Quil Ceda Elementary Outdoor Education

Quilceda Elementary 4th and 5th graders move in for 2 1/2 days for outdoor education. Through the school year they have to earn points for good behavior etc and if they get 3 demerits, they can't come. They have classes on beading, canoeing, archery, outdoor games etc. Then when they come for meals, we serve the 4th graders first, then the 5th graders. There are 40 high school counselors, 40 parents and 9 teachers. The rest are kids. We served from 275 to 304 people per meal. There were drop ins each day which made the count rise for lunch. Mealtime was organized chaos!!! It was also important that we have the meals ready on time as they had a tight schedule.

This was the applecrisp going into the convection ovens for day 2 lunch. We had to plan all baking around the meal prep. Somehow we had enough pans for each day. 11 trays of cookies, 6 pans of apple crisp, 12 trays of cinnamon rolls, 5 large boneless hams (45# total), 300 hamburger patties, 40# of ground turkey, 10 flats of strawberries.... I think you get the picture.
This is Jane and Penny. Penny is in charge of the Dining Hall and ordering food. She keeps us on the straight and narrow and our budget under control. She is amazing.

A lot of our work was prep work. Jim & Bob are slicing tomatoes for the hamburgers. Every piece of fruit, tomatoes, carrots etc has to be washed and then sliced, shredded or chopped. Salads to be made and fruit portions to be sliced. Two trays for each side. 8 gal of milk per meal.

Here is Jane at the washing station for the veggies and fruits. We were blessed with excellent team mates. Everyone helped each other.

Jared and Tara were our pots & pans "dish pigs". They are also the cooks for the next group coming into camp. Here they are going over their order sheets with Penny. Their's is a specialized menu for vegetarians.

Here is a food line. It is hard to get a picture of the whole set up. This is the beverage station and the end of the line. They usually start with fruit or salad, then the main entree like hamburgers and sweet potato fries, all the condiments, cookies, watermelon and beverage.

Getting up at 4:30 am, we were blessed to see a gorgeous sunrise.

It comes up over Mt Baker and the Chuckanut mountains. God's blessing on the day.

Different jobs at the campgrounds.

Our main job here at the campgrounds is to keep 40 acres of grass mowed. This is me on the little mower that I do the RV park with. We also try to use it around the cabins, as it picks up the grass so they don't track it in the different buildings.
This is Bob on the big John Deere. It is used on the bigger areas, like the playing field, trails, parking lot and other areas..

Last year I put on 150 mattress covers and this year we put on another 150. A two stage job when you are a shorty. Pull it all onto the top half and then..

... sit the mattress up and pull it down the rest of the way.

Then there are the water line leaks. This one was the result of the buses or trucks that ran over this connection. Later on we had a septic line problem causing a back up into one of the main restrooms. What a mess that was. Never a dull moment.

Another one of my duties... help put away the grocery orders for the camps. There are 2 trucks that come once a week and bring produce, breads, canned goods, freezer goods. I get to help check the list and make sure we got everything and that everything is acceptable. Penny does the walk in cooler and frozen goods. I do the pantry and cleaning products (toilet paper, towels, soap, etc)

The latest job was as cook for one of the groups. This is apple crisp for 275 people. They are ready for the oven. It is unreal the amount of food we went through. Who knows what else is around the corner. But there will always be grass to mow.

The Painter's Final Products

This painting is quite detailed and is to be used for a Bainbridge Island tour event. The middle will have a map in it. She is even going to make note cards from this. Note the ferry boats, mountain and even a slug on the tap. Very detailed work.
This picture doesn't do justice to this water color. The deep hues of this flower were exquisite.

I love different types of doors, so this one caught my eye. It makes you want to open the door and see what is on the other side.

This shows a variety of the paintings done. Some very modernistic.

I love this one. I could title it the Wragge boys. (my cousin's boys). Another week at the campground comes to an end.

Beginning of the NW Water Color Society week

For the next 4 days, the water color painters have taken over the campground. They set up the tables in the dining hall so there are two people to a table. They arrange their painting area and start to work on some wonderful paintings. Today they literally blew in with the wind and rain. They were greeted by a dessert buffet for their evening snack. It sure doesn't look like the camping food we usually get.
Crackers with brie cheese, another assorted cheese plate, mixed nuts, butter tarts & lemon tarts.

Veggie plate, fruit plates and chocolate dipped strawberries. They were so good.

This iris arrangement was in the center of the table. Aren't they gorgeous.

Patti is the head cook for the next 4 days and has 3 helpers. I think she does a lot of the baking ahead of time. She is a hard act to follow.

Flora, Fauna and Wild Things on Samish

The continual battle for food goes on from sunup to sundown. They are so pretty when the sun reflects on their colors. The left is a rust colored rufous hummingbird. On the right is a green one.
At the bottom of the hill by the burn pile you look out to the east over the commercial oyster beds.

