Summer at the Park

There's been a lot of bike riding going on over here.  Ethan takes the kids to the park which has some great nature trails to ride around on.  Not everyone wanted to go on this particular day.  The youngest wanted to spend some time with just his Mama so we made our way to the park and explored it in our own, slow, quiet way . . . though not too quiet - my youngest, he is a talker!

I love going to the park this time of year.  So may beautiful azaleas and rhododendrons.  I love the peachy color of the flowers above.

Lincoln had tons of fun rolling dow the hills and running across the lawn.

Of course, we must always stop at the pond.  There are two ponds at this park.  The picture above is of the small pond. 

Lincoln loved his time with me, running, running, talking, running, talking, talking, talking, running, shouting, rolling . . . you get the idea.  Uh, that's Lincoln, not me by the way.  I'm not much for rolling or talking, or let's face it, running. 

This is the big pond.  Lot's of lily pads and, you guessed it, frogs.  Before we left to come to the park on this day, Lincoln was excited at the prospect of being the only kid with me at the park.  He said, "And I get to poke sticks in the water as long as I want!"  Okay, little man.  You go ahead and poke stick in the water to your heart's content.

We enjoyed our walk around the nature trails.  Lincoln wanted to go farther and farther because, as he said, "We need to get in shape to go on longer hikes!"  That we do!

So you see, any season at the park is wonderful.  Each season is special in it's own way.

Spring at the Park

The park in early spring is always fun.  The water is still usually high, but things are starting to grow again.  It always amazing me what is blooming already (and what has been blooming all winter!), the Pacific Northwest being so much different than the climate I'm used to.  It was early March at this time.

We learned our first winter here that one must always wear their rain boots when out and about enjoying nature.  Puddles, mud, and overflowing ponds and rivers, not to mention the practically ever-falling rain - water everywhere.

For this particular adventure, we were armed with a pond water catching devise, a devise the kids and Ethan made inspired by the ladle the children made in the book The Boxcar Children.  They made their ladle out of a can and a stick.  We made our scooper out of a plastic peanut butter jar and a stick . . . good thing the kids are always adopting sticks wherever we go.  

The purpose of catching pond water was to do an experiment for Maria's science.  We were able to study different microorganisms with our microscope.  That was pretty neat to see living things moving around on our slide, although it's been quite an adventure learning the proper ways to use our microscope (I didn't find the manual that came with it particularly helpful).

Libby is constantly loving flowers, whatever they are.  She, and the other children, definitely can see the beauty in the different seasons at the park, or wherever we are.

Fogarty Beach

What?  There are still beaches close by that we've never been to before?  There sure are, although they are getting to be a lot fewer.  Last month we visited Fogarty Creek State Recreation Area.  It's a short walk from the parking lot to the beach.  It was nice.  There were rocks to climb over, a little creek running across the beach out to the ocean, and the weather was just about perfect.  The sand was more coarse at this beach but my kids didn't mind.  They will build and dig and play in any kind of sand they can find.

Farm Fest

In April we made our way down to the Yamhill County Historical Society's Farm Fest.  There were all sorts of old-time demonstrations and things to see.  

One of my favorites was the plowing competition.  It was fun to see the teams of draft horses and mules plow the field.

The museum had hundreds of old wagons, tractors, and cars.

The kids got to climb around a covered wagon, pet some livestock, and even see what it was like to do laundry without a washer and dryer.

We saw and heard an antique player piano play a song, watched blacksmithing demonstrations, looked through an old schoolhouse, and many other things.  It was a great way to spend a Saturday.

The Magnolia Bloom

This spring we were finally able to go do something I've been wanting to do since we moved here: visit the arboretum when the magnolia trees were in bloom!

It was just as wonderful and beautiful as I thought it would be!  My poor pictures certainly don't do those blossoms justice.  I'm not the only one who enjoyed them.  Ethan and all the kids loved them too.  There's something enchanting about walking through a forest of trees bursting with flowers!

And although the youngest did like the flowers, he mostly looked forward to going to the zoo we promised to visit as soon as we were done with the magnolias.  Unfortunately for him, everyone else must have had the same idea for when we arrived at the zoo, we could not get in!  It was full!  Poor little man!  He was so disappointed.  We let him pick our next destination.  He picked a park not far from our house.

As you can see from that happy face, he had a great time.

Tacoma and the Puget Sound

One of our more recent adventures was going back up into Washington, all the way to Tacoma.  We wanted to check the area out and see the Puget Sound.  

I just love our little family adventures.  We have such a great time together.