You Spin Me Right Round Baby

Akasha's new favorite hobby.

The Genetic Predisposition to Adorn

Not staying anything about gender here.... All I know is Orion didn't do this. Akasha loves to drape things on herself. Whether it is something she can wear like a necklace, a bracelet or a scarf, she will experiment with every way it can be worn.

She even had the little clutch hold going on.

What Does a Wooly Bear Turn Into?

That was the question the other day as we have been seeing so many when we go out on walks these days. So we looked it up! Here is the both they become for any of you that have ever wondered:

Not as exciting as I expected it to be considering how colorful the catepillar is, but now we know!

Simon Says....

O: Let's play Simon Says!

Me: Simon says stick out your tongue (he does).

Simon says touch your nose (he does).

Simon says spank your butt.

O: What does that mean?

I guess what I meant was something more like "pat your butt". Guess we all know how I was raised.... Didn't even think about what was coming out of my mouth. Kindof glad for my mistake, though, as this was so sweet. :)

We Finally Have a Nature Altar!

I have always loved this idea but have never managed to get one going. In the past, Orion would set something on there for a few minutes, tops, then it would end up somewhere else in the house or back outside or crumpled up, or whatever. Which is fine. Who am I to tell him how to experience nature? But I am enjoying it now that he is "into" the idea. He wants to look for stuff on walks and decide where to put it. He still decides to crumple up alot of the leaves when they dry or take a hammer to the various pod type things, but this is the first time this much stuff has actually up and make a pretty display in our dining area!

Ruby is Five!

Lots of birthdays this time of year!

Not the greatest picture ever, but I liked it because you can see part of the card Orion made for Ruby. She has a party hat on, and there were also balloons and streamers on it. The inside had a cake with 5 candles. Such a drawing fool he is getting to be!
Explaining the card to Ruby.
Mr. Turtlehead craning in. Amazing how much he already knows all about gender differences in toys, especially considering we watch no TV that has commercials. Usually it is a long list of "I want that" about everything that gets opened. Never said once today. Hmmm, kindof depressing really.
Waiting for cake....
Ruby, also waiting for cake. She looks more patient!
Akasha spent most of her time doing this. Girl loves to wander. Going to have to keep my eye on this one!
Matching dresses, matching forks. :)
Must be good stuff!
Such a serious face for eating cake!
Doing her Sean Penn impression.
Not sure about this one!
Pinata time! Ruby has a great idea for how to pass the time between turns!
"Whack!"
Candemonium!
It's not so easy to get a picture of a toddler next to a stream with a bank while holding on to her at the same time!

This ended up a long post because the kids went on a nature walk, well more of a nature run it seemed! My kids wanted to hang out by the water more, so I get some neat extra shots.
In she went! Dirty butt and all.
My boy, embracing nature.
"Take a picture of this, Mom!" He is into saying that over and over these days!
This would be Akasha throwing her shoes LOL!
I guess this was the theme of the day.
I love this picture because Akasha looks like she is looking at Orion with such adoration. "Teach me the ways of nature, Master."
"Well, the first rule is, whatever you find, you must hold up to your face and have a picture taken like that."
Just how dirty did her butt get...?
A rare moment of stillness.
What was the first rule again? Just be careful. If you do it too much, you might go cross eyed.
Or end up with leaves in your hair.

A Sentence!

Akasha is in love with bugs these days, especially crane flies. She has said, "Where'd it go?" about things, but I think she is usually just imitating the sounds after I have said the same thing. Last night, we were watching a crane fly, and it buzzed out of sight. She said, as clear as day, "Where'd the buggy go?" Little cutie.

Hahaha!

O: (drawing a picture he felt he made a mistake on) Man, I was trying to draw a pirate, but this guy has two eyes.
Me: Pirates do have two eyes.... Just color a patch over one and draw in some string.
O: Oh, never mind, I'll just make this one a human instead.

Ummmmmm, OK.

If you give a kid a camera...

...chances are, he'll build some Lego creations to go along with it. :)

Orion has been movie crazy lately! He will spend ages working on them in his room. Sometimes he does this thing... it is hard to describe, but I will try. He says he has an idea, and then he puts his thumbs and pointer fingers together on either side of his eyes, then kindof pulls them outward and opens them. Maybe I have a future director on my hands! These are just a few of my favorites out of MANY more.

One of the first - some expensive Legos there!


This one is funny regarding how patient and thorough he was about destroying the one creation. Must.completely.break! Also love the "shiiiiiip".


Not the greatest quality on this one, but I just love the variety. He goes from making a store to destroying things to riding and feeding a horse. :)


Now it gets weird! He used to go to the "Daddy Gym" with Ron sometimes, which was actually his MMA class, so he has seen some wrestling type stuff. Not thrilled about the emphasis on winning and losing, but hard to avoid in our society. The part I literally laughed out loud about, though, was the little victory dance. Can you say Kali?


And the weirdness continues. I love how this guy is just walking along, gets trapped, and then keeps walking as if nothing happened. Also cool how Orion checks his frame in this one to make sure the cup is correctly placed.


Nothing super special about this one besides the cute sound effects, but it is notable because I think this is the first time he thought to himself, hey, I can get in my own movie if I want to!


Which let to this! Oh, the hilarity!


But this is the crowning glory for sure. I swear, my boy is not stark raving mad, but he does a convincing imitation eh? And lovin' the hair.

It's That Time of Year....

