Falls Creek Falls Trail No 152A

Steph sent me a message and wanted to know if the boys and I wanted to join her and the kids on a hike up by Carson WA while the men were at the Organic Brew Fest. I had been cleaning the house all morning so I said yes and off we went. We got a little bit of late start but finally made it up there and it was gorgeous! We were in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, pretty high up actually and the hike in was a steady uphill climb too. Not horrible by any means but you could tell you were constantly headed in the upwards direction. You could see water almost the entire way up and could hear it at all times. The trees were huge and beautiful providing shade on this sunny hot day. It's places like this that make me love living in the Pacific Northwest even more than I already do. I have to say the kids did GREAT! It was a decent 3.4 mile round trip hike and it wasn't until the way back down that you could tell the kids were getting tired and hungry (shhh, don't tell them but so were the adults). On the way back down, however, Oliver was getting a bit too tired and he kept tripping and falling. On the third fall he just couldn't take it anymore and I ended up carrying him for at least a half a mile. At one point, while carrying the boy, Ty and Noah turned to me and said, "Have you fallen yet?" Can you guess what happened next? Yup, I went down, with Oliver on my back. My instinct was to protect him though so my right knee and then left side of my body took a nasty hit. I am not looking forward to tomorrow morning because I know it's going to hurt. Despite my fall, we all had a great time! I plan to go back sometime though, without kids, to take a ton of pictures. Speaking of pictures...

Entrance to the trail.

So many beautiful spots along the way...

Oliver, Ty and Noah on the trail.

Neat suspension bridge that wobbled as you crossed it.

Couldn't stop taking pictures.

The trail follows the creek up to the lower falls.

Quick pit stop on the way up.

I just liked the trees all down and across the creek.

Upper part of the Lower Falls, it's a three tier waterfall that, from where I was, could not get all of it in my picture.

Lower part of the falls and the punch bowl. Oliver LOVED the rainbow and yelled at me to look at it many times. He had to yell because the roar from the falls was awesome. Can you see Noah and Ty?

Ty relaxing in the shade against the rock.

My sweet boy.

Hey look, it's a mountain goat!

I know you can't see her face but I love this picture of Tori.

Hi Jack!

There was another little footbridge that we had to cross and this is what it went over.

Wildwood

We went to the Wildwood Recreation Site in Welches OR yesterday. I can't believe that I've lived here all my life and never been here. It is a GREAT place to spend the day with your family. Lots of walking trails, biking trails, picnic areas, play areas, etc. My main focus for the day was the Cascade Streamwatch trail that runs alongside the Salmon River. Lots of educational stuff along the way and a nice easy hike/walk for the kids.

Jackson, Noah and Oliver standing at trail head.

The path zig zagged through the beautiful forest. This forest was logged long ago and you can see LARGE cedar tree stumps all over the forest floor.

Lots of little paths jut off of the main path and lead to little places like this. Did I mention that it was a beautiful day to be up in the mountain exploring?

This old stump intrigued me with the roots of the other tree wrapped up and around it.

They built this fish viewing area right into a smaller stream that jutted off to the side of the Salmon River. It was great! Lots for the kids to see and lots of information for them to read. They saw all sorts of little fish, snails, debris, etc. Of course, their favorite part was the squeegee that the park provides for them to clean the foggy dew off of the windows.

View from another area that we spent a lot of time at. There was a pretty big beach area for the boys to explore, throw rocks and, despite my pleas, get a little bit wet.

Noah "not" getting wet.

Oliver "not" getting wet.

and Jackson "not" getting wet.

The three amigos.

After the walk we went over to the large picnic area and had lunch. I am sure that the park is much busier on the weekends but we were just one of three families in this area. It was very peaceful.

They played for a while after lunch.

Time Flies

Wow! Last day of school, beginning of summer, garden growing and needing attention, me forgetting my camera...but don't worry, we seem to be settling into a summer routine so I'll be back to posting on a regular basis.

I made a decision before summer started to really focus on more local things to do. We have a ton of local parks and trails, not to mention things like the zoo, the Rose Garden, the Japanese Gardens, Hoyt Arboretum to visit. Besides discovering what is near to us, Noah will be taking a Marimba class, both boys are signed up for swim lessons and we will be camping in July.

Today we decided to visit two parks, an oldie but goodie, the train park a.k.a. Columbia Springs Educational Center was the first one that visited. The second was a park down in the Camas/Washougal Port area.

"See, here we are right here! And this is the place we fed the fish."

We decided to walk the longer trail that goes back into the woods and out to the meadow above. There is another part of the holding pond/stream up there too.

This is Noah's favorite tree on the trail. It fell over long ago, you can see the rocks that the roots grew around and still haven't let go of and you can see the new trees that have grown from the rotting tree trunk.

