Summer Vacation Begins

School's been out for two and a half weeks now.  We've already got soccer camp and swimming lessons under our belts. After spending some of soccer camp in the pouring rain and shivering poolside, we have a solid week of high 70 temps in the forecast! Perhaps now we can say that summer has really begun.  It has a been a long, cool, wet spring.
Now, here are some obligatory last-day-of-school photos. I've even made this into a before-and-after spread so you can see how the 3 school kids have changed since the fall.

 

Here's Adah with her teacher, Ms. Mosnot, saying goodbye on the last day:

 

And now, remember what she looked like on the first day of third grade? Can you see how much her hair has grown?

 

Maggie poses with her teacher, Mrs. Dennis, who split the day with Mrs. Petrick. Too bad Mrs. Petrick was at her afternoon teaching job at the middle school during this photo op.

 

And here's Maggie on her first day of first grade. Her hair was pulled back in fancy pony tails, but now it's been cut short (and she wants it even shorter!).

Gunnar's last day of preschool was the day after the girls finished school.  Gunnar was a reluctant photo subject, as my carpooling partner tried to snap a shot of our two boys with their teacher, Angela.  Oh well. We know what Gunnar looks like, right?

Gunnar was a little more excited on his first day of school back in October:

I'm glad Adah, Maggie, and Gunnar had such positive experiences in school this year with caring and dedicated teachers.  My kids all love to learn and love going to school.  We are looking forward to all the fun of summer--gobbling up our backyard raspberries, playing in the sand at the river beach, riding bikes, fun programs at the library, and so much more--but they still talk about what they're anticipating when the new school year begins in the fall.

Camping Trip, Part 3: A Walk in the Woods

After our morning by the river and lunch at the campsite, we took a drive on the main road through the Mt. Hood Forest.  It was partly exploratory and partly to get Holly to take a nap.

When we finally arrived at our chosen destination, a little hiking trail that led to a beaver pond, Holly had had a bit of the nap in the car but was still pretty sacked out.  Damon carried her along the trail, still sleeping, and eventually found a spot to recline himself.  Just beyond him you can see the pond with the trees from the opposite shore reflected in the water.

 

The path we took came along the side of the beaver pond that is to the left of this picture, and then it eventually wrapped around to dead end at this giant log.  We found the beaver dam, but no beavers.

 

Then we set off along a couple more fallen trees and then up a slope to return to the path.

I wasn't too nervous as we crossed the first tree. That's water to the right, but fairly dry land to the left:

However, this log bridge made me fairly nervous that someone was going to fall into that green murky water and I was going to have to jump in and save them.  I came last, very cautiously, with Holly.

 

Everyone made it. Whew!

 

Then we had to make our way up a slope back to the path, and this time we headed in a different direction, rather than wrapping back towards the beaver pond. 

The forest was full of fallen logs that criss-crossed each other and led over small ravines.  They made great jungle gyms.  We had a great time climbing up and down and over.

 

 

The best part of this was that when we left our campground after lunch and got in the car, we told the kids we were going for a bit of a drive and that we'd go on a hike.  They whined a bit, complaining that they didn't want to hike and just wanted to hang around by the river or the campsite.  As we drove back to our campsite in the late afternoon and asked the kids what their favorite part of the day was, they all answered, "The hike!" It really was a great one--more playing and goofing around than actual hiking, mind you, but we loved it.

The next day of our trip was Sunday and we spent the morning doing another easy nature walk on the paths around our campground. Then we drove out of the forest and into one of the closest cities to attend church.  We had a late picnic lunch at a scenic overlook before returning to camp, where we relaxed, read, and played games until dinnertime.  We had actually expected rain showers throughout the day on Sunday, but only got a few sprinkles, so that was a nice blessing.

On Monday morning we took our time breaking camp and getting in the car.  We drove home by a different route than we had taken Friday afternoon, basically going up and over Mt. Hood instead of around it.  We stopped for lunch at a cafe in Government Camp (where there was still snow on the ground) and then poked around Timberline Lodge (where people were skiing AND we ran into a Utah friend of mine who now lives about 40 miles away!) before finally rolling back into White Salmon, unloading, showering, and doing some laundry.

What a weekend! It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun. I would have appreciated about 10 more degrees in warmth, flush toilets, and sinks for hand and face washing, but all in all it was a great camping trip. I'm glad we made the effort and did it. We don't camp a lot, but I always think we should do it more. We certainly are lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world and there are so many more campgrounds to explore!

Camping Trip, Part 2: Down by the Riverside

Just through the trees about 50 yards from our campsite was the Clackamas River.  We could hear it rolling along all night long, and it was a fun place to play in the morning sunshine.  The campground itself was very wooded, meaning lots of shade. Once out on the open rocky shore we were able to warm up--relatively--in the sun.

We probably spent two hours, at least, down by the river just playing among the rocks.

 

We had permission to collect firewood, which seemed only natural given all the downed trees (we figured we were doing them a favor), but the shadiness and spring rain meant that most of the wood we found was damp.  Out in the open, near the river, the wood got hit by that wonderful sunshine, so we were able to find lots of dry pieces and it became our favorite firewood-collecting spot.

 

Gunnar liked collecting river rocks to bring back home (I had to limit him) as much as he liked throwing them in the river.  What child (or adult) can resist throwing rocks into a body of water?

 

Mags found plenty to explore in the shallow water.

 

 

Holly and I went back to the campsite to get some snacks to enjoy riverside, and she insisted on wearing the backpack and carrying back all the juice boxes, fruit leathers, and granola bars.  She's an independent girl.

 

But she still loves to cuddle. . .

Camping Trip, Part 1: Campsite Fun

We went camping for Memorial Day weekend, starting on Holly's birthday.  Even though we began looking several weeks beforehand, it was difficult to find a campsite.  We finally made a reservation at Indian Henry Campground in the Mt. Hood National Forest, just along the Clackamas River.

