greenclogs

after the storm

We took a day trip to see the ocean today. Yesterday there was a huge storm and while I'm sure not all of these logs arrived yesterday, our neighbor said that most of it was new. I'd call it driftwood, but I think I'm stretching the term with 3 foot diameter, 10-40 foot long tree trunks. The toddler was ecstatic about the trip (that girl is always ready for some beach, no matter the weather). The other two, not so much. After we lingered over lunch and visited friends, I dragged brought them down to the beach just to see what the storm brought. For that 30 minutes there was no bickering, no whining, no begging, no complaining. Just exploration and wonder. Beautiful. It made all that complaining worthwhile. 

Thank you ocean. You filled us up today. 

October, it was nice knowing you.

Well, October flew by, didn't it? I'm not even done with Halloween costumes yet (I should probably cut them out tonight). The neighbor told me that we need to buy 3 Costco size bags of candy for Monday night. There will be mounted policement supervisiing HOARDS of children trick or treating in our neighborhood. I'm looking forward to the mayhem but I may have to bring my dogs over to my dad's house for the night. They are not at peace with the doorbell. Not at all. 

We've had a busy month. The girls and I went to the coast and we went to Fort Clatsop for Annika's Oregon Trail/Oregon history studies. It was one of those "I don't want to go.... I don't want to leave" kind of experiences. She was enthralled by the artifacts and by the fort itself. She couldn't quite imagine that many people living in a space smaller than our house for a winter with no TV and no Internet. How could they possibly cope??? She got sucked into the Junior Ranger thing (which I don't love but whatever) and is now totally enthused about visiting all of the L&C sites in Oregon and Washington. I'll take the workbook/ranger badge/ranger rank thing if it gets her interest moving. This weekend we'll be heading back and going to Ecola State Park and maybe to Fort Stevens. She always wants to believe that she doesn't care about things like history but she really does. Nothing makes her happier than a good history book and some facts and artifacts. Oh, and authentic quill pens. 

We also went to grandma's house in Seattle for a couple of days - another girl trip. Annika got to spend a whole day with grandma doing crafty things and then visiting the American Girl store and Build-A-Bear. I'm pretty sure she likes Grandma better than she likes me now. Kit and I spent the day with a dear friend where we found her some new pink foos and saw bawk-bawks and ducks. 

There has alo been some sewing (see photo above). I was fairly successful during the Fall Kids Clothes Week Challenge. Annika made herself a skirt and i completed the whole outfit that Kit is wearing - smock, knit long sleeve dress, and leggings. The smock and dress are repeats from my Oliver +S patterns (I stick with what works) and the leggings are from Ottobre. I still have two more of those dresses that are half done. Maybe next week. I figure knit dress/leggings/smock is her uniform until she has strong opinions to the contrary. That remnds me - I really want a serger now. I'm willing the universe to send me an awesome one for cheap via craigslist. So light a candle to the craigslist gods for me. Thanks. 

I guess that's it for now. Hope you're well. I'll check back in next week with Halloween, obsessive paint swatching in the living room, and maybe a finished paint job. A girl can dream. If we don't set goals, we'll never get anywhere, right? Happy weekend!

unshackled and an ode to my love for L.A.

I'm sure I've mentioned here that little miss Kit has not been a fan of the car. Back in April it took me 3.5 hours to get home from Tucson. That's 102 miles, people, and there was no traffic. It was bad. We have been cooped up in the house for a few months because all of us dread being in the car with the sad and pathetic and earsplitting baby screams. However, lately I've noticed that as long as the rides are timed correctly, she'll be content for a while. Sometimes she'll even fall asleep. Like normal babies. So, we'd been planning to head to Los Angeles in August to deliver the rest of Lindsay's belongings to her at school (did I mention that she transferred schools? She's in LA now at my alma mater. Yay!) and to pick up a dollhouse in San Diego for a fun rehab project with the kids. The original plan was that Jeff would drive with the stuff and Kit and I would fly over, like our Portland trip. However, the timing just wasn't working out so I decided to put on my big girl panties and figure out how to make it work with Kit in the car. Last week the kids and I threw our fears to the wind and headed out. 

