Early morning fog on the way to Mount Baker

Snack Break

He doesn't help her across the creek.

Strategically placing a flimsy log over rushing water.

Coleman Glacier

Over looking the Canadian Cascades

Still smiling at the end of the hike

Job went back to school on Thursday. He came home with over 80 signatures on his cast.  His goal is 100 and he's well on his way.  John has vacation that he needs to use or lose so he decided to take Thursday off.  He had been talking to an avid hiker and decided that we would do Heliotrope Ridge.  We had hiked that when the kids were little, and I mean really little.  I think that Lona might have been 2 or 3.  We shouldn't have gone when we did.  It was early summer and the run off on the creeks were high,over flowing and there were no bridges.  This time though it was great.  There was just one stream that was tricky not hairy.  Six miles round trip and a beautiful day.  Lona has benefited being the only child home. Having Lona fall asleep on the way home is a successful hike.  BTW, Skagit made it the whole way too.

The first 3 weeks of Public School according to Job.  These are some of the observations that Job has made when I've picked  him up from school in the last three weeks.
He has been harassed:  a girl has tried to repeatedly hug him during lunch recess.
He has been stalked:  a girl (again but not the same one) likes to tell him what he does at night for example:  he was walking around in his living room or he was play pingpong in the garage with his brother.
He has been asked out.  His answer was "HECK NO!" again, this is a different girl altogether.
He has been knocked out.  One minute he was watching a boy (one of the largest in 6th grade) running towards him and the next thing he remembers is the recess aid asking him if he was ok as she helped him off the ground.
Lastly he has had his arm broken in two places.  He was playing ultimate football and while blocking a pass he fell and landed on his left wrist. He said that he looked down and his wrist was twisted the wrong way.  He stood up, gripping his wrist, started to cry and shout out "I need an AID, I need an AID!"  Finally a boy found an aid and she brought him in the office where he continued to whine "It hurts." 
The school called me about this and I went to the bathroom (I didn't know when the next opportunity would be), grabbed an ice pack and a bottle of tylenol.  Lona and I headed up to school.  I handed Lona the phone and asked her to call the doctor, we couldn't get in until 6pm that night.  Next she called John and we decided on the walk in clinic.  I walked into the nurses room, gave Job a tylenol and the ice pack and out we went.  We spent the next 3 1/2 hours getting xrays at one place and then sent to another place for more xrays.  We learned that he not only had one broken radius but had also fractured the ulna into the growth plate.  This required him getting a full arm cast for three weeks with another set of xrays after a week and then a short arm cast for another 4 to 5 weeks.



So the first three weeks of public school has lets just say eventful for Job.  Will he survive the other 45 weeks of school?



He's comfortable skating forwards and backwards.  He did ask to learn how to stop sliding to the side.



I have no idea what's going on but it looks like they are enjoying themselves.



The only girl of our group

Job loves hockey.  He has told his orthodontist that he either wants to be an engineer or a professional hockey player when he grows up.  I wonder which one he'll choose because that is a tough decision.  It's kind of hard to become a professional hockey player when your parents won't let you play hockey.  I was looking back at photos and stories in my blog books the other day just reminiscing about Job.  It was fun to see all the changes that has happened in the last twelve years. I don't have that many books but still there are changes.  I realized that there are certain things about Job that haven't changed.  First is his love of Legos.  Second I realized that he has wanted to play hockey for two years.  I hadn't realized that it was that long ago.  Once Job gets an idea into his head, he continues to fixate on it.  He has decided that he would rather have ice skates rather than a bike for his birthday.  We have to think about that.  I want to give him ice skating lessons but in figure skating rather than hockey lessons.  I think he transfer his knowlege to hockey later on.  Besides figure skating lessons are cheaper than hockey lessons by about $400.  It's the equipment.  There's just so much equipment and it isn't cheap.  To fuel the idea of ice skating lessons, I told Job that I would take him ice skating after church on Sunday.  "Can Jonathon and Steven come too?" he quickly asked me.  I texted Tara at 8 am on Sunday.  Really last minute and she was so busy with the food fellowship after church that I wasn't sure if we could pull it off.  However it ended up working out great.  I played tennis with Isaac before church and ice skated with Job, Lona, Jonathon and Steven after church.  After two hours they were done.  I definitely earned dinner at the Olive Garden, just not what I actually ate and it was only half the dish.



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Have you ever wondered wear the phrase riding shotgun comes from?  The old western films had a driver and some else ride on top of the stage coach.  The other person carried a shotgun to protect the passengers and the cargo.  It has carried over to being the front passenger.  In Washington the legal age to ride shotgun is 12 and that my friends is the age Job turned today.  Being Saturday and all we just couldn't swing a party for him.  In fact Job had to work today.  Kind of rough a twelve year old having to go to work but reffing duties call.  This morning we allowed him unlimited computer time followed by a scavenger hunt for his one and only present from the family and then the rest of the day was spent on the pitch.  We ended the soccer day with a tailgate party for Isaac's team.  We'll do our tradition of Job picking the restaurant for dinner tomorrow and we're planning on buying him a bike.  I think we have one picked out from Craig's list so soon he'll get his other present.
Looking back at the photos it is amazing to notice how many different sports Job has been interested in: archery to wakeboarding and everything in between.
Happy Birthday Job.  Twelve years ago "Dr. Euhoff cut cut mommy"  (quote from Isaac).