Deception Pass for the fourth time!

This year the 4th of July fell on a Wednesday so our camping trip was longer than usual.  For the first time in several years we stayed home on the 4th and then camped from Thursday through Sunday.  We successfully woke D up to watch fireworks from our roof and got him back to sleep again and got a reasonably early (for us) start on Thursday morning.

To mix it up we took the ferry from Mukilteo to Clinton, on Whidbey Island.  On the way up the Island the three of did a beautiful little hike at Ebey's Landing.

We reserved early and got our favorite walk in sites in the lower loop campground again.  For next year we have a few small site preferences to account for but I’m feeling better about going back to the same place year after year, because Deception Pass really is a remarkably beautiful and big park.   For the second time this year we hiked up the incredibly scenic Guemes Mountain, this time as a pretty large group.

The hours of daylight at the 4th of July are pretty extreme and it is super hard to get the kids to sleep while it is still light out, so I felt very lucky to have one evening with almost all the grown ups gathered around the campfire sans kids.

We also took a fun boat trip through Deception Pass and saw some porpoises and seal pups.

Blake Island

In mid-July D and I got to join my parents on four day trip to Blake Island on their boat.  By arriving on Thursday we got a nice spot at the dock and it was very relaxing.

D convinced his grandparents to play baseball without a ball for a surprisingly long time.  Later we ended up making a duct tape and newspaper ball that made it much more fun but we still couldn’t stand to play for the nine innings he wanted.  It is very reminiscint of Calvinball.

Another highlight was a 3 mile hike out to the NW beach.  It was D’s longest hike where he wasn’t carried at all.  He’s capable of the distance physically so the challenge is usually just morale.  On the way back he hiked like a champ while asking me to tell him everything I could remember about the plot of Lord of the Rings.  With that and all the baseball, we missed Jack.  He stayed home to conserve PTO and to allow the four of us to sleep on the boat rather than needing to tent camp.

Boat trips were a big part of my childhood and we’re so lucky my parents made this trip possible (and fed us quite well)!

record book of books

On of my most valuable posessions is the book list I’ve been keeping since August 2001.   The first entry is Huckleberry Finn which I read as summer reading homework for 12th grade English.  The most recent entry is Room by Emma Donoghue.

I’ve had a run of good books lately since I learned to filter library audio books by awards like “best books of 2010” and I’ve actually been able to finish longer books on my kindle by keeping it on airplane mode from time to time.  This pregnancy I’m also reading more fiction and less non-fiction about pregnancy.

We’re also enjoying another chapter book with D, called Brambleheart by Henry Cole.  Like so many kids’ books, the protagonist is a mouse.  Jack and I both learned the word gnomon (the triangular part of a sundial that casts the shadow) from the book.  It’s pretty interesting to me how much D can enjoy a story without understanding so much of the vocabulary.  Of course, a few months back when we were reading more books in French to him, I saw the same thing where he really wasn’t catching things but still seemed to like the books.  What a good little sponge!

Whistler's Mother and Toru’s fine self

Columbia Hills camping

Our first tent camping trip of the year took us to Columbia Hills State Park.  Neither Jack nor I had driven through the part of the state south of Yakima or spent any time on the Columbia River, so it was novel.  From cancelled trips last summer we have learned to plan adventure in Eastern Washington early in the season when fires and excessive heat are less likely.

We spent three nights camping, which was a good decision because of the length of the drive and we enjoyed sharing the trip and our meals with good friends.

Friday night we set up our tent in the windiest conditions I’ve camped in, which is what I had been led to expect for the area.  Funnily enough though it was hardly windy at all the rest of the weekend and we actually had thundershowers that cut short our swim and left seven of us huddled in the bathroom one afternoon.  Most of the time though it was pretty nice and not as hot as I had feared it would be.

The first picture below is a petroglyph we saw on a short walking tour.  Not much is known about them, but many tribes converged on the area and it sounds like it is roughly 400 years old, perhaps.

 

For Fathers’ Day, the two dads took an adult-paced hike while the rest of us enjoyed a decidedly kid-paced, much shorter hike.

No one got bit by a rattlesnake though the possibility had me a bit freaked out.  The long hours of daylight this time of year have their advantages, but it was impossible to maintain anything close to a normal bed time for the kids.

The roof is ready for summer!