This is the second park we visited today.
If you are allergic or sensitive to cottonwood trees, I would stay away for another week or two. Clouds of cottony tree pollen/seeds everywhere!

Cool entrance into the park. If you don't go into the park, you can go left and/or right and walk or ride on the dike trail.

Hey, at least take your shirts off so you have one article of dry clothing to wear home.

My serious boy.

They have these really cool canoes/boats, that are replicas of the ones used by those on the Lewis and Clark expedition. These are actually made out of concrete, the artists did a great job of making them look realistic. Each boat has something inside to help tell the story, boxes, small barrels, fish, oars, shell fish of some kind, etc.

Ollie checking out one of the boats.

The Columbia is a huge and very cold river. These boys are crazy!!

Belt Promotion

Noah earned his solid green belt tonight. It's been incredible to see him move up through the class and earn his darker belts. If you have time this weekend, the all school demo will be on Saturday night. Click the link to the left for more information.

His last warm up and quick class as a junior green belt.

Waiting for his green belt.

Seriously proud of our boy.

Mr. K had a lot of great things to say about Noah tonight. Of course, this was the night that I decided to take pictures instead of video!
"Thank you, sir."

Dialogue

I try really hard to NOT be one of those parents that think their children should be seen and not heard. I often have some amazing conversations with my boys. Some make me cry, some make me think and some make me laugh. However, there are days when I wonder what on earth is going on in their heads and if they just have to spew it all out before they explode. I sometimes just have to ask for a minute or two to catch up and give my own brain a rest. For example, we went to see Joel for lunch today and on our way home, a mere 13 miles/20 minutes this is just a smidgen of what Noah chattered on about:

• ...his friend likes coffee, really likes coffee, but not black like I drink it, he puts something else into it but he can't remember what and will have to ask him later and let me know. But when he drinks coffee he gets all excited, how come I don't get excited when I drink coffee?
• ...Pokemon is a lot like Yugioh in the sense that you battle with cards and each card or character has it's own strengths, weaknesses and attributes. (This was followed by a brief run down of a few characters from each.)
• ...he wonders why people have to lie, he understands that he doesn't have to answer the questions if the answer will hurt their feelings but he isn't going to lie because that is just wrong. Why would people lie if they were selling you stuff (this was after I mentioned that some people don't always disclose their vehicles full past when selling cars) because he wouldn't like that at all.
• ...do the clouds on a cloudy, possible thunderstorm day like today here on Earth look like the clouds that surround the planet Venus and prevent us from seeing it's landscape. Wouldn't it be cool to see what Venus looked like.
  
• ...hey did you know that in the Ripley's book he was reading he read about a guy who was killed by lightning THEN his gravestone was destroyed not once but twice by lightning. He suspects that God was really really really not happy with him.
• ...Mr. Hurst, his music teacher, let the kids listen to this really fun Music Rocks song today but Mr. Hurst was worried that he would have that song stuck in his head for at least the rest of the day if not the rest of the week.
  
• ...Sure glad he got to go have lunch with dad because he only had yogurt, apple juice, fruit and milk at school for lunch. Which may sound like a lot but it really isn't because he was really hungry still.
• ...why do people have growing pains, you HAVE to grow right, so why does it have to be painful. That just seems silly and shouldn't happen to people. He doesn't like it when people hurt when they do something like just grow.
• ...Austin couldn't talk yesterday because of his allergies, he is allergic to all sorts of pollen, so we played charades instead. Did you know that charades are hard to play when riding your bike? Well they are but we still did it. Is Jackson allergic to anything?
• ...when I grow up I still want to be an engineer at the dam but I'd also like to design a car that runs on water. Wouldn't that be cool, then you could just fill up your car from your garden hose and be on your way. Of course you'd have to know where all the hoses are on long trips but still, it would be cheaper than gas.
• ...the Columbia is a really big river (as we drove over the bridge) I bet there are a lot of streams that feed the Columbia and maybe a lake or two. If there was only one stream then it would probably be a HUGE stream and just be a part of the river. Hey how do fish find their way back to the place that they were hatched. Did you know that they do that? Hatch, swim to the ocean, grow up some, swim back to the place they were born and it starts all over again. Well, unless they are eaten by a bear then they don't make it.
  
• ...did you know that my friends are going to go to their cousins graduation party tonight. They are. Really.

Honestly, this is not all of it, I can't remember it all. The boy just has days that it doesn't stop and to be honest, it's exhausting at times. I often find myself two or three topics behind trying to catch up and that usually ends up in me busting up and laughing. The funny thing is, that usually doesn't slow him down but for a second or two. Usually looks at me, says, "What?" then goes back to his brain purge.

