Catching Up

I've been very neglectful of my blog for the past few months so here's some of the highlights:

1. July started off with a jam-packed trip to Utah.  We loved spending time with our family and friends.  It was a whirlwind of a week.

2. I made some flower arrangements for a local senior living center.

3.  We went to the "5 Monets for 100 Days" art exhibit at the Portland Art Museum.

4.  We saw some tense cavy (guinea pig) judging at the county fair.

5.  We went to the beach a few times.

6.  Mia endured months of teasing from Jason.

7.  I stopped to smell the roses at the International Rose Test Garden in Portland.

8. We fed a goat with a pulley.

9. The kids learned not to enter a log house filled with hazlenuts with Jason around.

10.  Caleb started middle school and Ethan started high school.

11.  Ethan turned 15

12. Jason and I celebrated our 17th anniversary by going to Disneyland.

13. I spent a week taking classes at The Floral Design Institute.

14. Spent a weekend in Seattle and thereabouts.  We had some Argifun and enjoyed Washington apples.

15. Jason changed out of his pajama pants and started working for Daimler.

16.  We're enjoying fall and the return of the "265 days of rain."

Summer's Over

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Summer's finally over as the kids started school today.  We had a great summer, but it's back to the old grind and waking up at 6am. :(  I had one goal this summer and it was to finish our 2009 scrapbook.  I finished with 2 weeks to spare and I'm on to 2010!  Take a look if you'd like.

Sweet Sixteen

I can't believe it, but Hiram is sixteen.  Here are some pictures from the day:

 In addition to money, Hiram got this plaque with his name written in Chinese.

 

The theme for Hiram's cake is what I like to call, "Ocean Oil Spill."  It was a combo of rainbow chip and chocolate fudge cake topped with vanilla and chocolate frosting and Swedish aqua life.

 I may or may not be standing in a hole in this picture.  Hiram is so tall!

Baboons Go to the Ape Cave

Next on the "Things to Do this Summer" list was a trip to the Ape Cave.  To Jason's disappointment this had nothing to do with apes.  The ape cave is the longest lava tube in the continental US.  It was formed 2,000 years ago when lava flowing from Mt. St. Helens cooled at the surface, but kept flowing underground creating tubes.  It was discovered in the 1950's by a group of hikers called the "St. Helens Apes."
Yesterday was one of those occasions that I felt it was my parental duty to force everyone to get out and have some fun.  I wondered why when the fighting and whining began, but I think everyone did have fun even if they wouldn't admit it. 

 Everyone was SUPER excited to be there!  It was so dark and rocky in places, but we made it to the end about 1 1/4 miles in.  Jason entertained with his ghost and monkey sounds which in turn made every kid in the cave make the same noises.  Caleb kept saying, "We're all going to die!" and that made me think that that would be a bad place to be in the event of an earthquake. Hiram thought it would be a cool place to take his cousins and Ethan thought it was a waste of his Saturday.

 Nearby the Ape Cave is The Trail of Two Forest which was pretty cool.

 I wondered why there were shallow wells everywhere, then I bothered to read the sign.They were holes where trees once were and lava burned them away.

There was a place where the kids could crawl through the underground tunnels.

It was quite a day.  I loved driving through the forest and past reservoirs with great views of Mt. St. Helens along the way.  It's such beautiful country. 

Curious Gorge

It's been 2 months now since Jason quit his job and I must say that it has been great. The mood is so relaxed in our house and I love having him around.  I wish it could go on forever, but as they say "money doesn't grow in trees."  I'm looking forward to a great summer and then he'll have to go back to the IT rat race.  That is, unless he becomes a famous author between now and Labor Day. :)

It has finally stopped raining and it's warming up!  We took advantage of the great weather last Monday and got an early start on my list of "things to do this summer."  We went on a hike near Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River gorge.

 We started at the Horsetail Falls trailhead.  You guessed it, this is Horsetail Falls.

After some steep switchbacks and the realization that we are really out of shape (as retirees flew past us), we encountered Ponytail Falls.

 It's really cool because the trail goes behind the falls.

 

Then we came to a beautiful view of the river

water dripping off a mossy cliff

 

Then we came to a bridge and the last waterfall on the tour, Oneonta Falls.

 Of course there were many beautiful wildflowers along the way.

 If you want to see another cool place we've been, go to my other blog, Chickabloom.com.

Spring Break

Last week the kids were out of school for spring break. We wanted to do something besides $1 night at a seedy bowling alley in an area where the term "Vantucky" got it's name. We chose the one day last week that it wasn't raining and headed for Lincoln City, OR for a one night vacation.
We saw this sculpture on the way at a tree farm:
This was our hotel room:
Just kidding! We stayed in a hotel :) Here are the boys skipping rocks in the shortest river in the world. D River runs from Devils Lake, under a street and into the ocean.
We saw a lot of these flowers popping up everywhere. It's called Skunk Cabbage.
While I was enjoying some quiet time in the hotel, Jason took the boys to do some crabbing. They got some raw chicken for bait and went to a spot to drop their crab pot. They didn't catch anything, but the interesting thing that happened was when they threw out their leftover chicken to the seagulls. All of a sudden the swarm of seagulls left. A few seconds later a bald eagle emerged from the forest, swooped down and grabbed the chicken with his mighty talons and returned to the forest. This happened right in front of them! I wish I had been there!
The next day we went home by way of Tillamook. The drive was so scenic. We passed a field of daffodils. If you know me, you know we had to turn around to get this picture.
If you know Jason, you know we had to turn around to get this one.

We enjoyed some Tillamook ice cream (of course) and headed home.

The Grass is Greener

For a couple of days this week we enjoyed (except for the steaming piles they left behind) our neighbor's animals hanging out in our front yard. I guess one of the horses broke through the fence. The grass is literally greener on the other side of their fence, so they were happy to feast on our long grass.
We got to feed them from the convenience of our front porch.
After Juan Carlos had enough of Jason chasing him around the yard, he headed home.

March Madness

The past month has been a busy one. Jason and I went on a one night trip to Disneyland. We were able to get a some much needed sun and fun (and Cafe Rio).
Jason's second favorite thing about Disneyland (first is going to Disneyland without the kids) is the Disneyland goats that reside behind Thunder Mountain. They are so docile. They were just waiting for us to come pet them.
My second favorite thing about Disneyland (first is going to Disneyland without the kids) is the blast of joie de vivre that I get when going on a thrill ride.

A couple of days after we returned, I went to Utah to visit friends and family.
It's always fun to catch up with the gals.
I got to arrange some of my mom's silk flowers.
My niece Olivia celebrated her third birthday with lots of Barbie! My favorite part was when she was opening Grandma's present which was in a Ziploc box and said, "Oh, we're out of these!" She was more excited when she opened the box and found beautiful handmade Barbie clothes.

Here's Olivia helping Grandpa pin the tail on the donkey.
I'm always so excited to visit, but always glad to get back to this:
A couple of days after I got back from Utah, Jason quit his job. He was very unhappy in his job and wanted to take a few months off to write his book. He is so happy now and getting into the groove of constant writing.
It's kind of fun to have him around all the time-and we can take turns taking the kids to the bus stop. :)