My Grandpa works at the grocery store...

Sometimes when we hike we play a game titled "My grandpa works at the grocery store..." and it goes something like this:  One person begins and says "my grandpa works at the grocery store and in that grocery store he sells something yellow and square."  Then, everyone else guesses or asks for another clue until we figure it out.  It is fun and often helps with the whining of the youngest member of the group.  As we were hiking on our camping trip I started a game and it often morphs into "my sister works at a zoo" or "my mom goes on a safari" etc,  Bryce likes to play but doesn't always "get it".  Here were some of his:

1.  My grandpa works at the zoo and takes care of animals that are brown and white and live in the water during the day and on land at night.  Keep in mind I had just gotten done with one about hippos (who live in water during the day and on land and night) and Cayden had just finished one about meerkats (who are brown).  We guessed and we guessed and we guessed and kept asking for more clues. 

Extra clue #1:  They live where it's cold.
Our guesses:  Walrus, seal, bear.  No, no, and double no.

Extra clue #2:  They have big bellies.
Our guesses:  Kangaroo (we were desperate), bears (again), sea lions.  No, no, and no. 

Finally, we gave up and his answer was A PENGUIN!  Cayden and I told him that penguins aren't brown and his response was that "it is a SPECIAL kind of penguin."  Ah, yes, we should've known.

The next round Bryce's clues were 1.  a grocery store, brown, with a hole in it.  (I had just done cheerios and Cayden had just done donuts).  After guessing for a while we gave up and the answer was a "brown orange".  Duh. 

Camping on the Metolius

Camping?  Seriously?

When Jeff suggested we go camping I was thinking to myself "are you crazy?"  We had just gotten back home from being gone for 3 weeks.  I had just finished doing the laundry and was enjoying my own bed.  But, alas, the boys were excited so I put on my somewhat happy face and got BACK out the duffle bag and away we went WITHOUT reservations anywhere (and if you know me that really stresses me out).  Turns out it was a great time and everyone had fun.  I always say that I enjoy camping - except for the dirt.  I guess after years of camping with boys I should realize the dirt is what makes it fun.  We camped on the Metolius River and it was a beautiful spot and there were plenty of them available (phew). 





 Bryce on the trail.  He had his swimming stuff on because we came right from a swimming birthday party. 

 What is this?!?  A picture of me and my kids?  Weird. Cayden decided to stick out his tongue last minute.  Isn't he funny?

 Bryce on a BIG tree.  It was 525 years old.  No one counted the rings in our group but someone must have because there was a nice sign.

 Bryce took this picture.  Again, Cayden is goofing.

 The next day we took off on a geocache.  It was a beautiful trail on the river.  Bryce and I didn't keep pace with Jeff and Cayden but eventually we met back up with them.

 Cayden and Bryce at the geocache hiding spot.

Cayden wanted to climb every fallen tree in the river on the way back.  This one was striking because of the wildflowers (or maybe weeds) growing out of the end.  

County Fair

While in Colorado, we went to the El Paso County Fair.  It was HOT, HOT, HOT outside so we went and found a little shade inside the 4-H building.  Bryce found a "sandbox" made out of corn.  He had a blast and the photographer from the Colorado Springs Gazette came along and took some pictures of him playing. 

 After this fun was over my sister found corn in her car and my mom found corn in her washing machine :)  This picture actually made it into the paper and the others were just on-line in a gallery.

Cayden, Margo, and Nana also made it in the on-line gallery.  They were coloring a big picture.

My garden this morning...

We arrived back in Oregon late Thursday night (too late to go check the garden or do anything but crawl in bed and hope the kids would sleep in).  We woke up, but not too early, and walked out to the garden Friday morning (this seemed like a better idea than unpacking the truck).  Jeff and I are such "garden nerds" that we waited until we were both up and ready so we could see it together.  While we were gone I knew that many of the veggies in our garden, and cherries in our tree, would be ready.  People emailed me and messaged me letting me know that they were taking stuff from our garden.  I had encouraged them to do this because I just don't like waste. We didn't anticipate what we would find Friday morning and what it would require us to do!We were excited and a bit overwhelmed.    

 Pie cherries

 This is what it looked like AFTER people had picked and after Jeff and I picked approximately 14 cups of cherries yesterday. 

After picking yesterday and having peas, zuchini, squash, beets, yellow beans, carrots, and onions with our dinner last night and cherry pies for dessert (thanks mom for the pie maker!) this is what I got out of the garden today.  Basil, green beans, carrots, squash, and a boat load more cherries. 

I absolutely love having a garden.  The kids love having a garden.  I was skeptical several years ago when Jeff suggested gardening because I had no idea what I was doing.  I thought that it would be so much more work than it is.  It is work (mostly weeding), but not what I expected.  Ten of the things that I have learned (in no particular order of importance):

1.  Basil can be frozen for later use.

2.  Most tomatoes come ripe around the time we are heading back to school which isn't always convenient.

3.  Peas never produce as much as I think they will which is fine because I don't like peas anyway.

4.  My corn is never "knee high by the 4th of July".

5.  The birds in my neighborhood don't like pie cherries.

6.  Squash plants (including pumpkins) take up a lot of space and their leaves hurt.

7.  Walls of water allow us to plant early.

8.  Jeff likes his pepper plants (sometimes more than me, I think) and will race out to the garden to protect them from hail.

9.  I don't like salad enough to eat all the lettuce my garden produces and I don't know how to keep it from going to seed ("bolting" is the new word I learned for that).

10.  Gardening without using chemicals makes me feel better about what I produce and the fact that the boys can eat straight from the garden. 

We are far from experts and learn something new EVERY year.  Right now I am thankful for the internet and suggestions from all kinds of people on how to use pie cherries because there is no way we could ever eat that many pies.  I made six pints of jam yesterday and will be making cherry banana bread today along with freezing more pie filling.  Wish me luck!

P.S.  If you are comfortable on a ladder, come on over for the cherries at the top of the tree.





Cancun

We just returned from Cancun and Colorado.  While in Cancun, we had professional pictures taken of the WHOLE family (all 10 of us)! Here are a few.  I will post the "regular" pictures as I have the time and patience.

4th of July this year started with train rides for the boys.  These 4 had a great time and waited patiently for their turn.  We were in the front of the line so they got to sit at the top of the caboose.  All went well until the ride home when Bryce desperately had to go "potty" and was convinced the train should be able to stop for him.  It could not so he had to wiggle all the way back to the drop off point.  He made it, by the way...

 100 % Best Friends

All the kids later that day at the annual Smith BBQ