Reincarnation

This last winter our beloved Madrone tree suffered a catastrophic loss when we got slammed with a giant winter storm. The branch that broke was roughly a quarter of the tree's mass and unfortunately, our car happened to be directly under it when it came down.

The limb didn't break cleanly, instead it ripped down to the trunk and hung vertically. Bad for the tree, but it probably saved our car from massive damage. Poor little Pepe the Prius has a few more scratches but came away from the encounter generally intact. 

A few weeks later my dad came over with his chainsaw and went to work. Madrones are native to Washington State yet have had a rough time lately, so we were especially worried about disease susceptibility. 

The cut pieces sat out in our parking strip for a few weeks. One day I got a note on our door from a neighbor asking if she could have a few of the logs as she was trying her had at wood carving. Of course! Off they trundled to a new home. 

And today this sweet spoon showed up on our doorstep. An excellent use of our fallen branch. 

 The tree is flourishing, by the way. As I sit in my office typing, it's currently hosting 50 robins that are gorging themselves on berries before continuing their journey south.  

Trips: Camping on Vancouver Island

Hello!

It's been a while.


I go through phases with the blog....sometimes I'm johnny-on-the-spot when it comes to posting, other times it's like I've fallen off the face of the earth.

In other words, it's been a bit of a blogging dry spell.

We've been outside taking advantage of this beautiful Spring weather and trying to keep our lives only moderately crazy.

We went camping up in Tofino, British Columbia this weekend. Tofino is located about halfway up Vancouver Island on the western (Pacific) coast. We drove up to Canada and then hopped aboard a ferry over to the island. Upon landing in Nanaimo, it was a three hour drive across the island to the small towns of Tofino and Ucluelet. Vancouver Island is huge; it's the largest island in the Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand.

We stayed at the Green Point Campground at the Pacific Rim National Park and it quickly became one of my favorite campgrounds due to the secluded spots and proximity to both hiking trails and beaches. Also, Canadians seem to be a bit more respectful of personal space and noise. There wasn't a single night in which fellow campers were playing their music too loudly or causing disturbances.

 Chris and I are still figuring out our perfect camping situation. We'd love to have a location where the kids can run absolutely wild. Ben and Emma, at 5 and 2, are loud rambunctious kids and there are very few places that they are allowed to be completely free. Even at the campground we are constantly setting rules in regards to noise, destruction of vegetation, and Ben's yearning to visit all the other campsites and have a fireside chat with the occupants.

That said, we're still deciding if we're entirely comfortable striking off into the wilderness by ourselves and wild camping. It seems lovely....but also a bit risky, considering that we have two very young children. Perhaps Chris and I have seen too many horror movies about crazies lurking in the woods. You know, ax murders and shady folk intent on defending their illicit pot grow operations. 

What do you think? Would you go camping off the grid with your little ones? Would you do it if you had friends (ie additional adults) with you? If so, any recommendations for spots in Washington State? I'm of two minds on this one. 

Ben is avidly interested in wildlife and we need to start keeping notes so he can record all his critters. He's careful to list the lowly slug right next to the bears and whales. That's my boy. 

The highlight of the weekend for me was the whale watching trip that we took amongst the islands. It ended up just being the captain, our family, and another family that had two boys, ages 4 and 6. All three boys had an absolute hoot running around the boat, nagging the pilot, and playing wildly. I still can't believe that nobody went overboard.

In total, we were lucky to see 4 humpbacks feeding in a shallow cove. Ben was enthralled.

Ack. Sorry for the blurry pictures. Still haven't pulled the trigger on a new camera and my old lens is suffering.

Here was a larger crustacean, farther out in the bay.

Bottoms up!

Emma did her best to hang with the big kids but she was having a rough day, as her nap schedule was thrown into disarray. We definitely struggled this trip to get a good routine set up for Emma. A month ago we took a similar camping trip down to Central Oregon and she seemed to do just fine. But she hasn't been napping well in the car during the long hours on the road and that, combined with the late nights around the campfire, were hard for our littlest babe. So we'll have to work on that for future trips.

After the whales it was time for a visit to the local Stellar sea lion colony.

Playing? Fighting? Who knows.

If you're planning a visit, we especially enjoyed the inland Rainforest Trail and the Lighthouse Loop near Ucluelet. Long Beach (as accessed via Green Point Campground) also had nice tide pools where we spotted fish, anemones, and jellyfish. 

