Deep In Tillamook Forest...

...a camping trip unfolds. We spent a couple days with these good folks. A collective pact determined we'd consume as much sugar as possible in a 24 hour period. It started with those giant marshmallows and only improved from there.

Grant (8 mo.), Hazel (3 mo.), and Clara (5 mo.). Not pictured: 40 other children. And Stephanie.

A lunch stop at the Forestry Center (cheesecake, cupcakes - a happy B-day nod to Dave) before heading to Tillamook for ... ice cream cones. Double scoop.
If you ever want a really relaxing, easy camping trip, go with these sisters. They will plan all the meals, fix them, reserve the campsites, sing prettily, take your kids hiking, make you laugh and tell some good stories. Wait? Is that more cheesecake in the foreground of that picture???

We parted company after the ice cream. Sufficiently carbo-loaded, it was now time for my scheduled long-run (Briton was smart and ran earlier that morning). The beach was beckoning but my spirit was saturated with simple sugars. It was a beautiful run. But very, very slow.

H2C and Solids

Briton ran Hood to Coast with a speedy Intel team: Quad Corps. That's a clever pun because Intel has quad core processors (whatever in the heck that means) but this was a corps of runners (quad muscles being key). And like all puns the humor dissipates with the explanation. So, uh ... moving on ... He had fun.

Next up: Clara. She's sixth months old already, folks. Time to mix things up a bit with a little rice cereal facial.

Another day this Tea Party was occurring in the Garden Room:
Tal and Syd have spent a lot of time playing together lately. I think it's because they share a room now. For the most part it's pretty cooperative. Talmage avoids the role of Mrs. Nesbitt by taking on manly tasks like maneuvering furniture and packing (they were about to leave on a trip to Africa).

A Heather-cane

You know how Heather & Rick live on the east coast. While everyone else was evacuating the Outer Banks, she and Rick left the comforts of their Virginia home to watch Hurricane Earl from the front row seats of their OB beach house. They live on the edge like that. A day or so before they drove south, though, Heather was brewing her own storm, as she is wont to do when she gets an idea.

"Robin!" she calls, one morning out of the blue, en route to the fabric store, "I'm making three dresses for Sydney." (Notice: not one. not two. but three).

"Robin!" she calls, that same day, later in the afternoon, en route to the post office, "What's your address again?" They were done. All of them. In one day!!! Including CHOOSING the fabric! A sewing storm. Below are the pictures of Sydney modeling said dresses. She wore the dragonfly dress all day long and discovered, as it turns out, that it also doubles as pajamas (i.e. she refused to take it off):

Fast Asleep (mmm. looks like Syd's hair got caught in a hurricane).

The next day the flower dress had its turn. All the fabrics and notions are super cute. It makes a girl giddy! (And for those who care: the stitching is precision itself):

My, my. How the spaghetti mug complements that rick-rack.
I love her shiny, happy eyes in these two photos. Like I said. Giddy.

The second video is the third dress, which also doubles as a soccer outfit. Anyway, thanks again, Aunt Heather! We love them.

Catching up, To Be Continued...

Next up: Family Reunion, July 2010.

Catfish 2

is the name of the swim level Talmage is working on at the SHARC. He's learned all sorts of skills these past 4 weeks, like back float, front and back glides, kicking and bobs.

Talmage is hesitant about submerging his face - his major obstacle to moving past the Catfish 2 level. That reservation aside, he loves swimming lessons and playing in/with water.

Today was the last day of class. All the kids got to go down the water slide:

with Tessa, his teacher.

They also got to try the diving board. I'm proud o' the T for walking the plank all by himself. After he stood at the end for a minute or so, an instructor joined him at the brink. Check out how he gets down:

International Living

Andrea, from the Madrid region, stayed with us for the past three weeks. She spent the days in language class with other teenagers and during the nights and weekends she spent her time with us and ... we partied. She brought into focus the World Cup, Uno Attack, the Spanish elements in Toy Story 3 and hamburgers.

Sunday evening at the Rose Garden

St. Paul RODEO

Chillin' in the bleachers on a chilly JULY evening with a sleepy chile.

We thought we'd show Andrea what some people like to do in America. After the buckin' broncos I think she was ready to go home. But she was a good sport to stick it out. We probably should have just gone to the mall.

July 4th (er, 3rd) PARADE
Clara and Andrea became great pals.

