Rachel's Historical Scavenger Hunt

All of the third and fourth graders in our school had a historical scavenger hunt this morning. They went to 20 different stations around town where someone dressed up and told them a story or the historical significance of the area they were standing in. Our group was a bit wild - most groups had about 6 kids and 2 adults, my group had me and 13 kids. I guess that's what happens when you have five kids, teachers know you can handle a big group! We started at a park next to the river, and ended at the kid's school, which is about two miles away, and may I also add across several busy intersections. A little scary with a big group of kids crossing roads!

It was really funny when the kids finally realized that the bus wasn't coming back for them - I just assumed they knew what the agenda was. They all did great, even though they thought it was way too far to walk. I didn't have any time to take pictures during the activity because I was too busy counting heads :) but I took a few pictures on my way home. There are some really cool things the kids learn about our local history. This is my fourth, and last time helping with the scavenger hunt. I find that I am having many firsts and lasts recently, with one kid going into high school, and our last halfway through elementary school. It's fun, but a little sad too!

original iron smelter - this has been around for 150 years
Willamette river - a woman dressed as a pioneer teacher told a story about how the kids in Lake Oswego used to go down to the river and row across to the other side for school each day. They also took turns housing their school teacher for a week at a time. Our kids were glad that they don't need to let their teacher take turns living with them!
This is the "peg tree." It is an enormous tree that the early settlers would put pegs into to hold their lanterns. You can see the bored holes going down the trunk that the pegs fit into. The kids would gather under the peg tree for Sunday School because it was such a big tree it would protect them from the rain.
This is a house of one of the city councilors who played a large role in our city's development. There were originally two iron smelters in town, and one was torn down, but George Rogers fought to keep the other one as a historical site. He built his house from the stones of the smelter that was removed.
There was another story of a person who had a pet bear and would come into town with it. He would tie it to a tree while he was at work, but it was too scary for some of the kids in town, so he set the bear free in the woods.
It was a fun way to spend the day, and great for the kids to learn some of the history of our city.

Rachel's canoe trip

Rachel went on a canoe trip with her class where they learned about Lewis and Clark and some Oregon history. She had a lot of fun, and we were sent some cute pictures.

Musicals

I have been on a Gene Kelly kick recently. I have found that it is much more enjoyable to iron if I have something fun to watch, so I have been multitasking. I love the more popular movies he was in like "Singing in the Rain", but I have seen some fun ones recently that I hadn't seen before like "On the Town," "Anchor's Aweigh," and "Take Me out to the Ballgame." If you like musicals, a really fun one that is kind of obscure is "Neptune's Daughter." It has Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban (he was the guy in Fantasy Island) and is a great show. That's where the song "Baby, it's cold outside" came from. Here are a few links for some of my favorites:

Neptunes Daughter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAdEYU3btg

Singing in the Rain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkEvy-9yVyQ

Brigadoon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8Od2idW0KM (this is where my name came from - "The Heather on the Hill")

On the Town: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v7QfCxuvLo (this one has Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra)

Xanadu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWEwzzTYgDU (we used to watch this movie over and over as kids - now my girls love it!)

Enchanted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRYU4cqUAUs not a classic, but still really fun

Cross Country Meets

Rebekah had her first meet of the year last week. It is a really tricky course for several reasons: first, for most of the course there are holes in the ground every few feet because of moles and there are beehives in some of the holes; second, the course is hilly; third, many of the kids were running with bee stings. It seems really crazy to me that they have a race at this particular park every year, because this was our third year going, and the third year that many kids were stung. Rebekah and Elizabeth were each stung once, and Rebekah's friend was stung five times, and had to run 1/2 hour later. CRAZY!
Anyway, Rebekah did pretty well, especially considering the challenges. She finished the two mile course in 16:03.
Rebekah at the finish line
Elizabeth and Rebekah
The second meet of the year was yesterday, and Rebekah finished in 15:08! Pretty good to cut a minute off of her race time! The cool thing about this race was the 8th grade boys and girls ran together, and Rebekah was the fifteenth girl to finish the race, and she finished ahead of a lot of the boys. She is a great runner! She is not deterred by her height at all, even though most of the kids her age are a lot taller.
Rebekah is a great example to me of modesty. She always wears a t-shirt under her jersey for modesty's sake - even on hot days. I love you Rebekah! Rebekah at the finish with some of her friends