New Kitten!

We got a new kitten last night. One of Mike's co-workers offered us one and the kids picked her out. She was the runt of the litter and is really bright and playful. Tristan and Sequoia named her, Lilly.

Just picked these peas, beans and berries this week! This was the harvest from the week we were gone at Crater Lake. We also have a ton of pears this year that are just about ready to be picked!

Summer 2008- Camping, growing food, swimming, and Violin.

It has been awhile since I last posted. Hmm. Where do I begin. Let's go backwards. There are 3 weeks left of summer before Tristan begins kindergarten at our neighborhood school, Ardenwald Elementary. I am hoping for a little down time these next weeks to simply play with the kids spend one-on-time with them at home; since we've spent much of our summer doing activities.




We just got back from 8 nights/9days of camping near Crater Lake at Stewart State Park; Lost Creek Lake.



http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_30.php

I am really glad we went for so long with how much work it is to get ready, pack the car, drive the distance, set up; we really needed a good amount of time in between to reach a state of relaxation that let us enjoy our surroundings and each other. (city/materialism/job detox). Even the kids seemed to get into a camping routine after a couple of days where they could play, draw, tell stories for quite a long time without getting into "too much trouble" LOL! Mike has been telling made up stories every night to the kids and Tristan has really gotten into telling them himself..He has 2 imaginary friends -Pinktree and Toonal and they live, I think in Tinkchurch and Taina where there are tornadoes in Tornado alley. He is getting to be quite a story-teller. He also has been trying very hard to draw houses. Sequoia, I've noticed lately really enjoys singing! She is singing or humming a lot of the time. She can actually carry quite a nice tune for an almost 3 1/2 year old!

We managed to fit all we needed into our small economy car (with some adaptations!)

Each year we go camping, we ponder the idea of renting a van, but so far have managed to not have to do that. We were packed, though (stuff, dogs, and 4 humans) like sardines!

We had a fun adventure at Diamond Lake where we had a dinner-picnic and almost got caught in a storm that ended up passing us over but hit our campground instead. The lake was perfect for swimming-shallow and warm; even Mona went swimming!

All in all, we had a great trip! I encourage you to visit our Flickr pictures for more of the beautiful scerery pics, etc.. It is soo beautiful there! http://www.flickr.com/photos/theconways/sets/72157606674652976/

Two weeks before Crater Lake, we spent the weekend in Bend with Mike's dad and step-mom. We had a really yummy dinner at their house!! On our way home we visited Smith Rock. I've never seen it before.

We wanted to hike to the bottom, but forgot our ergo carrier-Sequoia did not want to hike too much that day..

We had an earlier camping trip this summer (in June) for 3 nights at Lake Easton State Park.

http://www.parks.wa.gov/parkpage.asp?selectedpark=Lake+Easton&pageno=1

Some Baha'i friends of ours planned a multi-family/friends camping trip there. Tristan and Sequoia LOVED having friends there to play with. They became so comfortable with it that they were saying hi to even people they didn't know assuming we were all friends there.

In between trips, the kids took 2 weeks of swimming lessons at Sellwood Pool.

http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?action=ViewPark&PropertyID=1130

This was a great year for swimming lessons. Both kids really enjoyed being in their own class and Tristan has now "graduated to the next level" He can now go under water!

We have also started taking suzuki violin lessons. Tristan, Sequoia, and I are all learning to play violin!

My friend Cathy who now lives in Alaska came to visit us 2x this summer! I hadn't seen her since 2000! I got to see her son again, who back in 2000 was only a toddler. One day, I hope to go visit her! She has an amazing blog on her life in rural Alaksa at:

http://tundratantrum.blogspot.com/

We are growing a summer garden for our second year. We expanded it this year with 2 new raised beds. We are growing sugar snap peas, green and yellow beans, lettuce, chard, collard, pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, beets, radishes, (beginning to grow asparagus-It will take 3 years before we can harvest) rhubarb, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries; and we planted a cherry tree in Grandfathers (Mike's grandfather's memory).

YUMMY food!!! We also joined a CSA with Wintergreen Farms and enjoy a basket of organic veggies every week from them all summer long until November.

http://www.wintergreenfarm.com/

I am attempting to buy more locally, organic, and in season and cooking more from scratch, avoiding processed foods, drinking raw milk from clean grassfed cows, making yogurt, keifer, bread, etc.. I may try making cheese next.. We'll see how it goes..

So, those are our summer activities. In the Fall, Tristan starts kindergarten and Sequoia starts preschool. We will teach a Baha'i childrens class again in our home on Sunday mornings. We'll probably stick a little closer to home since gas is so expensive now..

