Bye-Bye, April! Hello, May.

Well, it's been over a week, so I figured I might as well post something.

Things we did this week:

-went fabric shopping
-went to Goodwill
-went to OMSI
-went to farmer's market
-went to Saturday market
-went to the park
-cut up wool sweaters and leather jackets
-went garage sale-ing
-ate sushi
-barbecued
-watched "Anne of Green Gables"
-watched "Bobby"
-watched "Million Dollar Baby"
-learned how to wave

Some photos:

At Omsi. I just love the look on kids' faces when they're twirling about. The kids are dressed up in stingray and lizard costumes and dancing around to Brazilian music. Well, not so much dancing, but more like running and jumping.



Playing in the sand area at OMSI.


Even the babies have a place to play at OMSI. They liked the fishies.


All my cut-up sweaters. Now all I have to do is find time to sew.


My fave garage sale find.


Tania's fave garage sale find. She is now a kid with her own computer. My how things have changed since I was a kid.


This is how I try to get Talula to wave: "Hi, Lu! Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi."


"Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama. Wave, wave to Mama."


"Yay! You did it! Yay!"


"Oh crap, are you coming to get me?"


"AAAAA!!!!! Retreat! Retreat!!!"


"Must escape! Somebody helllllp meeeee!!!!!"

Multnomah Falls

Yesterday, we drove to Multnomah Falls. It's about 40 minutes east of Portland, and the drive is along the beautiful Columbia River, which separates Oregon and Washington. The falls are spectacular at over 600 feet high.

Here is the bottom waterfall.


And here is the top waterfall. Apparently, the water comes from Multnomah Creek, along with some rain and melted snow.


Here is a very cold Tania.


We got her heavy jacket from the car. Ahhh...much better.


We hiked up to the bridge that you saw in the previous photos. Here's the view looking down.


This is a little lookout a few yards up from the big bridge. We were getting sprayed with the mist of the waterfall. I was really cold. Can you tell?


This is looking up at the very top from the little lookout. It was pretty amazing. We talked about what it would be like to be the first people to discover this place. It sort of touristy these days, but can you imagine happening upon this as an explorer or something? We also talked about how small it made us feel. The force of the waterfall was really powerful. There's no way you could swim underneath it.


Tania found a hide-out, as she always does. She's been pretending she's a Native American lately. It's funny, because I used to do the same thing when I was a kid. I would gather little nuts and berries and pretend they were my food. Joey and I were debating whether this is an innate instinct for girls, gathering. It's interesting to think about, because wayyy back when humans were nomadic, it was usually the women and children who gathered. So we might be born to gather. That would sure explain why women love to shop so much. And if men were born to hunt, well, that would explain why they're so focused when they shop. In and out.


We had a snack and a beer at the restaurant at the bottom of the falls.



It was still gorgeous outside, so we couldn't bear the thought of going home. So we went to Laurelhurst Park. Tons of people were there, taking advantage of the sunny day.

Tania did some writing.


And some branch swinging.


And some branch shaking.


Joey and Lu did some dancing.


I sat and stared at trees, thinking about how sad it was that I couldn't capture the beauty of the sunlight shining through the leaves with my camera. You'll just have to visit the park for yourself. Maybe I need to get a better camera. I really have been wanting to step up the photography. I used to be really good long ago. I almost became a photographer, but instead, I went to stupid law school! Oh, to go back in time. But really, I made some great friends in law school that are totally worth the debt.

Someone linked to this cartoon on one of the boards I frequent. I thought it was funny, so here you go.

OMSI Day

We went to OMSI today. Always fun. We finally saw the Amazon exhibit. So cool. Here Tania is inside of an aquarium. Not with piranhas, but it was still neat. Wouldn't it be cool if there were piranhas? They'd be bumping against the glass trying to eat her head.


Here she is playing some sort of game that teaches about how the Amazon changed over meelions of years. It actually used to come out on the west side of South America, but eventually the Andes mountains grew and diverted the river north.


Hubba, hubba!!!


We also saw a Planetarium show called Pacific Northwest Skies. It was pretty cool. We got to see all the constellations that we would see at night here if it weren't so damn cloudy. And if I would ever go outside at night when it's so damn cold all the time.

In other happenings, Tania has opened a cafe called Family Cafe.


I ate there and had a fabulous pizza, rainbow pasta, and cookies.


And some tea.


She was kind enough to give me a tour of her facilities. These are the beverages.


