When I grow up...

The Stein Dash at Oktoberfest Northwest.  The kids ran their first 1/2 mile race with a rootbeer chug halfway through!

We had a fun conversation at the dinner table a few nights ago and I have to write it down so I don't forget how very much Zoë and Oliver love living at home right now.  :)

Z at school.  

Zoë:

When she grows up she wants to be a teacher and an engineer.  She wants to teach people how to be an engineer.  She will go to WSU.  Her plan is to marry a girl and have a wife.  Because "girls are pretty".  And she will live at home in our house in her bedroom.  The verdict is still out whether or not her wife will be sleeping in her bedroom with her or if all of her children get to sleep in there.  She is quite adamant that there is not room for her wife, so she'll have to sleep in the playroom.  :)  Zoë will have two children, a girl and a boy.  They will be named Russell (after her favorite baby cousin) and Deanna (NO IDEA WHERE THAT ONE CAME FROM!).  She'll have lots of help from mom and dad to help raise her babies and her wife will watch them while she goes to work every day.  It's going to be very cosy in our house with these babies FOREVER.  Zoë cannot be convinced that a house next door or across the street would be just as good, ONLY our house will do (Chris can't wait).










Oliver:

Oliver would also like to be an engineer when he grows up.  He'll have a wife who will "wife.  help me".  He will have two boys but they are yet unnamed.  Oliver said he is going to live in the playhouse out in the yard (!).  His entire family will, in fact.  I asked him what they will eat and after a slight pause he confidently stated "strawberries".  At which point Zoë piped in and said that she could deliver food to his family out in the playhouse.  And his clothes will be on the stairs.  Zoë said we could deliver whatever they need out to the playhouse. 

So...our kids will live with us forever.  We'll see how long this plan lasts...Oliver's plan is, in all honestly, probably the most likely.  ;)

Here are just some adorable fall pictures to add to the fun. 

Growing and changing

The kids are growing and time is flying.  Fall has arrived and by the time I know it it'll be Christmas and then Zoë's fifth birthday. 

Oliver's current favorite phrases include "me self", "my turn", and "me first" and he is usually pretty adamant about getting his way when he screams them.  His tantrums are intense and usually quick to brew and explode.  He does not like being told what to do or that he cannot do something.  His favorite things are anything Disney Cars (he has a collection of Die Cast vehicles growing) and we took him to his first movie at the movie theater in July and had a great time!  He was hilarious during the movie cheering for the characters.  We are attempting round 2 of potty training and trying not to push him as much.  So far it seems like it's going better (he's self-initiating much better than he was last time) but I don't want to speak too soon.  He is scared of the car wash, Maui from Moana, and bears (?!).  It has been increasingly difficult to watch movies with him because he is getting scared at the scary parts!  His no-fear attitude has melted away.  He is chattering away speaking in full sentences now and it's hilarious to hear him tell stories with a tilt of his head as he looks towards the ceiling and holds his hands out.  He's still running from place to place without a thought for his personal safety and enjoying his time at gymnastics class. 

Zoë has really been enjoying preschool and loves her teachers.  She's slowly warming up to some new friends but she is still super stand-off-ish with new people.  It drives me nuts.  Also.  She has suddenly become a real teenager overnight.  Folding her arms, stomping her feet, huffing and puffing when we tell her no or she doesn't get her way.  It's crazy and really really really really bugs me.  Her sour puss face sticks until she is completely distracted by something or gets her way.  ARGH.  Vicki gave me the best piece of advice the other day and said "you don't have to see everything".  So.  I need to just not look in the rearview mirror when I know she's being huffy (although I CAN still hear her).  Zoë is still mispronouncing blanket (bwanqwet), Oliver (Ohver), and something else I can't remember right now.  I love it and want her to pronounce them like that forever.  She has been working on her letters and phonics sounds and I'm impressed with how fast she's memorized letters and how to write them.  She LOVES to work in her 'tivity book during nap times. 

