Jason, Sarah, Tristan, Wade, and Owen: Chelan Adventures

I still am putting together some of the pictures from our trip, and hopefully will have those up soon! I wanted to tell you what happened this week. Tuesday morning I woke at 4:30 to the sound of gun shots. This is definitely not a normal sound where we live. The first millisecond I thought it was a hunter...the second millisecond I thought there was no way that was a hunting rifle or shotgun...the third millisecond my eyes were open, and thanks to our blinds being open and the position of our bed, I could see a pick-up truck stopping in the road. I quickly woke Jason up and we saw a man get out of his truck and examine the side of it. I said, "His truck got hit by the bullets!" and we started heading down to help him. I hung back a little because I was in my pajamas and didn't really want to hang out on the highway in them. Jason got to the guy and quickly realized that not only was his truck hit in 7 places, but he had been shot too! I watched Jason help the guy lay down on the road and I hurried into the house and grabbed a few rags. Jason was able to use his t-shirt and the rags and pressure to control the bleeding. The police came and awhile later an ambulance. Turns out someone had been following him and then cut in front of him, turned around and started shooting. After hearing the story and seeing where the bullet holes were in the truck, it was very clear that this was not some random act of violence. There was a lot that happened before this that led up to the shooting, but I don't know what. The man ended up being airlifted to a Seattle hospital, so his situation was more serious than we thought. The bullet entered into his lower left side, right about at the waist line. We hung around until the police excused us. Then we went home and rode the adrenaline rush for a few hours until we were finally able to calm down! Later that evening we got home from taking a boat ride on the lake to find 2 police in our neighborhood. Our neighbor had found a spent bullet on his deck! It was severely damaged because it had passed through the truck and flown all the way up onto his deck! It made me realize that this could have all turned out way worse than it did!! Made for a very exciting morning, but the kind of excitement I would prefer not to experience again!

On a happier note: The boys are so fun to be around! They like to refer to themselves as "small, medium, and large". They love to hear the story of the 3 Billy Goats Gruff, with their own names filled in of course....small for Owen, medium for Wade, and large for Tristan.

Wade is becoming quite cautious and aware of being naked. He always locks the door when he's in the bathroom, but still likes me to wipe him after a #2. The other day he was calling for me to wipe him. I went to the door and it was locked. I told him he would need to come unlock the door if he wanted me to help him. He said, "Ok, but could you wait a second after I unlock it so I can get back on the toilet so you don't see my bare buns." :) Apparently I'm allowed to wipe them, but not see them! He also says things like, "If you seen my bare buns, don't laugh." He doesn't have to worry about me laughing at them, but I might give them a little pinch if I see them! :)

Jason promised Tristan a new snorkel set this year because of all the progress he made swimming last year. He loves it and uses it all the time. Jason told Wade that he could practice with Tristan's and if he learned how, he could have one too. Well, today Wade got his own snorkel set! They both can swim around and look at the fish and breathe through their snorkel very well. I was terrified of the water at their age, so it boggles my mind! Owen loves to snorkel too, but doesn't quite have the hang of it yet! :)

You may have heard that I will be teaching full time this next school year. I got a job teaching 7th grade math. I am very excited to be back in the classroom, but have to admit I will miss my time at home with my boys! Tristan will be starting Kindergarten, and he is very excited about that. We know his teacher pretty well, and he is thrilled to be in her class. I got the keys for my classroom today, so I will be spending lots of time there over the next few weeks, because it needs a lot of work!

We got to see a cherry run yesterday. This is a sizer. It starts narrower at the top and the cherries roll down it. If they fall through, they are too small, if they are still on the runners, they go on to the rest of processing. The ones that are too small get juiced.

The pink sweatshirt girl was one of my students this past year. These women are pulling any cherries that have marks or splits. 7 people look at each line of cherries!