Homegrown Tomatoes by Guy Clark

Ain't nothin' in the world that I like better
Than bacon & lettuce & homegrown tomatoes
Up in the mornin' out in the garden

Get you a ripe one don't get a hard one
Plant `em in the spring eat `em in the summer
All winter with out `em's a culinary bummer
I forget all about the sweatin' & diggin'
Everytime I go out & pick me a big one

Homegrown tomatoes homegrown tomatoes
What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes
Only two things that money can't buy
That's true love & homegrown tomatoes

You can go out to eat & that's for sure
But it's nothin' a homegrown tomato won't cure
Put `em in a salad, put `em in a stew
You can make your very own tomato juice
Eat `em with egss, eat `em with gravy
Eat `em with beans, pinto or navy
Put `em on the site put `em in the middle
Put a homegrown tomato on a hotcake griddle

If I's to change this life I lead
I'd be Johnny Tomato Seed
`Cause I know what this country needs
Homegrown tomatoes in every yard you see
When I die don't bury me
In a box in a cemetary
Out in the garden would be much better
I could be pushin' up homegrown tomatoes

In the car today....

O: Will the earth live forever?
Me: (pondering all the ways of looking at that and wondering what he was getting at) Hmmm, yeah, I suppose it will.
O: What if i giant meteor crashes into it?!
Me: Ah. Well, there really aren't meteors that big I don't think, and they usually mostly burn up in the atmosphere. (And deciding not to go into the fact that there would probably be *something* left, even if there was no life on it.)
O: Well, better call the president!

Hmmm, does he know something we don't?

Swiftwathch 2009

The Chapman Swifts are a pretty famous bunch of birds that roost in a big chimney every fall in Porltand. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people turn out nightly to watch them descend in a beautiful spiral. Just one more reason to love this city. Hawks make regular appearances, and there is a huge collective ooohhhhh. Some cheer and some boo as they invariable make off with a swift. Alas, just the food chain. Orion said he thought it would be sad if it was a baby bird... interesting.

Early on, just a few birds. At this point, it is really interesting to scan the horizon to see that they are showing up from every direction.
Pandemonium on the hill! Adults watch the birds while kids slide down the hill. Something for everyone!
Orion never did get the hang of the sliding. If you look really closely, you can see him in the white shirt way down on the flat part.

Boys chattin' it up.
Owen taking a break, watching the birds maybe?
Numbers increasing.
Some interesting aerial patterns forming now.
Akasha was very excited watching them! She even threw her arm up in the air a number of times, but I kept missing it. This is why I could never be a child photographer - too slow!
So... that's Orion at the top right corner of the cage....
At that point, I tuned my ears and body language sensor in. Sure enough, he was stuck and needed help getting down!

Hey, the view from down on the field was even better!
Some of the final moments.
So very cool. Glad we went!

ETA: I forgot to add there has even been a movie made about the swifts, and I love the trailer for it:

Sushi Monster!

One of Orion's Little Big Planet creations! I thought this one was worthy of immortalizing. What a crack up!

Argggh Mateys!

Ron wasn't feeling well and wanted to crash most of the day, so we made a last minute decision to go to the Pirate Festival!

And thanks to Sarah, we even had some garb! Cute Pirate Boy:
Mean Pirate Boy!
There were a couple groups and even more individuals who brought their lovely birds out for the day.
Don't you love random kids who stick their heads in your pictures?! LOL

This was one of several free pirate themed games they had set up. Or you could pay $1 to collect a stamp at each one and turn it in for some treasure. Not a bad deal!
I thought this was rather silly. You loaded some balls in to the end of the cannon, then all they did was tip it up to dump them out! But I swear, Orion must have gotten in line to do this 15 times!

This one was supposed to be like Swabbin the Deck I guess:

Cracks me up to hear a pirate say "Good Job!"

This one was called Bat A Rat hahaha!
It was kindof like golf, only with bats and rats! Here are the victims in their goal:
This was the best game for Orion I think! They had all these large bundles that were supposed to represent cargo, and they had to run across an area to "deliver" it.
During one of the times, when he got down to the last one, the girl working the game kept going and getting one from his finished pile and sneaking it back into the start area. It was hilarious. He would run over and think he was done, and then she would call, "You're not finished yet!" She did it like 4 times. The look on his face was classic, like they were just magically appearing. In the picture above, Orion and Akasha are both jumping and falling on the cargo since nobody was waiting to play the game.

Orion also liked this tent, where a group putting on swordfighting lessons and exhibitions had several weapons on display. That is a blunt sword he is holding.... I swear.... The kid in the red bandana rocked. He was only 8, but he was working there and took it so seriously. He went on and on explaining all sorts of stuff to Orion!
Stage area where they were putting on a play for kids. Orion liked it when it was empty.
Akasha, in one of her current favorite spots, poking at Kettle Korn. She didn't ever sit in a stroller until she was almost a year old, so now I guess it is novel for her! She asks to sit in it several times a day, even when we are home.
This little grassy area turned into swordfighting central. Orion didn't fare too well with his little foam sword, but on the other hand, he could whack people with it as hard as he wanted and not hurt anybody!
Akasha decided the dirt was the best place to be! Oh my gosh, she got filthy in this spot! At one point, she actually put her cheek all the way on the ground, like she was giving it a snuggle! She was covered from head to toe!
Glad we went. I had always thought it was overpriced, but almost everything there, activitywise for kids, is free, or close to it. Of course, there are lines to go with it, but at least they don't nickel and dime you to death. I had my first real taste of two mobile kids going in opposite directions, which was a bit stressful in a crowd like that, but Orion was really great at staying fairly close by. I only lost him two or three times! Not bad, huh? Seriously, it was only like I couldn't spot right away a couple times, but he was always right there and popped back up. How do people with three littles do it? Or more? I felt a bit neurotic at moments, but this was probably a good lesson regarding what's in store!