Please contrast Sydney's hairdo with this hairdo of a good friend's daughter.

Camping: Little Crater Lake

Little Crater Lake IS little. It's beauty lives up to it's namesake.
We also hiked over to Timothy Lake.

Karren bought us a bag of these marshmallows that were as big as your head (and mine, apparently).


It was cold. Later, we found out Andrea was terrified about going camping. But again, she was a good sport about it.

A Quick Gander in Seattle
Looking back, it was a good experience to host a foreign exchange student. We're happy our lives intersected and who knows, maybe one day we'll get to see her again in her neck of the woods. That would be a treat.

Airing Out Our Dirty Laundry

A retraction:

Sydney is not potty trained.

Last night was a low moment. And today it got lower.

Last night, around 10 p.m., we heard her calling out. Investigating the plea, Briton found Sydney standing undressed IN her top dresser drawer. His smeller told him there was more to the scene than met the eye. Sure enough, buried under the underwear were a couple logs. We went through each piece of clothing, pulling out the casualties. A third solo log leaned, camouflaged, against the base of the dresser.

Tonight, when recalling the event, Briton cajoled, "Come on, Robin. It's kind of funny."

Maybe I'll laugh about it later, but after today's numerous accidents (including several on the newly cleaned carpet) and after she put her poo in the potty (per our instructions last night) - except doing it by hand-delivering it to the commode - well - I gave up. Uncle, I cry.

She is in diapers again. Oh. And she's sleeping in the crib, with a binkie.

Advice anyone?

In the wee hours before 4

The inspiration.

Our attempt at replication:
That "4" is made out of rice krispy treats and marshmallow fondant (and a fistful of skewers for structural support). Pretty good for a couple of amateurs.

Happy Birthday, Talmage. You are the inspiration. [insert photo of Talmage. iPhoto is currently wigging out).

Would You Care for Some "T"?

Or Maybe a "P"?

The peas are lucking out this long, cool June. Can't say the same for the tomatoes. Meanwhile, we've been sowing some memories:

Memorial Day weekend camp out with the Wilde's and Everton's along the Rogue River (I mean, along I-5). We chose the Rogue for the white water rafting but ended up doing a jet boat excursion which was much more family friendly for our demographic. The rapids will have to wait 'til Clara is a little older. We enjoyed a walk along the river, though, a long-run along the fields, excellent company, and a place for the kids to run amok and hang from the strings of the hammock.

We started a new tradition for summer fun. Talmage and I brainstormed a million ideas of things to do and then put them on strips of paper inside a duck (not a real duck). At the beginning of the week he and Syd draw out 2 or 3 slips of paper and then we schedule that activity into the week. So far they have painted rocks....Caught red, uh, blue-handed...

(what can happen when a painting rock activity goes too long without parental supervision. Truth is, I actually like the handy look Talmage created here. I can see him thinking his artistic endeavor would improve the welcoming feel of our front porch. I felt sort of bad telling him we'd have to wash it off. ..."And don't do it again, kid, or I'll break your fingers.")

... Had a water balloon fight:

They really liked hucking the balloons onto the deck, rather than at each other. I don't get why two kids who enjoy tormenting each other on a regular basis weren't more into the "fight" part of water balloon fight. We'll have to work on that.


We went to the Zoo with Honey Jo and kids. Last week we had a backyard campout, which aborted after bedtime stories in the tent. But it was still fun to do. We also learned a magic trick - making a quarter disappear. I'd give you the link to how to do the trick, except maybe I'll do it for you one day and a real magician never tells how they do their tricks. The week ended with a most excellent day at the beach with the Farrer's and friends. Briton made a clam gun and was able to demolish some clams. Afterwards we heeded the signboards advertising the Scandinavian Festival in Astoria. We watched some traditional dancing, ate a smorgasbord, listened to a brass band that accompanied a cutely-rhymed epic poem, was reminded that Iceland is one of the Scandinavian countries (?), took Sydney to the bathroom 20 times (but hey, she didn't have one single accident the whole day!), and took the VERY scenic route home (202 and 47).

Oh, yeah. Sydney is potty trained. That was fun.

We bought a fifth of a cow. Betsy is in our deep-freeze, packaged in butcher paper into lumps of of ground beef, London Broil (we ate some of that tonight), tenderloin, roast, etc. Betsy was grass-fed and treated humanely.

