Possum Kingdom State Park

This is the train that we took out to Possum Kingdom Lake for our 4 days of camping out in Texas in June just before the official start of summer. It was hot and we sweated our way through the day and listened to the crickets chirp us to sleep at night.
It actually wasn't too bad. When you keep in mind that this area has been inhabited by people for the past 10,000 years, you know that the luxury we had of modern tents to keep out the flying and annoying bugs and the soft air mattress to get us up off the hard ground--it makes it easy to enjoy roughing it. We even had air conditioner to give us some reprieve from the hottest part of the day. The lake was cool and felt wonderful. I actually enjoyed sleeping outside under the blanket of stars and the quiet night. It is funny that it still feels quiet even though there are a million crickets chirping in unison.
Patricia and Jeremy joined us for the first two days. They are babysitting Harley while Stacy is off exploring the Greek Isles. They supplied us with plenty of beer and bratwurst, two necessities when you are camping out! The boys loved that Aunt Trish came to swim with them.
Niki had his first experience with the red waters of the Brazos.
Granny came and camped out with us too. Harley kept her company in her camper during the night. Luka was pretty wary of the boat at first and he stayed put right next to Granny so he wouldn't fall off of the boat.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was just riding on the boat in the lake. It seems so peaceful and the air is so fresh.

Trisha and Alyosha on the tube behind the boat. Luka didn't like it too much, but I think Aleks will be the first on the water every time. I am sure Luka will join him when he is just a couple years older.

Niki had his own life-jacket and stayed in my lap while we were speeding on the boat. He was happy most of the time even though he was in his cocoon of water protection.



It seems like Niki has found his tongue and likes to show the tip of it to anyone who is interested in watching him.
Grandpa let Alyosha drive his first boat. He did a great job and didn't run over any fish or run into any docks.

Even Roma, the man from the cold North, enjoyed the heat. It may not be something he wants to experience every day of his life, but for these 4 days, it was actually a nice change of environment--it is 50 in Portland! I will take a nice crisp 95 and a cool dip in the water anytime over that!


Luka is now king of the world by the end of the boat trip.
Possum Kingdom at sunset is probably one of the most beautiful sights in the world!

Slip N' Slide

We are having a beautiful time in Texas, even though the heat index is 110 degrees. Yes, you read right-with the humidity and storms and heat-- 110, 43 celsius!! BUT, we are having a nice time. Tomorrow, Sunday, we are packing up to go camping for the week at Possum Kingdom State Park-so no pictures or updates for the week. Today we had a wonderful party with many friends, check back for the pictures. For now, enjoy Roma and the kids and their Slip N' Slide adventure.

A day at the Lake!

Oh my! I haven't been to the water in Texas since the summer of 2003 and I have been dreaming about it for years! AND the water is just as good as I remember it! The water is warm and nice and we all just jumped right in. Well, Niki only stuck his toes in but he liked it too. Next week after Roma arrives we are camping on the lake for 4 days-right beside a nice little beach and hiking trails.

The boys are building a sand castle with the most important feature, a moat. We just happened to run into Sara McCall and her boys just as we pulled up to Sandy Beach.

Mama and Luka taking a swim. He is a little hesitant but if you take it nice and slow he likes it.

Auntie Trish is looking on while Luka fills my hair with sand--this is also a warning of the week to come. I just have to get used to being like a piece of sandpaper while we are camping.

That is our boat behind Luka--Joe Hall was great to let us just use it as much as we want while we are visiting. We will use it a lot!!! Niki rides well on it--he doesn't like his life jacket too much, but the motor of the boat puts him to sleep so he forgets about the thing around his body and head. (sorry no pictures, but it is kinda cute--next time maybe). The best thing about this boat is that next week when we have me and the 3 boys and Grandma and Grandpa and Trish like we had today, we will also be adding Jeremy, Roma Granny and maybe even Jeb and we will all fit comfortably!
Niki dipping his toes in to the lake

Swinging in the Sun

We are swinging in the sun, what a glorious feeling....!


Niki thinks he is too cool on the swing.

Sauvee Island strawberry picking before leaving to Texas

В последний день до отъезда в Техас мальчишки пошли собирать клубнику с друзьями на остров Соуви, неподалёку от Портленда.



Ранним утром, пока солнышко не припекло и народ не оккупировал грядки мы прибыли на ферму и даже были лично приветствованы владельцем фермы и "другими уполномоченными лицами". Как оказалось, наша команда открыла клубничный сезон в этом году!


Алёша показал-таки верх трудолюбивости, собрав пол-ведра клубники за рекордно короткие сроки, при этом он успел пообщаться с другими, показав свой "улов", поделившись планами на завтра (Техас), а заодно и планами на весь месяц (беспредельное купание, изучение скорпионов под каждым камнем, поиск окаменелостей, выпечка с бабушкой Рози и гриль с дедушкой Стивом и пр.).



В отличие от сына, папа был способен делать только лишь что-то одно, в данном случае собирать ягоду, причём он явно дал фору Алёше так и не догнав его по объёмам. Кроме этого, папа оставил Лукошкиного "бэби" на ферме, за что ещё явно поплатиться позже.



Лукошка, в свою очередь, работал только на себя, как настоящий капиталист. Всю собранную ягоду он отправлял в рот не раздумывая, да простят меня фермеры за потерянную для них выгоду. Мне кажется, что детей до 4 лет фермеры должны взвешивать до и после выхода на поле, а за разницу в весе брать по стоимости клубники...
Только посмотрите на эту наглую физиономию.