In general we are doing okay. ups and downs. Mike works hard, puts in overtime more than he (or I)want to, tries to bike 2-3x/week to work. This Spring, he was elected onto the Milwaukie Baha'i LSA!

Sometimes life is great, sometimes overwhelming with all we need to take care of, but I can't complain. It feels fulfilling to me. We are always trying to do the best we can and be the best we can be..We are always learning and maturing, making mistakes and learning from them. Raising children is such an incredible process. I have learned so much from being a parent and a spouse. I know I am sooo not perfect and sometimes we have our "grumpy" days, but hopefully overall we will be forgiven for our shortcomings, for we are learning and evolving each day and becoming (hopefully) more real and "better" than we were before.
Mike up in a tree. (His camping face) (-;

New Dog (Winter 2008)

We have a new member of our family! Mona-dog! She is a 1 1/2 year old Papillon. My cousin Trudy and her husband, Chris gave her to us. We love her already! She is very good with the kids and she has a very sweet personality.

I think that I (Melinda) am just as excited about her as the kids are. (I've never owned a dog before)

What has been going on since our last blog entry.. hmmm..

















Well, in December Mike and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary! We had a blast! We went to Pacific City and stayed at a B&B for 2 whole nights while Grandmama watched the kids. We haven't had that kind of time to ourselves in 3 years! It was sooo relaxing..sitting by the fire, sleeping in, eating..just what we needed.

When we got back, though, we realized that our basement had leaked! Ug! First home ownership nightmare. Our basement is finished so it required us tearing up a wall and carpet a bit. We had a plumber come to rule out the plumbing. (It was from all this rain!) We checked our downspouts on that side of the house and they weren't draining to the road. We don't know where they are draining into (yet) We have our work cut out for us still. The good news is that it isn't leaking anymore. So, it was probably from the first really bad rainstorm. We have since then, gotten over the panic and realized there is way to do this one step at a time.





















Baha'i children's classes in our home have been happening regularly every Saturday. We have really been enjoying teaching the class and getting to know the children in our community. A Portland Baha'i mom group has just begun and that has been fun to be a part of too! The Milwaukie Baha'i community has a nice close-knit feel that we are enjoying. We were able to walk to Feast a month or so ago! That I haven't done since I lived in NH!

Melinda has been going to some "sustainable living on a budget" workshops lately and learning how to cook from scratch-things like bread, granola, creme fraiche..she even tried donuts. We got some raw milk and she is going to try yogurt next. We also got a small chest freezer when we ordered 1/8 of a grassfed cow. We also joined a CSA(community supported agriculture) for this summer to get our veggies directly from a farm. There is so much to do that can better support our environment..and our health! It is really fun learning about and trying new things! We have really decreased how much garbage we make each week.

http://www.sustainablebudget.com/

http://www.storyofstuff.com/


Michael recently performed (playing congo drums) with Bob Basset in a concert to raise money to make an album! I think it felt really good to be back into doing music again. It was a little depressing when we had to temporarily pack up his drums again when the basement leaked, but they are back out and in action again!


















Tristan still enjoys preschool immensely. He hasn't been as into balloons lately, but he is having a blast doing a lot of pretend play and dress-up. He also loves to tell/make up stories. He's a great story-teller! Sequoia is learning to write some letters. They are both learning about letters and letter sounds. Sequoia will be 3 in March and Tristan will be 5 in May. Time is passing quickly. Conversations of kindergarten next year are happening more and more lately..


















We recently lost our cat, Serendipity. He had been going down-hill for a long time-his thyroid and then his kidneys.. We've been having a lot of conversations about death and life after death lately. The kids miss their cat, but they are handling it very well. They know their kitty will always be in their hearts. Cousin Trudy, who gave us our Mona dog, also has cancer and we are all processing that too.. We had a wonderful visit with Trudy and Chris when they came to visit and bring us Mona (just this past Monday 2/4). We send them many many prayers for their stength through this! It again reminds us to appreciate each day that we have-our relationships, our family, our friends. Not to take anything for granted.

Speaking of family-David (Melinda's father) has some big travel plans this summer! In May, he is going to Europe for 3 weeks; and in June he is going on pilgrimage in Haifa, Israel! What an adventure he will have!


We are looking forward to Spring. (Really haven't we had enough rain this winter!!) We plan to expand our garden and go camping...and fix our basement/leak problem. And I am expecting my friend Cathy to come to visit from Alaska for a week in June! I haven't seen her since my wedding! Yikes!

Well, that's all I can think of for now..