An experience at Twilight

At Sulley's Restaurant

We took our picture with Bella's truck at the park, did a tour of the Forks High School, took a  picture at Dr. Cullen's parking spot at the Hospital, drove by the Police Department...One of the things 'the family' had a little confusion with was that the things we were seeing weren't in the movie....I had to keep reminding them...now this is where Bella was in the REAL story - the BOOK, they just weren't able to film here, but this is the REAL PLACE....etc.

We stopped at every booth at Tillicum Park. Tristan was mesmerized by a local young man creating glass beads, inspired by Twilight...His grandmother was selling the beads made into necklaces with little metal charms that say 'forks' or hearts that have B & E on them, with keys and just very cool eclectic style to them. I couldn't decide on one, but I found a bead that I loved and am having them rework the stuff on it with a Forks tag and a key that I liked. They're going to mail it to me. I'm also going to order a couple of the small beads for Tristan and Shelby to make their own bracelets with.  check it out at www.theforksforest.etsy.com   

My favorite store is 'Dazzled by Twilight' - every single thing in the store is Twilight stuff, including the window displays of Emmett and Rosalies wedding, Rosalies Wedding dress and veil, Jaspers Union soldier outfit from the civil war, and a certain 'baby vampire with a bottle of red liquid...The ambiance inside is amazing - trees, water, and a gazebo with lights for a 'prom' photo -op. In the back is  black light room where everything glows.  Also in the back are several cases displaying the owners prized possessions - autographed photos posters, and one of a kind collectibles from her experiences with the Twilight crew.   

After dinner, we went down to First Beach, and there was already a bonfire going...we thought we'd have to wait for sunset, but before long here comes Mark, the Quileute storyteller, with a gal who's head of the reservation school, and Tinsel Corey, who plays Emily in 'New Moon'!! After the storytelling Tinsel was available for autographs and pictures....I didn't have $20 cash to pay for an autograph so we got a picture with her - at least something. All the proceeds from her autographs and photos go directly to the reservation school. She also spent some time at the school talking to the kids and giving some acting advice/lessons. If we hadn't had dinner early, we wouldn't have been down to the beach on time to hear the stories and see her.  Amazing how things worked out.  Storytelling is a very sacred tradition with the people, so they ask that no one video tape or take pictures during the storytelling.   These activities also 'break the circle' the strength and vision that the storytelling circle create.  I did take one picture of Mark (ya ya, I ran back to the car for my New Moon book, and didn't hear the part about no pictures, so someone told me and I stopped - but no I'm not deleting the picture!), but it won't be posted here, out of respect for their wishes.  It'll be in my scrapbook, along with the picture of me and the kids with Tinsel.

LaPush

Tinsel Corey!

Sunday, on the way home, we stopped at Kalama High School and took pictures where the movie was actually filmed....all the scenes at the school in the movie are here, we even walked up the hill in the back of the school as if we were going into the woods like Bella and Edward and they thought that was really fun. Kalama is really charming (steep) early 1900's houses on hills and lots of beautiful views. I can see why they filmed there, but it was one of the few places actually in Washington where they filmed. Apparently it was to expensive with the sales tax in WA...and Twilight was done on a pretty small budget.

Not a volvo or

This is where Bella walked!                              a vampire    . but he's one in a million!

We plan on visiting few more of the movie locations in Carver, St Helens and Cannon Beach. I've never done anything like this before -but it is really fun!  If you want to see any of the movie sights, or travel to the REAL FORKS, check outForks Chamber of Commerce and Twilight film locations.

Zoo Trip

We had a great trip to the zoo last Sunday. It was a comfortable day, not to hot, not too cold. We got a later start than we intended to, but it all worked out well. We also treated the kids to Olive Garden for dinner (they've always wanted to go there, but OUCH!) so we headed home from Lake Oswego about 7;30 with full tummys and memories of a happy day. We didn't really take a big vacation this summer, expenses with the car, Scott had surgery on his right thumb, etc. but all in all it's been a pretty great summer.

I'm also working on my camera skills. I'm excited to be participating in a Creative Memories webinar about 'those buttons on your camera', and learning more about aperture, ISO, composition, etc...stuff that I've read about in my camera manual but I still just don't get! So hopefully you'll see some better pictures AFTER the September 1st webinar. In the meantime, here's a few pictures that I'm proud of from our zoo trip.

"Surfin' " USA

Sometimes we have a hard time
talking Dad into getting into the pool, yet whenever it happens, he usually

comes up with some creative way of entertaining the kids in a new, inventive way. Friday night, I heard yelling from the back yard. I went to the back door to find Tristan talking (yelling) that I HAD to come watch him in the pool with Dad, and this is what they showed me! Shelby had a harder time standing up, so I was lucky to get a shot of her up at all, but it's interesting where the sunflash on the photo showed up, covering Scott just enough to make it look like she's really surfing!

Boys of Summer

For love of the game? Well, I think so, but looking at some of these pictures, you would think playing baseball was torture. Tristan keeps telling me he loves it....okay, okay. Most of the last game of the year was grumpy, arm-folded, pouting, grumpy attitude. But by the end of the game somebody mentioned it was snack time, and then there was sprinting across the field! Go figure.

Joya Awards

I was proud to learn earlier this year that my daughter, Shelby received the Optimist Student of the Month Award at Riverview School. She and 8 other students from Riverview received their awards, recognition and congratulations from many community leaders at the Joya Awards on May 18th. Optimist students have a history of becoming successful leaders in their community and in their lives.

Tristan would like to become an Optimist winner too. He commented at one point during the awards night 'I'll never get to be an optimist!'.....trust me it's difficult to explain to a 7 year old how saying that statement makes it so true! We'll keep working on our boy. :)

The link is posted so you can see the list of all the students, from all the Lebanon area schools who received Optimist Awards this year.

http://http//www.lebanon-express.com/articles/2009/06/04/news/local/local66.txt

Family Project

Scott and I have been wanting to build a play structure in our yard for the past couple of years. Unfortunately house renovations have always gotten in the way. So, we have made a commitment to get this done this summer before the kids get too old to even enjoy a play structure! So we started it last weekend, and of course the kids get to help. They've helped with almost everything as we've renovated the house, running for tools (well, not actually running - but hurrying) holding flashlights, handing us screws or nails, and even using the hammer and drills a few times. So Shelby and Tristan were pretty excited to put their renovation experience to good use helping with the fort. And of course we had a couple of spectators very interested in what we were up to outside.

Amusing Math Homework

It never fails to amaze me how literal and matter-of-fact a child can be when answering a question. Today, helping Tristan with his math homework was one of those days. His teacher requests that parents review and initial the homework each day before returning it to school. (don't we all do that? Apparently not, because she needs us to initial it to prove that we've looked at it.)

Any way, I've attached a photo of a question on today's homework, which Tristan answered with his usual literal preciseness. It is so plainly obvious that I'm surprised I did not get this...he he....and I tried SO HARD not to laugh, but once the chuckle started it wouldn't stop, and luckily he was in a good mood instead of being devestated that I would laugh at his homework.

I hope you enjoy his answer as much as I did! I love my kids.