A Cache and a Bday

Took a trek a bit north to go to a party, and had to stop at a cache. ;) This is probably the best stocked cache I have ever seen! Orion got this little handheld electronic soccer game and just kept saying, "Why would anybody give this up?!" LOLAkasha ended up with the cutest chocolate goatee. I wish the picture was clear!
Just love that Akasha has so many sweet older kiddos who like to play with her. :)

Editing to add two more goatee pics I got! :)

No, as a matter of fact, those aren't hard boiled...

Akahsa was obsessed with peeling and eating the colored eggs this year, so she helped herself to these as well. Not sure if she was still hoping for a hardboiled egg or enjoying her sensory experience or both. PS... I wasn't home....

A Sail on the Hawaiian Chieftan!

I was hoping for nice weather, but it was rainy and chilly when we first got on the ship. Orion was a trooper though!
Heading out with the sister ship behind us.
Orion was really thrilled with the whole pulling up of the sails business. I got lots of video I will upload when I can. Then somebody had to climb way up to do some adjustments to the sails.
This guy did a cannon demonstration Orion was pretty interested in.
Although as usual, it only looked like he wasn't paying attention, but it turned out he was picking up more than I was. The guy had a whole tool kit he brought out and explained each one. Orion was twirling around, jumping up and down some stairs and not even looking at the guy the whole time. Then at the end, when the guy asked for questions, he was immediately pointed and said, "What does that tool do?" I am thinking, oh gee, he is asking something the guy already went over, but it turned out it was something the guy had not covered! An adult even complimented him on what a good question it was. I swear, I don't know how the kid does it, but it totally amazes me!

I thought this was a neat shot:
The Lady Washington all decked out.
Crew doing some work out on the bow.
And Orion wanted a shot there too. :)
I thought the compass was quite lovely. It is normally encased in a big, spherical, brass thing, but the captain took the cover off for me.
Captain putting the lid back on. The attached cylindrical area in the foreground is a place for a candle so you can see it in the dark!
Love this reflection in the glass!
The sun came out at the end and we got some gorgeous sunset light. Here is the crew back up in the rigging making sure the sails are all properly tied up.

And then wowser, what a wonderful surprise! A lovely rainbow!
Don't you just know when you get a picture of your kid that is going to be a favorite for all time? :D
Another dramatic shot - came out looking darker than it was but really neat!
More rainbow, cuz I am a sucker for rainbows lol.

And more workin'.
I thought it was neat how the train bridge opens on a swivel. I never knew that. Also, that is the first mate in the foreground, who turned out to be a geocacher!
Overall, a good trip. I think it was a bit long for Orion because of the cold - he had no interest in all the details about the sails or the shanties lol. Well, I take that back. True for the sails as he wasn't even near, but then he remembered the words to one of the songs later. There was a repeating part that said, "Haul away, haul away, haul away girls," and later he asked me why it was just girls lol! He is getting to that age of fairness. :)

Here is the video version:

This was declared a Lego swimming pool...

Nuff said.

Historical Cache Jaunt

I needed a cache where I could leave this traveler that wanted to be someplace patriotic, and this is one of the only places in Portland I thought would work. i have passed this lots of times but never actually checked it out, so it was a pretty interesting trip. Thanks geocaching again for bringing me to a neat spot!


These flowers smelled sooooo good! :)

Gooey Worms!

Found these old pictures on one of our cameras and wanted to post them back when they were taken. Orion really likes these little science kits you can get at OMSI. Last time it was some instant "snow" stuff, and this time he chose these gooey worms. There was a solution you squirted into another liquid, and it instantly turned into these squiggly things. He was delighted. :)

Egypt at OMSI!

I am glad we made it to OMSI before the Egypt exhibit closed, although I was disappointed there were almost no pictures allowed. It really was a good exhibit with lots of hands on things to do, but Akasha was in running mode, so I didn't get to look at much lol. This is the one spot you could take a photo:
Although I was so spaced out I didn't notice the background and that I needed to position myself correctly - d'oh! How about this crop instead haha:
And then we ran into some good friends who like to play with Akasha, so yay! I love unschoolers and their lack of age bias!


Orion go really into making the sailboats this time!


Here is a video I pieced together from several clips:

Easter Day 2011

I was kindof a photo failure this year on Easter. Our yard was such a jungle I had my hands full helping Akasha negotiate it!

And the more "Standard" Egg Coloring

Notice the wine, essential ingredient in any egg dying session. :)



It is traditional in our family to do some hand dying apparently.



My new green thumb. Wonder if it will work.



Throwin the horns lol!