Earlier this month we finished building our four roof planters, complete with automatic irrigation.  Jack set up the irrigation, which is programmed on a smart phone app and is smart enough to water less when it has rained.  The plants we moved from pots to planters seem much happier.  We also got a table and have really enjoyed sitting up on the roof, especially at sunset and later in the evening.

We also busted out some drywall to open up access to the cat door to the roof.  The kittens, who are now one year old, are figuring it out and really enjoying the outdoor time.

The next roof projects are building planters around the outside boundary and fixing up our free barbecue. 

Iron Springs again

We spent Mother’s day weekend at Iron Springs Resort on the coast again.  This time my sister and brother-in-law joined us for the first time and Jack’s extended family actually wasn’t there, due to a conflicting work party up at the family property.    We had pretty good weather, with one day where the fog didn’t lift until about 1 pm.    On the way home we visited Jack’s grandma and then took the Bremerton ferry back to Seattle.  Even though we missed the boat we were aiming for, it beat sitting in traffic on way home on a hot day.

so much … stuff

We just finished our self imposed challenge to get rid of 100 things in 100 days.  A highlight was gifting on Buy Nothing a bike I’d been meaning to sell for over two years.  Jack also got rid of some soccer cleats he’d had at work for well over a year, having intended to sell them on eBay.  Most items went to Goodwill, including many kids’ books which had come from there in the first place.  I was surprised by how much the small gesture of listing a discarded item was just enough of a reward to be motivating.  We have a long way to go to make our house and lives more manageable.

This weekend D and I are going to two birthday parties, for which we are bringing gifts.  I think I managed to think of good ideas for the brithday boy and girl, but I certainly appreciate that the vast majortiy of kids’ parties we are invited to request us to not bring gifts.  It is better for everyone.

Perhaps I have a warped image of myself, but I really don’t think I’m particularly un-generous.  Giving meaningful gifts or ones where I’m confident that I have a great idea is really fun and rewarding.  Unfortunately most gift-giving occaisions are just not like that.

On the recent occaision of D’s fourth birthday, we limited the grandparents to only giving one gift.  They mostly stayed the course and he got very nice things: one hand made ukelele case, a game he’s played several times already, an easel he’ll use for years and “experience” gifts that make memories instead of clutter.  

Looking around our house, there are so many things Jack and I have given each other as gifts.  Some are great, but they can’t all be.  As we embark on our second 100 things in 100 days challenge, giving Jack some tangible gift for Father’s days just seems perverse.

In a few months we’ll have been in our house for two years, with more space than we’ve ever had before.  We stayed at our Boston apartment for three years, followed by a major possessions purge when we only kept things that we mailed back to Seattle.  In Seattle we spent about  two years in two different apartments on the same floor of the same building.  Prior to this, moving has been the primary method of controlling the volume of our possessions, so we really need to stay on top of it so that we don’t drown in stuff in the decades we hope to spend here in our house.

tangy rhubarb lentil soup

While searching for a non-dessert rhubarb recipe, we stumbled on this recipe on Epicurious last spring.  We’ve made it on multiple occaisions, so it qualifies to be preserved here on the blog.   As you might be able to tell from the few recipes we’ve posted, we make a lot of soups.  In the last couple years we got a soup thermos, which makes soup, along with some tasty bread, a great option even for hiking lunches or other picnics.

• 3 rainbow chard leaves
• 2 Tbs unsalted butter
• 2 tsp brown mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp ginger (?)
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp cardamom
• 1 medium onion, cut into 1/2 inch dice
• 3/4 lb. rhubarb (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 3/4 cup French green lentils, rinsed and drained
• 1 Tbs packed brown sugar; more to taste
• 6 Tbs whole milk greek yogurt
• 3 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
• Kosher salt

1. Coarsely chop chard leaves and slice stems 1/2 inch thick and keep the leaves and stems separate.  Dice the onion.  Chop up the rhubarb.
2. Heat the oil in a 4 to 5 quart heavy duty pot over med-high heat. Add the mustard seeds, cumin and coriander seeds, stir to coat, and then cook until the mustard seeds begin to pop, about 1 min.
3. Turn the heat down to med low and stir in the ginger, garlic, turmeric, and cardomom. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 min.
4. Add the chard stems and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, about 5 min.
5. Add the rhubarb, lentils, brown sugar, 2 tsp salt and 5 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes.
6. Add the chard leaves. Continue to simmer until the lentils are tender but not falling apart, about 5 minutes more. Season to taste with salt and brown sugar.
7. Immersion blend as desired.  Serve topped with a dollop of greek yogurt and the cilantro.

play ball

Jack’s been playing baseball for 29 of the past 30 years, in preparation for his new role as a….. T-BALL COACH.

