We're Moving and other news

If you have followed my blog then you know of the trying times we have had.  But we are moving into a house, and out of my in law's basement.  We are hoping to save enough money so that we can buy our own home next year.


We considered moving back to an apartment, but that wouldn't be really fair to our son, who has had his own yard and patio to play in for over a year.  So we are taking this house, and going to be cheap for a year and save so we can own our own home.  Renting a house doesn't thrill me, but it will, its the anxiety of packing, moving, paying someone else's mortgage.  I want my own mortgage, we will get there, just need to be patient, and move out first.

Patrick started his early intervention school last week for his language delay.  He's no longer delayed by any means, just working with a speech therapist in a group setting for pronunciation and phonics.  He took about a half hour to adjust being there, and then I asked him for a kiss goodbye and I left him by himself.  I was quite surprised at how this turned out. I didnt cry, and neither did PJ.  He's becoming such a little man, and I love it.  But when I returned to pick him up, he was very happy to see me and said good-bye to his teacher.  It was very wonderful to see new experiences happening for him.  I like to introduce him to knew ideas and places, because when I was little I wanted to do so much, but was very much filled with anxiety.  So by he and I doing new things together it is pleasureable for both of us.

And when Kevin is home, the three of us do things together, and it is my great hope that the weather is nice when we go to the Beach with Uncle Dave and Aunt Michelle.  Patrick loves the ocean, and after that little trip, then PJ, my Mom, and I will be going to the beach for a few days, like we did when I was a little girl.

Patrick and I will be taking a huge adventure together soon, I'm taking him to the Portland Air Show, I'm hoping that this will be something he will really enjoy.  Especially when the fireworks go off.. LOL

GEOCACHING-- have you tried it?

If you like adventure, time with your family and a bit of exercise, this is something for you. I started my first profile in 2005 and have had quite the adventure, but now that we have a small family, I started a new profile, clean slate so to speak, as my boyfriend has never done this, so when we go out, I hope to add his words as the "newbie". You can find Caches all over the world, so if you are going on vacation, check to see if there is one where you are going. Most require a GPS, most cell phones have this function. Some cache's just want you to post your journey online, and how you got there, some just want a picture, or better yet, little treasures, fun small things. I hope to continue this blog post, with our adventures. Just in our zip code alone, there are over 500... this isn't something new, this has been around for ten years, and millions of people follow... why don't you?

A Piece of Family History Returns..

We all have family members that for some reason or another do things that we dont agree with, or approve of. That is why we arent the ones with the arrest records or criminal pasts. One of my family members who I love dearly, I call him my brother, we were raised separately, but saw each other every other weekend. It was great growing up, I had someone to boss around, and someone who would do anything I told him to. As we grew up, my head strong ways didn't approve of his carefree or careless lifestyle. I figured it was just a little bump in his road that he had to take as did most boys his age. Granted, his curious lifestyle didn't stop him.

In 2003, He was camping with a friend in Yellowstone, this made National News, and they decided to move some barriers to get further into the park, meaning, he trespassed. After doing some donuts around a geyser and doing some major damage, he and his friend got stuck. They asked for help, but when the help didn't want to help because they would be contributing to a violation, they drove the two criminals to the Ranger Station at Yellowstone, upon being arrested. They went through their gear and found a loaded .22 Remington Rifle and confiscated it.

Upon being released, and going to fight in Iraq, and then coming back and being severely messed up, another crime was committed. It is now present day 2010, and last Thanksgiving, we as a family find out that the gun that was given to him by my Grandfather, who was given by his Grandfather, was taken into possession by park Rangers 7 years prior. I learned of this and made a few phone calls, after Googling his arrest record and getting the arresting officer's name and number. I found the gun, wow, 7 years it has sat in a safe at the Park Rangers Head Quarters, even the Rangers were surprised that it was still there. I phoned my Grandma right away and told her that it was still here.. we worked out an arrangement with the Rangers, that we would come down and get the gun. Certain paper work had to be done and filed in order to get this family heirloom that is almost 100 years old. So March 14, 2010, my boyfriend, son and I got in the car and drove to Montana, and then down to the park. We arrived in Montana, no snow on the roads and the most gorgeous sunny weather I had seen in months. We spent the night with family and then headed down to the park the next day. So excited, we were so close to getting my Grandpa's gun back. We arrived in the park and the Ranger we were to meet was at Old Faithful, so we waited and let our young son play in the snow. Shortly he arrived and we exchanged hand shakes, and pleasantries and lots of talking. They were so nice and almost sentimental as we were about our precious gun.

It was smaller than I had remembered, granted, the last time that I saw it was when I was 21. As soon as we got the paper work transferred and papers signed, it was ours, and I called Grannie, as soon as we were on the road. I didn't cry, even though I thought I would have knowing at how sentimental I am about things. The drive back to Helena, seemed shorter after picking up our precious cargo, even though it was still 300 miles. In all we traveled almost 2000 miles, in less than 4 days. It was a great trip to see the family and to get our family history back.

We took the gun to my Grannies house, and she has this sort of fancy house, and I told her it would make a great story, so she should mount it over her french doors. She was so happy to have it back, thinking that it had been destroyed or sold at an auction. It was truly meant to be in our family forever. She told me that after she has had it for a few years, it will become my gun, which I will then pass on to my son, but he wont be allowed to fire it, or use it, its for history.

Photos from the Passenger Seat

This is Devils Slide... I love rock formations, wish I had had time to climb a bit of this, but since I was moving cross country, there was just no way, but I did catch this photo at 65 mph. I wasnt driving... There are several of these formations in Idaho along the way into Oregon, but this was the first time I seen it with snow. Beautiful. I have traveled all over the U.S.A, I have seen the big cities, the little towns, and the unknown hot spots where locals gather. It never amazes me what one finds boring another finds fascinating.


Just near the Colorado border while in Wyoming, headed home to the Pacific Northwest, I got to see the snow of the Rockies, more in the melting form, this is Elk Mountain, very impressive. So high up but no worries of bad ice or snow on the road, it was a perfect chance to move back to my home area. I was almost 7 months pregnant while moving back, and it just felt good to have all my possessions and in the direction of North West..





We drove late into the night on two nights when it seemed there was no traffic near the bigger cities we were having to travel thru. This is the last night of driving late, and this wonderful sunset photo was taken somewhere near Nebraska/Wyoming border. You just dont realize how high you are up until your ears start to pop when you come down a bit off a small hill, or climb higher into the foothills of the Rockies.






I never did find out what this building was, but I think at one point it served as a stopping point in Wyoming, and now its some ones home. But regardless its neat, I have never seen this before on my travels, but glad that I had the camera ready to take a picture of it. Its like a lighthouse out in the middle of a sea of sage brush and tumbleweeds.

I have so many photos of my travels from here and there, just as so many other bloggers share, but these are mine, simple, and true, we all have a path, it just depends on the person in how they want to share it, or maybe not..