Surprise Harvest

This rental house has had many surprises, mostly the food that is growing in the back yard. We have been enjoying grapes, raspberries and plums. The plum tree was small though and half the fruit was eaten by birds before we got any. There is also a pear tree full of pears. They haven't been ripe enough to pick but I think they're getting there now. The cherry tree was pretty well picked over by the birds by the time we moved in but now I found a surprise yellow squash plant that I didn't know was growing. By the time I saw it the plant was pretty big and had two big squash on it.

The surprise squash plant. It was hidden behind the stack of pine needles and stump.

Yellow squash. I'm not a big squash fan so not sure how to cook it yet.

Bunches of red/green grapes. They were small and tart when we first started picking them but now they are bigger and sweeter.

A few of the plums at the top of the tree. I used my ladder and was able to reach them.

Those pears almost look like ornaments hanging on a tree. Where's the partridge? 😆

Last week my in-laws were able to get some apples from a connection in the ward and so they shared some with me. There were two flavors. The green ones I'm pretty sure were granny smith but I'm not sure what the red ones were. There's so many kinds of apples. Anyway, I was able to finally make applesauce and apple chips again! But new this year I learned from my mother in law how to make apple cider and it turned out good! I didn't even add any sugar to it I just wish I had more!

Dehydrating for apple chips and getting ready for applesauce. I love the counter space I have!

Cooking the apples down so they'll be soft.

The two red jars in front are the cider and the rest are applesauce. And a good amount of apple chips.

The only other thing I wish I could have made with the apples was apple pie filling but I was so stressed out about my Relief Society lesson last weekend that by the time I got around to working on apples again (I had started on Thursday and again Monday) the apples were starting to go bad and I had to cut a lot of spots off. So I just wanted to hurry and get them processed. I'm so happy I was able to do what I did though!

As for the pears from the pear tree. I decided I'm not going to try canning those because I've never done it and because we're moving again in a few months so I don't want to pack a bunch of food jars that could break. I know my kids will eat applesauce but not sure on pears. My mother in law said she wants to can some pears. Maybe I will go help her when she does it.

A New School Year

With us moving a few miles away from our previous home we are still in the same city and school district but 3 of the kids started at new schools this year. Garrett was the lucky one who didn't have to change. It was a little rough trying to get records moved and make sure the other 3 kids were on the new school's schedules but things have smoothed out and we've now gotten into a routine. And not only was it rough in that way but all of us ended up getting sick. It started with Jack and then Garrett getting coughs, fever, chills, headaches. Jack missed the first two days of school. Garrett went to school on the first day but apparently felt sick most of the day and came home in tears with a big headache and his stomach hurting. Jack first started feeling sick when we went to the ward pool party on Monday the 15th but he hid it pretty well since he looked like he was fine. It slowly got worse each day with more coughing and feeling fatigued, etc. When Garrett and Charlotte started school on Thursday I took Jack to the Quick Care. Alice came along for the ride since Kindergarten starts the following week. They tested him for Covid but it came back negative. They had him get a chest x-ray and do some breathing treatments. We ended up being their for 2 1/2 hours and he was prescribed Albuterol for the nebulizer (that we already had thank goodness) and some antibiotics to just make sure since it's unclear if it's viral or bacterial. They just knew it was a respiratory infection. He also said to take some mucinex to help have a productive cough and humidifier in the room. Doing all of those things helped. He felt much better by the weekend but not quite good enough to go to church on Sunday. I also had Charlotte do the nebulizer because she started coughing a lot but that's all. Occasionally I gave Garrett and Alice a breathing treatment as well for their coughs. By the weekend I wasn't feeling good. I had a sore throat, then cough and fatigue. Fortunately my illness didn't last too long. I was feeling pretty good by Tuesday, well enough to mow the lawn at our other house. Curtis ended up getting sick as well but Jack definitely got it the worst. So glad everyone is feeling better now! Not the way we wanted to start off the school year.

The girls had their open house to see their new school on Tuesday the 16th and to meet their new teachers. They are now Greenhurst Grizzly Bears. I was so anxious and nervous about the kids switching schools but the kids seemed to adjust much better than I did. The girls were excited and Jack was just fine with switching because he still had a good friend from our old ward that goes to the new school, which is South Middle School.

