May 2010

Wow. This month. Slow and fast. SLOW: I was on bedrest for the first half thanks to my false belief that I can lift anything that Jonah can lift. Luckily, no permanent damage was done and two weeks of laying down and a few massages have my back on the mend. I used to hate massages, but these ones actually cured me, so I've changed my tune.

But, it went by fast, too. FAST: The one week of great weather happened right during my convalescence, and the rest has been cold and rainy! What!? January was better weather than May. Gotta love the Northwest. The dreary weather has meant a lot of indoor time and naps. Not my first choice, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

We had some happy times and some very sad times. The saddest was when some sort of predator (probably owl or crow) killed two of our show roosters and our pet bunny Pinkerton! He was the best bunny. Potty-trained. Cute. Soft. Nice to everyone. We will miss you Pinky!

We had a lovely little funeral and Ana visits his grave daily and brings him flowers.

But happy to when we saw new life this month--our little chicks finally matured and started laying eggs! It is so satisfying to go out every day and get three eggs from our three tiny little hens.

Elsie is especially excited... she is an egg monster.

We went to Ana's horse camp open house down south and found a fun kids' fair at the local university. I've never seen so many free fair activities in my life. We were all in heaven.

The icing of the day was when the kids got to be the last kids of the day on the free pony rides. Ana takes ANY horse riding experience very seriously.

Cam was trying to "opt-out", but he didn't want to look like a wimp in front of the other boys in line. This is probably the only time you'll see him on a horse. He isn't afraid as much as he's bored by horses and animals. But, I think he had a good ride anyway.

What does Elsie NOT love? Two days ago she announced, "The chicks will hatch soon. They will be so cute. I LOVE CUTE!"

She had grilled onions with her dinner tonight. "I LOVE these." She had her shark costume on, "I LOVE SHARKS! I love them more than I love aliens!"

The kids also got to ride the free circus train. Finally. Last activity of the day. Also the most boring, but don't tell them.

When the weather is nice, my kids move into the trees. I put a swing in this tree using a snow dish/snow saucer thing and some rope. Not as stable as it sounds, but they still use it.

The grass is SO tall, too. 1.3 acres of grass as tall as Elsie. We've had some mean hide-n-seek games.

Ana's sweet Spanish tutor had to go back to Spain to take her college entrance exams. We'll miss you Lola!!

This is my favorite photo of the month. Cam doing a wheelie. 1/100th of a second wheelie.

Jonah's cousin Aubrey came for a two-day visit from Seattle and the poor weather forced us to go to the Sol Duc hot springs. Except for the 200 people (mostly Russians) in the pools with us, it was MAGICAL! Most wonderful silky, warm water ever.

Elsie was in a special sort of heaven. "My giant bathtub! I LOVE it!"

She also figured out that her swimsuit (that she's been wearing for three years now... thanks Shawni) is ALSO a dress. She tried to make it twirl.

Her feet became dehydrated apples.

We also hit a nice hike to the waterfalls while we were up there.

This is a true family photo. I usually have five of these sort of shots before we get one where everyone is smiling.

The waterfalls are massive! Elsie kept saying, "How do they do that?!?" Unfortunately, they are so big, you can't get them in a photo. You'll just have to come see them for yourself.

The spray makes some lovely moss walls. Jonah had the camera, so these are his fancy art shots. Me like.

This photo of Cam reminds me of a still from a John Cusack movie about alien invasions or something. He's the young son of the hero trying to save the world. He just saw an alien baby. Run Cam!