Outside their door

Have you ever heard of horses playing soccer? Me neither, but apparently some of the horses at the farm you see above play. Hence, the giant soccer ball. We might need one of our own- what fun! Nara had her recent search and rescue test done at this farm. She passed! At the risk of sounding like a goofy parent - I am proud of her! Can I gush for a moment? I will be the first in our family to say she can drive me up the wall some days with her barking but her loyalty and love makes up for it. We like to joke that our children are 'her sheep'. I have never seen an animal so protective and watchful before. Especially when we are out in public, she watches their every move. There was even one time, back when we lived in Virgina and K was about 3 years old, that Nara really showed us how serious she was about protecting our little ones. We were at the dog park and Nara was inside the fenced in area while K was outside the fence playing. Nara was watching K instead of playing with the other dogs. She saw K go near a pond and literally jumped the fence and put her body between K and the water. That completely blew me away.

With K's school starting back up this week it's time to start reigning my little ones in. Well, I probably should have started sooner but I was rather avoiding it. Our bedtime rhythm pretty much stayed the same this summer except that I allowed the girls to stay up in their room and quietly play or do crafts after I tucked them in. They took full advantage of this, believe me, some nights staying up until 9:00 (our usual bedtime is 6:30). They slept in until 8:30 in the morning so it balanced out enough for me to feel comfortable with it. But now we are about to be waking up at 5:30 in the morning again to get K to school, not to mention that she will become mentally exhausted each day (first grade is so very different from kindergarten, especially in Waldorf schools). We need to get back on track with being tucked in and actually falling right to sleep.

So, since Saturday night I have been camping outside their door with a book and some knitting in hand to pass the time. I admit I am missing my usual nighttime routine and falling behind a bit with computer things but my children need me, and of course they will always come first. When I am downstairs I can't hear them whispering or see that they turned their lights back on, but right outside their door I spy with my little eye. Plus, it comforts them to know I am there which will hopefully help them to fall asleep easier. I am guessing praying that this should only take a week at the most and they'll be back on their usual nighttime rhythm.

Speaking of school, I haven't even begun planning C's homeschooling days yet. I thought maybe C and I could sit down and plan it together. Well, I'll plan and ask her if there is anything she really wants to do for her first year of kindergarten and add it in. I think we'll start our schooling the following week. That should help with any adjustments we encounter with K's school, too - Oh! and the rose ceremony and everything else that happens the first week of school for those in the grades. It's a busy week! Deep breath...

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Outside their door

A bright and steady flame

Today was quite the day to remember. I need to write it all down now while it is still fresh in my head or else I may forget the feelings of such a day. I started this post on Sunday and didn't get to finish it so guess what? Exactly what I didn't want to happen, happened. Well, I haven't completely forgotten but all the details are fuzzy now (thanks Mama brain). At least I have the pictures from our adventure...



We had our annual Multnomah Falls clean-up with Kevin's K-9 Search and Rescue group over the weekend. Just like last year it brought about change and realizations - this time for all of us.



Side note here:C cracked me up at this booth set up by one of our local park agencies. The Park Ranger asked C what tree was next to her and she was much too shy to answer (as always) but then sat down and found the dogwood in her tree fandexand quietly showed it to the Ranger. I have to say that woman was quite blown away (as was I!). We are only just beginning to learn about the trees and wildlife in our area but my girls seem to be catching on rather quickly.



Our morning started out a bit rough with tension, bickering and crankiness (the crankiness mostly on my end). We had to be at Multnomah Falls by 8:30am (an hours drive away) and the little ones and I were still in bed at 8:15. We overslept. Scratch that - I overslept. It was a mad rush to get everything together to head out the door but one way or other things came together and we left. As soon as we were outside the Portland city limits, seeing nothing but towering trees and water, our tension started to disappear. Smiles grew on all of our faces and the pace of life seemed to slow down. Exhale. Then we got to the falls...



Sorry, this is the best shot I got of the falls. The sun was facing me so it was quite tricky.







It was like a slice of Heaven. My family and I were reminded of how much we flourish when we are outdoors in the fresh air and beautiful surroundings of nature (And it doesn't necessarily have to be such a spot as the falls, it can be anywhere around us - far away from cars and noise). Don't get me wrong - we go outside every day but not in this way. I am not sure how to articulate it (especially now many days later). We really saw that our lives are like that of a candle - in the wilderness we glow a bright and steady flame but life in the city smothers us. Actually we are not even in the city but the burbs, ha!







