It will be a Texas Christmas

A couple of weeks ago we told Alyosha that we are going to Texas for Christmas. He is very excited about that, but I have to share the very first question and the resulting thought process he had after realizing that we are going to be away from home on Christmas morn. The obvious question is how will Santa Claus know where we are. That is easy, just write a letter, right? But, think about it, if we don’t write a letter and Santa leaves our Christmas wished presents at our home in Portland, then he sees some extra kids in Texas, he will have to leave presents there too—as long as there are cookies and milk set out— we will all get double presents! So, Alyosha asked if we could make cookies before we leave for Texas and put them in the window.

Although, he informed me today that he has way too many toys and he does not want any for Christmas. He only wants real science equipment-like a tele-microscope to look at fossils and he wants a dinosaur claw and/or tooth (real). Alyosha made sure that we know that LUKA wants a racecar with a track and extra train tracks. But, no toys for Alyosha. In fact he wants to go ask the homeless people who have built a camp a couple of blocks away if they have any kids so he can give his extra toys to them. (We ride our bikes by the camp every day-no kids though)

Other than just scheming for Christmas presents we have been busy little bees. Luka and Niki and I did the fall Polish the Pearl, picking up what little trash there was laying around our Tanner Springs and Jamison Parks. Roma and Alyosha were at Emanuel donating blood-we get the good citizen of the day award for that Saturday. (Alyosha doesn’t donate blood, by the way. He just goes with Roman once a month as support.)

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We also attended the Portland Art Museum’s free Family day that showcased the China Design Now exhibition. There was Chinese dance, music, food, art-making, and cultural activities. The kids really did have a good time, despite the looks on their face in the picture!

Luka and Claudia enjoying a walk on a beautiful Saturday morning. This was how we chose to wear the kids out before going to the Symphony in the evening. It worked for Luka, but Alyosha is too old for resting and naps now.

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Here we are walking to the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Yes, we walked all the way to the Schnitzer (basically across downtown) pushing the kids in strollers. Classy! I love living downtown! The kids earned the tickets from the library during summer reading—No parking, no problem! But, speaking of Luka’s nap earlier-he fell asleep during the performance. The sleeping part would have been ok, but he snores. Not just a cute baby snore; Luka snores a full blown hipposnore. Alyosha always tries to fall asleep first so he isn’t bothered by our little hippo. When Roma stepped out with Luka so we didn’t disturb the adagio, Alyosha said that it was ok because it was boring anyway. “Not the whole thing, just the music part” We thought about our time leading up to the symphony: reading this summer and talking the kids into taking symphony tickets rather than another water squirt gun as a prize; waking early for a full breakfast so we could hike just enough to wear them out for a good nap; cleaning up and dressing up for a fancy night out; walk across the whole town (in heels); patience waiting for the thing to start; snoring during the performance; the kids waiting in lines during intermission to try out each instrument (Alyosha has perfect ‘mouth pucker’ for the French horn and Luka rocks on the harp); 10 pm pizza because everyone is starving; bed at 11 only to still wake up at 7am the next day….is this cultural experience worth it? 110 percent.

We had a pre-visit from Cheryl. She is coming to have Thanksgiving with us next week, fun! She doesn’t give small kisses—only really, really big ones.

P.S. on this post….Roma has an interview! Yeah! I don’t believe in bad luck sharing this before it happens. In fact I believe in good luck because now all of you will pray and think positive things for Roma and if he is meant to get this job he will and if not, we will wait for the right one to come along! (Don’t bother him with questions though-it is an interview for a job he will like and that is enough for you nosey people. We will share more at the right time- patience is a virtue :-))

Beach Surprise

We had a last minute really great invitation to go with our friends to their beach house this weekend.  We almost didn’t get to go because Alyosha had the freakiest illness Thursday evening that led me to calling missing persons and the pediatrician on call in the emergency room.  Well, it turns out that Roma was out ‘socializing’ with his professor and Alyosha hallucinates when his fever gets over 101. 

Friday morning everyone wakes up like they are fresh picked roses and my mind was still spinning from the drama of motherhood.  We had to keep Alyosha home because of the swine flu rules—24 hours no fever—and turned down our invitation to the beach.  But, by next morning, we realized that the illness was only a Thursday night one to make me crazy and was totally gone so we packed up in an hour and headed to Lincoln City to spend the evening with friends.

