Highland Games

 




Have you ever been to any Highland Games?

Nana, Auntie TracyAnn, Brodick and Tayla went to Athena, Oregon to their games on Saturday.

This is one of the few that still have sheep dog trials.  Auntie and Nana love to watch the sheep dogs work.  Reeces even watched them and enjoyed it.


Brodick thought it was really great. He said he
couldn't imagine the patience it took to train a dog to move the sheep around like that. The dogs have to move 4 sheep through a course and into a pen at the end. They get very little help. Whistles or staff movements are their only directions, when they get really good.
The novice dogs get a lot of voice commands.  It's funny to watch their trainers try to stay "cool".

Tayla liked the dancers, bagpipes, and harps best.  She had worn an Irish dance dress and looked very cute.


Nana really enjoys the Bagpipe players and bands the most.

But, what really caught Brodicks attention were the guys doing the Weight Games, especially the Caber Toss.

He plans to be in shape by next year.  He has spent the last 2 days looking for a log to use for a caber. He wants to start practicing now.  The rest of us finally started helping him look.  We haven't found exactly what he wants yet.

He also loved the kilts.  There were a lot of athletes on the field and every one had on a kilt.

He told Nana he needs a kilt.  Of course, I've asked for one before.  All four of us want kilts.

Nana had to peel him off the fence to get him away from the athletic field, when it was time to leave.

It must be pretty awesome.  They all got so interested in what was going on they forgot to take very many photos.

Maybe next year we can all go and I can find a reliable photographer.

 

Winter in October

We got up this morning to a big surprise.  We had snow.

We didn't get to go out and play in it because Nana and Auntie were going to Walla Walla.

Ashlee. Sarafina, Taryn, and Mara all went with them.  Reeces went too. She loves to play in the snow.  Of course, she goes everywhere Nana and Auntie go.  

They stopped at Andes Sno-park on the way over.  Reeces got to play, Taryn had her picture taken in the snow and Sarafina got out to play in the snow.  Sarafina had worn her new winter jacket, pants and snow boots, so, she could have some fun and stay warm.  But, she said it wasn't fun for very long because she was alone.


On the other side of the mountain they stopped near Milton-Freewater and took fall pictures.  It wasn't winter yet on that side of Tollgate.

Sarafina didn't get her picture taken here.  She said her winter clothing would have looked out of place.

Their first shopping stop was the Dollar Store.  Mara and Ashlee went in shopping.  Ashlee loves to decorate for all the holidays and anything else she can think of.  She spent a lot of time looking at Fall, Winter and Christmas decorations.

Mara and Ashlee shopped together for part of the craft supplies they wanted.  They want to make some of their own decorations for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  They said it was fun filling Aunties basket with their finds.

None of the girls went in at Walgreen and St. Vincent DePaul.  Those were to be quick stops.  So, they stayed in the car and went through the bags from the Dollar store.


At JoAnn's only Sarafina went in.  She was looking for baking accessories for the holidays.  She found a treat mold she loved, but, didn't have a sale coupon.  She hopes to get back to buy one before Christmas.

The girls stayed in the car at Wal-Mart because Nana and Auntie wanted to do some Christmas shopping.  None of the them wanted to have to keep what they saw a secret that long.  

On the way home Auntie and Nana stopped at another Sno-park so Reeces could get out and play.  She is one spoiled cocker spaniel.  She bounced through the snow chasing Nana and got Nana to throw  snowballs for her to catch.  They were both still wet when they arrived home.

They said it was a very fun, relaxing day.  It must have been good, as the girls were all still talking about it and sharing craft ideas as they went to bed.

Logan and I want equal time.  We want a trip to Home Depot and a sporting goods store or maybe Costco.  Yeah! Tools and food all in one place.  I like that.

Coming Home

Me again.

You won't believe this, but, I packed the camera and can't get to it in the back of the Trailblazer.

Kyle is going to make fun of me for months over the way I blew the picture taking and blogging this week.  And who knows when I'll get to try it again.

Coming home was a quick trip.  We stopped in Walla Walla to give some boxes to a thrift shop.

And we stopped a McDonalds in Milton-Freewater for food and drinks.  Reeces really likes their chicken nuggets.

And we stopped very briefly at Morning Creek Sno-park again.  Reeces didn't even get out.  Guess she was worn out too.

We had a lot of fun at Aunt Mary's; but it sure feels good to be home and to be going to bed in our own beds.

David's Birthday by Krystal

Saturday.  It's David's Birthday.

