Spring Break Part 3: Portland

After Smith Rock, we headed for Portland.  Stuart had a meeting to attend for work and the boys and I had a date with the zoo.  On the way we passed Mt. Hood.

 Now from my perspective, zoos pictures are always a little disappointing as most of these are.  Really they just document the fact that we really did spend the day walking around the zoo in the rain.  But the real treasures of the zoo were the moments and comments and awe that is inspired by seeing animals up close. 

Here are the salmon, on display just below the bald eagle habitat showing the connection between predator and prey. 

 See the two bald eagles sitting far away on that branch.... (I know, a terrible picture.)

 At the petting zoo, we there was nothing to pet but the boys got a good pony ride.

 Now the one good photo is not this one but the next one.  Yet, I do like this one because the boys really liked seeing how they compared with the size of the different types of bears.

Now this one, I really like.  That polar bear is just two feet from the boys.  It was soooooo big. 

There is a baby elephant in this photo but the real reason I posted this photo is the great image of the rain on Dakota's head.  It literally rained every minute that we were at the zoo.  And yet there was never a single complaint.  Just happy boys excited to be exploring the zoo.

 Dakota loves Penguins and even though this exhibit was "stinky" and he wanted to leave pretty much right away.  He chose to stay because he loves these creatures so much.

 Wren loved this next exhibit.  We got to go inside a aviary where you could feed these lorakeets.  They would just fly down and land on your hand and drink nectar out of these little cups.

All in all, a fun day.  We headed back to the hotel, met up with our friends, swam in the pool, and then went over to their house for a lovely dinner. 

Spring Break Part 2: Smith Rock State Park

From Fossil, we headed south to Smith Rock State Park for some climbing.  The park is a beautiful place to just be.  And additionally, there is lots and lots of climbing which is what we came here for so....

We started our days there on a crowded Sunday.  "The most crowded I have ever seen it," said one ranger.  But we managed to escape the crowd by hiking up out of the main gorge to a wonderful little outcropping of rock called Adit.   There were perfect climbs there for us.  After a top rope of our first route, Wren jumped on lead and did an excellent lead of this climb.

The outcropping had a wonderful little summit block which we all managed to get on top of at the end of the day for a view and some exposure.

The next day was quieter in the gorge and so we headed for the main walls to climb some classics.  One of the great things about this area is the wonderful structures that lend themselves to forts and caves and great little exploring spots.  Here is Dakota in a cave right under one of our climbs.

Here wren is showing his stuff and climbing like a champ.

 This is the first trip where Dakota really like the climbing.  Here he is up high on a climbing just loving it.

 A bit of wildlife is always exciting.  Here a large "bull" snake.  That is the name someone else gave it as we watched is slither around at the base of one of the climbs.  Wren really wanted me to get a picture with it's tongue out. 

More beautiful shots of the rocks and Wren.

Spring Break Part 1: John Day Fossil Beds

We headed out for the John Day Fossil Beds, a place in Eastern Oregon where the volcanic action of the past buried plants and animals from 18-35 million years ago when Eastern Oregon was a subtropical ecosystem.  We camped outside the town of John Day.  On our morning walk, we found something I have never seen outside in nature...Owl Pellets.  We must have found the roosting tree of a fairly large owl as there were about 20 pellets strewn about under the tree.  Both Wren and I were immediately interested in finding out what was in the pellets. 

Here Wren is showing me one of the rodent skulls he found.

This is the place we found all the pellets.  We were both so psyched.

 Next we headed for the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center where we investigated the geology and fossils of the area. 

The Painted Hills are part of the cool geology of Eastern Oregon and are something not to be missed just because they are off the beaten path.  Wow they were beautiful.

Additionally, the Blue Basin is a great little hike where an amazing layer of turquoise blue rock is exposed to the surface leaving a surreal feeling as you walk past.

Next we headed to the town of Fossil where behind Walker High School, you can just go dig fossils right out of the ground.  Open to the public.  Donations accepted.  So up we went with our digging kits in hand to split open rocks and find treasures.  What a fun day!

Dakota's Trees and More

This tree climbing thing has really continued to grow on Dakota.  Every day he want to go out to the park and climb trees.  On the way to the park this week we headed down the spiral stairs off the deck and when he looked up it just seemed like a good picture.   Then it was off to the park for some trees. 

 

 Recently at Kids Place, the wonderful little school that Dakota goes to, when I was picking him up he was not to be interrupted because he was in the middle of building a road.  Here he is with the construction cones up.  He and his friend Brady swept the area clear, place the construction cones, and were just laying down the first layer of gravel.  When we got home he asked if we could go buy some concrete so that "tomorrow" when I go to school we can finish our road by putting concrete on top of the gravel.  I explained to him that he would need to talk to his teacher about installing a permanent road.  So that was his plan for the next day.