Watching her and Oliver play together is both wonderful and super frustrating.  They can play for an hour perfectly well together and then fight over who gets to hold more handfuls of pony beads.  Or who gets to let Fiona out in the morning. I am lured into a false sense of security and then WHAM.  They bicker.  BUT, when they ARE playing together nicely it is amazing!  They love to pretend together and everything Zoë does Oliver wants to do (feed baby, tuck in baby, do a show, make a fort, etc). 

Chris is demo-ing the pool and deck this weekend so we (he) can build an in-ground pool next summer.  He is a champ (with the help of Drew and big Chris) and excited for a new (BIG) project!

Celebrating the End of Summer

The kids spent a fun three days at the first annual Camp BabaDedo with their camp counselors Baba and Dedo.  They had an amazing time, slept very little, and were exhausted by the time they came back home.

Our summer was rounded out by a fun week at Sunriver with my family.  Parents, sister and family and us.  It was great!  Zoë REALLY improved on her bike since our first trip to Sunriver in June and she could actually ride it on a 10 minute trip to the Lodge or to the Village on her own bike!  She spend a couple of nap times with Dedo at the golf course working on her putting (or kick putting).  We went to the SHARC one day when the smoke from the nearby wildfires was incredibly thick and only had to share the entire place with three other families.  It looked like a ghost town.  Cousins Mason and Russell also rode in bike trailers and did great.





























Zoë started preschool last week at the Tacoma Nature Center through their Nurture in Nature preschool program.  She is in the all outdoor section and she'll be outside all year long; rain, wind, snow it doesn't matter.  She's pumped, and so am I!  Her teachers, Ms. Jess and Mr. Brandon, are amazing and there are 12 kids in her class in all.  Their "schoolyard" is where they meet every day and includes a circle time area made of stumps, a sand pit with various logs to build and teeter on

, and tons of stuff to explore and climb.  It is incredible.  They walk up every day to "Coyote Flats" where there is a porta-potty and a large glass field where they eat their snack.  Around the corner from there is a full garden complete with 15 (!) chickens, a super cool stump circle around a campfire pit, and various other natural play spaces.

Her best buddy Bailey is also in the class and I am fortunate to have a carpool friend in Marci so that I can drive the girls one day a week and have a day off on the other.  Last Thursday Z told me that she made a new friend and held her hand and that she got to be the Trailblazer job, which meant she got to be at the front of the hiking pack the entire day and she loved that!  She saw a frog and many turtles.  It KILLS me that it's like pulling teeth to get her to tell me details about her day, but the teachers are great at posting pics each day of the kids and writing captions about what they were doing or learning.  I think it's going to be a great fit.  She had her first rainy day this week and wore her Oakiwear rainsuit so she looked like a total PNW kid in outdoor school.  It was adorable!

While Z is at school Oliver and I will have two mornings just the two of us each week which will be fun!  We went to the zoo on Tuesday and Thursday went to The Little Gym and had a great time.  It's great to be able to spoil him a little bit without having to think about being "fair" the entire time.

We went to the fair as a family on Friday and had a wonderful time!  The kids were THRILLED to ride the rides and eat yummy food.  We strolled through the animals and called it a day.  But it was great!  It's so nice that they are both able to spend several hours walking around to do things without toting around the stroller.  They were definitely done at the end but they were champs.







































Fall has come with a vengeance this year and it has already been pouring rain all week and been COLD.  The kids' Halloween costumes are well underway and I'm excited for baking yummy fall treats and drinking lots of extra warm coffee while snuggled up at home.

Peterson Prairie Campground and the Great American Solar Eclipse

The view of Mt. Hood from Steamboat Mountain

We decided last month after our camping trip on Bainbridge Island that we needed another one before the summer ended and luckily I snagged a campsite in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest near Mount Adams.  We changed our plans a bit and added an extra night so that we could be within driving range of central Oregon for the BIG solar eclipse.

Preparing banana boats

A highlight of Zoë's trip, seeing a deer

Leaving early on Friday because we anticipated bad traffic heading towards Oregon, we took our time getting to our campsite and stopped at three hikes in our Best Hikes With Kids book to check them off.  The first one was the Ape Cave near Mt. St. Helens and it was a great adventure.  No dogs allowed so Chris and I took turns taking the kids down into the cave.  It was dark and cold and beautiful.  The kids loved taking their flashlights down the long stairs and into the cave to explore.  We didn't make it to the end but I think we got close.