We went to Chesterman Beach to watch the surfers, but decided that a game of soccer was more entertaining (and warmer). Those surfers were hard core; I was freezing just watching them paddling about in the frigid waters.

The tide pools at Long Beach. I nearly dipped my phone in the water trying to get this picture. 

Ben and his dead sea lion. "Whoa Mama, check out all the flies!!!"

And to top it all off, we ran into this guy. Love them bears. 

And that, my dears, was our trip to Tofino. Definitely worth a visit.

xo,
Sonja

Seattle Outings: Forest Park Petting Zoo (in Everett)

We needed a farm fix the other day so we headed up to Everett to visit the small but lovely Forest Park petting zoo. 

The farm has varied menagerie of animals (ducks, chickens, pigs, bunnies, horses, sheep & alpacas) but we spent most of our time visiting with the babies goats. 

Goat watering time.

Checking out “Thigh” and “Breast”. Just kidding. They had cute names like Henrietta and Penelope. 

xo, 

Sonja

If You Go: 

Forest Farm in Everett, Washington

Open June 28 - August 24 10a.m.-4p.m. daily (2014). Check website for additional details. 

Occasionally they give $4 pony rides. I couldn’t find any information posted on the website. The day we went (a Tuesday), they were available from 10:30-11:30. 

The park is also host to a fantastic spray park and jungle gym. Be prepared for a crowd on sunny days. 

Both parking and the farm are free but donations are greatly appreciated. They have a cute little ‘donation goat’ that rambles around wearing a collection vest; the kids will have a kick sticking a few bucks into the attached piggy bank.  

Happenings at Home

Today is a grand day. We had our first official carrot harvest (Ben’s impromptu pulling of several rows doesn’t count) and our baby juncos have hatched. 

Last night only three had hatched but this morning there were four tiny little guys. Their eyes are still closed. Here is the nest, back when it was in the egg stage. 

Best of all? It’s supposed to cool down and RAIN this week. Hallelujah.


xo,

Sonja

Weekend happenings

My Dears,

I hope you have a happy holiday.

Chris had to work for most of it but got off with enough time for us to go over to a friend’s house for a BBQ. There was a gaggle of similarly-aged kids and Ben had an absolute hoot running around with his new pack of friends. It’s fun to watch the interactions of a three-year old. Plus we got to consume lots of tasty food and spend time with friends.

I made this ice cream cake, except with chocolate, vanilla, and a raspberry sorbet. We topped it with magic chocolate sauce and toasted peanuts. Judging by how much was left, I’m going to call it a success. It was outrageously simple and I think it’s going to become my go-to cake for summer birthdays. There are so many ice cream combos that are begging to be tried.  This one also looks tasty.

As a sign of how badly the vegetable garden required weeding, we discovered this dark-eyed junco nest in amongst the lettuces.

Each day there is a new egg and Ben and I are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the babies. For my part, I just hope they make it. 

Bailey and I have stepped up our efforts to ‘encourage’ the hordes of neighborhood cats to pursue their interests elsewhere but these little guys are on their own come night-time. Keep your fingers crossed, my dears. Our native avian populations need all the help they can get. 

Last night we had a great BBQ with my parents. Emma is a happy baby when she’s on somebody’s lap.

We also did a bit of house work this weekend, including a door in the basement bathroom:

With trim, even. But no handle (yet). So far we’ve been really pleased with the final wall color of the basement. It’s "light pewter" by Benjamin Moore and it’s nice and bright, without being plain ole white. 

We are also the proud new owners of a couch in the tv room. Beats sitting on the floor, that’s for sure. Chris installed window trim but this room still needs baseboard and a door. That’s our project for next week. We are soooo close. 

I am also finished with the tile in the laundry room but I’m out of time so that post must wait for another day. 

And last but not least, we did a small hike in Paradise Valley Conservation Area on Sunday. This was our second time there and both Chris and I agreed that we’re going to shelve this hike. It’s mostly brushy single-track that is shared by hikers, mountain bikers, and horses. On a beautiful sunday, it was simply too nerve-wracking due to the mountain bikers coming round corners and down hills at top speeds. But head on over there if you’re a biker; they even have a bike-specific ‘playground’. 

That’s all for now. 

xo, 

Sonja