songs and costumes. I also loved the scenery. Sawyer made friends with the girl sitting behind to him. We went to Narnia prince Caspian. It was a movie showing part of the real movie and where they built some of the scenes. We saw the Little Mermaid show. The singing and costumes were really fun. I liked the animals and the music. We watched this really cool stunt car show. There were chases and things even caught on fire, even a person! Luckily he had protective layers on. I had a really good time at Hollywood Studios.

Animal Kingdom, by “H”:

My favorite thing at Animal Kingdom was the Expedition Everest ride. Expedition Everest is a roller coaster going up a pretend Mount Everest. It went backward down a hill and stopped. It showed us a shadow of a yeti pulling up a train track. Then it went down the whole entire Everest. It made me feel queasy! We also went on a safari. We saw hippos, all kinds of birds, Ankara cattle, white rhinos, elephants, and crocodiles/alligators and many more animals. It was very fun. We also went on a ride called River Rapids. We went on a big boat and went down a big hill. I got SOAKED! I didn’t dry off for about three hours. Daddy’s feet were REALLY stinky! So were Ella’s! We saw an awesome parade! They made a peacock, elephant, lion, alligator, giraffe, and a hippo. They had 4 trucks. Each was designed for Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy. It was very funny!

Animal Kingdom, by “E”:

At the Animal Kingdom Park there was a ride called Expedition Everest. It was a long, long, wait and it made me feel queasy. When we got on, first we were like in this little forest. Then we went into the mountain. At some point we were stopped and the tracks were ripped up. And do you know what happened then? We started going backwards. I think at sometime we stopped and there was a shadow of a yeti ripping up the tracks. The roller coaster to see the dreaded yeti was awesome. We did something called the Kilimanjaro Safari. It had lots of cool animals like elephants, hippos, rhinos, antelope crocodiles, cattle, ostriches, giraffes, and zebras. We also did something called the festival of the Lion King. There were a lot of crazy acrobatic dances, and cool costumes. We watched Mickey’s jammin’ jungle parade. There were lots of cool floats. I had a lot of fun at Animal Kingdom.

Epcot, by “H”:

Today is Mother’s Day and Mom’s present is our meal plan here at Disney. She won’t have to cook anything the whole time we’re here!!!! (And we get chocolate milk EVERYDAY!!!) At Epcot they had a hydroponic garden. They grew 28,000 lettuce heads a year. They had cabbage, cucumbers, tomato trees, lettuce, red and green peppers and other vegetables. It was very cool. We saw a movie about energy. It was about a girl named Ellen. She was having a dream about energy. She didn’t know anything about energy. Her friend Bill Nye the Science Guy took her back many years until they got to the age of the dinosaurs. She learned all about energy, and how they got it. She went back to Jeopardy and won! And that was the end of the show. We also went on a ride called Mission to Mars. We went on it twice. Once green, (which was not very twisty) and once orange (which was very twisty and turny). It was very fun.There was a band we saw with men playing electric guitars, the guitar, the piano and the bag pipes. Olivia danced so hard that they thanked her at the end. Daddy thought she was going to die from heat exhaustion!

Magic Kingdom, by “H”:

At Magic Kingdom there were lots of rides. There was Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, It’s A Small World, and Space Mountain. When we went on Space Mountain; it was pitch black. My belly felt sick. It was very fast. Once and a while we saw stars. On splash mountain there was animatronics, with foxes and rabbits and at the end there was a very big hill. On big thunder mountain railroad there was lots of hills and turns. It was lots of fun. We saw a show with dancing and singing. And we saw Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald. Magic Kingdom was my favorite place. It was very fun and we got lots of treats. (We stayed for fireworks. It was awesome!)

Crystal Coast Beach Trip

2010-05-04T10:30:00.000-04:00

We had a great time down in the lower Outer Banks this last weekend - great weather, great friends, beautiful beach, terrific times. Here are some photo highlights. Enjoy!

Gaskin Family Year-End Photos

2010-03-08T10:08:00.001-05:00

Yes, this has been a bit delayed in getting posted - life is busy. Nevertheless, here you are.

Catching Up On Jan-Feb Events!