And guess what?!?

She did it! We had a couple of 10 minute bouts of screaming on the way there that were followed by long naps, and we took breaks as we needed to. We did have to take a break in the Krispy Kreme parking lot between Riverside and LA. The kids hated that one. She slept from LA to San Diego. She slept from San Diego back to Santa Monica. She only cried for 5 minutes all the way home despite not sleeping much. She's a road tripper! No more wishing we were places instead of being there. I feel free again. 

We had fun. So much fun. I lived in LA for 5 years way back when and it's one of my favorite cities to visit, hands down. I'm so excited that Lindsay is there so I have an excuse to go. Tucson may be closer, but Los Angeles is 1000 times better. 

The first day was spent with Lindsay on and near the USC campus. We met her roommates (very nice), saw what was new in the neighborhood ( a lot, seeing that everything was still burned to the ground from the Rodney King riots when I graduated), and found a fantastic place to eat and hang out. The neighborhood around USC has been troubled for a long time and I was encouraged to see the ways that the school and its alumni are investing their energies, funds and livelihoods into the community. It's a much better place for it. 

We spent that night and the next morning in San Diego, and then headed back to Santa Monica. We visted the new outpost of our favorite hangout and meandered on the street where I used to work at the Gap. My old store is now an American Apparel. Oh well. The best part of the day was the time we spent at Paint Lab. I really can't think of a better way to spend a couple of hours. 

I think someone needs to open one in oldtown Scottsdale so we can ride our bikes there and do some plein air painting once it cools down. Anyone? 

Lastly, we meandered over to the Santa Monica Pier after an afternoon snack at the Broadway Deli. 

There was dinner at CPK with Lindsay and a dear friend of mine from college, and then a night spent at a long-time friend's house so our drive home was not as long. Thanks, Shelby!

All in all, a very successful adventure indeed. Next week we head to Flagstaff with my grandma, so I'm hoping this wasn't just a fluke. I don't think Grandma's ears could take the alternative. 

On the home front there has been a whole lot of house rearranging and settling into a fall routine and not much to talk about. But you know? There's always something to talk about. I need to remember that more often and sit down to write. Blog neglect is just not okay. 

Hope your fall routines are settling in as well. 

learning on the job

Hey there! We're back in the land of the heat and I think it has fried my brain. We're slowly getting back into a rhythm and I should be here more often. 

I do have one more beach related post, so here we go.

We have some dear friends at the beach who own a bakery. Our kids love to bake and were interested in the process of running a bakery, so on a slow-ish day, they were able to go behind the scenes and help out. I should have made them be there at 4AM like the real bakers, but *I* didn't want to get up that early. 

Jason and Hillary are strong believers in local, sustainable food. Their whole wheat flour is ground by them from the wheat of Hillary's grandparents' farm in Eastern Oregon, and the rest of their flour is also locally grown and sourced. They use local ingredients wherever possible, and partner with other businesses in the community. They love sharing their passion for local food. 

The kids learned about breadmaking on a larger scale than we attempt at home (I have serious mixer envy now). 

 

 

Then they moved on to the sweet station where Hillary taught them about chocolate ganache and the proper care and keeping of berries (they are now master berry preppers). 

They decorated cupcakes with the ganache and berries. 

Some went into the sale case

And some came home with us

 

 And they were delicious! Gunnar ended up spending all day in the bakery - stamping bags and boxes, stripping rosemary leaves from branches, and doing whatever else he could. Annika was done after the hot chocolate and cookie break. 

Honestly, I think this was Gunnar's favorite day at the beach. That evening we had a discussion about the good reasons for child labor laws, and debated potential revisions, since he thinks it's very unfair that he can't work there at the age of 12. He has big plans for being an apprentice baker when he's 15. 