We stayed at Sky and Itzel’s house which is on a little bay in Lincoln City.  The bay is shallow enough to almost wade across and is littered with huge tree trunks each with a great maze of roots showing off their complexity. 

The cool thing about the view and the landscape is that from the windows of their house, there is always a new view to observe.  Either just the tides coming in and out, or with each storm bringing in 100 mile an hour winds that move around the huge trees—every venture is a new discovery.

 For the girls this was a mermaid castle and for the boys it was a pirate ship with 3 captains—neither boy or girl had any qualms about climbing to the top.  I think this makes a better jungle gym than the artificial ones on the playgrounds in the city.  I say we do an experiment and place a huge tree like this next to the playground at Chapman and see which one gets used more.

Kids get to eat first-shell pasta macaroni and cheese with peas and broccoli.  The adults had the real thing; Peter made clams with linguini.   I can’t personally say that it was delicious because I have a mental block towards most slimy things that come from the sea, but looking at the stacks of emptied shells around me, I can assume that Peter did another amazing job in his capacity of chef.

Here you can see the view from the picture windows.  In this picture, the tide has come in and the beach we were playing on earlier disappeared.  Niki assumed his new position on my back.  I think he likes it in the front better because he can see more, but he'd better get used to my back because I think he will be spending the next year or so there! Family portrait with a bit of the Pacific in the background. You can’t see it here, but the waves were huge and our brave Luka was afraid for anyone who was more than 2 steps away from him.Kelp tug-of-war.  The kelp won, it is one tough plant!

Trip to John Day, Oregon

We finally made it to John Day in Oregon--Alyosha's birthday wish come true. If you ask him a question he will find a way to include dinosaur, paleontologist, fossil, petrified wood or something of that genre in the answer--no matter the question. We had a beautiful time and a peaceful weekend in Eastern Oregon. The geography is just amazing there. While we were rolling through we couldn't help but imagine what the pioneers were thinking when they were traveling this way to make their homestead somewhere in this vast silence yet enormous explosion of land. I describe the great rifts and bulges almost like being on the moon. Enormous hills and valleys--then cracks so you can see 50 million years worth of layers like an epic tale unfolding as quickly as you can lay your eyes on a new inch of earth.

On the road to John Day. We couldn't have asked for better weather. We were all beginning to get a cold-or maybe the swine flu, you never know, but as soon as we got into the dry sunny high desert, the sniffles and coughs disappeared.

The kids were pretty good--reading books and marveling out of the window

Alyosha put his eyes on every piece of dust floating around John Day. He found a fossil or imprint in everything--and even though we weren't allowed to disturb the environment in the monument, Alyosha still came home with a ton of rocks. (most were legitimate finds in places that are legal--Alyosha follows the law to the letter, no matter how much he would want to keep something, he wouldn't if it isn't allowed.)

Barry, the camp host, told us about a special place that had exposed volcanic ash from a volcano that erupted about 12 million years ago. The ash has been compressed to fragile rocks--kind of like chalk. If you look closely, you can see imprints from the plants when this area was a swamp and horses, camels, bear-dogs and rhinos lived in the area. So much to discover if you search out. Alyosha's best find here was a 'rock' that had tree ring imprints--a tree that lived 12 million years ago.

adventures of a paleontologist

Luka was more interested in finding poop--not the fossilized kind. You can even tell what he is saying in the photo!

We stayed 3 nights in the Fish House Inn in Dayville and Barry was our host. He was wonderful and warm. He told us some secrets about the area and just shared about life in general in Eastern Oregon--pretty opposite from life in Portland, but still interesting. People come from all over the world to study at the fossil beds. This is pretty much in the middle of no where. There is one cafe, occasionally open and a Mercantile--for sale--by the way. I will admit that we imagined buying the little Mercantile and fostering the kids interest in everything ancient and turned to stone. Even better, there is a little ranch for sale next to the Dayville Mercantile--perfect to host a R.V. and camping site...any takers on our Eastern Oregon adventure?

