Kayda turns 15!!!

We have a LEGAL driver!  She actually started to learn to drive stick a while ago, simply so she would be road ready when she had her permit.  You can get your permit when you turn 15, so long as you are signed up for driver's ed and it is within 10 days of it starting.  Her birthday actually lined up to be within those parameters.  The plan was originally to take her to the dol the Monday after her birthday (Saturday this year).  Then I found out you have to make an appointment.  The earliest available was December 6th.  I started looking through all the nearby dol's to see if there was anything earlier.  One had an appointment ON her birthday!  I booked it and Daddy and I played it off that she wasn't going to be able to get it until the 10th.  Resourceful girl that she is, she found out you could get a "non picture" permit online.  I pretended to go online on her birthday and told her the site was down for maintenance.  

We celebrated her birthday in the morning.  

She got some magnetic stickers to put on the car that say "Caution: Student Driver and screaming parent".  She thought that was just excellent. 

Then went up to meet Grandma and Papa H for lunch.  I almost cancelled lunch because of the ridiculous new rules in King County.  (King County has decided you must have proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to eat in restaurants, among other activities.  We obviously think this is ridiculous).  We decided to give it a shot anyway and we were able to eat at Azteca. 

I decided to recreate a picture we have from when she was little.  The server had decided to stick Kayda's nose in whipped cream (also at Azteca).  The issue here was that it wasn't piled up high enough...So I ended up getting fudge up onto her forehead!  She was a good sport, but none too happy. 

 We told her that they needed to borrow Daddy's truck.  The boys were going to help load a new piece of furniture while we went and picked up a special cake.  I'm sure we were suspicious as all get out.  Especially as the cover became more elaborate and convoluted.  Fortunately, we were able to pull it off!  (I really hope she wasn't excited about a cake though).

As we pulled into the parking lot, this is when we told her what we were doing

We had her drive back to Grandma and Papa's house.  She did really well, except for when she stopped at an intersection when she should've gone so she ended up at the very edge of the cross walk.  She definitely needs to learn about her stopping distance.  She was a little stressed but did great!

Later she had a couple of friends come over to spend the night.  

The very next day she went out for her first drive with our neighbor Eric.  He used to teach driver's ed so he is a great resource.  Lucky for us he loves to teach and enjoys our kids.  When he takes her out it tends to be hours at a time.  She is learning quickly though and likes to do the drives with him.  

Prepping for a driver

It occurred to us that Kayda is only a few months from getting her driver's permit.  It was kind of a surprise actually.  We'll get her signed up for driver's ed ASAP so she can start driving right away.  Daddy and I were fortunate enough to be given a car when we turned 16.  We got one a little early since it was a stick shift.  That was the intent for Kayda. 

We want ALL the kids to start with a manual transmission vehicle.  You get to know your vehicle better, you have better control over the car, it's a valuable thing to know and it will help discourage texting and driving.  It won't make it impossible but it will be much more difficult to do.  

That being said, we also recognize that we both drive BIG vehicles.  Kayda decided on a Jeep years ago. Since we know finding the right used car, at the price and age we were looking could take a long time, so we started looking. 

We have Eric, a super awesome neighbor and priceless resource.  He and Bruce were willing to help us vet the cars.  Eric is familiar with engines and knows what to look for generally but Bruce is the golden ticket.  He was the lead mechanic for the southwest region of WSDOT so he knows his crap.  Add that to the fact he has owned something like 8 wranglers... it's perfect.  They went to see one being sold by a pro-volleyball player.  It was her first car and she'd outgrown it and moved to Europe.  Eric was ready to leverage that big time.  Young girl, first car, plays volleyball.... Unfortunately, the condition led us to a price too low for the owners so it was a no.  We watched and watched and another came up, but it had some giant red flags.  We found another but Daddy went and saw that there was some concerning stuff.  It kept getting harder to find one meeting the criteria as Kayda decided what she did and didn't like.  A few months after we started looking she found one she was interested in.  Of course she found it on 4th of July.  We took off to South Dakota on the 5th after arranging for Daddy, Eric, and Bruce to go see it.  

They all went to look at it and were super impressed.  The original price was more than we wanted to pay but Daddy was able to negotiate it down into our budgeted amount.  

Kayda was on the road with me, watching the time for when they would be going to see the Jeep.  She was very frustrated because she knew that Daddy probably would mess with her if he bought it.  Trying to convince her he didn't get it.  Sure enough...that's exactly what he did. 

Of course she had to wait 11 days until she saw it for the first time in person! She's in love.  Bonus for having it early....I get to drive it sometimes!  It has already been really helpful to have.  I do need to get different tires.  These are brand new but they're the fatter tires and make it handle funny.   We got it early, we live in an area where there are little to no cars...so we let her start learning to shift early. 

We spent about 30 minutes going up and down our cul-de-sac so she could learn 1st and 2nd.  Stop, go, stop, go, turn around, repeat...  She was doing fairly well by the end.  Though her arm and leg were tired.  

She was going to show daddy real quick and the boys HAD to climb in (only because the top was off).  Ozzi also REALLY likes the jeep.  Even when the top was still on.  He'd climb in and you'd have to drag him out. 

On her third time out I was really having a hard time getting a specific idea through.  Eric saw us driving and did his typical "slow down!" that he texts every time we drive by.  I tell him to get his butt outside and help my kid since I was confusing her.  He used to teach driver's ed so it's handy.  In the next 30 minutes he had her shifting smoothly and going all the way up into 4th gear driving down our roads back there.  None of them are roads that get more than a few cars during the day.  I just hung out in the back seat and watched and listened.  Since then she's driven us to the end of the road before we switch and I take us onto the main roads and into town.  She's learning shifting, maintaining speed, reverse and turn signals.  By the time it's actually time for her on the road she'll be a pro!

