Oregon International Airshow

We attended the Oregon International Airshow for the second year in a row. Adah was actually the one who requested this event as part of our summer schedule. The weather this year was really great. Last year it rained off and on during the day, but this year we had sunny weather without it being too hot. That's good news since you spend all day walking on asphalt or dead grass, with the only shade to be found under a wing or inside a sponsor's tent.

Adah and Maggie each took a small turn at the controls of this medical helicopter. They did not get airborne. (They saved that for the bouncy castles--no photos, though.)

The big fun for the kids was the Lego tent. We spent lots of time there building at the tables and looking at the amazing display cases full of detailed Lego worlds. Did you know that there are 915 million ways to combine six eight-stud Lego bricks?

Did you know that the Lego minifigure represents the world's largest population of people? Over 4 billion minifigures have been produced in the last 30 years.

Did you know that being eaten by a Lego lion is the number one cause of death at airshows?

We saw lots of different planes flying, from old-fashioned biplanes to precision jets performing in unison. The final flight of the day was made by a Harrier jet. It was dang loud, and dang impressive. You can't tell from the photograph, but that baby is hovering. Big giant airplanes don't just hover. But this one did. It was pretty amazing that that thing didn't just fall right out of the sky.

All in all, it was a fun-filled and tiring day for us all. I was pretty proud of Damon and me for actually considering such a venture with our four kids. The night before I had started to wonder if we were crazy--a thought I entertain frequently these days.

Summer Chefs

Adah has been very eager about learning to cook. It's been difficult to manage my time (and littlest children) just right so that I can include her in the kitchen, but we're trying. I learned that we just need to plan ahead a little so that we have ingredients for fun recipes and so that my own nerves can be ready for the extra mess and mayhem.

One treat we made were chocolate-dipped marshmallows. This was a simple "candy" that even Gunnar could make. We dipped the marshmallows in melted chocolate chips and then dipped them in crushed Oreos, Nilla wafers, and graham crackers and sprinkles.

We ran out of marshmallows (left over from s'mores at our ward campout), so we made some dipped Nilla wafers and then I combined all the remaining melted chocolate and broken graham crackers with some mini marshmallows. Adah was excited to package some of these treats as a "welcome to the neighborhood" gift for her best friend who moved into a house on a nearby street.

We had some more kitchen fun a few weeks later. Adah and Maggie each invited a friend over to decorate sugar cookies, which we baked the day before. This is always a fun thing to do with friends, but baking sugar cookies is such a lot of work that I really had to gear up for it. We planned this activity about 3 weeks before we actually did it!

And...the finished product. Those kids sure love sprinkles, I tell ya.

Chez Platypus

Today the girls created a restaurant in the backyard.

Just in case anyone had trouble finding it:

Here they are holding up the "money" (wood chips) and the menu. They brought out food from the kitchen and set it up in buckets. Frisbees and bubble trays acted as the plates. They got real cups from the house.

Here's the menu from which I ordered. By the time I got there, the cherry, grape, and apple fruit leathers were already sold out. (Eaten by the staff, no doubt.) I ordered blueberries, juice, and graham crackers.

Hot Wheels

We don't have a very good street for safe bike riding, but we do have a large church parking lot a few miles away. It's a great place to ride and we took the kids there on Saturday.

Adah was a bit of a dare devil: Look, Ma, no feet!

Gunnar was lovin' it in his favorite shirt on his favorite-color scooter:

Maggie was the super-star of the day. She learned to ride a two-wheeler!! She'd been close before, but that day really took off and was steering and braking well. Only one major crash--but no blood. In all, a successful day.

Leafy Greens

Holy rhubarb, Batman!

Do you see those leaves? They're like 3 times the size of Gunnar's head! That's rhubarb. It's pretty awesome-looking, I think. Before I moved to White Salmon I didn't think I liked rhubarb. I'd tasted it once (as a teenager?) in a strawberry rhubarb pie and I thought it was tart and didn't like it. I gave it another shot a couple years ago and then neighbors (different ones, yet again) gave us a plant. Now I make crisps, cakes, pies, jam, and even savory sauces out of it. If you think you don't like it, I recommend giving it another shot. Just add a little more sugar.

Now, check out these zucchini plants. Zucchini has a reputation for producing like crazy, but these are the healthiest-looking plants we've ever grown. There are three of them there and they are tall and strong. They mean business.

Finally, a panoramic view of our whole garden. The left bed has lettuce (gone to seed in this shot), kale, rhubarb, and tomatoes. We grew peas on the fence behind the tomatoes. The next bed is home to the zucchini, corn, basil, and a small cucumber vine. The next one has 3 blueberry bushes (one that didn't produce berries this year) and some very robust butternut squash vines. Seriously, we have some giant squash out there. The final bed, at the far right, is our raspberry patch. LOVE those berries.