First Snow Cone

And just because Orion is so darn cute, this gets its whole own post and me experimenting with the larger format. Orion got his first snow cone at Multnomah Falls thanks to Grandma Rose. It really is the perfect special treat for a kid who is gluten and dairy free. Of course I am not crazy about all the sugar, but ya gotta live it up sometimes!

Note the dirty fingernails - my 100% boy!


Dribble chin! And more evidence of boyness under the nose compliments of couch jumping.

Never so careful with a spoon.


Good to the last drop!
"I want to go back to that place sometime."

So it turns out the large format is not really that large! Wish I had tried it before. I think I will do all my pictures this size from now on.

A Day in the Gorge

And that wasn't even how it started! I found out one thing today - Jantzen Beach sucks! I always thought there was an interesting waterfront shopping area there, but what you can see from the bridge is apparently just boat docks and a some houseboats. I had been told the carousel was a neat place to go, but it turns out it is in some mall full of Targets and Circuit Cities and such. That is pretty much all that is on the island - a bunch of national big box stores. I would still probably take Orion there on a rainy day, but for today, we headed to the Gorge!

Wakheena Falls (need to check the spelling, but I think that is correct...)

Higher up, just before getting to the bridge

View from the bridge. It was hard to get a picture because of all the mist

Orion with Rose and Jim

I have posted pics of Multnomah Falls before, but this was my first time up to the bridge. Here is an intereting one of the bottom of the upper falls plus some of the cascades right under them.

Can you find the centipede? This water was actually inside the middle of a hollowed out tree. When I saw it, I told Orion it was a bug pool, then lo and behold, we found this little dude. We watched him for awhile as he cruised around over the leaves and skirted the edge of the water. Then when we got back down to the bottom, Rose offered to buy us each something at the gift store. Orion picked a pink pen than said Multnomah Falls and had a spinning thing that lights up on top (that was why he really chose it) and I will probably never live down choosing plastic ketchup and mustard bottles LOL. Hey, I want to start making homemade ketchup, so it was a great choice! And they came with a little piece of wood that has two holes to hold the bottles and says "Food Colorin" on it hahahaha. The Vista House! Too bad you can't see the pretty colors in the stained glass windows. I was so glad we found this place. I had a feeling that was where the road went, but there were no signs when we were on it. And this place turned out even neater than we realized. There was a whole basement section with old pictures and a gift store and the inside was all lined with marble.
The view to the left (towards Portland)
The view to the right

Delivery Day!

Rose and Jim went to visit a friend in Eugene for Tuesday and Wednesday. I spent most of Tuesday cleaning out the garage because on Wednesday we were expecting...

The Big Home Depot Delivery! Here is the transformer truck, as Ron called it. The fork lift just popped right off the end of the truck to do its job.

The ominous pile of brick

The even more ominous stretch of grass that will hopefully be a path someday soon.

The even more ominous French Doors that will hopefully occupy a large hole in our lower level. Notice the lovely clear patch of garage wall that was filled with junk just the day before.

The even more ominous... oh wait, those are just kids. In the meantime, the delivery was quite a show for the neighborhood. What started as truck watching turned into a squirt bottle fight.

Neighbor Claire says, "Let's give Orion a turn." She is really good to him.

Orion squirts back
Here comes daddy with Orion's own squirt gun.
"Thanks Dad!"
Stalking for prey

Claire soaking Orion's back
Claire making rain

Memorial Day

We decided to stick close to home on Memorial Day because Ron was afraid we would be fighting crowds everyplace. For some reason we thought the Rose Gardens would be mellow, yeah right! We almost gave up finding a parking space, but by some miracle, somebody was just pulling out on our second time through.

Snugglin with grandma near the rhodies

From zero to two family pictures in one week! We are doing great!

There were all kinds of folks hanging out in the ampitheater, so we let Orion run around here for awhile. It was awesome because there were all kinds of balls and frisbees just laying around which seemed to be community property, or at least everybody had that Portland sharing attitude happening!

Guess Orion got worn out running around because he wanted to chill in the backpack

To understand how cute this is you need to remember this is Grandma Rose....