2010-02-21T19:06:00.001-05:00

My 8th birthday party! (by H.)

At my 8th birthday party I got a dog! He is a miniature pincer. My dog’s name is J.J. When I took off my blindfold, I thought my present was a crate!! Then I realized there was a puppy in the crate!! When he got out of his crate he was really adventurous. First he jumped up on me. Then he went into the bathroom. And last he came back to me. He was so small, excited and cute!

My birthday cake was a doghouse. Mommy thought of the idea, and Daddy put on the stripes. I thought I had a dog cake because I love dogs, not because I was getting a dog for real!

We got J.J. from a friend of ours. They breed miniature
pincers. There names are the Trentadues. The Trentadues go to
our church. Sister Trentadue plays the piano in primary.
The Blackwell family came to my party. They brought me a dog bed and a blue dog toy with a long belly. They knew about the dog surprise! They kept a good secret! We had fun playing together.

My birthday was exiting! I’m glad I got J.J. He is very cuddly. He likes to burrow under things to sleep. He always wants to be with people. I think it’s cute when he chases things because he runs and then prances like a deer. I think he is the perfect birthday present.

My baptism day! (by H.)

At my baptism I wore a white dress. It choked me. Mommy wore that same dress when she was baptized too. I couldn’t take very wide steps because I would’ve ripped it.

My teacher sister Pyne gave a talk and so did Ella. Daddy baptized me. When I got out of the font I felt warm inside, and cold outside. When I got changed my socks were so wet I could barely get them off. Mommy helped me get dressed. I wore my new pink dress that looks like a cupcake when I sit down.

Olivia sang ”I Like To Look For Rainbows” in front of everyone; she was very brave. When I got confirmed a member of the Church I felt warm.

At the potluck there were meatballs, crackers, cookies, orange salad, normal salad, and noodles. Mommy decorated the room with pink and white flowers and ribbon. It looked really pretty.

All of these people came to my baptism: Andersons, Perkins, Givens, Rolands, Ramirez, Runnings, Blackwells, Edgells, Mills, Bishop Greene, Grandma, and Auntie Leila.

I’m glad my baptism day was so special. I’m happy that Daddy could baptize me and I’m glad to finally be a member of the Church!

My 10th Birthday Party (by E.)

For my tenth birthday party, we had a magic show. There were wands and capes. I got to wear a magician’s hat because I was the birthday girl. We had a cute bunny cake and pizza for dinner. It was yummy.

We split up into two groups to learn magic tricks. That made two teams of magicians for the magic show. My team was called the Black Hats and the other was called the Wonderful Winners. We did a disappearing trick, a dark objects trick, and a sniffing trick. I think that is all. The other team did a dice trick, a magazine trick, and a cloth trick.

I had people from church, school, and home come to my birthday. The people from church were the Blackwells, and the people from school were Maddy, Madison, Mary Hannah, Molly, Delaney, and Ashley.

I am glad that we did a magic party. It was very fun. I think everybody had a good time!

The Snow Days (by E.)

February brought us a bunch of snow. Church and school were canceled! That meant more time to play in the snow!

We don’t usually get that much snow so I was exited. The snow was white and powdery.

It was fun sledding. Sometimes when we whizzed down the hill the cows would chase us. Once we put some orange juice on the snow and ate it. It was sort of like a snow cone. When we found icicles we sometimes licked them.

After a couple of days the snow hardened. We got to go sledding on hard snow. It hurt when we fell off.

Sawyer went on his first sled ride and bailed out halfway down. He did a couple of rolls in the snow and then cried when he realized he was cold. It was funny.

It is sad to see the snow melt. We had loads of fun together.

2009 Year-End Gaskin Family Photo Recap

2009-12-31T10:50:00.001-05:00

Thank goodness this year is over with, right? Great Googly Moogly, 2009 is one for the record books!

Everything with the family is terrific, regarding everything else we peer with optimistic eyes into the New Year!

Here is a recent holiday photo of the kids:

Here is our annual photo slideshow. Yes, it's primitively-done (I'm not too technical), but we enjoy watching them. It'll give you a pretty decent recap of our exciting year, and the music will have you swearing allegiance to Fidel by the end. The slideshows from previous years are located down in the very first post in the blog, if you want true Gaskin photo overload.