At the elementary open house. The girls are standing on a small stage that is connected to the cafeteria.

Waiting for the doctor at Quick Care. Jack was so tired and cold.

Alice had Kindergarten orientation on Friday the 19th. She created a crown. Fortunately she felt fine in the morning when going to this but by Friday night she wasn't feeling well either.

Finally the kids all felt well enough to go to school the following Monday. Thank goodness we had the weekend to rest up and get better.

 One nice thing about this move is that Garrett is close enough to walk to school and the other 3 kids can ride the bus. The girls were so excited to be able to ride the bus this year. Charlotte always talked about wanting to ride the bus and now it's finally happening. Once again, we had a little hiccup, with getting Alice signed up to ride the bus as a Kindergartener. I had to fill out a form to get her on the list at the school and for the first week Charlotte would ride the bus while I drove Alice to school. Apparently the office lady lost the form I had filled out and so I had to fill out another one. I got that turned in first thing a week ago Monday and the office lady sent it to the bus company right away. She felt bad that it has taken so long so she wanted to get it taken care of as quickly as possible. By the afternoon I got a call from the bus company and the office lady at the school saying that she could ride the bus starting Tuesday. Yay!  I do have to mention that I was very impressed with Charlotte when there was one day that I thought Alice could ride the bus so she rode in the morning but then in the afternoon they told her she couldn't get on the bus because she wasn't on the list yet. Alice had to go to the office and wait for them to call me and come pick her up. Charlotte was a good big sister and stayed with Alice instead of riding the bus. But it's all figured out now and they are both riding together. I also love that their bus stop is very close to our house. It's only a few houses down!

Getting on in the morning.

And getting off in the afternoon.

The next day I told them to sit on the side where I could take a picture of them.

 It was a bumpy start this school year but things are looking good now. The kids are all enjoying their classes and schools.

Summer of Changes - Part 2

I'm going to back up again and add some more stuff from the month of July and then August. Our family spent 4th of July weekend getting settled in our new rental but we decided we wanted to do fireworks at our old house one last time because we knew our neighbor friends would be lighting fireworks also.  We had Dad, Laverne, Grandma, Uncle Jess and Aunt Diane come celebrate with us. We also got to see my cousin Andrew and his family since they walked down from Aunt Cori's house after they finished lighting their fireworks. They were in town visiting from Nevada. I didn't get many pictures because I still had my old phone and the camera wasn't working properly. We bought new phones in late July right before our Oregon trip.

The night ended in a firework tipping over and shooting across the ground under some of our seats and exploding. One landed on my foot and I got a small burn on my leg. I think a couple others might have gotten hit on their legs also and grandma had a hard time hearing after one exploded close to her but fortunately she was fine the next day. I'm so glad nothing worse happened. That was scary! I had a bruise on my foot and it hurt for a long time, especially when putting a shoe on. I guess we were going out with a bang.

That same week I had a visit from my new Relief Society president and one of the counselors. They brought me a gift and just wanted to get to know me and welcome me to the ward. I thought that was so nice!

Jack was finally ready to cut his long hair off. He said it was getting itchy. We were happy to oblige and it was just in time for his cousins to come in town. The cousins were staying with my in laws right next door so it was great for all of the kids to be so close so they could hang out a lot.

The kids played Bingo and grandma bought candy for prizes. Garrett and Taelynn were in charge.

There was another day when I took my girls to the Idaho Children's Museum in Meridian. I had heard of it before but this was the first time I had taken any kids to it. The boys weren't interested in going. They had so many fun things to do that the girls were just bouncing from one activity to the next the whole first hour. It was after lunch that they finally slowed down and spent more time doing some of the activities.

They had a small theater stage they could dress up in costumes and perform.

Floating objects down the water. It was hot that day so it was nice to get a little wet.

The train station.

Moving out of our house was very difficult for me to do since we had been there for 19.5 years but now that we are out and in the rental I am finding that I actually like the rental house better than I did our old house. We're in an older but nice neighborhood with bigger properties and it's a lot quieter since it's mostly older people. I like the layout of the rental house and the size of the bedrooms. They are much bigger than our old house. The backyard is lot bigger and has lots of shade from trees and a covered patio. We even have trees that we can hang our hammocks on. There's also a small brick pad for a fire pit. Our fire pit fit perfectly on it.