Closet Organizer

In an attempt to better use our space and organize stuff in the boys' room, Joel made this closet organizer! I think he did a great job! It will have two bars for hanging stuff on either side and a shelf across the full length of the closet on top. The drawers are huge and hold most of what was in the two dressers we used to have in their room. The rest will go on the shelves or be hung up on the bars. I will add another picture once the shelf and bars are in place.

Up on block before being attached to wall.

All pretty and installed.

Teepee

We have this little play teepee that actually got put away a while back then forgotten about. I found it the other day and set it up for Oliver. Of all the things we have planned to do this summer, camping is at the top of Oliver's list. So when he saw the teepee he immediately asked if he could sleep in it. The footprint of said teepee is small and square but that didn't stop him...

Smiles

Made sure I closed it up tight.
Love the end of his sleeping bad sticking out!

Welcome Home

My mom was down in Texas working with FEMA since November and she came home Friday. Oliver and I decided to go meet her at the airport to welcome her home. Since MAX now has a line that goes directly to the airport, I decided to make a little boys day and ride the train to the airport. MAX trains, airplanes and a Gammy he hasn't seen in a while - woohoo!! Of course, I took my camera along for the ride...

"LOOK!! A TRAIN!!!"
Screamed while jumping up and down and nearly falling off the curb.

Checking the train out and deciding where to sit.
He wanted to know what the accordion sides and circle on the floor were for.

I no longer existed once the train started to move.

Checking out the planes in the waiting area.

GAMMY!
Charlie and I didn't exist at this point, to either of them.

Finally got her to look up from Oliver while he was checking out the piece of gum she gave him.
Wait, what is Charlie doing???

NICE! Way to root through the purse and look for treasure while she is distracted with one of her grand kids. I admire and respect that move.

Said our hellos and goodbyes then got back onto the train.
It was empty until just before departure so he got to play around some.

On the way back to our car at the Gateway station, Oliver decided that he was going to be a big boy and sit by himself two rows in front of me. Just before leaving the airport an elderly gentleman sat in the row in front of Oliver. The two of them immediately hit it off and talked the entire way back. I just sat back and watched as the two had a grand time getting to know each other. Seriously, they both had smiles the size of Texas. I was tempted to take some pictures but didn't want to interrupt. Just before we got to our stop the gentleman dug through his pockets and gave Oliver, what I am guessing to be, one of the few coins that he had. Oliver was ecstatic that he not only found a penny while talking to his new friend but then received a nickel FROM him too. As we were departing, Oliver said, "Bye. Have fun on your train ride, love you!" and the gentleman turned to me and said, "thank you." I just nodded and got off the train...

Kanthak Karate Spring Demonstration

Kanthak Karate All Student Spring
Demonstration & Black Belt Graduations
Saturday, June 13, 2009
7:00 p.m.
Shahala Middle School Gym

Kanthak Karate is holding a spring all student demonstration on Saturday, June 13, at Shahala Middle School gym. All students are eligible to attend. The event starts with an all student warm up, then individual classes will showcase what they have been learning the last few months. After the advance class, we will award the new black belts their new rank and they will perform a routine that they have put together for the event. Guests are invited, family, friends, neighbors, teachers, etc. Cameras and camcorders are ok, we will see you there.

Address: 601 SE 192nd Avenue, Vancouver WA 98683

Noah will also be getting his stripe/belt graduation on Thursday, June 11th at the end of his class which begins at 5:35 p.m. Feel free to join us there too.

Lupin or is it Lupine

The spelling, apparently, depends on where you live and since I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest I'm going with Lupine. While watering and weeding our community garden, (check out the latest post here) I took a break, grabbed my camera and snapped some pictures of the few Lupine in the field. Around here you can come across massive fields of these beauties ranging from near white to a deep attention grabbing purple. Today there were just a few scattered about and they were of the light purple variety...

Lupine, no matter how you look at it, is pretty.

Look up at it from down below - pretty.

Look down on it from up above - pretty.

Well hello Mr. Bee!
I bet you think it's pretty too.

Look at all of that pollen on his legs.

Serious vs. Silly

Note: There was a complete second part to this post, I must have hit publish instead of save as draft. It is corrected now...sorry!

My oldest, Noah is a very serious boy. Don't get me wrong, the boy can have fun and be silly but his natural demeanor is serious and straight to the point. See...



Then there is this guy, super silly-potamus to the bone! Well, unless he is in one of those moods then he is just stubborn and frustrating but that's not part of this story. He loves to giggle and laugh and will do just about anything to get you to giggle, laugh or break into a smile (no matter how mad you are). While Noah was off to the side scientifically playing with the hose, determining the effects of water, on that slope, at that speed with various objects placed in it's path, this is what Oliver was doing...