Don't forget to read Dave Barry's painfully funny 2009 Year-End Review .

May each of you have a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Halloween Fun! Photos 2009

2009-11-07T10:27:00.001-05:00

Halloween Fun 2009! by: E

We had lots of fun on Halloween. We had a spooky group made up of a ghost, a witch, a witch's cat, and a vampire! Mommy was a daddy and Daddy was a mummy!

We got loads of candy. It filled up almost a full drawer. Daddy ate a lot of it.

O wanted to wear her cat costumer a full week before Halloween, she wore it everywhere! Mommy told us that is we told Daddy where the candy was hidden, he wold east it all. We didn't suceed very well!

Virginia State Fair Champion!

2009-10-08T07:45:00.000-04:00

We learned last night that Ella won the FIRST PLACE blue ribbon at the 2009 Virginia State Fair, for her entry of a sewn skirt in the "Youth - Arts & Crafts - Sewing" category. She had worked hard on designing and making this skirt with her grandmother giving her guidance. We are very proud of Ella for being the very best!

Busy Weekend Updates

2009-09-25T12:45:00.001-04:00

We had a busy weekend the other week, including...

Field Days of the Past (by E) - “Field Days of the Past” is the Goochland County Fair. We went on Friday night. A family came with us that had just moved here from Arizona. We wanted to show them a bit of country life at the fair. We rode the Ferris Wheel, the scrambler, and the gigantic slide. We freaked out on the Ferris Wheel when we started to go down because it makes your belly flip.

When it started to get dark, we watched a tractor pull event. That is when a big truck or tractor is attached to something really heavy and pulls it as far as it can. It was really loud. We ate treats while we watched. Yummy funnel cakes!

We had a great time in a trailer full of dried corn. We filled up our shirts with corn and buried each other. It felt cool and tickly! I even got corn in my pants! The corn was our favorite part! We had a great time.

Tiger Trot Race (by E) - On Saturday we ran in the Tiger Trot Race. That is a race where there is a half-mile run, a mile-run, and a three-mile run. It is held at a school called Henry Clay Elementary in Ashland, Virginia. Olivia did the half-mile run with Daddy, and Hannah and I did the mile-run. Last year I did it and came in at about ten minutes. This year I came in under 10 minutes.

We met a lot of people there we know. We met my third grade teacher, a family from church, another school teacher, and somebody from my class. We ran the race with a friend from church. When I was finished I was very happy , although I felt like I did not have any legs. I was very glad we did it because I had a lot of fun. We all had a great time.

New Chicks! (by H) - On Saturday we went to the Gilman Farm Trading Day and we got new chicks for three dollars a piece! They are very cute. They are Barred Rocks, and they are about 9 weeks old. They are gray and white. They are so small that they can fit in the palm of your hand. They can run very fast and their favorite food is sunflower seeds. When we brought them home, we gave them the top of one of our biggest sunflowers and they chowed down.

Why did we get NEW chicks? Our old chickens died because an opossum ate them. They were about ready to start laying eggs when they started to be killed off. For a while we didn’t know what was happening, but then we noticed there didn’t seem to be many chickens running around. Then about everyday we found one or two dead until we had five left. We decided we should lock them in their chicken coop for safety instead of letting them roost in the trees at night. That was hard because they liked running free. Cooping them up didn’t work either because the opossum got INTO the coop somehow and kept on killing them. It was really sad. We had set a trap for the predator before we knew what it was, but we didn’t catch it until all of the chickens were gone. We caught it in a live trap that someone lent us, and we baited it. What we caught was a very fat opossum with a dragon-like tail. The opossum was gray with lots of teeth. Daddy killed it. It was cute and stinky. Hopefully the possum’s friends won’t come for our new little chicks. Daddy and us worked hard on finding and plugging any holes in the chicken coop. So far, all the new chicks are still there.

Ward Talent Show (by H) - At the ward talent show we played a little family skit. It was called “The Ugliest Man In The World”. Daddy played the “Ugliest Man” with a pillowcase over his head, so no one would die of fright by seeing him. Ella, Olivia, and I got the people who volunteered to help and when they peeked under the pillow case they fell down dead on the stage. The last person (Brother Kirby) when he fell over Daddy screamed and fell over and Brother Kirby was the real ugliest man in the world!

