29 June 2011
Her favorite gift was a magic wand, with which she granted wishes, turing all of us into “plain” princesses, as opposed to beautiful ones. I still haven’t figured that one out yet, either… She and her friend Maisy discovered that sidewalk chalk, when pounded into dust, makes excellent face (and body paint). Who knew?
We had a big summer party, lots of neighbors, kids and family, an overflowing tree house–here are some of the kids with cake!
Here’s to a great year, my girl!
24 June 2011
We got up early this morning to my favorite kind of summer day–clear and crisp, warm and in our backyard, smells like honeysuckle. We let the chickens out to range in the yard and they settled on the back of an old bench to roost after kicking the compost out of Peter’s neatly edged beds and doing their running and flapping routine. This is a chicken version of  the “little lamb in big field” effect.
They are almost 3 months old and getting pretty big. They tend to be a bit skittish around the kids, probably wise in regards to the amount of illicit chicken chasing that has gone on around here, but this morning they were surprisingly tolerant of petting. Owen did a great job.
Their house is finished and working great. They like to spend time underneath in the cool dirt digging impressively big holes.
And yes, the kids (and camerawoman) were still in pajamas. The morning was too pretty to waste time getting dressed!
18 June 2011
With a “just do it” sort of mindset, I took Owen backpacking this week. We only spent one night out, and Opal Creek is a nearby and familiar hike. But, my son did carry his 11 lb backpack 2 miles in and 2 miles out with (gasp) NO WHINING. Not a peep. I didn’t even have to bribe him with M&Ms. Chatter was abundant and awe of the ancient forest was punctuated by poop jokes, but hey! We were in the woods.
We found this lovely little campsite near the Merkens Mill area and set up our little orange tent.
After setting up our campsite, we hiked further up the Opal Creek Trail unencumbered.
We saw one salamander, one Stellar’s jay, some chipmunks after our peanuts, and lots of buzzing, nonbiting bugs.
We may be a few years from Hells Canyon, but we got out of the backyard.