Wintertime News

Hey there!!

I got a Christmas card with a special request in it nearly 2 months ago now. .

I'm not the quickest. .

But I AM perseverant!!

Ms. Sue from Michigan was hoping to warm up her winter with some pictures of my greenhouse! And I did oblige quickly with some pictures. .and then took my time to get them up! In the meantime though, we endured a nasty ice storm. .and then some 80 degree days this past weekend. .so I have a few photos from that to share too!

A few years ago I bought a pomegranate tree. It flowers well. .and has grown some tiny pomegranates. I had read somewhere that the decorative trees aren't designed to be able to offer edible fruits.

So I was surprised that these little fruits appeared. .

They grew for a while. .but when they got big enough. .They split open. .to reveal the tiny little, normal looking pomegranate seeds inside! That was fun to see!

I have only used the greenhouse the last couple winters to house my succulent collection. .

But I felt like I might have some extra time to worry over tomato plants this season. I just did little grape varieties. .yellow and red. Jeremy is eating them as fast as they turn.

My two big ferns are looking mighty good for this time of the year!! I have been growing them in self watering planters on the east deck all summer. .which is the only way that this lazy over-scheduled gardener can keep them living. .and this is the first year that I have overwintered them successfully too! They should look great when the season changes! The big pots of succulents are doing well too. .but I think I neglected to get photos of them on!

In January we had a yucky 3 day ice storm. Our old elm trees didn't fare very well at all! This tree is in the front of the house by the pond. .

The guys had to use the tractor to get the branches out of the pond. They did this on day two when we were kind of in between systems!

It was BEAUTIFUL. .

But look how thick that stuff is on the lilac bushes!!

It took us a lot of days to clean up. .

In fact, we still aren't done yet-but the majority of it is cleared out into big piles, waiting for a match when the time is right!

Jeremy ended up taking down a lot of the old, ugly elms. .which I was sad about. I am still fighting for the few that are left. I want them mainly for the bird habitat until our younger trees get bigger! It is a battle of the wills!!

It was a little unnerving to stand in the house, listening to the CRACK-CRASH cycle all around.

But it was the quietest, still air in between the crashing. The ice-blanketed world made the atmosphere seem unusual!

CRAZY!

Fast forward into mid February!!

Two days above 80 degrees!

The boys got a very old fishing boat a few weeks ago. .

And spent countless hours cleaning it all up and fixing the brokenness.

Sunday it was ready for it's maiden voyage. .

It was a gorgeous afternoon with zero wind. .And while we didn't catch a thing. .It was great just to relax and soak up some fresh air and sunshine and DREAM about summer!!

I do have a few pictures uploaded to the blog already. .

Just waiting on a few minutes to spare so I can tell you what everyone has been up to!!

Dog Days of Summer. .

My goodness. .

Time has flown!

I intended to be posting more regularly. .

but the summer just flew by. .And I guess I spent more time living it than writing about it.

Let me run down where we are in our lives. .

These two have flown the coop. .Tristan won't be back to live again. .Only to visit. Wow! He finished his carpentry classes in May. .worked all summer for our local contractor. .even getting to do some projects on his own. .

He has moved now to Topeka where he is focusing on learning cabinetry and millwork. I did get some use out of him replacing some yucky doors and trim in my laundry room. .and I am loving that. .a nice reminder of him since he is gone. He called yesterday and told me he got a part time job at Lowes. That will help him out a lot--both giving him something to keep him out of trouble. .and helping him pay for his apartment expenses.

This guy will also not likely be coming back to live either. He intended to study diesel mechanics for 2 years in Topeka. .but over the summer, they revamped their courses and program, and so he will learn most of what he needs to know in a year. At which point. .he too, will be ready to get a job and be his own person!

He and Tristan are living in the same apartment with another buddy, and that will make the whole transition from high school to college easier. He is loving the classes, even after a week. .and is also putting out applications for a part time job. Seems, as they have talked, that there is no shortage of part time opportunities available. .so that is great!!

This past weekend. .we cleaned out the rest of Grant's basement abode. .repaired and repainted the walls and shampooed the carpet before we let Devin move down there. It is much cooler than their upstairs bedroom. .so he was excited. It also made the loss of the oldest two a little more acute though for this mama! 18 years goes incredibly fast!!

You can see that we made it to the lake again.

We weren't going to go at all this summer. .

But WHO can pass up amazing opportunities like this one??

Skiing at sunset? Unbeatable!

We did have a wonderful long weekend away to relax and play before everyone had to get back to reality and to our schedules!

This guy is trying to adjust to being the big man on campus now!