Briton and I saw the new Karate Kid movie. We kept winking at each other whenever we saw something we'd been to when we were in China. It was very romantic.

This week Talmage turns four. He's been anticipating this birthday for a loooong time and has specific expectations. This is the first birthday party where I feel like I want to "make it count". So we're going all out. Friends, birthday games, a real cake. We're also hosting a high school student from the Madrid region for three weeks. She comes on Friday.

That's some of the stuff that is going on. Not many pictures. But look, you made it to the end!

Cousins and Honey Jo's Arm

Joseph and Talmage both adore Clara.

F/S

T and I loaded up the pickup and headed down the road to Horning's Hideout for the annual Father and Son campout...

Pleasure cruise on paddle boat:

Wildlife: (the lake was crawling with salamanders and jumping with fish)


This place had some archaic playgrounds, but I've never experienced a faster slide. We should have been wearing crash helmets...


After a few marshmallows and a fireside, T announced he was ready to hit the sack...

Always Remember...

... the way you danced, with both feet off the ground;

... That you are ...

... a beautiful princess.

"Look at my pretty dress."



"Jed! You can dance with some of the pretty princesses."

Toile and tu-tus have hit our house full-storm. Heather, embracing this new interest of Sydney and her friends, went all out. She made the dresses featured here. Thanks, Aunt Heather!

The Better To See You With

Discovering Portland

At the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette sits Kelley Point Park. For further details of this afternoon, feel free to contact me (spoiler alert: pouncing dogs, tarry feet, locked bathroom doors; fighting; stubborn children, crying baby, muddy clothes, deranged mom).

On the Relativity of "Valuable":

I love filling out surveys and questionnaires. There's something about the Likert Scale that really makes my skirt fly up.

Several months ago we received a lengthy questionnaire in the mail from a consumer research firm. They promised it would be worth my while. As if the satisfaction from filling in those bubbles wasn't reward enough. I sharpened my #2 and got to work. Upon mailing the completed forms, I promptly forgot about them.

Until today. Today Ruth (our cool mailman, er, woman) delivered an envelope that contained the promised reward: "valuable coupons"!

I couldn't wait to sift through the supposed stack of coupons. Turns out the "stack" consisted of just two coupons:

One for $3 off some name-brand allergy medication that we don't use.
One for $1.50 off a laundry stain remover that we don't use.

That was it.

I hope they mail me a feedback questionnaire so I can let them know, on a scale of 1-10, how lame their rewards were.

The Street Will Provide (Again)

Today realized the fulfillment, once again, of ye old adage "The street will provide" (and your friends).

Karren called from Seattle yesterday and asked if we wanted to have the almost expired chuck roast in their fridge. (It now occurs to me I could have suggested freezing it. Oh, well). This morning, I hopped in the truck to secure said roast. I had worked the night before, getting home at 1:30 a.m. Clara had woken up to eat at 2 and 6 am. Since this was just a dash in and dash out errand, with no chance of seeing anyone, I neglected the social niceties such as putting on shoes, brushing hair, wearing a bra for going out in public.

Then ... IT appeared in my vision: a wooden trellis standing on the sidewalk in front of Karren's neighbor's house. Signs tied all over it proclaimed: Free.

A trellis has been on my hit list for four years. I couldn't believe my good fortune to run across this free one. The truck screeched to a stop. The guy offing the trellis was on his driveway and I took no thought for my appearance when I leaped out and gushed, "Really!!!!! Free???????" One look at me and the guy must have thought, "This lady looks like she could use a lot more help than a free trellis." He handed me a fiver after we loaded it up onto the truck.

On another matter: Happy Mother's Day.

p.s. just kidding about the fiver. It was a fifty.
No. jokes. All jokes. Except about the trellis and me looking disheveled. The trellis really was free and is now standing sentinel to our garden and I really did look like I'd slept in the truck all night.

If I Were A Gambling Woman...

... I'd run a marathon with you.

Go to the St. George Marathon website, lottery results page. For your convenience, you may click on this link . Scroll to the bottom and where it asks to search for last name, type in ours.

That was fun.

20 Seconds

*Notice: No babies were harmed in the making of this montage.

How They Grow

Above: Spinach
Middle: Peas

Six weeks old

Below: Baby

Eight weeks old