Final note for this post... Even though it has gotten down to 32 some nights, our apricot tree is still holding its flowers. Yeah!  We are still just crossing our fingers that we don't get a hard frost.

Wren: Odyssey of the Mind

Wren has been working for the last 3 months on a team project called Odyssey of the Mind.  The organization Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Team members apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. They then bring their solutions to competition on the local, state, and World level. Thousands of teams from throughout the U.S. and from about 25 other countries participate in the program.

So the regional competition was today here in Walla Walla.  The problem that they needed to solve was called the Pet Project.
  
Problem 1: Pet Project
Divisions I, II, & III
The problem is to design, build, and run three vehicles that will deliver parts to an Assembly Area. The team will create a signal that lets the audience know which vehicle is about to travel and deliver a part. The parts will be assembled into a pet animal. Once assembly is completed, the animal will perform a trick. The theme of the presentation must include the delivery of the parts, the assembly, and the pet animal.
Cost limit: $145 USD. 

Wren is working on editing a video and we will post it on youtube and share it with family and friends when it is finished.  The team did a great job working together to solve this problem.  Great work team!

 

Boys Can Cook

Stuart was away this week teaching Raft Guide Leadership, so the boys and I decided to have a Boys Can Cook week.  On Sunday, we divided up the week between us, each choosing 2 days to cook and made a menu.
Sunday: Wren
      Pizza and Salad Bar
      Key Lime Pie
Monday: Dinner at a Friends house
Tuesday: Wren
       Asian Stir Fry with Tofu, Carrots, Snow Peas, Onions and Red Pepper
Wednesday: DAkota
       Mac-n-Cheese-n-Peas
       Chocolate Milk
Thursday: Dakota
      Quesadillas with Refried Beans
      Carrots with Dip
Friday: Mom
      Walnut Cheddar Loaf and Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Saturday: Mom
     Big Cheese Pizza (So I was going to make Walnut Cheddar Loaf Sandwiches but instead I hosted Wren's middle school Odyssey of the Mind team for a team party after their competition.  See next post for more on Odyssey of the Mind.)

Then we made a shopping list and went to the grocery store.  It was amazing how helpful the boys were at the grocery store when they were buying food for their own meal. Yeah!

Although I did not get picture documentation of every meal as intended, the week has been a great success.


 Dakota's Quesadillas

Wren's Asian Stir Fry

 Wren's Key Lime Pie
This was my personal highlight of the week as it is one of my very favorite pies and I had never made it before.  We found it both delicious and easy to make so we will make it again.  YUM!

Life on the Home Front

Life on the home front is good.

 I have been doing some baking based a book my dad gave me called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  The gist of it is to mix up a big batch of dough (no kneading) and store it in the fridge.  Each day when you want to bake some bread, you cut off a piece, make a round, let it rest and then bake it.  Last Saturday morning, I got up early, rolled out some dough, made up some cinnamon rolls and let them rise while I went for a run.  Back just in time to put them in the oven and out came yumminess.

 Tried my hand at a baguette...looks good but not quite a light and airy as the real ones.  Still tastes like good fresh bread..YUM!

 Dakota has  been into building lego tree forts for the ewok lego figure that he got.  His creativitiy for building structures has really exploded lately.  The transformation from needing to build a set to building what he wants has been quite delightful to watch.

 He has also decided that he wants to be a tree climber.  No real surprise there.  He called Stuart at work the other day and said, "Dad, will you come home and climb trees with me."  Guess what Stuart did...Of course he came home and went tree climbing with Dakota.

Wednesday night, Wren had his big Spring Concert.  He is so great!  He wants to play in Jazz band next year and start the French Horn...His band teacher thinks the more the merrier as far as instruments go... so go Wren.

Over at the property, we are having a little mini-spring so the apricot tree is being fooled into blooming.  I hope we don't get a big freeze because... Can you imagine the amount of apricot jam I could make if all those flowers turn into fruit.

These early bloomers the forget-me-nots are poking out of the winter leaves offering a perfect breath of loveliness.

And with the mini-spring comes the first plantings.  I have most all of the seeds in the ground that say "plant as soon as the ground can be worked."  So sweet onions, red onions, lettuce, spinach, cilantro, peas, carrots, beets and chard.  The garlic that I planted in the fall is up.  And seed potatoes were shipped today.  I hope it all fits.  Here the red onions looked striking as I set them out for planting.