It’s been fun for all of us.  There’s one pratice and one game a week.  The kids each swing away until they hit the ball and then they run one base per batter until the last kid hits and gets to run all the way around the bases.  We attempt to get them to field and then throw to first.  They run a lot and look cute in their uniforms.

roof pavers are done!

After two months, we’ve finally finished installing the 200+ pavers on our roof.  Jack did almost all the work, but my dad and I also moved and laid down quite a few (and my mom did extra babysitting).  We never did weigh them, but they are 18” square and we think each is about 40 lbs.  The roof was engineered for the weight of them but it was kind of alarming to realize that making a tall stack of them in one spot on the roof could actually exceed the allowed load.   We got them delivered and then we moved them from the parking spot to the yard, to the basement and up the elevator in small batches.  The we installed them on plastic pedestals with adjustable heights and angles to counter act the slight slope of the roof.  Good work, Jack.

The next step is to build planters around the outside and for the four square cut outs.  Also we need to fix the starter to find out if our buy-nothing barbecue works or not. 

allowance time

A few years ago I read [some of] The Opposite of Spoiled (http://ronlieber.com/books/the-opposite-of-spoiled/), which is about teaching kids to be smart about money.  Basically the idea is to give them an allowance so that they learn about personal finance before they go out on their own.  He argues that allowances should not be tied to chores, because chores are just part of being a family member and older kids can decide that they make enough through some other job and therefore don’t have to help around the house.  He recommends a larger and larger allowance as kids get older, where they are responsible for more and more of their expenses (like sports, clothes, gas etc). 

We’re starting with $4 a week.  I was struggling to think of where we could take D to spend such small amounts of money on something other than just candy.  My solution is Goodwill!

D to Disneyland

On spring break D got to go to Disneyland with his grandparents!  He had a blast.  They rode a roller coaster, met characters, stayed up to watch the fireworks from their hotel room window and walked and swam a lot.  He’s a lucky kid.

Jack and I had a nice dinner at Cafe Flora and some uninterupted conversations while he was gone :)

Who gives a crap?

Sometimes life is improved by mundane day-to-day changes that are of absolutely no interest to those not affected by them.  Let me tell you about one such change!

Our male kitten, Toru, has had a rough few months.  Sometime around Christmas he stopped jumping like a normal cat and we assumed he had seriously hurt one of his legs.  He struggled to get up on the couch, dragging himself up with just his front paws in a really pathetic way and he was eager to play but wanted to lie down while doing it.  It looked like a problem with one of his back legs.  We took him to the vet, tried some pain meds and enforced rest.  It didn’t seem to help so we even had an x-ray of his back legs and hips, but everything was normal.  We decided to just accept the mystery.

Around this time we bought a second self cleaning litter box on craigslist and hooked it up in the basement.  Three cats have a lot of outputs.  We had to set up a third litter box in the room Toru was confined to and all the cats much prefer to use the labor intensive and smelly traditional box. 

We gave up on confinement but then had a trouble with Emo pooping in the basement.  Finally we found a good schedule for the two automatic boxes to clean themselves at different times and Emo got back on board, but Toru rebelled.  We actually would see him go in to the litter box in the basement and then step back out to go to the bathroom on the floor.  We we not happy but figured that part of it was that he was in pain.

Now a few months later, he has gotten a bit better and does jump and play standing up.   The bad bathroom habit continued for a long time, but now I’m so excited that we’ve gone over a week with no one pooping outside of the litter box. 

This site was very helpful http://www.catexpert.co.uk/cats/how-to-clean-up-cat-pee-or-poo/.  It has lots of possible causes and potential solutions.  We started small by cleaning up with Dumb Cat cleaner, because if they smell anything they’ll just stick with their old habit.  Then I think the magic trick was putting some food in the problem corner of the basement.  It has worked like a charm!

Not having a basement [corner] full of poop is such a treat.