Keep Away

The only pictures I have this week, come from our trip to the zoo this morning. I've got to get into the routine of taking photos in the evening, but this week was crazy busy (back-to-school night on Tuesday so I didn't make it home until after 8pm) and that didn't help.

As you can see, the elephants were playing a fun game of keep away today. We enjoyed watching them play with their ball, jumping in and out of their pool.

Levi also got to take his first ride on the zoo train today. Here he is waiting in line to board.And here's one of Levi and daddy on the train.
Turned out to be a perfect morning. This was probably the last sunny zoo trip of the year.

Crawdad hunt

We were up, and at the creek, bright and early with Gabe's dad and Joanne Saturday morning. We were ready to catch us some crawdads.As soon as the bait was set in the creek, Levi started calling out-"See one" whenever a new crawdad would come out of hiding.
In just a few hours we caught about 300 crawdads.
That was the easy part.
The cooking and cleaning over 300 crawdads is not so fun.

Here's Levi bravely showing off one of our soon to be boiled crawdads. (They are a bit easier to handle when they've just come out of a cooler filled with ice.)
And of course he had to give a crawdaddy kiss. Wouldn't be a complete trip to the creek without crawdaddy kisses.
Before we headed home on Sunday, we took a little trip out to Gabe's aunt Jaki's house. We picked some apples to take home.
Using the tractor instead of a ladder is apparently the best way to pick them.And we fed some apples to the cows too. Those girls sure love their apples.It sure was a fun time! And Levi even loved eating the crawdads as much as he loved helping dad catch them.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had lots of help celebrating my birthday this year.

Someone helped me blow out my candles.Someone also helped me open all my gifts. Actually, I should say I was the one who helped open gifts because the only ones I got to open myself were the ones I opened after my helper was in bed.For my birthday, Gabe and I were also able to enjoy one of the best meals of our life (here). We've read a lot about the chef (she competed on Top Chef Masters) and her restaurant. But the price of the meal meant we needed to go for a special occasion. We decided my birthday was finally the perfect excuse. And I'm not kidding. The meal was amazing. 6 courses. 2 1/2 hours. The main dish was a cognac brined pork loin with house cured green cabbage, pickled wild plum relish, a parsley sauce, and duck & veal demi-glaze. AMAZING! But I think the soup course might have been my favorite. A wonderful cream of fennel soup with sake cured salmon roe that exploded in your mouth. It was a wonderful meal. The perfect ending to celebrate growing yet another year older.

Canning

We canned our first batch of tomatoes last week.
And this is the extent to which Levi helped us.Not sure what he thinks this jar lifter is really for...
some sort of back brace perhaps.

We've had a busy week. Lots of birthday celebrations I hope to share about later this evening. And a fun weekend splashing in the creek catching crawdads. I'll try and get some more posts up here in the next few days between more canning, laundry and making apple sauce.

14

That's the total number of pictures I took this week.
Sad isn't it?
With so few pictures to choose from this week, this is the only one I've got that comes with a little story. Along with Levi's continued obsession with skateboards (anyone know if they make skateboards for 2 1/2 year olds? Cause Santa may have to bring this kid one!), he is also currently obsessed with race cars and putting things in neat little lines. This line of cars was complete before Levi decided one ATV needed to take a spin along the edge of the couch. This current obsession with cars also includes reading this book at nap time and bed time. EVERY DAY! Good thing the pictures are so nice and the rhyming is actually done so well. If that weren't the case, Levi would be really upset when the book went mysteriously "missing". (Like I'm about to do with this book...another one of Levi's favorites. But not Mom's.)

Sorry that's all I've got this week. I'm lucky I survived the 90 degree weather in my not air conditioned class room with 35 8th graders. Yes...you heard that right. Class sizes are out of control this year and I have between 32 and 35 students in all 6 classes. I've never taught in conditions like this...I'm hoping for the best.

Unofficial last weekend of summer

We spent our labor day weekend doing just as the name implies...laboring. Getting some much needed work done around the house isn't exactly the ideal way to spend summer's final weekend, but it actually felt really good. Minus my aching back and thigh muscles.

We washed the cars (inside and out). I actually can't remember the last time they were washed.