Not only is he the biggest kid at our house. .

He has officially started 8th grade!

He had a super busy summer working for his dad. .mowing granddad's lawn. .a week of church camp. .and a week of a community oriented  mission trip service work right here in our county. Oh. .and some pool time in between! He has started football. .and is committed to working his hiney off to earn a position on his team.

He got 2nd place in his cooking division at the fair and earned the opportunity to sell his amazing German Chocolate layer cake at the premium auction! He and Cami will continue with 4-H this year. .and I will admit great fulfillment in graduating from helping with 4 record books--to only 2 record books!! And the little girl already seems much more patient to write and take care of business than any of her brothers ever were!!

Speaking of little girls. .This one is growing up fast!! She is in 3rd grade. .She is quite social-and on a brother/sister status with nearly every lifeguard at the pool. She is becoming really helpful around the house. .and has had to step up her game since her older brothers left.

These two are attempting to learn new skills to help our church with worship music. Cami is still trying to learn the guitar--we have been lazy about it. .but she has new motivation now to try some more! Devin is learning how to play a Cahon--a wooden box with snare drum stuff on the inside. We saw it used during the mission week here. .and fell in love with the sound and potential!!

So then, that just leaves us!

What an adjustment!

Granny took the kids to a rodeo last weekend. .

And we enjoyed supper out and a trip to the movie to watch Jason Bourne. .

We can still have a good time with just the two of us. .so that is in our favor :-)

He's been helping me with a lot of honey-do's lately. .but we are about to get them all caught up.

His boat driver left. .but Devin is learning to drive it--however, since the kids have been in school, it just leaves him hot and bothered. After 18 years in that hot metal shop--he finally consigned to getting a huge water cooler which drops the temperature about 20 degrees. .so it is really helping on those 100 degree days!!

And his temperament improves too!

Still work for me. .plus youth group, Sunday School and our online women's bible study. I was hopeful that moving another kid out this year would be easier than last year. .but it wasn't. I just knew what to expect. .and so did Jeremy!! (Last year he thought I was going C-R-A-Z-Y!)

BUT. .one of the perks of growing up. .

Is that I graduated to this AWESOME and sporty little mustang to drive to work.

The first time that Cami rode in it with me, she looked in the back seat and said "Mom, I don't think I can fit back there." I just smiled and said "Exactly!"

Mid life crisis??
Maybe!

Thanks for stopping by!

Best Vacation. EVER. Part 2

Welcome back. .

Here's the second and final part of our trip to the beautiful state of Oregon!

So. .we headed out of Crescent City California on Wednesday morning. .Giving us 3 whole days to make the approximately 8 hour trip back up to Portland. Our plan was to drive up Highway 101 as far as we could--hopefully all the way to Washington. .which we were able to do without rushing!

I was so amazed at all the different variations of the coastline!! I just randomly picked photos to upload. .but, without taking time to study them in order again. .I would be hard pressed to tell you where they were taken!!

Often times as we drove, there were signs alerting travelers to the pull-out spots where you could get off the highway and get out to hike or gasp at the views! We did a lot of both!

Once, I think Cami and I walked about a mile because they would have bridges and walkways between the ocean cliff and the highway. We walked to the  next pull off and Jeremy and a boy or two would hop in the car and drive forward. It was AWESOME!!

We put about 1500 miles on our rented suburban while we were in Oregon!

We drove to many of the lighthouses on the coast. They are such interesting structures! We really only got to tour one that we hit during the open hours. This one was Cape Blanco Lighthouse.

This little stop was actually at Heceta Head. .and the lighthouse was behind Cami out of the photo. She is standing next to the jaw bone of a whale (I'm at a loss for what kind of whale) We never spotted whales again after leaving Crescent Beach. .so I was so thankful that we were able to view them multiple times from our hotel and beach there!!

On Wednesday night we were fortunate enough to find another hotel on the beach in Florence. We stayed at Driftwood Shores Resort in an amazing little 3 bedroom condo! It was very cloudy the night we stayed. .and drizzling the next morning. The ocean had a more sinister feel to it here than it had the entire rest of our trip.

The resort was very isolated. .and not all that busy due to our timing I suspect. .so if felt a little lonesome here. The boys were ready to relax with their electronics by this time. .so Cami and her dad enjoyed walking on the beaches looking for shells! This was the one place that all the kids enjoyed the indoor pool. .however. .Devin and Cami didn't miss one day of pool swimming. .which is always a highlight for them!!

