Clam Chowder at Cannon Beach

Saturday was Uncle Tom's birthday (and also Bastille Day, Viva La France!) so we went to the beach for some cousintime and to destroy other people's abandoned sandcastles.

It was overcast, but Scarlett managed herself a mild sunburn because in Oregon, overcast is practically the same thing as sunshine.
The focus at first was sandcastle-making.  

And running up to the water, then running away really fast.  Scarlett and I stood together in the low tide and I told her, it feels like we're moving but we're not.  And she said "I don't like moving!  I don't like moving!"  It seemed like she did, though.

The focus later was on eating fruit leathers.  Even one that had been dropped into the salty sand and picked back up and shoved into the mouth.

Esther did baby yoga. 

Afterwards, we had dinner and Scarlett ate her body weight in clam chowder.  Was it the chowder or was she hungry from an afternoon on the beach?  I have no idea, but she ate many bowls and kept asking for more.  As a mother who worries that my child doesn't eat enough dinner, I was very proud and full of chowder.

Cousintime

4th of July, part 3

We spent Friday morning at the little kid splash area at Blue Lake Park.  It is So. Awesome.  Big ups to Lucy, Oscar and crew for introducing us to this place.  I thought the waterworks were the best part but Scarlett had other ideas.  Among the many other attractions, we hit up:

• A worm bin- just dirt and worms.  Scarlett wouldn't stop talking about this thing and running over to it, to open it and peek inside.  She didn't want to touch the worms, she just wanted to LOOK.  Like, for hours.
• A nature walk.  We saw no real beavers, as we were promised, but Scarlett snatched up some pretend badgers and put them in her swimsuit and brought them home.
• Lily pads and a family of ducks. Just like in the books!
• A playground (there are multiple)
• Lots of grass for running, falling, laughing, getting back up, repeat.

Parts 4 and 5 of the five-day weekend involve a barbecue and outside pool splashing with cousins, and a morning picnic at a Pearl District fountain.  Scarlett had the chance to wear a bathing suit like every other day, which makes her very happy, which makes us very happy.

4th of July, extended

Part 2

On Thursday, Scarlett and her cousins dressed up in their finest concert gear, and we went to the Edgefield to see Ben Harper.  I love my family, I love Ben Harper, I love the Edgefield- it was a trifecta of wonderful things.

Proving that brothers-in-law can be good for something after all, Tom got us into the VIP section. This means space, chairs, free food and drinks.  But best of all, it means porta-potties without a line, ones that are clean and nearby, ones that Scarlett used about 15 times.

Ben is as lovely as always, as he was 10 years ago when he used to tour more and I could see him twice a year and he had big huge hair.

Charlie made the shirts, they were a big hit.

"Nice shirt." "Hey, you too!"

Rocking the Ben shirt, and a string cheese. She knows how to party.

For the second night in a row, Scar stayed up until close to 11pm.  And she slept in until 8 the next morning, which is almost unheard of in our world, because Scarlett is like me and rarely sleeps late. 

For DeAnna, who is maybe the only other person that might care, here's a lil' recording of Ben.

4th of July

The best thing about the 4th of July this year is that it marked my first day of a five-day vacation.  We've done a lot already, which has exhausted me so much that I'll have to tell the story in increments.

Part 1.

I realized that we've never talked to Scarlett about July 4th.  We told her about Christmas beforehand, and she had books about Easter so she was prepared for that.  But Wednesday came and we told her a fun outside party, but not really about the holiday part.

The morning of, Erin and I ran an easy peasy 13.1 miles.  You know, just a quick trip around Sauvie Island, on foot, with 1,800 of our closest friends, to celebrate the birth of our country.  We had strawberry shortcake afterwards but Scarlett ate most of mine.

That afternoon, she did as she always does when we have someplace to be after naptime- she napped a loooooonnnnnnnng time.  Three hours and some change.  So, she was cheerful when we finally made it to the aforementioned outside party, at Amber's parents' house.  We had food and wine and good company.  The weather was perfect.  I felt lucky.

And surprisingly, Scarlett wasn't afraid of the fireworks.  She hopped up onto my lap and hid her ears for the high-pitched ones, but mostly she sat on the sidewalk, playing peacefully with Mr. Potatohead.  She really, really loved Mr. Potatohead.

I didn't take pictures but Amber did, so check 'em out on her blog
.

Happy belated birthdays to America, and to Carrie. I ate snacks in honor of both of you.

June on the West Coast

We started out the month BIG.  Charlie went to visit Scarlett's future suitor, Max, in Boston.  Max is growing his organs on the outside, superhero-style.

Moving on, Scarlett helped her cousins prepare for their camping trip.  Then, they played in real sleeping bags, we played pretend sleeping bag, we played pretend campfire.  She put friends around a campfire made of blocks, and stoked the fire.  She gave the friends fake marshmallows.  She told them not to get too close to the fire. It was very realistic.

The sunny weather came so there was a lot of gardening and sidewalk chalk.  Mostly we drew frogs, and mostly the frogs looked like aliens.

Then we get to the biggest June event- Esther's birthday.  We went strawberry picking, and did a lot of strawberry eating along the way, and left with full bellies and red fingers.  There was a very ominous rain cloud in the distance the whole time.  It poured on the drive out there, but was nice and dry while we picked berries and rode the hay wagon and watched a rabbit hopping around.  And now my baby niece is two!

All the while, Scarlett has been practicing her new trick, of delaying bedtime.  "I want a glass of hot milk."  "One more story."  "I want another bear."  etc etc etc.  Two has been fun, except this part.

our little creature of habit

Scarlett's new game is to sit on the kitchen floor, on a towel, putting her bath friends in a big bowl of water, and a little pan of water next to it.  The bowl is a hot tub.  The pan is a swimming pool.  The rubber ducks swim around and dive and slide etc etc.  They go back & forth between the bowls.  Scarlett gets soaking wet.  She eats an apple- whole, not cut- while she does this.

The first time she did this, I was trying to occupy her while I did dishes, so I said, hey I have a fun new game wanna play?  She was eating an apple.  So now she plays the game while Charlie is doing dishes, and she insists on having an apple, even though she doesn't always eat it.

She's like this with many things.

1. We always walk around the block the same way.  It takes a lot of convincing her to take a left when we hit the four-way stop.
2. She likes walking into Aunt Sally's house by the front door, because there's a hanging plant there and she wants to see it every time.  Aunt Sally gave her one for Christmas too.  We usually use the back door at their house, but she's not having any of that.
3. For a long time she asked for a banana every morning, and ate it.  Then she kept asking for the banana but wouldn't eat them.  Finally we've stopped supplying bananas and she's taken to eating mostly yogurt, all day.
4. At the zoo last week, we bought her a snow cone for the first time.  So I anticipate many more snow cones at the zoo coming up.

 

First Snow Cone, of many