We worked some more on clearing out the blackberries and English ivy from the side of our yard by the street. (Gabe's actually been working on this off and on for the last month.) We paid some landscapers to clear it and take all the debris away last month, but Gabe has been wrestling with the ivy ever since. Thankfully, it's pretty much clear now. We just need to haul away all the mess. We even planted a few more trees and will cover everything in mulch, in hopes that will help keep away the undesirable blackberries and ivy. But we'll have to keep on top of it better than the previous homeowners did...

See that bamboo behind Gabe? You couldn't even see it there before, the blackberries were that out of control!
Gabe also replaced some outside light fixtures that weren't to our liking. With the new paint job, we felt new lights would be another good addition to our new curb appeal.

Between all our hard work we did manage to squeeze in:
-lots of back yard pool time
-some delicious BBQ

oh, and this too!

-a walk to the park to play
-a sunrise trip to photograph my favorite flower. (Although Gabe was the only one out of bed at 5am on Sunday morning to do the photographing.)


-a picnic lunch in the backyard
-getting a blackberry pie made. It may not be the prettiest pie ever...but I sure hope it tastes good!

-going to see this with my mom and Becky
-and lots of time just being silly!

Oh, by they way, I am not ready for the summer to be over! Can I please get a one week extension?

Time with Grandma(s) at the zoo

Monday morning was cold and a bit wet. But Levi, Grandma G and I still met Peggy, the boys and Grandma Grass at the zoo anyway. It was fun to explore the zoo with the kids and their grandmas.
I thought Levi would love playing on the tractor in the farm/petting zoo, but he really didn't like it. Usually there are so many kids climbing on it he doesn't get a chance.

But Z really liked the big tractor!

Despite the rain, the polar bears decided to come out and play! That almost never happens!
Levi and I didn't get much more play time in this week. Going back to work really puts a damper on our play time...

Suttle Lake

We've returned from our last big hurrah of the summer.
We camped on the south shore of Suttle Lake this weekend. It's a nice little lake between Salem and Bend. (A bit of a drive, especially when you leave Portland right at 4pm on a Friday.)

Levi and Daddy went "fishing".
Here's Levi taking care of the poll. Gabe said he was surprisingly good at reeling.And this is my favorite picture of Levi and Gabe.Between Levi's short attention span, and the fact that they were in pretty shallow water, the boys didn't catch anything this time. But I think Levi will be up for another shot at it next year!
We spent some time swimming in the lake. It was a lot warmer than I thought it would be. Maybe that's because I was swimming with Levi and never went in deeper than my hips.

Levi enjoyed helping his Auntie Jen beat the boys at cribbage.
We had an exciting evening on Saturday. Just as we started to fix up dinner, storm clouds rolled in. And they were coming in fast! As we were eating, rain drops started to fall and we decided we better pack stuff up to keep it dry since we weren't sure what this storm was going to do. We got some rain and quite a bit of lighting. Levi only cried once. I do have to give him credit, the thunder was so loud I could feel it in my gut. I can only imagine how if felt to him. He was really brave! Then as we were sitting around after the storm moved north, a deer came sprinting through our camp site. It was super cool! She was clearly scared of the storm too.

Notice Levi holding up a plastic container? That's a big black beetle he had to catch to have a closer look at. And yes, we let it go before we left camp. And yes, he was still alive...although a bit shaken I'm sure.

My last week...

of vacation is almost gone. I go back to work, bright and early, Tuesday morning. Levi and I have been busy having lots of fun this week. Lots of play dates with friends, and we even finally filled up his little pool in the back yard.
Peggy and the little boys are here visiting from LA, so we've been able to play a few days with them this week. Here's Levi and Z playing on the slide.

And I have to include this one of Levi swimming in the back yard. It's just too silly...and cute.

Well, we're off on another camping adventure this weekend. Everything is ready, just waiting for Levi to wake up from his nap so we can take off. I'll try and share some stories and photos when we get back...before I start work for the week. This has been such a fun summer. Sure wish it didn't have to end.

Camping on the Clackamas

We headed east out of town this weekend, and camped at a nice little campground on the banks of a tributary to the Clackamas River. It was a great little spot to spend the weekend with friends.