 We don't have specific career goals or paths in mind for our children - we want each of them to find a work life that suits their passions and talents and will support them in whatever way is necessary to do that. Most of all, we want them to enjoy what they do and really contribute to a community through their work. I feel fortunate to be able to be around people who lead rich and fulfilled lives, so that my kids know that doing meaningful work with a positive impact in the world (or a small piece of the world) is so much more rewarding than just making money. It's a reminder that I needed, too, as we figure out the next steps in our own life. Thanks, Jason and Hillary! We all learned a lot from your example.

all about the food

One of the reasons we look forward to the beach so much is that we can indulge in the fresh local food. We regularly shop at our farmer's market in Arizona and enjoy it, but much of the produce at the market is trucked in from California. There isn't enough farmland in the Phoenix area to support much more than restaurant supply for a few restaurants and limited farmer's market offerings. Truly eating local food is difficult at best. When we come to Oregon, we can fully commit to eating local, fresh food. After a seriously rainy spring that delayed harvests, our Cannon Beach market opened last week to the community's delight. Gunnar took charge of the camera while I spent our farmer's market dollars. 

We came home with eggs, ground beef, blue cheese, baguette, Romano green beans, carrots, green onions, English peas, snap peas, salad mix, raspberries and strawberries, salted butter, mushrooms, and 3 small pies (for taste testing purposes, of course).We've enjoyed our peas, carrots and onions with the salad mix, ate our baguette with the butter and the blue cheese, had sauteed mushrooms over panfried polenta, and ate the berries right out of the box. We carefully split the three individual pies into 4 portions each and tasted apple-huckleberry, marionberry and rhubarb (it was a split decision on the best). Last night we made sloppy joes with the local beef and onions over homemade biscuits and this morning we ate leftover biscuits with scrambled eggs and Tillamook cheese. This weekend we'll finish off our bounty, except the eggs and butter and be ready for another trip on Tuesday. I think we eat so much better when we stick to what's available at the local farmer's market, with short trips to the grocery store for staples like milk, flour, rice and pasta. The kids are excited about the trip to the market and about preparing foods that we can't always get at home, like the beautiful maitake mushrooms. 

There are so many reasons why I love coming home in the summertime, and this is a big one. I hope you all are enjoying your local farmer's markets as well. Supporting local, sustainable agriculture is so important. While I feel sad that we can't fully eat the way we want to year round, I'm thrilled to support Arizona agriculture in the winter/spring, and Oregon in the summer. I'm a lucky woman, indeed. 

San Francisco and superheroes

Hi there! We're at the beach where the only internet service is at the bakery or the laundromat. Today is laundry day!

Since I'm in catch-up mode, I thought I'd show you some scenes from the San Francisco portion of our trip as well as a little project. 

We stayed in a sweet little apartment in the city with an amazing hideaway of a backyard. We felt like we were living in a fairy grotto. 

We drank beer and ate sushi

And we wandered around, taking smile breaks as needed. 

Most importantly, we saw some very important nephews and delivered the 2 year old's birthday present and his big brother's companion gift. 

Superhero capes were in order for two super little boys. I made them from a tutorial by the long thread and would highly recommend it. The capes are in Kona cotton with lining from the Heather Ross Lightning Bugs line. I used the lining fabric for the C on the back of both of them. 

The boys were not so sure at first, but after their daddy demonstrated his superhero skills in the cape on the streets of San Francisco, then they were all over it. Well done, Jay! The passers-by sure enjoyed the show, as did we. 

Here's hoping they're enjoyed for a long time to come. I'm sure Jay knows what he's getting for his birthday now. 

