Three Weeks left of Summer (2009)

(Tulip Festival at Wooden Shoe Farm) -This Spring

Hello to our dear friends! Here again is our newsy update.

French Drain: We completed (well, mostly completed our french drain this spring.) It was our biggest home improvement project we have ever attempted. Which is probably not a lot considering we were only changing lightbulbs and putting in screen windows before. LOL! It took many weekends of not doing anything else. Some friends helped us dig; and we finally hired a friend to help us haul rocks and dig and attach and paint window wells, etc. Without his help; we'd still be working on it. We had a huge truck deliver an actual concrete dry well, which was quite a sight. One of our neighbors looked on very skeptically. We hope it works to end the problem of water getting into the basement. We still have to do some work on the downspouts and grading and planting grass, but we had to put it away for the summer. Two months of working on it and we were ready to "live" again.

Gardening: While the french drain was in process. I did manage a side project. I built 2 new raised vegetable beds for our front yard. The sun is best there and it made sense to put them there. I used cedar. It cut the boards, stained them, and Mike and I screwed them together as well as attached some trellises. I read that vertical growing saves a lot of room; so I decided to grow my tomatoes, pumpkins, squash, peas, beans-all climbing the trellises. And now that we are in the peak; I have to say the trellises have been successful! This summer we are continuing to grow many of what we grew last year(beans, peas, strawberries, asparagus, cucumbers, lettuce, collard, chard, scallions, tomatoes) with the addition of (basil, corn, brocoli, fennel, eggplant, artichoke, onion, grapes, and potatoes!) We also have 2 apple trees, cherry tree, apricot, and a pear tree. We are also a part of a different CSA near Oregon City called Birds and Bees. We only bought a 1/2 share this year, considering all the food we are already growing.

Kittens: Lily had four kittens on Sequoia's bed on June 4th. 3 male and 1 female. We named them Sparkle, Moonlight, Twillight, and Star. Tristan and Sequoia truly enjoyed this experience. Each morning the first thing they wanted to do was to visit the kittens. So, most of the summer, we have had a kitten obsession, which I am happy to say is calming now that we recenly gave away 3 of them. (We kept Sparkle) It was more work than I expected, but definitly worth it. Needless to say, Lily will be not being having more kittens...We are going to get her fixed very soon. Sparkle is now 10 weeks old and a wonderful addition to our "family"

Camping: Coastal Redwoods: My father flew out for a visit for 3 weeks so he could join us for our 11 day camping trip in July. The "Redwoods of Northern California" are an amazing place to camp if you love the forest...The trees are ancient; I had to stop and think about just how much has happened in the world since those trees were saplings. some were as old as 2000 years! It was a little cold there...We camped under a canopy of trees(of course)..The night time went down to high 40's; the daytime low 60's. Luckily it did not rain on us. I would take that temperature, though to the heat wave we had a couple of weeks ago. What was it-5 consecutive days over 100? The temperature rose to 106!! In any case, we went on a lot of short hikes/adventures with the kids (and my dad!) The kids became exploreres often running ahead..to my worry.. (cougar and bear were in the forests too)

Mike's work: Summertime is not supposed to be the busy season at work, but it has been a "second" busy season. It is fortunate the company is doing well during this recession. That is something to be extremely grateful for, but it is not always "fun" for him to feel the pressures of many orders and deadlines to meet as well as extra hours to be away. On the upside; he has been asked by his boss to attend a managers meeting in Japan in September. (of course he is going!!) I thought it interesting to include his work's website in case any of you are more curious as to what his company does, etc..

http://www.omicnet.com/omicusa/

Family and Friends: Recenly we have been graced with a couple visitors. Cathy and Noah who live in rural Alaska visited us for a couple of days (just this past week). And shortly afterwards, my cousin Nancy and her almost 2 year old daughter stayed with us for another couple of days. It was good to become reaquainted with them and the children. Anna is an amazingly sweet, calm, talkative child! During their visits we went to Sauvie Island/Beach, Rhodedenderon Garden/ and the Zoo.

Weekend at the cottage: Before our visitors, we spent the weekend with "Grandmama Nancy" Aunt Aliyih, Uncle Robert, and cousins Laurence and Rayleigh at a cottage on a lake near Vernonia. It was actually quite relaxing (relatively)-everything is relative when you have young children! We went for a little hike, canoed, and I have to say that I think our dog Mona had the best time offleash.