I was really looking forward to seeing Cape Perpetua and the violent wave action that they get there. The tide was fairly low when we were there. .but the force of the waves was still incredible!! I took this picture before Grant got completely soaked from the waist down by the wave that came up over the rock he is standing on. He was NOT impressed!!

It was still cool and drizzling as we came across this area. It made the force of the water that much more frightening! We had just finished studying the last 8 chapters in the book of Acts before we left on vacation. .and this area made me stop and think about how frightening Pauls'  shipwreck was if the water during the storm was even partially as violent as this water was!

The foxgloves were blooming EVERYWHERE. .in the ditches, under the trees, on the rocky cliff areas. They were so beautiful!! All of the flowers were!

This is Yaquina Bay Lighthouse near Newport. Some of our crew headed for a bathroom break. .but Grant and I ran into the lighthouse to do a quick tour. It was really interesting!

The rooms were bigger than I would have thought. .and they were still decorated for the period.

The lighthouse keeper and his wife had 8 kids.

What a view from your second story window!! We did get to go to the 3rd story to see the little bedroom the lighthouse keeper stayed in each night. But the shaft that he looked through to see how the light was doing was closed up.

While we chose not to stop at the big Sea Lion cave near Florence. .we were delighted to see some sea lions both in Crescent City. .and again in the Old Downtown Newport.

They were SO noisy. .

But fun to watch!

Jeremy convinced Cami to try oysters on the half shell. .

Which she was a little skeptical about. But this girl can eat sardines and oysters right out of the can!

She thought they were "ok" but she probably wouldn't eat them again :-)

Look how huge those suckers are!!

I was so excited to see one of these little guys for the first time at AJ's house. It's a stellar jay. I caught this picture outside of our hotel window!! It actually reminds me of a couple of paintings hanging on my bedroom walls with tree branches and bird silhouettes. I'm thinking about getting this guy blown up and framing him! I did notice that there didn't seem to be a lot of birds that we could see in the redwoods, where I thought we would see a ton!! We saw a few different varieties in the trees along the coast. .but we saw mainly the same types of birds that we have in Kansas. .and a lot of the same vegetation as well!

I could drink this view in every single day!!

Thursday night found us staying on the ocean at Rockaway Beach. This was a beautiful beach right out of our hotel windows. The hotel was not so great. .but sometimes compromise is necessary. And by then, we figured out that staying on the beach was just what we all needed! The water was still icy cold. .

But that didn't deter the two young kids in their swim suits from getting wet!! Of course, they later warmed up in the heated indoor pool!! And. .You can make out by the photo. .that those who have all their mental faculties. .have on sweatshirts!!

The sunset was phenomenal that night. .and we were able to get some great photos and some great memories!!

The last day found us finishing up the Oregon coast! Beautiful blue skies. .and equally beautiful blue to aquamarine colored waters!

Look at the force of that seemingly innocent water crashing over the rock!! I still can't get over the sheer force of the waves on this coast. It was much different than what we saw of the Atlantic in Boston and southern Maine. .and that of the oceans surrounding Key West!

We stopped at so many tiny beaches to run and play that I lost track of where we were. I am hoping to put most of our photos into a digital album. .and am just hoping that I can get it done before I forget all of it!!

Grant found a live star fish. .and then complained the rest of the day because I made him throw it back! His dad felt so sorry for him that he bought him a starfish shell when we stopped to shop in Seaside!

Incredible rock formations like this jutted out from the water everywhere! I guess I didn't get a photo of Haystack Rock onto the blog. .but I walked about a mile along Cannon beach to get as close as possible to it so I could see the little black puffins. I never saw one up close. .but it was a beautiful place! Cannon Beach was by far, the busiest beach we ran into the whole trip! For the most part there were only small handfuls of people any place we went until then. And I wouldn't say it was crowded like I imagine it is during peak vacation time!

A picture of the Seaside Oregon sign in their famous little roundabout! We enjoyed some shopping and wandering on the streets there. We went further north to Astoria Oregon.

I didn't take a picture of this bridge. .because I was too busy freaking out about going over it. .Instead I copied this one from google images (For all I know. .Grant took this photo from the backseat and posted it!) It crosses the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington. It is 196 feet above the river at high tide. .and it is 4.1 miles long!! There were some ginormous cargo boats on the river--which was also very interesting to see!  We drove north into Washington for a bit before our GPS routed us back through Astoria to get to Portland. .so we crossed it TWICE!

 

We were glad to be headed home back to Kansas on Saturday.

It was a super fun trip. .Great family time. .Lots to do and see.

Memories to last a lifetime!

Thanks for coming with me to re-live it a little bit!!

 

Grabbed some photos of the garden a few days ago. .

Will share them soon!