Juniper Dunes

Today four new friends took us on a new adventure to Juniper Dunes.  We started with a wonderful breakfast of Stuart's sourdough pancakes for all 8 of us.  Then off to the Dunes.

Juniper Dunes is a small BLM Wilderness area.  And what a wild place!  Out in the middle of the wheat fields lies a place where sand has blown into a set of dunes over 50 feet high.   Having been deposited by a combination of the Missoulla Floods and the prevailing winds from the west they left me wondering why just in this one spot is there a concentration of sand when there are silty soils all around.  Whatever the reason, the natural history was just wonderful. 

We were extremely lucky to be hiking with a Whitman Geology professor and a Whitman Natural History Professor.  So pretty much every question we has was quickly answered in wondrous detail. 

Cool caterpillar!

Kirsten and Tim have two boys.  One age 4, Tobias, who got on great with Dakota.  Here they are looking for beetles and crickets.

This is a close up of the wild buckwheat and yarrow.

And then the dune fun! We brought sleds to ride down the dunes.

Sledding first led to tunnels and just good digging.  By the end Wren their other son Brooks had helped Wren completely bury himself (except his face.)


















So the dunes were great!  The weather was fabulous with wonderful cloud cover, light wind and just right on temperature.  

40th Birthday

I have made it clear to all my friends and relations that I plan to live to 100 and that my big marker birthdays are 33 and 66.  By dividing my life into thirds I can easily define when I am young, when I am middle aged and when it is a gain entry in the world of the wise and become old.  But despite my efforts to down play this year's birthday by being clear about my intentions, I was celebrated in many unexpected and wonderful ways!

To begin my mom came and baked one of my favorite cakes, Ukranian Lemon Poppyseed Cake.  YUM! We celebrated the evening on the back porch with our wondrous neighborhood friends. 

Next, came the wonderful gifts from across the country and around the world.  Thoughtful, meaningful and truly appreciated.  

And then, the next day, I was whisked away by my two neighbors into a world out of this place yet close by.  Starting with a flower petal foot bath and lemon zinger/mint iced tea.  The girls took perfect care of me.  Then after I was perfectly relaxed, they began to tell my of my fortune...reading my palm, looking at my animal in chinese mythology, and talking about my moon sign.  I felt like they were able to see into my life and offer clear words of wisdom.

 Next came the blessing of the henna.  Where my feet, after being properly cleansed were prepared for my next 60 years of life.  I received a mandala pattern which might offer me some focus as I edge my way into this next adventure.

 And lastly, I was truly whisked away to another world close but further away for a blessing of friendship given by new friends.

Balloon Stampede

 Walla Walla hosts a Balloon Stampede every year.  We have enjoyed watching the hot air balloons rise in the early mornings.  On Friday morning we awoke at 5:45 AM to go down to Whitman's field to watch a launch.  And it was super cool and well worth the early morning effort.  Here we are snuggled up waiting for the balloon to get filled up. 

My mom is here visiting for Mother's Day!  Yeah!

 Peeking in to the balloon...

 Then it is filled and it is off!

 Up, Up, and Away!

 Then the big hype was the Saturday Nite Glow.  Well...we went and it was interesting and I would even say beautiful but ... mostly hype.  The Fairgrounds were covered with venders, venders and more venders.  The field was covered with 8 balloons which when the fire was lit, glowed beautifully.  But the crowd was over populated for our style and the hype was much better than the show.  I think in the future, we will just do the early morning thing where we can talk to the pilots and watch how the balloons really work!  Here are some nite glow pictures. 

Bubble Boy: Dakota

Could not resist posting this cute photo... Obviously Dakota is enjoying his bubble baths!

Cinco de Mayo

We started our Cinco de Mayo with the first gathering of Wren's Book Club.  He has been watching me go to book club for the past few months and decided that he wanted to start one of his own.  He organized some neighborhood friends, cleaned the house, made tapioca and hosted.  I helped facilitate the first meeting where they choose their first book, A Bear named Trouble.  They will meet again in a month having read the book.  They have their next book already picked out if this one goes well.  We are very proud of Wren for taking such great initiative on this idea!  Go Wren! 

And while we are celebrating Wren.  WOW!  He was recognized in a secret vote by his 5th grade peers as the Outstanding Class Leaders of the Year! 

Our next event for the day was a Soccer Game. And then on to....Our Local High School, Wa-Hi, which hosts an annual Cinco de Mayo event.  This was just the right amount fun for the family evening.  We started with a ride with the miniature ponies and their carts.

Then listened to Mariachi from Wenatchee, our regionally infamous mariachi band. The dress of the dancer in the green overwhelmed Wren just before he decided it might be a good idea to sit on the other side of the table. The music was lovely, after which we enjoyed a free dinner of enchiladas, beans, rice, tacos and chips and salsa.  Local Fare...YUM!

 Of course there was fresh cotton candy for our post dinner sugar rush. And then this monkey bridge, hosted by the local boy scout troop. I have to admit, I had a work hard to hold back my judgement regarding it's safety.  Wren scrambled across quick as a wink with no knot or stake failure.  But later in the evening I saw the stakes almost pull completely out and many knots loosen only to be re-tightened with the same slipping knots. 

 Dakota found the local painted rock.  After looking at how many coats of paint on this rock, I concluded that there just might be more paint then rock after a few more years of senior pranks.  It seems like it is the "town cryer" rock...maybe painted for every big event at the school. 

We ended with a pinata event that I forgot to take pictures of and then home after a long day in the sun...

Oregon Coast

 We went to Oregon Coast for a surf kayak trip with the Whitman College Outdoor Program (i.e. Stuart at work).  This was great!  The boys really liked hanging out with the college students.  And the college students liked the family atmosphere.  It was Easter weekend and on Sunday morning, two of the student leaders got up and did a Easter egg hunt for the boys.  What fun!

The boys hangin' out with Kemper it the very full trailer.

The Oregon coast is really a temperate rainforest.  As we hiked down to the surfing beach, we passed through giant trees covered with moss.  Every surface had something growing on it. 

This is a yet to be identified giant beautiful flower growing in swampy areas along the trail.

Here a dead log is host to new life.

One thing I love about adventures with the family is that the boys really work well together.  They look out for each other and play in ways that they don't when they are confined by 4 walls.  Here they are hiking the path out ahead of me.

Here they are investigating the tide pools.

What is in this muck????

Stuart spent the weekend teaching surf kayaking.  What fun!

(somewhere in here in my photos, the setting got changed to manual so the rest of the images are washed out...sorry)

This is my dancing boy Dakota.  He seems to find music inside himself and dance whether we are on the ski slope or the beach or even the backyard.

The drift wood pile was large.  Dakota found a hole in one of the logs.

Together we made a rock wall to defend ourselves.

Wren made an awesome drift wood fort.

I made some rock art: In tower form.

And spiral form....

Dakota's Art Show

Kid's Place where Dakota goes to school has an art show each year.  This year a local restaurant, Brasserie Four, hosted and provided chocolate covered cream puffs.  The show will hang for a month.  Each child had some work hung in the show. 

This is the front of the restaurant.  You can see the art show hanging through the window.

Here is Dakota standing and looking at his self portrait.

 Here he is expressing his excitement for the cream puffs!

 And here enjoying a bite as the cream squirts into his mouth.

This is a group painting of airplanes.  Dakota's airplane is the big blue one in the middle of this 3 ft. by 3ft canvas.  

Like any other art show opening, folks were gathered drinking wine, chatting, looking at works of art and eating yummy appetizers.  It was lovely.

 Outside the restaurant the boys were happy to share their excitement for the evening!