Coming home again.

On August 19th it was time to start the drive home.  We decided we would take it a little slower so that we could stop at Lewis and Clark caverns.  So the first day we drove about 3.5 hours to get to Sheridan Wyoming.  The second day we drove a little further to Livingston Montana.  There have been a huge number of wild fires and brush fires in Washington, Idaho and Oregon this year due to the incredibly dry conditions.  So dry that even the Olympic RAIN forest saw a fire.  With all of the fires, some of them burning over 100,000 acres and still going, there is a ton of smoke blowing around.  This is Central/Eastern Montana!  

 This is the smoke in Livingston.  By the time we got there we had been driving through an increasing amount of smoke for quite some time.

 This is the cool cabin we got to stay in right along the yellowstone river.

 The kids didn't play in the river, just in it's sandy banks.

 And in the pool.  Papa is a marvelous water toy!  The moment he got in the water all the kids would come over.  Poor guy, they wouldn't leave him alone!

 In their defense I remember being the same way when I was little.  Papa is so at home in the water and is so playful!  I have great memories of the beach (NW beaches that have freezing cold water) and pools, and lakes!

 Friday we stopped at the Lewis and Clark Caverns in Montana.  It was only a little over an hour from the cabin.  We had to hike up along that hillside to get to the opening of the cave.  It was only about 3/4 miles but it was hot, and smoky, and at a higher elevation than we are used to.  It was a little challenging.  Grandma's knee was bothering her so she couldn't come.  Works out that she couldn't though because Carson started getting scared not even 100 yards into the hike.  I took him back and he got to hang out with Grandma.

 The entrance we used is actually man made.  It was blasted into the rock.  Otherwise we would have been climbing down a rope ladder from here, the natural entrance.

 The first half of the cave is all an occupied bat nursery.  So we got to see bats resting and flying around.  We saw them on several different occasions.  One even flew right in front of Dillon's face!  From the moment we started hearing the bats, then seeing the bats Kayda decided that she liked caves.  Funny how that was really the only difference she had seen.

 This is the "beaver slide", we call it the "butt slide" because sp many people have gone down it that it is smooth and worn into the shape of two perfect butt cheeks.  I guess it was originally called "fat man's demise" but they had to change the name because people get offended too easily.  I was told that they actually had a "very large individual" get stuck.  They had to hoist them up so they could re-position to try to get through.  This "slide" was my clearest memory of this cave.

 The kids were fascinated with all the different formations.

 It looks like they put colored light bulbs in but they didn't.  They put in special bulbs tyhat replicate the sun so you can see the real color of the cave.  So if they had the correct lighting in ALL of the cave would look like this.  Unfortunately it's not a matter of changing light bulbs, they have to put in all new wiring too.

 This is the man made exit.  It is some 450 ft long (if I remember correctly) and has a door at either end.  If both doors are opened at once it can get up to a 45 mph wind going through which would dry out the cave in 15 minutes.  Needless to say they are very picky about those doors!  The kids loved this cave!  So did I!  There is so much more to it!  We learned about all kinds of formations and they had a few rocks that they tell fun fictional stories about.

 After the caverns it was time to drive again.  That was our longest drive and it brought us back into Washington, barely.  We stayed in Liberty Lake.  We left for camping in Idaho on July 24th and got back into Washington again on August 21st.  4 weeks.  It was a wonderful four weeks but we were all excited for our own rooms and our own beds again.

 You can see that the smoke is worse here. You could tell it was thicker, not just visually, but because the smell was so much stronger.

 Saturday was our last day of driving.  It was time to go home.  The closer we got, the thicker it got.  It was the worst around Vantage.  There was actually still visible smoke when we got home.

 You can normally see the bridge with crystal clarity.

 And you can normally see WAY up the river.  Instead it was a cloud of smoke.

There are hundreds of windmills here.  Not that you would know it.   The kids, once again, did great for the drive.  We only had one big issue but it was resolved quickly.  Car DVD players are the best invention.  We will definitely be making the trip again!

Dillon's First "Solid" Food and Kayda's Safe Driver Award

Dillon got to eat his first rice cereal on Thursday. He was excited about eating it, he would open his mouth up nice and wide but he just couldn't figure out how to keep it in his mouth.

He's had it a few times since then and he's still having trouble. That's to be expected of course because he's just starting. It's cute to watch but not so much fun to clean up after. We're going to be starting him in swim lessons with his big sister soon, we'll post pictures as soon as we have some.

Kayda absolutely loves to "drive" anything that she sees us drive. She goes nuts over Grandma and Grandpa G's riding lawn mower and even more crazy about pretending to drive cars. We were out doing yard work on Saturday (a beautiful day by the way) and that's where she wanted to be. So I rolled down the windows, moved all the little things into the center console so she couldn't put them in her mouth and let her have fun. First thing she does, being the little genius that she is, is try to put on the seatbelt!!! YAY!!! She's figured out that if she's in the car she should be buckled in. She tries to help us buckle her into her carseat too. She has a great time driving and when we turn the car on next we always have all kinds of fun surprises, turn signals and windsheild wipers are on and all kinds of other fun things.

Last but certainly not least I HAD to post this. It's daddy's thing to fall asleep with the babies so I had to include another one of those pictures. That and they're adorable