BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL

If you have never read Blueberries For Sal, by Robert McKlosky, you should pick up a copy at the library to share with your favorite child.  We read it today before we went to pick blue berries. Ruby said:

"My berries go kerplunk, kerplink in my bucket like Sal's!"  

  We drove about 12 miles out of Gresham to BORING, OR.

(what a name for a town).   www.oregonblues.com   It was in the country with lovely green rolling hills, barns and farm houses.  This blue berry farm, called Oregon Blues Blueberry farm, is owned by a family from my church.  I will have to say, the berries were the best tasting berries I have ever eaten and so plentiful.  They were hanging like clumps of grapes and so easy to pick.  I forgot my camera, so these were all taken by Kristin on her cell phone -- and a great job she did!  We ended up with about 20 lbs, and can't wait to bake a pie, blueberry buckle, pancakes and muffins -- not to mention just munching them.  I'm afraid if we had weighed the children before and after, it would have cost us a lot more -- but they did say we could sample! 

I think she was telling him to not eat too many or he might get a tummy ache! 

Ruby called this her "blueberry house"

Safety First Ruby

I love that the twin's differences show up when you least expect it. 

I had fixed dinner for them and it was too hot to eat  (soup and corn on the cob).  I said "Let's pretend we are the three bears and our porridge is too hot to eat.  Let's read a book till it cools down!" 

I grabbed one of the safety coloring books we got at the truck show.  Several of the pictures in the book were about kids crossing the street and in each picture it said "Children should hold an adult's hand till they are at least 10 years old when crossing the street!"  To that Ruby said,

"I think it is OK to not hold an adult's hand if you are real careful and look first!" 

 (oh, there she is pushing the envelope already!) 

 Carson replied "SAFETY FIRST RUBY.  SAFETY FIRST!" 

(Mr. Carson is a letter of the law kind of kid who plays by the rules and believes in them as well.  It will be interesting as they grow older and become teenagers and how their personalities develop).  

Can You Say "Precocious"?

Kristin and I were driving with the kids in the back seat.  I hadn't seen Kristin for a while since she had been gone to Germany on a business trip and we had much to catch up on.  Carson (and sometimes Ruby) have a habit of wanting to be involved with your conversations and will interrupt and say "what are you talking about?"  "Why are you laughing?" Etc.  

It was annoying me so I said to Carson "We are having an adult conversation and you need to stop interrupting us!" 

After a few moments he said
 "Ruby and I will have a children's conversation!" 

GOOD.....

Cool Building Blocks

He wanted to show Aunt Stephanie what he made  all by himself with the blocks she gave him for his birthday. 

"It's a fire-breathing dragon." 

He wanted you to see it from all 3 sides. 

 "The propeller is where the fire comes out."  

Backyard Fun

It is so nice to know that the kids can happily entertain themselves for a long time with water and dirt and a few things from my kitchen.  Here they are staying cool on a warm summer afternoon.  

Cheers!  Anyone want some "mud soup"? 



Truck Show

The City of Troutdale, along with the library, presented a "Truck Show" in the library parking lot.  I had learned about it 3 weeks ago when I was in the library and brought home a colorful flyer about the event to share with the twins.  Carson was so thrilled at the idea of it that when he was at my house he would carry the flyer around with him, and even asked to take it to bed with him for one of his naps.  I told him it would be best to leave it on the refrigerator so we don't forget to attend.    Kristin and I took the kids yesterday.  Carson, who is normally full of energy, animated and talkative, was in such awe of this event that he almost didn't know how to speak.  As we pulled into the parking lot and saw a tow truck (Tow-Mater), cement truck, cherry-picker truck,  animal rescue truck, firetruck, ambulance, police car, garbage truck, a school bus and much more, he looked like a deer-caught-in-the-headlights!  Kristin and I both commented on his overwhelmed behavior.  It was as if he had been beamed up to truck heaven!  The drivers of the vehicles were also there to speak to the kids and the children were allowed to actually sit in the driver's seat.  The library gave out little yellow hard hats to the kids, too. 

It couldn't have been a more special day for the kids, and especially  little Carson. 

 I said to Kristin, "I don't know if Disneyland can top this!" (and the price was right!)

The tow truck had brought in a trailer carrying a really badly crashed car (We didn't focus on that, but Carson did ask me about that car today -- he must have thought about it and wanted to know how it got that way!)  

Being in the driver's seat of a real
"Tow-Mater" was almost more than Carson could take in!   

Silly Ru!  

 This was the water rescue ambulance and kayak team.  Here the really sweet lifeguard gal is using Miss Ruby as the model to demonstrate the correct way to put on a life jacket. She said "if there is wiggle room, it is not on tight enough.  When you shake the life jacket with a kid in it, the entire kid should move, not just the jacket".  Ruby got a kick out of being wiggled  around by the 
nice lady.   

 It wasn't enough for Carson to look at the cement truck.  He asked very good questions of the driver, who was kind and spent time telling Carson all about how it works.  Ruby was flitting around, but Car-boy wanted to know HOW and WHY it works. 

  As the cement truck driver was explaining to Carson about how it spins around and around to keep the cement all mixed up,
Carson asked

"Does it spin left or right?" 

Sitting in the cement truck, Carson wanted to know how to make the cement come out. 

Here they are trying out the Multnomah County Sheriff rescue boat. 

This is the only picture I got of the school bus (Kristin took it).  The bus was crowded inside, but we waited to ride the wheelchair ramp down. When Carson got on the bus he immediately went to the driver's seat, sat down and tooted the horn. Then he sang "The horn on the bus goes beep, beep, beep!" 

Silly boy.......

This garbage truck was brand new and so clean you could have eaten off of it.  Not one speck of dirt and grim anywhere on it.  Hardly looked like a garbage truck and didn't even smell bad!!! 

This was another ambulance that they could go inside. 

Ruby was in the back seat of the firetruck, while Carson was in the front.  As soon as she got out and discovered it was shiny like a mirror -- she was all about looking at herself!  

Carson was more interested in the hoses than his reflection. 

Troutdale's FINEST.  This policeman was very kind to Car-boy, who was enamored to be in the police car. 

As Carson was sitting in the police car a firetruck went by with its siren's on and caught Carson's attention.   The policeman told the kids to not touch any of the buttons, but he allowed him to move the spot light and Carson thought that was great.  

What a fabulous time we had.  Thank you Troutdale Library for sponsoring this great event.  I know the children will remember this for a long time.