This summer we have also kept ourselves busy having playdates, 2 weeks of swimming lessons, (Tristan is loving being able to go under water), going to parks, concerts, library, lounging at home doing Land Before Time coloring pages, cooking, harvesting, and trying to do some purging of "stuff". We had a yard sale at the beginning of the summer. It seemed that we got rid of a lot of things, but just as soon as it was over; the other "stuff" seemed to sneak in the gaps..So, I fear, we must do some more purging. I have also been taking a Fiddle class that is very challenging. I love it and it has me practicing about an hour a day. I don't know if I am any good, but it makes me feel really good to improve and I am doing more than I thought I'd be able to do after only playing 1 year.

There are still 3 weeks left before we are once again, locked into a "schedule" and I am hoping for some "down time" days, as well as some fun "out and about" days.

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Happy Naw Ruz 2009 BE 166

Spring Again!

Happy Naw Ruz to our dear friends and family!
Thank you for visiting our blog. (or looking at the email)

Family Portrait by Sequoia

Family pic taken this past summer.

(Trip to Coast in February)

We now get to celebrate 2 years in our new home in Milwaukie as the Springtime refreshes itself into a new Baha’i year. (Baha’i year begins on March 21-Spring/Naw Ruz) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1
The passage of time seems to be accelerating as does the hectic ness of our family life.

We just celebrated Sequoia’s 4th birthday on March 1st ! She is nearly through her first year of preschool at Brooklyn Cooperative Preschool in Portland. http://brooklyncooppreschool.org/
She is enjoying her experience, meeting new children/peers, finding her own place in the world. She has her own school now and her own peers. She is exploring and challenging herself by trying new things like climbing on top of her school play structure! She loves to sing! For a while she was performing somewhere over the Rainbow to anyone who would listen. She also loves to draw and she wants to take a dance class.
At one point this year, she renamed herself Snow White. She has definitely had a princess stage..and still wants to wear a dress everyday.


Tristan is nearly 6 and has been planning his birthday party for a couple of months now. He’s making lists of all the people he wishes to invite and the activity groups. He recently lost his first 2 teeth in February! (see above) He has had a successful year of kindergarten and is basking in his reading and writing skills. He goes to our neighborhood school (Ardenwald Elementary) http://ardenwald.nclack.k12.or.us/
that is just a few blocks away (a very easy walk) He loves to write and practices under his own initiative for hours! He can read beginner books with little effort. I am amazed at how much he enjoys reading and writing now. He is also very interested in his classmates and even after Valentines Day, has been making them cards and putting them in their cubbies.

We have been learning violin-Suzuiki Method. It has had its ups and downs. Practicing every day has not been a favorite activity for the kids, but we are still working at it, and trying to make it a rewarding experience. Tristan and Sequoia are starting to be able to play "Twinkle Little Star". Melinda is absolutely in love with the violin and its music(especially fiddle) and is taking an adult violin class Monday evenings from the Community Music Center.

http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?action=ViewPark&PropertyID=21

Sustainability is still a goal…or at least trying to reach a higher level of it on its spectrum. We are expanding our veggie beds yet again this season to the sunnier front yard! When this next project is completed, we will have close to 300 sq feet of growing space. The tomato starts are already growing in the windowsill. Melinda is now grinding our own wheat berries and making 100% whole wheat buttermilk/ sourdough bread using a delayed fermentation method. She has also made her first batch of motzerella cheese. Progress has been slower lately, though. We seem to have our hands full juggling 2 schools this year (I already feel like a soccer mom with all the trips to schools and violin classes and back) and figuring out how to make our own French drain. (Our basement leaked again!) Apparently hydrostatic pressure, excessive rain these past 2 years (and a burst sprinkler system pipe didn’t help the problem!) Mike has done quite a bit of digging so far and has quite a trench on the south side of the house.
This winter we had a record snowfall for this area. We had about a foot of snow on the ground, which is a big deal when we are lucky to get an inch. School for Tristan was cancelled for a whole week and Mike had to take the bus to work. Portland does not operate too well when we get snow. Probably not worth buying snow plows when we only get snow occasionally, and salt is not used here either. It was quite an adventure and it happened when my father was visiting. We joked that he had brought the snow from NH.



We continue to teach a neighborhood children’s class for 3+ year olds. This year we have been focusing on positive spiritual qualities/attributes.

Mike has been working at OMIC for 5 years now! He is also a member of the Baha’i Local Spiritual Assembly. The meetings are just a block away at another Baha’i’s home. It is a treat to be able to simply “cross the street” to go to Feast sometimes! We live in a wonderful small community that has been very welcoming to children. (translation: they accept the interruptions and energy that small children have and even keep those long adult consultations to a minimum.)

Fun in the snow!!

Mona and Lily are a great pair!