Dicchotomy - Snow and Seeds

It doesn't snow often in Western Oregon - and I like it that way.  I grew up in Northern Utah and I've had my fill of cold and wet.

My boys on the other hand, think it's wonderful.

I did help build the fort though.  If it's going to dump snow on us, and strand us (the town we live in doesn't own a snow plow - so the roads don't get cleared) then I have to do SOMETHING to combat cabin fever!

However, I can only handle so much of the cold.

So, a little summer time prep seemed in order.  I got together with a couple of friends and we inventoried seeds -

Then places an order from my favorite seed site!

I've all ready picked up potting soil and just have to wait for the white stuff to clear so I can get our new (to us) green house up and functional.  As soon as the new seeds arrive it will be time to plant seeds!  I can't wait!

Back from the Beach

Well, we are back from spending a week on the coast, a whole whopping hour away from where we live!  It's awesome living in such a magnificent place!

I didn't pull out my camera the entire time I was there.  I tried to just enjoy the time with my boys.  I did keep my phone handy, so I can show you a few shots of my cute boys - even if they aren't the best photos.

We rode beach bikes, they are so much fun.

Do you love Lincoln's beard?  He is going to be an extra in a film about one of his ancestors and he has to look like a wild mountain man.  I think he's got it down, don't you think?

This was the first year that John Henry could ride a beach bike.  He had a ball.  Leo, on the other hand, was very frustrated that he couldn't do it too and did his best to thwart his big brother's fun.

He ended up being pretty happy just sitting on one and letting us push him around a little bit.  Do you like his hat?  It's his current two year old obsession.  He LOVES wearing that hat.  I expect we will have six months of photos featuring the 2009 Old Navy Hat.

We made Star Spangled Soda.  It looked cool and tasted horrible, but the kids thought it was awesome.  Instructions on how to do it can be found on BabyCenter (of all places?)   Thank you Pinterest! 

We did cyanotypes with the kids.  They were amazed.  It is pretty cool project.

We let the boys ride a merry-go-around.  Leo wasn't too sure about it at first.

But he warmed up to it.

John Henry is a huge fan.

And by the end they were both all smiles.  Isn't childhood wonderful?

There was a lot of Ice Cream consumed, running, swimming, sand castle building, and fun.  The best part is, we don't have to wait until next year to do it again!  We were thinking we might go back for the day in a week or two.  ;)  For the time being, it's back to the grind stone for me.  I've got SO MUCH work to get done.

Ten years, one decade, 1/10th of a century

Link and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this month (late, actually, we were married in April, but schedules happen.)

A friend who was married just a few days after us posted something like this. . . here is my version.

10 years, 9 beach trips, 8 years in school, 7 years in Seattle, 6 years in our first house, 5 moves, 4 college degrees, 3 vehicles, 2 adorable babies, 1 happy couple.

We moved oceans and mountains to get away for a short weekend sans kids. (Including staying up until 2 am the day before we left to finish the chicken coop because we couldn't leave chickens in our house while we were gone!)  We are super grateful to our friends, the Laws, for being willing to add our two mini monsters to their all ready full house.  John Henry keeps asking when he can go back, he had a ball, and I imagine Leo did too judging by how unexcited he was to see us!

The view from our balcony.

We drove an hour to Lake Chelan and stayed at the charming Campbell's Resort.  This isn't our usual style, a resort, we are lovers of the intimate bed and breakfast setting, but we had enough points earned through Hotels.com for a good portion of our stay to be covered, so in the interest of saving money, we went for it.  We were pleasantly surprised and would love to take the kids back there.  There was a kitchenette in the room and a grocery store across the street, so we were able to eat in for a few of our meals.  The amenities are also very family focused, and the beaches look like they would be a ball with kids.

And the other direction.

The room was very nice.  This is the only picture I took of it because we slept in/lounged about so long that room service skipped us for the day and I didn't feel like making the bed.  SO THERE!!!!  :)  You can do stuff like that when you are on vacation w/out kids!  I really liked the curtains and the lamp, and you can't really tell from this photo, but I like the mix of modern and rustic elements.  My only complaint was that there wasn't a big bathtub, and even the little bathtub didn't hold water very well.  I REALLY wanted a nice, hot, UNINTERRUPTED bath.  Well, at least it was uninterrupted, which is better than I would get at home.

And of course, where ever I go I seek out two kinds of places.  1. Yarn stores (there isn't one, but there is a great fabric store -LOVE)  2. Thrift and or Antique stores.  The antique store was closed, but the Habitat for Humanity Thrift store was open.  They had some nice things, but we were limited by the $12 in cash Link had in his wallet.  This treasure is what we walked away with.  Isn't it amazing?  It even has the original tools to put a door knob and dead bolt into a door still in it.

The best part about the trip?  Link and I discovered that when we aren't exhausted, over worked, stressed out, etc.  We still really like each other and can even have intelligent adult conversations still.  Amazing!