Also, later in the talent show, Ella played the duet part in the song “I Love To See The Temple” with Mommy and when she came back from doing that she looked happy. Olivia recited the scripture “1 Nephi 3:7” for the talent show and I displayed a piece of art work, a painting I had done of the horse Sea Biscuit.

As a bonus for our loyal listeners, here is a recent photo of the little prince, doing his best "hey there ladies" smile.

Baby Boy Arrival

2009-07-23T13:36:00.000-04:00

No time to give any information, but you can get the general idea from the below photos.

Chickens, Chickens, Chickens

2009-07-13T06:48:00.000-04:00

A few months ago we ordered chicks from a catalog. Hannah ordered a breed called “White Rocks” and I got “Rhode Island Reds”. While we waited for them to arrive, Daddy and I built a mini chicken coop for them. We used wood and wire shelving. The coop would keep them safe from the larger chickens in the barn, who would peck them if they were together. We put hay in the coop and a heat lamp over it to keep them warm. We also went to Southern States and bought chick feed and a feeder. We had to get a waterer and special vitamin powder to put in the water.

The day they arrived, 4/20/2009, the post office called at 6:30 in the morning. All you could hear was cheeping in the background. It was really cute. When Daddy brought the chicks home they were in a small box all crowded together. They were small little fuzz balls. I was so exited. We put them in their coop. They looked very scared huddled together in the corner.

Chicken chores need to be done every day. Every morning and afternoon my sister and I checked the chick’s food and water to make sure they were full. The chick always have to have water because their lamp makes them hot. We had to teach them to drink the water by dipping their beaks in the first few

Sometimes the chicks would peck each other so we put green grass in the coop. We read in a book that it would help.

Every day my sister and I would hold every chick so they would get used to being handled. It was very fun. It felt fuzzy and sometimes their little claws would scratch me. I even got pooped on a couple of times. As they got bigger we tried tricks with them like balancing them on our heads. Daddy didn’t think this was a very good idea.

Soon the chicks were too big for their mini chicken coop so Daddy and I added roosts to the existing chicken coop (for shorter chickens) and let them out among the other chickens! This was when they were almost a month old. They didn’t need their lamp anymore. During the day they could explore and in the night, we would herd them in so they could be safe. We had to do this because they couldn’t yet fly up to the higher roosts, in case a predator came in the chicken coop.

Along with our chicken order we got one rare and exotic chick who we named Chipmunk. We don’t know what kind he was. He had stripes and was kind of aggressive. One day we couldn’t find him. There were no trails of feathers anywhere so we think he got picked up by a hawk. We were really sad.

At a month and a half old we started to wean the chicks off chick feed. Mice were sometimes a problem because they love chicken feed and they are so hard to catch. The chicks grew very fast and we were beginning to tell the difference between hens and roosters. When some of the chickens started to jump up into the rafters of the barn, we knew they were big enough for us to leave the coop door open at night, because they could fly away from predators during the night.

Now, at two and a half months old the chicks almost look like full grown chickens. They have large feet, long feathers, and their combs are starting to get bigger. I think they will be able to lay their brown eggs in a couple of months. I’m excited for the hens to start laying so we can have eggs from our own coop. I wonder if they will lay in the nesting boxes or if they’ll hide their eggs around the barn like our other chickens did.

I have enjoyed raising the chicks because it is fun to hold them and watching them grow up. It feels good to be responsible for helping the chicks grow healthy and strong. I’m excited for September to come when I will choose one to show in the Field Days of the Past Fair.