The campground's website said that it had been closed due to fallen trees, but after several phone calls we learned that the loop we were on would be open....although, sadly, the bathrooms were down (= port-a-potties).  So, after our arrival and removing some branches from the tent site, we were able to set up camp, where we'd be for the next 3 days.

 

We enjoyed exploring the forest and the paths throughout the campground, but we also enjoyed time in our campsite.  One afternoon Damon helped Maggie and Gunnar play a boardgame on a makeshift card table. We also--never say it--brought our portable DVD player and watched some movies in the tent at night.  That's something I always thought was cheating while camping, but it was a good way to wind down the kids when it was too dark to be out of the tent, especially in the chilly, damp weather that we had that weekend.

 

Here's Adah doing a bit of reading by the fire--this girl is a bookworm if there ever was one:

 

Holly loved the fire. Heck, all the kids did. I don't know how we managed it, but we don't have a single kid afraid of fire.  When I was little, I had a very healthy respect for flames and left the fire tending to the bigger people. Not our kids! They all want to get in on the action and stick things in it. We had to be pretty vigilant to keep the bigger kids from setting a bad example for the littlest one, as we definitely didn't want her getting too close to the fire.

 

Here's Gunnar giving me a nice grin. You can see some scooters behind him. We got these for the kids a couple of summers ago after being on another camping trip and seeing other kids in the campground with them. They're so compact and easy to bring in the car that I was excited to bring them along this time. There were a few slips and falls the first morning because the road was slick, but mostly they were a fun diversion.

 

The campsite came complete with a log see-saw and a little friend next door. There was a very friendly 7-year-old who came over and played with our kids quite a bit. I think she and Maggie exchanged phone numbers before we left. 

 

The campground had some fun paths through the woods and near the river that we explored on little walks. We loved this hollow stump that we found just along the road that went through the campground.

 

 

Good campground.....if they had only planned ahead and had more than TWO port-a-potties for 100 people on a holiday weekend!  Eeeewww.

Too Two Cute

Holly turned 2 on May 25!

 

She knew just what to do on a school-day birthday: get dressed before opening presents.  (That actually wasn't required of her, but we wanted her big sisters to get a move on, and Holly has really taken to choosing and putting on--with some help--her own clothes, so she got dressed along with the big kids.)

 

Holly's first gift was chosen by Mom and Dad, but purchased with money sent by Nana and Gumpin (my parents). It's a Bilibo. 

What? You've never heard of a Bilibo?  It's kind of like Phineas and Ferb's Perry the Platypus Inaction Figure.  "It does absolutely nothing. Now it can be anything you want, like an airplane, or a race car, or maybe a bucking bronco. He can even turn a mean tango!"

Really, it's a toy that doesn't do anything so that you can do everything! Holly immediately made herself into a turtle.

 

She liked peeking through the holes--or showing me her nose. It's also really fun to sit in and rock or spin, or to give your dolls and stuffed animals a ride.

 

And it makes a great hat!

 

Grandma and Grandpa gave her a fun dinosaur book with googly eyes and a giant inflatable beach ball that hooks up to the hose and becomes a sprinkler for playing on the grass.  (Almost a month later now and we've only had about 3 days hot enough to actually use it! It's come out once so far.)

 

We gave her this soft and cuddly bunny. Aren't they two too cute?

 

Holly, of course, had to help make her birthday cake. She also, of course, had to lick the beater. Sorry, no photo of that here.

 

We made a chocolate chip cake with chocolate frosting.  It had to be pretty simple because we left on a camping trip on the afternoon of her birthday and the cake needed to travel.

 

After arriving at our campsite and setting up the tent, we pulled out the cake and candles and sang Happy Birthday in the growing darkness. It was a fun ending to a fun day and the beginning of a fun weekend.

 

 

At two, Holly is an adorable little blonde who can be charming and funny at home when she repeats phrases she hears from TV or other people, but clams up and becomes shy around other people. She really loves her older siblings and will run for her shoes when I announce that it's time to go pick them up. She likes to spin and dance to "Dancing Queen" or whatever other songs Maggie puts on. She'll happily go to nursery on Sundays, but only if Sister Lewis is there. She hasn't warmed up to the other teacher.

Holly loves to read the book The Monster at the End of This Book featuring lovable, furry, old Grover. When Grover says, "I'm so scared of monsters." Holly says, "Me too!" She also loves to wear her "bootsies," which are a pair of red rain boots that my mom bought for Adah at Woolworth's in the UK when Adah was 2 years old. All four kids have worn them and I love to see this last one taking her turn and loving them as much as the others did.

We love Holly!

Knock-Knock

Yesterday, Holly, who regularly hears her older siblings tell jokes around the dinner table, told her first complete knock-knock joke.

 

Holly: Mama, knock-knock.

Me: Who's there?

Holly: Oh-anj.

Me: Orange who?

Holly: Kiss?

Then she waited for a kiss.

Holly's been doing the "knock-knock" part for a couple of weeks, and the day before yesterday she had progressed to the "orange." I thought that was pretty smart of her to remember that "orange" is a typical knock-knock joke opener. However, when she just stopped at "oh-anj," I continued, "Orange you [aren't you] going to give me a kiss?"  So yesterday, she remembered the whole thing and did it herself.

Love it.  And it means I get one of her cute 2-year-old kisses, which are always sweet and rarely slobbery.

 

P.S. At bedtime lately Holly wants me to give her a kiss on the lips, something I tend to avoid with kiddos. She's heard me say "gross!" enough times after being forced to kiss her siblings on the lips that after she does the same to me, her automatic and immediate statement is "gose!" (Think "gross" without the R.)