The Fish House Inn is in the background here. We cooked out on the grill they provided every evening. I am sure the cafe in Dayville was nice, but we had German brats and steak with Washington state Merlot and whole milk, depending on your age... It was DELICIOUS.
We did a 3.4, can't leave out the .4--you will see why, a 3.4 mile hike with the kids up and down the Blue Basin Trail inside the fossil beds monument. The kids, excluding Niki, walked the entire trail. According to the official travel guides, the Blue Basin Overlook hike is "Strenuous, 600 ft. elevation gain. A strenuous, but rewarding, loop trail brings you to a spectacular vista overlooking the John Day River Valley. It is dusty in places and may be impassable in wet weather" Alyosha and Luka hiked every step of the 3.4 miles and they explored and wondered at everything-the complaining was minimum and only for food--which we stopped for 2 snacks along the way. They enjoyed the hike and the beautiful fresh air. Four hours for 3.4 miles isn't too bad. I love it, and it is really encouraging for when the boys get older; we are going to get into even more amazing adventures together.

Papa and Niki at the start of our hike. It was chilly, but perfect for our hike. The sun was shining and the air was crisp and fresh. At the beginning of the trail we had 2 choices; either the .75 mile walk inside the valley or the 3.4 mile hike around the valley. We looked at each other and wondered which road to choose--the difficult one was a thousand times worth it.

Alyosha and Luka spotted a deer that was finished off by a cougar a while ago. Of course, the deer skeleton wasn't a deer on our discovery mission--it was a plant eating dinosaur who stopped to take its last drink in the ancient river then got attacked by a velociraptor and died here.

One of our picnic stops. We had sandwiches and apples on the side of the trail and only a couple of other hikers passed us along the way. October is definitely the best time to come here. You can really experience the quiet and the significant spirituality of the area when you have it to yourself.

Look at that view in the background. Luka kept saying "it is dangerous, dangerous" because the trail was so steep on one side. He kept imitating falling down the slope with his sounds..luckily not his body. I held his hand the entire walk!

Bench brake on the walk. Luka didn't want to sit still--keep going, keep going. We are only a third of the way through at this rest stop.

Here we are at the peak. The blue-green claystones began as volcanic ash-falls deposited 28 million years ago by the ancestral Cascade Mountains. These volcanoes were precursors to those active today like St. Helens. I want to emphasize--that is volcanic ash--that has been compressed for 28 million years. Can you imagine the volcano that erupted? Those eruptions are inspiration for almost every picture Alyosha paints right now.

Niki needed his snacks about every .75 miles too. He loved the fresh air and the hike just as much as we did. Roma made sure not to miss a step either--I don't think that Niki would enjoy a roller-coaster fall down the Blue Basin into the valley.

Roma's reasoning for staying ahead of Luka and I on the downhill of the trail was so that he could catch us in case we fell down the 'dangerous' slope. Can you picture Roma jumping with Niki to grab onto Lukas 'arm' (leg in Luka language) before he slips over the edge? That is a scene for a movie.

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Luka looking over his triumph.

Here is a picture of all of us on the downhill slope of our hike.

The daze after a hike is a good feeling

Exploration in the old West

This barn has been here for over a hundred years--this used to be a prime sheep herding area. Unfortunately sheep wool production doesn't pay off anymore and cattle have taken over.

Alyosha the photographer

Our car is comfortable and made the trip smooth and cool. We don't use it in the city much, but I am so thankful that we have it--and that it is paid off!

That is Sheep Rock in the background. Sheep Rock, is 1,100 feet above the John Day River.

Here we are on the 45th parallel, exactly between the equator, my home climate, and the North Pole, Roma's home climate. It is a perfect compromise for us--maybe we should move here.

Picnic on Sauvie Island

It was a beautiful day in Portland today and we enjoyed the entire morning and afternoon on Sauvie Island. First we drove out to Oaks Island trail--a gorgeous and easy walk. We would have like to spend more time there, but lunch was calling and they didn't allow fire grills anywhere on the trail. So, we had to turn back pretty early, but I would like to bring sandwiches next time and do the entire 2.5 mile (4.5km) hike.

Another family enjoying the trail took our picture--they warned us of black bears and tigers ahead of us on the path--it was their 4 year old who saw them though. Fortunately we didn't find them.

My new hat that Roma got for me! I like it. Roma is experimenting with our camera; his new favorite is to take pictures through the binoculars. It comes out pretty cool.

The boys found an eagle flying high over the wildlife refuge.

Our picnic. We had yummy bratwurst (organic and local) and Peter brought steak. The kids played amazingly together and enjoyed every second of being outside.

We are famous

The neighborhood news descided to do a nice little story on families that live in downtown Portland. It was fun to have Michalea and Ken over for the interview and photos. We didn't know that it was going to be the main story though! They did a good job, I think.