My little K 'Steve Irwin' took one step closer after this shot to try to catch him and he quickly slithered away.(We don't have any poisonous snakes here in Oregon)



Can you see K's friend?



How about now? (Oh, what I wouldn't give for a macro lens!)

Kevin was volunteering most of the day so the little ones and I went off exploring and hiking on our own. We had every intention of searching for specific trees and animal tracks but we became distracted.









K asked me to snap this photo (with great excitement I might add) - Wild Larkspur for Larkspur.



The flowers got us. There were so many different species of wildflowers out there. It seemed like every corner we turned there was something new. Our wildflower guidegot a good little workout.

















By noon we made it over to the (much smaller) waterfalls down the road for a picnic. My children did some more flower exploring (and Baby L showed us he was very much in need of his afternoon nap) while I set up the salad I made for the volunteers.



Can I just share that this little salad made my day? Night after night I have been hearing "I don't like that" or "I don't want that" or "Can't we have something else?". Needless to say, I have been feeling rather inept in the cooking department as of late. I was a bit anxious to make anything that so many people would be eating but thankfully they all loved it. That helped me feel a tiny bit more adequate.

Ah yes, it was such a wonderful day. Just what we needed. At least once a week this summer, my children and I are planning to go exploring and hiking in places we haven't been. I look forward to it.

A bright and steady flame

Gee, Haw, Hike, On By!

Since our german shepherd has her search and rescue work, Kevin thought our other two high energy dogs needed something to do, as well. What are huskies born to do? Pull! So it only seems fitting to have them do what they love. We joined the Cascade Sled Dog Club, over the summer to help make it happen. They held their annual three day meeting/camp out last weekend up at Frog Lake and we all went. We would have loved to stay for all three days but we just enjoyed one long day there, instead.



Once we arrived (after my knitting and Phoebe sweater pondering) I had to change the diaper of a certain little wiggle worm who won't hold still...





When I finally finished wrestling with Baby L, we walked the trail to find the rest of the group. They were out picking up trash and pruning the trails.









The girls brought their bikes to ride on the trails but that proved to be a bit frustrating for K with the training wheels on her bike. This of course made C claim that her bike was too hard to ride, too, resulting in her ditching her bike and running to catch up (and Kevin having to go back and get it for her).









I became distracted over and over again while out on the trail.
You'll have to forgive me, Oregon's beauty just never ceases to amaze me!







After the trails were cleaned we headed back to the camp site at Frog Lake for a potluck and meeting (and to see every one's dogs, of course!)

















The girls, Baby L and I had fun playing at the campgrounds, then when it came time for the meeting we left Kevin there to go take a nature walk around the lake.













K has the look of triumph because about 3/4 of the way around the lake the trail ended and you couldn't continue. We decided to just go deeper into the woods to get around, but in doing so we went up pretty high (and C with skinned knees) and couldn't get back down. Then we found that one rocky spot (the second photo from the bottom - believe me, it was a lot higher than in looks in the picture) and slowly climbed down that way. Easy for an adult to do but tricky and a bit scary for a certain big blue eyed little girl with skinned knees. The girls were quite proud of themselves when we made it back to the lake.



"Some small songs of excitement when the harnesses are put on because they want to run, breathe to run, eat to run, live to run..."

Dogteam
by Gary Paulsen (One of K's favorite books)





After the meeting it was time for fun!
When Kevin joined the group he learned about bikejoring/scootering (oh, and Nara got kicked off the team, in case you were wondering. She couldn't keep up with the boys), which is what you do with sled dogs when there isn't any snow. He has been doing it as often as he can to exercise the dogs (I take Nara running for her exercise).



It was late and starting to get dark so we had to head out, but not before seeing quite a funny sight. I made some whole wheat chocolate chip cookies from Bob's Red Mill Baking Bookfor the potluck and we took them out of the glass cookie jar they were in so we could bring it home. Kevin literally put them in a bowl and turned around when a mountain jay swooped down from the sky and stole a whole cookie. The cookie was just too heavy for him, though, and he dropped it into a club member's lap. I laughed hysterically at this! Oh how I wish I caught a picture of the event!





After we drove away from Frog Lake we felt the need to drive up to the highest point on Mount Hood that we could so the girls could see snow...





and eat snow???

To think, the next time we are up in that area we will see nothing but snow. We can't wait!
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Gee, Haw, Hike, On By!