To the west is a view of Freestad Lake. It is a man made lake dug out by Sig Freestad so the campers could swim without waiting for the tide to come in. It is a salt water lake. Right now we have a problem with jelly fish, which unfortunately sting when disturbed.

A salmon berry blossom.

Wild honeysuckle. The humming birds love this.

Part of the trees on the bluff. This tree has the most beautiful rust colored leaves.

If you can make it out, it is a humming bird nest. It is attached to a stem of Oregon Grape. I didn't get to see the momma on the nest. Any sound and they are out of there.

Down by the grass dumping pile, I found 3 peacocks or peahens. They were not disturbed by me at all. Just gave me the once over and went on their merry way. This is very near the Blue Heron Rookery. We call it the white forest. Will have to get some pictures of them in the future and also of the bald eagles that fly over. More later....

May 13th The Grass keeps Growing

This was part of our afternoon. The winds this winter blew alot of branches off the trees. They had to be picked up before we mowed.
This was the beginning of the 2nd load. Not bad for an old lady.

Then I got to drive while Bob picked up for awhile. I am starting to learn how to back this thing up !!

Then it was off to mowing... Myrna did the RV park for the 2nd time. This grass grows fast and it hasn't even rained since we arrived.

Bob got the big mower to do the fields below the RV park.

This is inside the dining hall . The dish line where the dishes are washed and sanitized. This is our dear friend Patti. She wears these wonderful hats, because she and fluorescent lights don't get along. I think the purple one is her favorite. She also does the baking for this group. Yesterday it was brownies, today cookies at lunch and apple cake for dinner. Tomorrow it will be snickerdoodles for their lunch.

This is the food line where they are dishing up salad, spaghetti and meat balls, rosemary rolls and there is that apple cake. The students help with the serving. That is the end of another long day.

May 8th on to Samish Island

Well our last day on the road for awhile. The temps ranged from 51 degrees to 70. A very pleasant day. The diesel was 3.34 in Tacoma. Back on interstate 205 around Portland and onto I 5 for the rest of the trip. We came on an accident in the south bound lanes. It was a small suv towing a travel trailer. I can only assume they didn't have sway bars and it may have been too much trailer for the tow vehicle. The trailer was on it's side and the suv was upside down pointing the wrong way up the road. Both vehicles were totaled. I only hope that no one was seriously hurt. It didn't look too promising.

As we were driving along, we saw more and more scotch broom in blossom. The picture is a little out of focus as I was taking it out of the side window. It is a sure sign of spring well on its way.
I love this view. We crested over the hill and descended into the Skagit Valley. We are home. We have lived in the Skagit Valley off and on for 25 years. It has a special place in our hearts. We arrived at Samish Island and unhooked the 5th wheel after 2700 miles.

As we were setting up, we were getting dive bombed by this little critter. So first thing, the hummingbird feeder was set up. We are constantly entertained by lots of hummers. We found a nest in the woods, so I will return with the camera and hope for a good picture. Then we looked up and an eagle flew over. There are lots of blue herons in the bay and the gold finches have arrived along with the tree and barn swallows. I love those swallows as they eat lots of mosquitoes.


The trees are still in bloom here. Lots of pink dogwood. This one happens to be in the church yard.

Also lots of rhododendrons of all colors. We ended our day by having dinner with our friends Lee and Jean. It was great and Jean makes the best pies.

We surprised everyone by arriving earlier than planned. Someone had mowed our site and we were given this planter to have by our door.

Here is a close up of the sign and frog pick. The flower twirls with the wind. We were warmly welcomed by many of our friends. The days ahead will be busy, so the posts will be hit and miss. I will at least try to give you a taste of what we are doing. It is good to be working and giving back to something we dearly love. The camping program for the Community of Christ.

May 7th on to Tualitin, OR

Well this wasn't our destination for today, we actually were going to stop in Eugene or Salem. But you know when you get closer to your final destination, it makes you push on a little harder. By this time we were getting road weary and ready to get to Samish and stay put for a spell.

We started out at 43 degrees and ended up the day at 70 degrees. It was beautiful.

The white line on the road can get pretty monotonous. However the scenery was becoming more beautiful. The wildflowers consisted of purple lupine, california poppy, japanese iris in yellow and purple and queen anne's lace. The trees were getting taller. Huge Douglas Fir, cedar, alder, dogwoodand some azaleas and rhododendrons.
The rivers were becoming clearer and as we wound around the mountains there were rushing streams. Lots of ups and downs at the beginning of this day. We climbed to different summits only to come down (6% ) grades and then climb again. This happened all the way to Roseburg. We arrived about 3:30 pm at the Portland RV Park. What a lovely spot. All paved roads and sites. Free cable and wifi.

Lots of rhododendrons in bloom or ready to bloom. The nature trail takes you right down by the river.

This was our site. Mostly pull throughs and long enough you can stay hooked up. We managed to stay hooked up for the whole trip.



I love these exit signs with the gentle reminders. People have forgotten these, even their spouses.
The diesel god wasn't smiling today. $3.26/gal.