Ape Cave

Our second hike stop was at the Trail of Two Forests just around the corner from the Ape Caves and it, too, was super cool.  An eruption 2000 years ago caused molten lava to consume the living trees in the forest taking their places and shapes creating tree-shaped basalt wells and tunnels to climb through.  Chris and the kids climbed through a 100 foot tunnel that they accessed from a ladder that went straight down into a tree well.  It was so cool and I was impressed that BOTH kids went into the pitch dark without being able to see the light at the end.

Trail of Two Forests

We headed out to our third hike of the day at Thomas Lake winding through a million dusty, gravelly, and bumpy national forest roads.  It was a pretty, short (and dusty) hike up to a cluster of five small lakes and would make a great place to backpack with little kids.  Our kids bickered and screamed halfway up the trail over who got to be the leader but recovered when Chris caught a frog and they finally caught sight of the lakes.

Thomas Lake

The Peterson Prairie Campground is a great campground with large campsites and good picnic benches.  It is definitely "real" camping and the kids had a BALL running around and building dirt castles (and, in some situations, throwing dirt up in the air and letting it land on their head...OLIVER).  Fiona ALSO had a great time and was no longer a white dog by the end of our trip.

Dirt Castles

Day two took us to Steamboat Mountain for a 2 mile roundtrip hike up to the top of a peak with a stunning view of four mountains: Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Hood.  It had an elevation gain of 800 feet and the kids didn't whimper once (except for a few foot slips).  I was very impressed with the two of them and it definitely opens up some more hiking options knowing they're capable of accomplishing some serious elevation.   At the end of our hike (which, by the way, we didn't see another soul on, so giddy Fiona got to run off leash the entire time) Chris cooked hot dogs in the gravel parking lot and we picnicked in the dirt before heading into Hood River for the afternoon.

Hot Dogs in the gravel/dirt

Hot 

Steamboat Mountain

We ate ice cream, visited the book store, and had China Gorge in a park before we headed back to the campground.  Oliver started to get super sick during the afternoon and by the time we got back at about 6:30 he was worn out, so he went straight to bed while Zoë got to enjoy a bit of time around the campfire.

Hood River

Hood River

On day three we had a leisurely breakfast and then headed out to Langfield Falls which was a half mile hike to a fan-shaped falls that was beautiful.  Miss Fiona had the time of her life swimming in the freezing pool below the falls and then rolling in the dirt.  Oliver was disappointed he couldn't get in the water but we envisioned him doing the same thing as Fiona and didn't want to encourage him getting any more dirty than he already was!

Langfield Falls

In the afternoon we headed to a set of hikes that were within a five minute drive of our campground: The Ice Cave and Natural Bridges.  Within 10 feet of the ice cave Chris slipped and the lantern shattered and Oliver slipped and fell on the rocks which terrified him.  We determined that going further into the ice cave wasn't a good idea, saw some cool ice structures up ahead thanks to other people's flashlights, and called it good.  It was cool but the kids would have had a hard time going any further on their own and it was difficult to hold a flashlight and them.  So, we headed to the natural bridges which were formed when lava tubes collapsed and left bridges crossing the large gaps where the tubes once were.  They were cool but not our favorite and we were done with the trail in about 15 minutes.

Ice Cave and Natural Bridges

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We went back to the campground and relaxed during the evening (had our favorite camping meal, spaghetti and meatballs and french bread!) and packed everything up except for the tent and our sleeping bags so we could high-tail it out of the campground bright and early the next morning to begin our adventure towards central Oregon for the best viewing of the solar eclipse.





















So, at 5:30 in the morning we woke everyone up, packed up the tent and our sleeping bags, and started the two and a half hour drive to get as close to Madras as we could to set up to view the solar eclipse in it's totality.  The kids did great on the drive (of course they didn't fall back asleep) and while we were worried about hitting traffic on the way down there we didn't hit any (the highways definitely had more cars on them than usual but we weren't slowed down) and arrived at about 8:45 on the side of the road with many hundred other cars.  We were trying to make it to a rest stop about 25 miles north of Madras but decided after a quick consult with Google Maps that that wasn't a good idea.  Our location turned out to be perfect and easy to make a quick escape from once the eclipse was over.

