The Oakes Family

Last year when we took John to Silverwood, he was quite disappointed that he could not ride a ‘big’ roller coaster because he wasn’t tall enough.  We speculated that this year he would grow at least a couple inches and sure enough, he did.   John’s daycare had an outing this past Wednesday to Silverwood Theme Park and kids John’s age could go IF a parent would accompany them.  David offered to go so John could attend.

Once inside the park John said he wanted to ride a roller coaster so David took him over to Tremors, a big wooden one.  The line wasn’t too long, but after 20 minutes in line, John decided he needed a bathroom trip, so they lost their place in line.  When they returned, it took about 30 minutes to get to the front of the line and John was pretty excited.  We thought he was going to be measured because he was only an inch over the minimum height, but that didn’t happen.

They climbed in their seat, strapped in and off they went.  The ride started with a slow steep climb to about 100 feet and John commented that he could see for miles.  Around a sharp bend, the cars dived almost vertically down through the gift shop and into the first of four tunnels.  John didn’t say very much or make any noise for the rest of the ride, and the photo is our only visual record of what he thought of the ride.

See a video of the ride here.

When the ride ended abruptly back at the station, John said that he would never go on a big roller coaster ever again, which amused many of the other riders nearby.

I talked to John later that afternoon and asked him if he had a good time.  He said yes.  I asked if he had ridden the big roller coaster and he said yes.  I asked him if it was fun and he started to say YES and changed it to a NO, it was TOO scary, there were too many tunnels.

He really did have a good rest of the after that ride.  He and David rode the Log Flume, Bumper Boats, Carrousel and Steam Train.  John spent most of the rest of the time riding the Red Barron plane ride.

John has been taking a copy of this picture everywhere for the past two days, including daycare and church, proudly telling people about his brave exploits!

It started in the afternoon, dark skies, rain, pouring down…

It rained most of the afternoon.  David said the dogs ran in and out of it.  He was working in the pole barn.  Wookie was really excited by it all.  When I got home it was still pouring.  This is our backyard, visibility is next to nothing.  It was so awesome watching the rain pour down, lightning, thunder.  It got dark SO early, so quickly.

When it was all over we had pools of water all over our drive and our front yard.  A little bit of hail also fell, only small bits though.  Our lawn, or what there is of it, enjoyed the moisture and now we actually have a bit of green grass growing amidst all the wildflowers and weeds!

Ever since David accidentally shot a hole in the wall with his hunting rifle, he’s been wondering where the bullet went.  While up on the roof removing a wasp’s nest from the chimney collar, he found a dime-sized hole in a roofing shingle.  Here he is filling the hole to keep out the rain, days before torrential storms came through.

He is still unsure exactly why he perforated the house but as he always keeps guns pointed in a safe direction, this was thankfully more of a surprise than anything else.  He says it’s a good idea to get real familiar with a new gun - he should have spent a bit more time practicing with this one before he loaded it to go hunting!

A few pictures of John playing in the backyard in the sprinkler.  Nevermind that it was over 90 degrees out.  The water was freezing cold and he wanted to have his umbrella to shield him.  He eventually did get soaking wet, but it sure was fun to watch him trying to AVOID getting sprinkled!

Thank you, Rich and Rhoda, Michelle’s in-laws, for sharing your garden produce with us.  David has been there with Michelle to pick tart cherries and raspberries.  Then last weekend the three of us went back to get some more red raspberries.  YUM!  John enjoyed eating as much as he did picking.  We picked a couple pints of berries before the heat got the best of us.  We came home and made this very yummy dessert - individual raspberry cobblers.  A bit messy but oh so yummy!

As the deer have eaten most of the contents of our garden, except for the zucchini greens, we’ll be looking elsewhere to get our fresh produce.  I do have some pepper plants growing on our back porch - they must be a bit close to the house to tempt the deer.   It’s ok though really, as we like having the deer wander through.  We were just bit surprised as they didn’t touch our garden last year!  I guess our dogs aren’t as excellent watch dogs as we thought they might be.

Every couple of weeks, we take part in the local Farmer’s Market in Rathdrum City Park.  We set up a stall, displaying tapestry bags, cribbage boards and lovespoons.  David goes to set up around 7ish and John and I join him around 10am.

John plays in the stream that runs through this delightful park.  He brings Chief and Arbiter from Halo, and sometimes his Star Wars light saber.  He throws stones and splashes himself!  He runs back and forth to our stall for drinks and snacks.  He has a wonderful time.  Last week there were some golden lab pups and those provided some added amusement!