Levi really takes the leave no trace philosophy very seriously when out in the woods. "Sweeping" up the campsite was one of his favorite ways to pass the time.

We spent some time just hanging out around camp. Enjoying the sounds of the river and the campfire.
Like father like son, this picture just cracks me up. Hands in the pockets just like dad.
Also seen in this picture is the big injury Levi got when he tripped over one root ball and fell onto another. It's already looking much better.
Went on a little hike along the river. Spotted some birds, some really cool spider webs and lots of plants. Levi kept wanting to eat all the wild berries (big surprise) and told all the little plants to "grow bigger."
After a failed attempt at a nap, we all played in the river for awhile. We were all hot and dirty, while the water was very cold and refreshing. Little crawdads, tiny fish, and frogs were spotted.
(Grandpa Tom, Levi is ready for his first crawdad hunt.)
It was a really nice weekend.

I've gotta get outside quick! The heat finally arrived this weekend and our drip system is out of commission. When Gabe put the hose back on the house, after the painters took it off this week, he noticed one of the connectors is all stripped and needs to be replaced. So, I need to give our garden a good drink...fast. And I did fail to report that our house is now showing off a nice new coat of paint. What would have taken Gabe a summer of weekends was finished by 2 (sometimes 3) painters in less than a week. They got the job done in 4 days! And it only took them 18 gallons to paint the entire base color. It was a big job...glad it's done and looks great.

Exercise

(Posting early this week. Gabe is going to try and get home early today so we can take off for our camping trip this weekend.)
Levi's new thing is to "exercise". Which is really him just propping one leg up in the air or on something. That's his exercises. It's actually really funny because he also says the word pretty dang clearly. We think he might have picked up the idea from Grandpa G. I guess Grandpa was showing Levi how to lift weights with his legs on the machine. It sure did make an impression on the kid. He's been doing it all week. Here he is using his bike to "exercise" with.
Also notice the new helmet. He got it for his birthday and he LOVES it! I actually have to keep it in the closet so that he isn't wearing it wherever we go.

Jamberry

We got a half flat of these beautiful bad boys at the farmer's market on Sunday.We've been eating them (Levi's been inhaling them) all week and we still have lots. So I decided to make a little jam this morning. It's been a while since I've made jam. We're not huge PB&J eaters around here, so most of the time we don't even have any jam in the house. I saw this recipe in a Sunset article last month and it sounded pretty yummy.
Plus, isn't this the most beautiful color? Love it!
As I was constantly stirring the jam this phrase kept cycling through my mind.
Train berry
Track berry
Pick me a blackberry
You might recognize it from your childhood...This is one of Levi's favorite books. Probably because the kid LOVES berries. I asked him the other day what berries were his favorite, listing them all of course ("Are strawberries your favorite? Are blueberries your favorite?"), we discovered Levi's favorite berry happens to be the one he currently has in his mouth!

Levi's Birthday - The Slideshow

Levi is 2!

Here he is blowing out his candles. Still couldn't quite do them on his own...but he'll have no problem with it next year.

It was a great day!
Levi, mommy and daddy went out for a special birthday breakfast (here). Levi celebrated with lots of family and friends, opened lots of presents and stayed up way past his bed time. A pretty great day for this little guy...but mommy is exhausted!
I'll put together a little slide show to share in the next few days.

Backyard Basketball

Busy week around here!
I sorta felt all over the place this week.
I spent two days at school preparing and planning with co-workers a new class we're all teaching this year. Then spent the rest of this week cleaning, planning and prepping for some one's big party!
We did have some good moments to play this week. My favorite was the impromptu basketball game in the back yard last Sunday night when Gabe's friend Ross came over to hang out. The game quickly went from a silly game with Levi, to a "serious" game of horse between two grown men when Levi lost interest.
But here's Ross giving Levi a few pointers on his dunk.

Summer Play

This is what summer is all about.

Pool "parties". Ok it wasn't really a party, it was just a play date. But with 6 kids all under 3, and 4 moms, it felt like a party. Not for us...for them.

