Piggy tail

I put Scar's hair into a ponytail most days, otherwise it ends up sticky with yogurt.  But when I ask her to stay still so I can fix her hair, she says 'pig tail'.  Not pony tail, pig tail.  So I tell her to oink.  This morning, she didn't want a pig tail or a pony tail, so I offered her a puppy tail, and she was excited about that.

Bend

We spent a long weekend* in Bend, and it was great, especially since it might be our first real, official vacation as a family of three. We stayed Friday through Tuesday, and did an equal amount of relating and adventuring.

• Friday afternoon, we were greeted by six deer, outside the house.  We sat in the car and watched, then Charlie snuck out to grab the camera, and we got a few shots.  They drank from the neighbor's birdbath and pooped in the yard, then what followed were many conversations about deer poop, and walking around to spot but not touch the deer poop.
• We had some pine cone gathering and pine cone throwing contests.  A LOT of them.

• Bend has awesome playgrounds, like one with a pirate ship play structure and a super long slide, right on the river, with a foot bridge. 

• I visited my dear friend Heather.  Her three girls have a huge playroom with all the toys a toddler could imagine.  Her youngest daughter Samara showed us all her dresses.  Scarlett played up in that room with the older girls, and she really didn't want to leave, but was finally coerced by the promise of ice cream.
• Heather, Cheri and I ran a 10K on Sunday morning. Bend is hot, even at 9am.

• We visited the Bend Distillery.  
• Charlie took a brewery tour while I took a nap. This felt like a winning afternoon for both of us.
• There are some really nice river paths, so we took walks, and played with gravel, and pulled weeds, and looked at geese.

• Monday, we spent several hours at the High Desert Museum, which is maybe the most awesome place on the planet for kids.  In addition to standard museum stuff, there was a porcupine, otters, snakes, owls, and giant turtles.  There was an indoor rock area with a stone slide, and an eagle's nest on top, which Scar loved. There was a dark path through a fake coal mine, which Scarlett did not love.
• Oh, and they let the kids pet the turtles.

On the way home, I asked Scarlett what her favorite part of Bend was.  I thought for sure, the turtles, or Heather's playroom.  But she said 'ice cream sundae!'. 

*This vacation, brought to you by friends with a vacation home, Bert and Cheri.

Gratuitous Egg Shots

"Why do you keep eating bread and jam," asked Father,
"when you have a lovely egg?"
"I like bread and jam," said Frances,
"because it does not slide off your spoon in a funny way."
-Bread and Jam for Frances

Poached eggs, on vegetarian biscuits and gravy

Poached eggs, on beet greens

Peter Rabbit

Translation:
"radishes.
And feeling rather sick, he went to look for some parsley.
Round the end of the cucumber frame
whom should he meet but Mr. McGregor!"

Gets distracted by video camera.

Parseltongue

At the High Desert Museum, and Scarlett is saying in her sing-song voice 'Snake!  Can you come over here?'

Around these parts

So far this year, three of our closest friends have had baby boys.  Two of them were born on a Friday the 13th- January and April.  Suddenly Scarlett seems giant, and independent.

Yeah, she plays dress up

But then something happens, and I remember she's still so small.  I took her to a swimming lesson last weekend.  There was a giant fan by the poolside, which she hated with the same passion she also hates vacuums, blenders (sometimes) and motorcycles driving by.  She clung to me and whined.  And in what was not my best parenting moment, I made her an ultimatum- if we leave now, no more swimming lessons.  So we cancelled the lessons for the duration, and I felt like a mean parent.

I said, 'smile for mama'

In the meantime, she's been taking a judo class with her cousin Esther, which is mostly just kids crawling around on mats and hitting the ground with their palms.  I've only been once, and it was chaotic, as a room with 12 toddlers should be. 

She still loves putting her stuffed animals to sleep, in a very long, elaborate routine that involves us being very quiet as we sneak back into the room to check on them.  There's a new game too, where she sits in her wagon and we hand her the friends, until she's under a big pile of them, giggling.  Her toes are her piggies and she'll say 'my piggies are buried'. 

Also, I've been making poached eggs like crazy, ever since I figured out how to poach them straight in the water.  Charlie thinks I'm crazy, because I think poached eggs are beautiful and I take a lot of pictures of them.

I *think* it might be spring