Back soon!

road trippin'

We're packing up and moving out for our annual trip to the beach. This year is a little different because the baby and I are flying up while Jeff drives with the kids and the dogs (lucky Jeff!). We'll be spending a few days in San Francisco, and then off to the Oregon Coast we'll go. I'm looking forward to clam chowder and sand in everything and late sunsets on the beach and the need for jackets and farmer's market berries. To salt water taffy and small town parades and the sand castle contest. I can't wait to introduce Kit to our beach friends. Most of all, I'm looking forward to no TV, no internet at home, and family time without distractions. 

I'll be poking in with photos every few days. Take care, friends. 

knock knock.... is this thing on?

Umm, hi!! I've been gone for a while. Spent a week at my in-law's house where my computer had no internet, but Jeff's did (thanks to a fancy wireless work modem) so I had no motivation to take mine somewhere. Now to get back in the habit of the blogging. We're in Seattle until Wednesday and staying at my mom's house now, where there is wifi! Yay! Then we head for Montana for a few days before beginning the journey back home to the heat. 

Rather than trying to catch up everything, I'm going to just say "whew! we have had so much fun! trust me!" and move forward. However, I do need to share the day that we spent with Lecia because it was such a great day. 

We went to the beach, because Lecia is lucky enough to live across the street from the beach. Her older son and Annika are the same age, and they were two peas in a pod. All four kids played and played without a cross word for hours on end. So we talked and talked. Lecia is a thoughtful, funny and warm person - she's such a pleasure to be around. It was like being with an old friend. 

The kids played with sticks (why are sticks always guns? why?)

me: Annika, is that your telescope?

Annika: no, Mom. It's my bazooka. 

Lecia and I looked for pretties on the beach, and Gunnar helped. We found shells and beach glass and rocks. We speculated on how the tile and the brick got on the beach. Some things we left for others to discover as well. 

A really great day. Thanks Lecia!!

low tide

We had a really low tide today, and will have another even lower one tomorrow. Here are today's low tide photos from Tunnel Rock (technically called Pilot Rock, but it has a tunnel in it). I won't bother with commentary - the photos speak for themselves. This is about 1/2 mile from the cabin. Yes, you can hate me now. 

(from inside the tunnel)

It was a very good day.

The birthday fairy is very busy around here. We'll have some show and tell and 7 year old birthday festivities to show on Friday. Have a great week!

are so happy

We were very lucky people on Thursday. The kids and I took a little road trip to see Kyrie and her sweet girls. Nothing makes me happier than meeting my blog friends in person, and really, this visit couldn't have been any better. 

We dropped our shoes at the front door and made ourselves at home. Kyrie greeted us with some cookie baking fun for Gunnar while Annika ran off with the girls to play fairies and farm and I'm not sure what else. But wait. First, there was some baby holding. 

Annika make a beeline straight for baby Bee and was hard pressed to hand her over to someone else who wanted to hold her (ahem. me.). I snuggled the Bee to sleep while they played. Bliss, I tell you. 

Cookie eating and tower building commenced. 

We blew through a lot of cookies in a pretty short time. They were delicious. Oh, and Gunnar and I marveled the entire time at how very much that chocolate covered Birdie looks and just is like Annika. Really really alike. I'll dig out the photos to prove it. 

Books were read and laughed over. These two were inseparable - one having a big sister for a day and the other being the big sister for a change. So fun. 

Bunny declared that it was park time in her little tiny voice (I had almost forgotten how cute it is to hear huge vocabularies coming from those voices that sound like someone just sucked in a bunch of helium. wow.) and we trooped off for some swing time. 

Then back to the house for strawberry picking and making "strawberry stew".

We left, full to the brim with happy, and hopefully not before wearing out our welcome. I would show you a photo of the lovely Kyrie, but she nixed that idea. I'll just say that if I could move in next door and hang out like that, I would be one happy camper indeed. She is gracious and funny and full of serenity with her three little ones buzzing around her (oh, and I'm going home to completely redo my house because I love hers so much). We are so happy to have spent the day with her. Thank you, Kyrie. I hope we do it again soon.