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.
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.
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:
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).
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) (-;
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