And on a totally unrelated topic... here is some art by Orion that he made the same day. He actually asked us to come intothe playroom because he wanted to show us his art! So cute! Ron had shown him some sculpture recently and explained about how it was art, so maybe that is where he got the idea.

But I think the best part of the day was when Rose offered to watch Orion so Ron and I could go back to Home Depot on our own. Or mabye that was the worst part... hahaha. For better or worse, we bought a French Door and some bricks for a couple home improvement projects we are going to try to do on our own. More to come on that.... We also bought a light to finish up some awesome improvements we have made to our bathroom recently. When that gets all finished I will post the official before and after pictures.

Finally...

Wow, I have been quiet lately! For most of last week I was just being mellow and getting the house ready for Rose and Jim to come. The opera was great fun! Of course I did end up stressing about what to wear since everything is too small for me right now I am sad to say. It was nice to be out on my own for a few hours, though, and to do it at the opera was even better!

Rose and Jim got here Friday morning. Orion is happy to have his Grandma and Grandpa here, and we have even been getting some yard work done. On Saturday, we checked out the Beaverton Farmers' Market and did a little forest exploring.

Random Cute Farmers' Market shot

Orion checking out the cacti

When we got to the nature center, some people on the trail had bubble stuff. A woman let Orion use the wand for a few minutes, and another couple just gave him a bottle of bubbles along with a battery operated blower they had. New favorite toy!

Froggy hangin' out on the skunk cabbage

Orion loves his crazy Grandpa Jim

This is a historic picture as we realized recently we did not have a single picture of us as a family since Orion was born! So we took the opportunity to have Grandma snap one along the trail.

Sunday was mostly a church day and we have been working on clearing out what turned out to be a bumblebee hive in the composter the last owners left here! They had been filling it with mostly pine needles :rolleyes: so it was a nice mountain of bugs. I wish we had taken some pictures of it now. Darn me!

Laying Low

Just been mellow the last few days, cleansing, cleaning house, etc. I watched a little boy for a woman I know yesterday. He is 5, so not sure if he would be bored with Orion, but it went great!

But my big new is I am going to the opera tonight to see the Magic Flute! I am really excited, but I have no idea what I am going to wear LOL.

They Have Started...

...and they were sneaky. Well, that is not exactly the right word. They just snuck by me somehow when I wasn't paying attention What are they? The Whys!!! They started yesterday. I can't even remember what they were about now, but somethow I didn't think about it until today. Orion has been asking why about everything all day! Why can't I eat the corn? Because it isn't cooked yet. Why? Because I haven't cooked it. Why? Um... now the fun begins!

He also woke up sick today, saying he doesn't feel well and that his ears hurt. :( He has been sleeping more than usual today as well, but he still has time to be spunky when awake! And I am on my third day of the cleanse and doing fine. I was expecting to get some headaches today or something, but I feel totally normal... knock on wood. Hopefully I will continue to be successful with it!

My Little Man

This seems like a good picture for Mother's Day.

Orion looks so grown up there! It makes me kindof sad. Not much to report on Mother's Day. It was pretty quiet. I was helping at church in the morning, so I din't make it to the Standing Women event. I hope they do it next year.

I am starting a cleanse tomorrow, so I wanted some of my favorite foods today. We did Thai for lunch, then we took Kona to the park to run around and chase her ball, and then we had Mex for dinner. That was pretty much our day haha. But I did think alot about what Standing Women is all about and trying to bring back the original intent of Mother's Day...

I will leave you with the original Mother's Day Proclamation.

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts,whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!

Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided byirrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reekingwith carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not betaken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teachthem of charity, mercy and patience.

We women of one country will be too tender of those of anothercountry to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. Fromthe bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.It says "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balanceof justice."

Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession.As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summonsof war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for agreat and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women,to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to themeans whereby the great human family can live in peace, eachbearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that ageneral congress of women without limit of nationality may beappointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and atthe earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote thealliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlementof international questions, the great and general interests ofpeace.

Julia Ward Howe

Boston 1870

The Wonderful World of Weeds

Today one of my mom's groups went out to an amazing piece of land to learn about wild edible plants. But it turned out to be so much more! Dad is a glass blower. Daughter raises doves. The house was just as awesome as the land. Very inspiring.