And this is the kitchen.


Now, I think her best business feature is that she'll deliver her food in a picnic basket to you. Lovely. However, I think she may need to develop a catchy marketing scheme. The one she has now consists of begging people to eat at her cafe and promising to make them whatever they want. it seems desperate is all I'm saying.


Lu has been sick, but she's truckin' on in all her snot-nosed glory.


I can't resist but tell the whole world (as if) that my husband, Joey, is at a math conference right now and he's really excited about it. Nerd alert! Nerd alert! I actually wanted to go with him, but didn't want to bring everybody. From what I gather, the conference is about mathematical principles in nature that make things aesthetically pleasing being applied to design to make homes and furniture aesthetically pleasing. I think it sounds really cool.

Tonight, we watch Borat.

My baby is growing up!

My little baby has had a busy week. She has learned how to crawl, has been pulling herself up to stand, and has learned how to throw a tantrum. So her new routine is to crawl over to the table, try to pull herself up to grab scalding hot coffee or knives or grenades or huge bags of cocaine (you know, whatever we happen to have lying around), and then arch her back and cry in protest when we try to thwart her attempts. It seems though, that her new found freedom has her scared of what the real world will be like, because she wants me to sit on the ground with her while she explores. If I try to walk away to refill my scalding hot coffee or sharpen my knives, she yells in protest. Then she shoots her arms up for a holding and a hug. She pats my back when we hug. I pat hers too and say, "So nice, you're so nice." Then, when she holds her favorite baby doll, I say, "So nice, you're so nice," and she pats the baby.


She sleeps next to her favorite baby too.


And when she wakes up, she hugs her with hands and feet.


Now she has a little cold, and I have no clue where it came from.

Tania has been Miss Busypants recently. We had two homeschool park days, soccer, and a playdate with a friend last week. Plus, she went out to dinner with one of her grown-up friends, and played at another friend's house yesterday. The homeschool park days are fun, but they are new, so there aren't too many people yet. One of the events is at a $1 skating rink. It's pretty cool.

We went to "The Bins" last weekend. Holy crap, what an experience. I think the way it works is that Goodwill brings all the stuff that's been in each store for too long to this one place where you can sort through bins of crap and buy stuff by the pound. So the biggest weirdos in all of Portland show up to collect more crap for their cluttered homes. I can't even describe the madness that ensues when a new bin is wheeled out. People just dive in, frantically throwing stuff to the side and finding their buried treasures.

Anyway, it was a fun experience, and I got bookshelves, books, clothes, wool. Then we went to another thrift store where we got more things. I found pillowcases, to make dresses out of, and aprons. Then, we stopped at an estate sale on the way home! Yikes...no more spending for a while.

Now, I have a lot of crafting to do. I have more longies, dresses and curtains to sew. I'll be back soon with photos of my creations.

Makin' new things out of old things

This...


...this...


...and this...


...became this...


...this...


...and this.


They are all 100% wool, so they can be used as soakers. The last ones are really soft lambswool. Aren't they cute? I love them.

Easter happenin's

This was Lu's first Easter on the outside. We had a much more relaxed Easter than last year. We just had brunch and hung out. We did some spring cleaning and watched the Virgin Suicides. Good movie. Love Sofia Coppola. We had some Bloody Marys (wouldn't want to upset family tradition) and eggs benedict and latkes. Or, as Joey thinks they are called, plackis. I think his Polish mother may have renamed them.

Okay...I just googled Polish latke, and it says this on Wikipedia: "Though commonly associated with the Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine of Eastern Europe, they are not necessarily Jewish in origin. Areas like northeast Poland, for instance, know many varieties. A favorite Polish dish is placki węgierskie (placki po węgiersku) — potato pancakes stuffed with a thick, spicy Hungarian goulash." So I guess Joey's mother didn't make up the name. Oops. Falsely accused, ouch.

Back to Easter, it was nice to stick around home after a week of playdates left and right. I used to complaint about not doing anything. Now I feel overbooked. Things should calm down a bit now that Easter is over.

Other than Easter goings-on, we been eating lots of Cheerios.




We've been doing some Downward Facing Dog.


And some Cobra.


We've been pulling ourselves up to stand, albeit a wobbly stand.


We've been reading and eating toys.


And cuddling on our awesome new 70s couch with our awesome new rainbow crocheted blanket with our awesome new Hawaii-themed children's book found in a rural Oregon thrift shop.


Aistons...out.