Evening picnic in our local park.We walked over to the park and participated in National Night Out with our neighbors. Portland police had a K9 unit there, Levi loved the black German Shepard and kept telling us the dog was his. Well, actually everything is his these days. There was a band, and everyone brought a dessert to share. Portland Fire had a truck for everyone to check out. Boy was Levi excited about that big red truck. Oh, and he kept telling us it was his truck. Like I said, everything belongs to Levi these days. Although I have to admit he looks pretty cool with it.
This week just flew by. I hope these last three of the summer don't all go by this fast.

Note to self:

Do not go on vacation during mid-late July or you will once again come home to lots of overripe peas, green beans and monster zucchini.

I was able to pick some peas and green beans, blanch them, and get them in the freezer. But I don't think we'll get many more.

What do to with all of these big guys (besides give them away to friends)?

Here's what I've been making with monster zucchini this week:

*Lemon Rosemary Zucchini Bread

Levi helped me make it and even with the rosemary in it, he seemed to really like it.

*Choco-Zucchini Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

(It's a Better Homes recipe I found years ago)

1. Preheat oven to 325. Line muffin tin with paper bake cups.

2. In a large bowl, stir together

8oz of shredded zucchini (about 2 cups or half of my big ones)

2 eggs

2 cups of white sugar

3/4 cup cooking oil

2 tsp. vanilla

3. Then add

2 cups of flour (I didn't sub in whole wheat like I usually do. If someone tries this recipe with whole wheat flour let me know how it turns out.)

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

and 3/4 cup chocolate chips if you want them to be really yummy

4. Stir everything together until it's completely combined.

5. Put the batter in your prepared cups.

6. Bake for about 25 minutes or until your toothpick in the center comes out clean.

7. Cool in pans on wire racks for 5 minutes and then take the cupcakes out of the pans to cool completely on the racks.

Now for the frosting.

Beat 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/3 cup softened butter, 1 tablespoon milk, and 1/4 tsp. vanilla with an electric mixer on medium until it's smooth. Gradually add 1& 1/2 cups of powdered sugar. I had to add a little extra milk to make the frosting creamy. But I also used natural peanut butter instead of good old Jiff or Skippy. That might have made my frosting a little less than creamy.

*Zucchini Fries

Slice zucchini into sticks (about the size of your finger).

Dredge each slice in beaten egg and seasoned bread crumbs. We used garlic and herb.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Maui Slideshow

Well, we managed to condense our trip into just 75 pictures.

Here they are. Although when you watch the slide show, you might want to slow it down so the pictures change more like every 5 seconds. Some of my captions are a little long.

Maui: the road to hell

Otherwise known as the road to Hana.

Let me explain...this is the one story I have to share from our trip.

We were unsure we wanted to attempt the drive out to Hana with Levi. As I've mentioned many times, Levi doesn't really love the car and he always refuses to nap while driving. But we decided we'd be disappointed if we came home without having tried it. Plus we wanted to hike through the bamboo forest and see some good waterfalls. We read good things about this section of Haleakala National Park, it's just pass the town of Hana.

Well, the trip didn't start well when we waited for about 1/2 an hour for our very expensive breakfast and coffee at a cafe, before we could even get on the road. Then between stupid drivers, very disappointing waterfalls....

Seriously, this is a waterfall? I guess being from Cascade country sorta ruins it for ya. We're privilege to a lot of beautiful waterfalls here at home.

and everyone being overall very cranky in the car, it was a rough trip.

Oh, and did I mention Gabe also put a dent in the side of the rental car. He obviously took a corner a little sharp and the construction barrier bit back.

The pay off of this trip didn't come until after we left Hana. The views were more spectacular, jungle denser, and the waterfalls; they were real waterfalls.

The two mile hike to Waimoku Falls was definitely a highlight of the trip, even though we were soaked by a tropical down pour, covered in sweat and mud, walking through the bamboo forest was very cool. The waterfall at the end was pretty spectacular too.

As for the rest of the trip, swimming in the warm Pacific, playing in the sand, seeing sunsets from over 10,000 feet, peering into a crater, hiding in a banyan tree, eating poke and Kalua pork, watching surfers, drinking Mai Tais, and watching dolphins jumping 10 feet out of the water...those were pretty cool too.

If you're interested, a slide show of pictures will follow soon.