Snacks and eclipses, what could be better?

More Pineapple Eclipses

Pineapple Eclipses!

We set up the shade tent for the kids to hang out in while we were waiting.  They played Zingo (kind of), ate some candy and snacks galore, had mini meltdowns (they DID wake up at the crack of dawn, after all), and watched as the moon began to make it's way across the sun starting a little after 9am.  It was incredible.  It was so much fun to watch them observe how it moved and started to cover up the sun.  Oliver needed REPEATED reminders to keep his glasses on and not look up without them (nooooooot really sure if we escaped eye damage with that one yet...time will tell) but Z was very good.  I made them little masks with a paper plate to help them keep the glasses on their face and protect their eyes a bit more.

Safety Briefing by Mom

The seconds before totality

Once the moon was about two thirds of the way across the sun it started to get noticeably cooler and the light started to be different.  Hard to explain but it just seemed like the light around us was not as sharp and crisp as it was before.  A bit fuzzy?  About fifteen minutes before totality the sky started to look like it was late in the day near sunset.  Long shadows on the ground.  I was concerned about how cool it was getting and grabbed sweatshirts for the kids because they were NOT going to ruin the minute and a half of totality we would have by complaining it was cold.  Of course, they wouldn't put them on.

Oliver was even wowed

About three minutes before totality Oliver had a complete meltdown.  He screamed.  He kicked.  He was going to ruin it for us and ALL of the people around us by piercing the silence and peace with his screaming.  I threw some Skittles at him and he was fine.

Science with my babies!

WHOA!

Totality was the most amazing thing I've ever seen.  I might have teared up (not really a surprise to anyone who knows me).  The minute the sun was completely eclipsed it got DARK.  We could see stars!  Taking off the glasses as soon as the last sliver of sun disappeared was fantastic and I think I loved looking around at the landscape as much as I enjoyed looking at the eclipse.  The eclipse was beautiful and I think both kids thought so too (Zoë was especially enraptured).  It all went so fast but the minute the sun started to peek out from around the moon again it was clear it was time to put the glasses back on and the sky immediately brightened up.  We waited around for just a few minutes but knew the faster we got on the road the less traffic we would encounter.

Totality

Nerd family...good work, team!

A view of the western horizon during totality

Luckily, the only traffic snags we hit were near the town of Maupin (a super tiny town that involved winding down and back up through the town which slowed traffic quite a bit) and of course through Chehalis because of a traffic accident (CHEHALIS!  *shakes fist*).  We were back home by about 4pm, took showers and tubbies and enjoyed relaxing and hitting bedtime early.  We had a wonderful trip and can't wait to do more camping next year!

Totality!

A Jam Packed July

We have been busy busy this month as is the usual for the summertime.  It's crazy how fast the summer flies by and it's already nearing the end of the month and I'm planning Halloween costumes (only a little bit kidding).

We enjoyed a fun Fourth of July starting with the kids bike parade in Brown's Point.  The kids helped decorate their bikes and did great on the route!  They both pedaled (scooted, in Oliver's case) the entire route.  Oliver and Chris were actually the last ones by the end and the only complaint Oliver had was 'self' (he wanted to do it himself).

We had some good friends over for a BBQ and then headed down to the Brown's Point Lighthouse Park to watch the Tacoma fireworks.

Our weekend camping trip was on Bainbridge Island last weekend and we had an amazing time!  The campground was a city park and aside from having terrible neighbors the first night and a bumpy campsite we really enjoyed it.  We even knocked off four hikes in our Best Hikes with Kids book.  The island was beautiful and the kids did great camping (a few accidents on Oliver's part but he really loved peeing in the grass).  We ate yummy food and slept in fresh air.  Doesn't get much better than that!

The Palevich's were here for five days this past week and it was really fun to spend so much fun with all of them.  We went to the zoo, swam in the pool, had a BBQ, went to a concert in the park, had another BBQ and made lots of memories.  They'll be back in a couple of weeks!