Salter Path Beach Trip

2009-07-03T07:40:00.000-04:00

We went to the beach in Salter Path, North Carolina. We found a starfish named Glassy. We found another starfish named Glassy, Jr. We enjoyed beach-combing and found some great shells. The waves were lots of fun. The water was nice and warm. We found a sand bar. The sand was very fun to play on. Even Olivia was brave enough. Daddy got some boogie boards. We had a lot of fun with them. Hannah had lots of wipe outs and I was a fish. We found a sand mountain. It was fun jumping waves. I saw a fish jump, and we also saw a pod of dolphins! It was awesome! I also saw a crab. There were lots of crab holes and every once in a while you would see them scuttle along. Hannah made a bunch of birds gather around us with her Doritos. We had a lot of fun digging. We made a big shark but it washed away in the tide. I loved making mud. I enjoyed the beach even though you get LOTS of sand in your suit!! --Ella

It took five hours to get to the beach! I brought The Jungle Book, Jessi’s Gold Medal, and Ellen Tebbit’s. I finished all of the books. I also brought Muttsie the stuffed dog to sleep with. He used to be Mommy’s. Mommy brought treat cereal and I LOVE treat cereal. We also had licorice and juice boxes. We went beach combing and I got lots of shells. My favorite shell was white with a red dot. I found a starfish we named Glassy. She was very dark purple. She was alive. We found another starfish name Glassy, Jr., but she was dead. We kept her! I also found a sand bar. The sand was hot. You had to run fast on the dry sand if you didn’t have flippies on. I dug a really, really deep hole. I saw two crabs scuttling across the sand. We jumped the waves and went boogie boarding. I had 3 wipe outs and lots of scrapes. It was really fun. Mommy’s belly was huge so she sat in the beach chair a lot, but she helped us dig our sand shark and came in the water a few times. I made friends with the gulls. There must have been more than 12 all around us squawking for more chips. Daddy said I could keep one if I could catch one, but they were too fast. --Hannah

Baby Cows - Lincoln and Roosevelt

2009-06-23T09:18:00.000-04:00

On May 29, 2009, we got some calves. Their names are Lincoln and Roosevelt. When we got them, we were about 1 week old.

They are very cute. We met one of them at a school field trip I had to Poor Farm Park. There were farm animals on display, including a mother cow and her newborn calf. While I ate lunch, Daddy asked the farm owner if we could buy the newborn calf, who was named Bobby (who we renamed Roosevelt). The next day, the farmer called Daddy, and we all went to the farm where the calves lived. We bought Bobby and another calf named Ricky (who we renamed Lincoln). They were 1 week old. We brought them home in our trailer, and they were very scared.

We bottle feed them 2-3 times a day. We will do this until they are about 6-8 weeks old. When we feed them they butt us with their heads, because that is their way of telling us that they are still hungry. If one finishes before the other, they try to steal each other?s bottles. We have to separate them when they do this.

They eat grain and milk. They suck on each other?s ears while they eat, because they are showing that they still want more milk. We have to separate them when they do this. They have grown bottom teeth. They will suck on your fingers if they want to and if you let them. It feels weird when they suck on your fingers.

Once Roosevelt got sick, He only drank half of his bottle. He seemed sad and slow and he laid down a lot. When Roosevelt got sick we gave him an antibiotic. That is a shot that makes germs and viruses go away. Daddy and I went to the store and bought the antibiotic, and Daddy gave him some shots.

Once when we came into their stall with the bottles, only Roosevelt came to the bottles. Lincoln seemed dehydrated, but then he got better.

Once they escaped into the neighbor?s yard. We went into the wooded area we call the Kingdom of Gary (where Gary the groundhog lives) and lowered the fence so they couldn't roll under it. We put some sticks through the fence to make it sturdier.

Roosevelt has more freckles then Lincoln. Lincoln has six freckles. Roosevelt has many freckles on his nose.

When they run, they look like they are dancing. They like to play and run over the fields. I like having calves. It is fun playing and cuddling them.

2009-01-06T10:40:00.000-05:00

ANNUAL FAMILY SLIDESHOWS

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This is our 2008 annual family slideshow, with highlighted photos from the year. Enjoy.

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This is our 2007 annual family slideshow, with highlighted photos from the year. Enjoy.

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This is our 2006 annual family slideshow, with highlighted photos from the year. Enjoy.

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This is our 2005 annual family slideshow, with highlighted photos from the year. Enjoy.

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This is our 2004 annual family slideshow, with highlighted photos from the year. Enjoy.

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This is our 2003 annual family slideshow, with highlighted photos from the year (Thanks to Woolleys). Enjoy.