July Album

only one photo from July this time, since this month includes most of our events in pictures!

I love this one; Dean has started recognizing that it's a photo we've taken through the months, so sometimes he just sets it up himself.  How they've grown!  I think we're all missing Dean right now - Fiona and I will fly to Salt Lake City this week to visit the Woods and pick my boy up finally!

July 2010

November 2009

September 2009

January 2009

blueberry picking

While my sister and her kiddos were in town, we took the whole crew out to Sauvie Island for some blueberry picking.  Fields and fields of berries awaited us!  It was easy to get lost in berry picking.  Some of us did more eating than picking, though, and so after gathering blueberries, raspberries, and marionberries; visiting the animal barn; and stopping in the store to purchase some green beans for pickling, we headed home.

We spent the afternoon and evening making an all-berry jam (called "jam jamboree", after a favorite book of ours), and some dilly green beans.  mmmmm...

Camp Wood

Before I blog more adventures with the Woods in Portland, I have to share the news of Dean's journey to Camp Wood.  When Gina offered to take Dean back to Salt Lake City for two weeks, and Matt and I hemmed and hawed it over... Dean, without any hesitation whatsoever, began packing his bags!  Dean loves his cousins!  Two weeks will be a long time without him, but that is when my grandparents will arrive in Salt Lake City, and it seemed the perfect opportunity to visit.  Yes, I have already bought my tickets to bring him back home.

Here are pictures that Gina shared with me the first day, one from a McDonald's on their very long road trip (12 hours!), and one from the next day, Dean showing off his "silly face".  We have been talking on the phone every day, and today, even Fiona spoke with him: "Hi, Dean!"

I am a little off-balance, and the house is a bit empty.  But what an adventure he will have with his cousins at Camp Wood...

tillamook and cape meares

My lovely sister, Gina, and her three children came to visit us for a whirlwind four days!  Our first adventure was to the Tillamook Cheese Factory, the lighthouse at Cape Meares, and Oceanside for some rock-skipping and being chased by the waves.  This is my new favorite day trip:

 

where our cheese is made… 

ice cream made the perfect lunch!  Oregon strawberry, marionberry, Tillamook mudslide, black cherry, rocky road, and caramel pecan.  mmmmmmmm

For dessert, we sampled some cheese.  Our favorite, by far: garlic chili pepper cheddar cheese.

Cape Meares lighthouse:

beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean:

    

playing at the beach:

   

kale chips

I have to credit JP and Meghan for introducing us to this simple yummy treat. 

Kale Chips 
some kale, washed and de-ribbed, torn to same-size pieces
olive oil
salt/pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, convection.  Pour a little olive oil in a bowl with some salt and pepper.  Place kale pieces on a cookie sheet making sure they don't touch each other.  Brush each kale piece, both sides with oil/salt/pepper mix.  Turn oven down to 300 degrees.  Pop in the oven for about 15 minutes.  (They taught me to broil, but this has ensured no burnt kale, which is bitter!)  So incredible.

This year, to encourage more eating of kale chips and less buying of kale, I planted some in the front yard.  Portland loves greens.  The varieties I tested were Chinese Kale and Tuscan Kale.  The Tuscan was by far the heartiest, and it grows in perfect sizes that don't need to be torn or de-ribbed!  Perfect!  Plus, it's a cut-and-come-again variety, so the plant just keeps giving.  We can't get enough...

snap peas

Although we had a tough spring (i.e., no sun), we have enjoyed a nice harvest of snap peas. 

Here are the snap peas, from humble beginnings to this weekend:

Weeks after Dean helped me plant the seeds into the ground, they were up and running.  The little row in the center left is an attempt of mine to pack a stir fry mix of greens in between the rows of snap peas.  There is also a spring mix to the right that never took - which didn't really matter, as the entire space was to be consumed by snap peas and weeds, so it was impossible to pick out any of the stir fry mix. 

Snap peas have arrived!  They didn't seem at all disturbed by the lack of sun.  A good Portland crop.

Overflowing with bounty.  Next year, I'll make sure my favorite architect designs the structural system.  Bamboo and fishing line was kind of weak.  But, it worked.

We all love to pick them and eat them!

what she said

F: (After seeing the fireworks go off) Mo kai, peas! (Trans: More sky, please!)

other phrases and words of note:
Daddy da copy (Daddy's coffee)
Nah-nah da boppy (Fiona goes potty)
Nah-nah da bebe (Fiona's baby)
Nah-nah da bupple (Fiona's shovel)
Nah-nah da bah-po (Fiona's diaper)
Nah-nah da baf. (Fiona's bath)
bah-pooh (bubbles)

Gagung (water)
Gakooh (Thank you)

Peas (Please)
Peas (Peas)

She has her own dialect.  I thought she needed a diaper change yesterday, when all she wanted was her shovel.  It was confusing, and she was not pleased with me...

what he said

D: (Heard from the bathroom) Oh! I need to watch what I'm doing.
L:  Did you make a mess in there?
D:  No!  I didn't make a mess.  I peed all over.

D: I need some medicine to feel me better.