Хорошо, что они не используют пестициды!

После сбора все уселись под навесом и с удовольствием откушали по-деревенски, пригубили холодного пивка, поговорили о том да сём, пока дети с удовольствием ловили бабочек и изучали окрестности.

Making our Neighborhood beautiful

Today was an Oregon state wide day organized to clean up the neighborhoods. We live in a great neighborhood with wonderful maintenance workers who sweep the curbs every day-so luckily there wasn't too much to clean up. But the kids spotted every cigarette butt or stray gum wrapper and picked it up with their extended arms. Here is the group-Luka didn't want to wear the orange safety vest-OR his sun hat. He was a true pirate.

Luka is helping his brother make his Bobo feel better. Alyosha got a big scratch on his chin-you will see in future pictures how we decorated it with Zelonkia.

We also planted wild flowers in the field in front of our bridge. Hopefully they will all sprout-it will be beautiful.

I (Jen) carried Niki most of the time because Roma was carrying the big trash bag, but in the end I was releived by Roma and the Baby Bjorn--Niki isn't really supposed to face forward yet, but he likes to see the world.

In the afternoon we trecked over to Wallace Park beside the elementary school Alyosha will go to in September-It was a beautiful day. You can see where the scratch is hidden by the green paint.

Luka is a monkey robot. For some reason, he decided to talk like a robot all afternoon.

Alyosha thinks he never goes to sleep because he just lays down and then the sun comes up-like the night is only a minute long. When he got into bed he said that this was a really great day and he wanted to do it all again tomorrow!

Nature School Tuesdays

Sellwood park again for Tuesday Nature School. This past Tuesday was the most beautiful Tuesday of the year. Roma studied in the park while everyone else attended their own duties, then we had a picnic lunch and stayed the rest of the day, lured in by the sun to forget any other responsibilites we may have.

Luka likes the see-saw, but I get a work out doing squats so he can go up and down. I noticed that in all newer parks that have see-saws, they have springs so the kids can do it themselves--I'm not sure which ones I like better.

Alyosha is a good tree-climber. We will work on this all summer so we can go apple pickng in the fall. Now he just climbs to shake the flowers down from the tree. Thank goodness it wasn't an apple tree--even the flowers fall pretty hard. That's gravity for ya.

The boys climb on Papa whenever they get a chance. It is great that he has the chance to spend so much time with them--but, even school takes up a lot of time so they take advantage of every minute.

Papa running with 2 boys. Look how long their hair is--tomorrow it will be all gone. :-(

Teeth

The big boys were playing on the playground with a thousand other kids on the sunny Monday afternoon. They took time out to entertain their brother who can't climb on the ladders and slide the slides yet.
Niki showing off his toothless smile. He is lucky enough that he doesn't have to go to the dentist yet; he doesn't really feel left out of the bunch because of that. In fact, it looks like he is pretty happy about it.
Luka is getting an x-ray of his front teeth. He was amazing, just letting the dentist do anything and everything she needed. He even held the film between his teeth like a pro.
Alyosha did great with the dentist too. He whispered that he was a little afraid , but the dentists were so great with kids that he is counting down until the next time he has to go. He doesn't know the difference between getting a cleaning and a filling though! (The dentist said he would get laughing gas--so he will be happy and floating in space)

They found 4! cavities. One I knew of, but the other 3 were a surprise. They are tiny little cavities between his teeth. The dentist said we probably didn't need to do anything about them because he should be losing his teeth in a year or so, but it would be a good idea to get rid of them just to make sure. On his x-rays we could see his adult teeth just waiting to come out. She said if he flosses every day- he wouldn't have any cavities at all.

The pediatric dentists at OHSU are great. They made the kids feel comfortable and somehow hypnotised them into doing everything and anything they asked. Luka didn't have any cavities, but he has a little dent in a front tooth that he got when he fell down once, so he will have a filling put in just to keep everything healthy for the future. I like it when we find good doctors and dentists :-)

Weekend

We had a great weekend spending almost the entire time outside! Yeah for spring! It was 78 degrees today (25 Celsius) and it will only be getting better as time goes by. I know that nature needs to rest during the winter months to rejuvenate for the next season, but I think the resting period could be a little shorter because we humans need the warmth of the sun! Here is Luka and Alyosha at the zoo, riding the wolf statues.

A portrait by Aloysha at beside the river at Silver Falls. There are 10 huge waterfalls here, but we only got to see one while we were on our way out. It was too much fun sitting in the sun and playing in the river. We will see the waterfalls next time.

A hiking trail at Tyron Park--it is a temperate rain forest-green and dripping with plants and bugs. Usually bugs, they are just now waking up so it was a little disappointing for Alyosha.

Roma is the leader through the forest, look at how green it is the first few days of warm, sunny weather.

Spring Time in February!

It is a sunny and beautiful day and there is a reason to be happy and have hope in this world! I truly do think that it is awful that weather/climate affect me so much, but as soon as the sun comes out it is like a heavy weight is lifted from my shoulders and the warmth I feel in the air melts what felt like a stone wall that was built around my heart and brain.

The winter here is just enough; it is February third and already I am shown the bright, warm possibilities this world has to offer. I can't imagine being in a place where I would have to last 2 or 3 more months! Today was 60 degrees!! (16 degrees Celsius)

Sunny, bright, beautiful--Now, if I could only lose 40 pounds in the next week or so...