Happy Halloween!

Halloween was quiet around these parts this year. Rynn rebounded from a really rough sickness just in time for a quick lap around the block to Trick-or-Treat with her sister. Out at 6pm, back by 7pm, and in bed by 8pm, my little princess and kitty cat even got to enjoy a little World Series watching with Daddy.

And we're OFF!

Sick of Being Sick

It seems half of Portland is sick with something these days. We've been passing junk around our crew for a week now, with all of us feeling slightly out of it and foggy. Poor Rynn has had the worst of it, but hopefully tomorrow things will be looking up so a little black cat and a Cinderella (or maybe Snow white...jury's out) will be able to skip around the neighborhood to collect some candy. I, for one, have a mean craving for some Twix and some KitKats. mmmm......

Pictures of the Redwoods Found!

Jason is my superhero. Not only because he made an awesome dinner of roasted tomatoes and pasta, but because he found a few pictures of the redwoods on the video camera! Yeah.
Our Suburu looks dwarfed next to these old growth redwoods.


Eleanor's comment on these trees..."I thought they'd be bigger, mommy, like through the clouds."

That there below, why, that's one mighty big stump AND it's older than Jesus. Literally. Wow.

If you are interested in the Redwoods you can read more in last month's issue of National Geographic. Check out some interesting articles, maps, etc... @
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/redwoods/redwoods

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy Jig

We are home. Amidst the piles of bills, laundry, homework, and responsibilities that so quickly press in upon us, our trip lingers like the flavors of a good meal. The week was varied, full, adventurous, and overall quite grand. The Redwoods are, indeed, amazing...even in a typhoon that dropped 1/3 of Northern California's yearly rainfall on us in one day. Donning our rain gear and boots we marveled at how few people were out to explore the Lady Bird Johnson Grove of Redwoods, Gold Beach Preserve, and the famous "Fern Canyon"(where scenes from Jurassic Park were filmed). Only later did we find out that the weather was not normal and that we had made our children hike through downpours to see the great sites of Northern California's wild lands. Fortunately, they had a wonderful time despite their parents' insanity. As Rynn pulled up her pants, got her shoes wet, and hiked up a creek in a canyon with sixty foot walls of ferns on either side of her she kept exclaiming, "THis is SOO awesome. This is SOOO awesome." The bummer for the blog is that my camera had no batteries and so, alas, no pictures until we arrived down in Santa Cruz.
We met up with my family to take some boats out into Monterey Bay. We saw otters and some porpoises who swam right by our boat! It was sunny, warm, and beautiful.
We wrapped up the weekend celebrating my cousin Leigh and her husband Johnny tie the knot under the California sun.

Leigh and Johnny make some big promises...



....and Party Time

The sound of Virginia accents under the warm setting California sun....does it get any better than that???

Games abounded at the post wedding festivities. Here the girls and Jason play with the bubbles after finishing a mean game of horseshoes.

And after twelve hours in the car on Sunday we arrived back home to find Portland ABLAZE with color. Every year I find it more and more amazing. Unfortunately, my camera couldn't capture the vibrancy of the color that brings a gasp out of my throat when I round many corners in our neighborhood. It is amazingly beautiful, and I am reminded again of lines from a poem by TS Eliot,

"Never stop exploring, and the end of your exploring will be to arrive where you began and know it for the first time."

55th Ave...our street this afternoon

Our backyard maple...because she has been on the blog for the past two falls.

Remember those cherry trees from a spring post? The ones so white and fluffy? Who knew they'd turn yellow??

This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land

The planning is almost complete. The quizzes taken, the homework turned in, the teachers contacted, the dog on his way to his babysitter, the fish at the neighbors, and

in One Day...we leave for our journey South to California stopping by Eugene, OR to see the Parkers...

In Two Days....we will be driving by this...

and through one of these... ...and under one of those,

...and singing Woody Guthrie, "This land is your land, this land is my land from California to the New York Islands, from the Redwood Forests...."

In Three days we will be hunting for sea lions on the California coast and playing in the Redwood National Park.

In Four days Jason and I will celebrate our NINTH anniversary! It has been Nine years since we stood in a field in Colorado and promised our lives to one another.

In Five days we will wake up with family in Santa Cruz, CA to enjoy spending time with family-my mom, my aunties and uncles, my cousins. Uncle Ham...we'll miss you!

In Six Days we'll be playing near Santa Cruz on the Pacific ocean in kayaks .

And on the Seventh Day we will celebrate with my cousin Leigh and her soon to be husband Johnny as they promise their lives to one another in another field, this time under the California sun.

and then, we will rest on the twelve hour drive home back to Portland, OR.

the dog ate my homework

See those pretty orange tomatoes down in the post below? They are gone, because our mischievous little (well, not really) Weimeraner loves fruits and veggies. I came home today to find an empty bowl and two big paw prints on the counter.

I think Rynn may be the only child who can actually use the excuse "The Dog Ate my homework." yesterday I pulled her Japanese homework out of Roscoe's mouth seconds before it became digested origami. Second to fruit, Roscoe loves paper- homework, coloring books, toilet paper, cotton balls, paper towels..oh..and crayons. But, man is he cute and we are quite smitten with him.

early autumn harvest

Some of the last of the garden's bounty...Jason tore down the tomatoes today and harvested all the green ones. He thinks he may try pickling. Any helpers out there? I thought they looked so pretty in the afternoon light.

And then, our neighbor Anna called us to come help her harvest her garden this afternoon. I'd say we pretty much scored. Thank you, Anna! Beets, tomatoes, tomatilloes, carrots, parsnips. Yum.

and did anyone see the moon tonight? It was Big. And Very Round. And Really Bright. And wow, pretty much all around amazing. A fall harvest moon. I love Fall.

Thank you to those of you who are praying for our church HOPE. Our transition to morning worship went great. It was a wonderful morning and a very relaxing afternoon :).