David stayed all night with his Grandma.

That gave the other adults a chance to set up for the party and to run the last minute errands.  Things like picking up balloons and the cake.

It was a Monster Truck party.  

His cake was a red Monster Truck.  It was very cute.

I got caught peeking under the plastic for a look at his cake before he got to see it.  It also gave me the opportunity to check out the flavor of the frosting.  Cherry frosting, it was good.

David got to be the first one to play in the bounce house.  There was time after his nap and before the party started.  At first, he was more interested in how the air pump worked than he was in bouncing.  But, he soon got the feel for it and then wore out the whole family getting them to bounce with him.

He insisted Reeces wear a party hat.  Auntie got a picture of them together in their hats.  Then he had his picture taken with me in a party hat.

They had a pinata for the party.  It was so well built the adults finally had to break. When they did, the candy went everywhere.  So everyone had fun with it.

His main gift was his car.  He did real well driving it.  He was thrilled that it had reverse and at first, he wanted to shift every few feet.  It was a very jerky looking ride.

By the time the party clean-up was done we were all worn out.  We went to bed early that night.

Camping 2 by Krystal

Hello

Here is more about our wonderful camping trip.  Friday morning, before we had even had breakfast, a big bunch of huge balloons floated over our campsite.

They were beautiful.  We were able to watch them for a long time.

After they flew away we had a great breakfast of blueberry pancakes, sausage links and yogurt.

Then, we cleaned up our camp and headed back to Aunt Mary's house.

That evening we played games and watched movies.  I let the camera batteries go dead and forgot to recharge them in time to get any photos.

Most of the girls were lounging in their pj's and had wet hair or rollers in their hair and were glad I didn't have a camera.

It was fun and we have our memories, even if we don't have it in an album.

Camping 1 by Krystal

OOOps!!

Kyle is pretty upset with me.  I talked him into letting me write on his blog while Morgan, Nana, Auntie and I traveled to the Tri-Cities to visit friends.  I promised I'd get blogs out each day.  But. there was so much going on.  I didn't get it done.  I'm going to post these in for those days and hope he forgets someday.

After traveling over there on Wednesday, Thursday we went camping.  There were 10 of us. It was chaos, but so much fun.

Most of us were sleeping in the three tents.  But, some of the girls wanted to sleep under the stars.  They said the sky was awesome in the middle of the night .

Almost all of us have sleeping bags made by Nana Kathie.  That way we get the choose the color and pictures on our sleeping bags.  Mine is Hot Air Balloons.  Morgans is Sailing Ships.  There were Polar Bears, Purple with Butterflies, Skulls, Whales, and Leopards.  The others will get theirs when they pick out their fabrics.,

After camp was set up, some girls went for a hike and then, we sat around the campfire talking.  Most of the talk was about what we want made to wear for the next parties and the holidays coming up.

After dinner we sang songs and told campfire stories.

Jose had never been camping before.  When the sun started going down she was a little afraid.  Mara gave her a doll to play with and Krystal gave her a lantern.  Everyone tried to reassure and comfort her.  It didn't take her long to relax and be an excited part of the group again.

It was a great day.

Traveling by Krystal

We're finally on our way.  It took Auntie TracyAnn forever to load the car.  It takes so much stuff when you travel with a cocker spaniel and four girls.


This is going to be fun.  David's 3rd birthday party, a pirate party, sewing for us, playing "hand and foot" and a camping trip.  If we're lucky we'll do some shopping too.

Tollgate is so pretty this time of year.  It is still green.  Some of the shrubs have started turning brown, but the trees are still very green.

Reeces likes to stop and play at the sno-parks every time we go across the mountain.  Our first stop is Andes Sno-park.  She, Nana and Auntie got out to explorer.  We four girls stayed in the car at this stop.  It looked awfully dusty and dirty here.  And we're in a hurry to see our friends.


Her next stop was a Meadow Creek Sno-park.  We got out here.  


This is where we like to go in the winter to play in the snow.


Reeces only got two stops today.  I guess Nana and Auntie are anxious to finish the trip too.

When we got here we went to the girls house and spent time visiting.  

Krystal and Emma were tying to decide what would make good "Gothic Pirate" outfits. 

 I was trying to decide what to put into this blog.

For dinner we had a birthday party for Aunt Mary's brother, Mike.  The cake was red velvet cupcakes.  They were wonderful.  This party was a surprise to us and Mike.  This is going to be a great trip.