The living room and kitchen. There's even a fireplace.

The girls room was big enough to put both beds on the floor so that's what they wanted instead of the bunk bed.

Front room and door.

Garrett's room. He can fit his drum set in his room and still has plenty of space.

The master bedroom. There's so much more space and it has a walk in closet. That bathroom has a soaker tub and separate shower and two sinks

Lots of driveway parking! And I was later able to make space in the garage for me to park the van inside.

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From under the covered patio.

Jack is staying in the bigger nicer shed, which is like a cabin, with electricity but no air conditioning. We put fans out there but it's still hot. After Nikki moved out Jack had the option to move into her room inside but Jack likes having his own space out in "The Jack Shack". 

We are now getting used to not living in the other house and getting to know the people in our new ward. They even called me to be a Relief Society teacher. I'm scared about that because I've never taught adults but I think it will be a good experience for me I hope. My first lesson will be this coming Sunday, Sept 11th. 

There was a ward BBQ in our old ward the weekend before school started and I wanted to go so we could see old friends again. Curtis didn't want to because he thought it would be weird since we're not members of that ward any more but I made him go. We had a good time visiting and the girls and Jack had a blast going down the water slide inflatable that Aunt Cori rented (she's in the Relief Society presidency).

Garrett and Alice having fun on the swings.

We also went to a swimming party at the Bledsoe's in our new ward. The kids had a great time at both parties. I got in the pool with the kids so I didn't take any pictures there. 

It was a great way to end the summer!

Seaside Family Reunion

It was over a year ago that my dad started planning our next family reunion and since it was a favorite for most we decided to go to the Oregon Coast again in Seaside. We left the morning of July 28th and came back a week later on August 4th. This was Alice's first ocean experience. Charlotte was 1 year old last time we came to Seaside and then she saw the California coast when we went to Disney in 2020. When we headed over to Seaside we didn't really have any plans except that Curtis wanted to see the Tillamook Air Museum and I wanted to go to an aquarium with the girls. Our trip ended up jam packed full of activities as we tried to do what others were doing as well.

Stopping in at Multnomah Falls on our way.

It was nice to get a close up shot this year. Curtis and I tried to see it last year but didn't know we needed reservations so we saw it from far away.

One of the first things the kids wanted to do was swim in the pool.

While the girls did go swimming in the pool (did not get pic of them) I also later took them down to the beach right outside our condo.

This was Alice's first time seeing and feeling the ocean!

The 2nd day there after our morning meeting with the adults some of us went exploring downtown on Broadway, which is also right outside our condo so we were able to walk. We did some souvenir shopping and played.

Riding the carousel that's in the middle of Carousel Mall. Jayden and Jack.

Charlotte, Garrett, Alice riding the Tilt-A-Whirl

Later we went back out to the beach. This time the girls were prepared to get wet.

She played hard today and zonked out.

We went out to dinner that night with Stillman's family at Dooger's Seafood and Grill. I thought we got a group picture but it must have been on someone else's phone. I did get a picture of Alice and her octopus dinner.

Mac and cheese with an octopus hot dog. She loved it and ate it all!

The girls and I were working hard to look for clues for the treasure hunt that the condo (Worldmark) was putting on. We did get a little help from some other kids at one point but we found most of them on our own. They had small prizes in a treasure chest after finding all of them.

This was one of the clues, a round window looking out to the beach. Charlotte's holding the treasure map.

Another clue was the sign pointing to Broadway.

The prizes were small dollar store type of prizes but it was still fun to do it with the girls. The next day on Saturday was a visit to the Maritime Museum in Astoria and then Cape Disappointment in Washington. Then ending the day with some more swimming.

Crossing the bridge from Astoria, OR into Washington.

It's a long bridge.

It was a hike to get to the first light house but very pretty. These were my hiking buddies.

They found a cool tree.

Showing the disappointment on not being able to go inside the light house. That's Cape Disappointment for you! 😂

It was pretty warm at the first light house and a gorgeous view!

Enjoying the view with my dad.

Relaxing in the shade at the lighthouse with my sister!

This was the 2nd lighthouse. I can't remember the name of it. The weather was much different here. Cold and windy with some fog!

The fog was starting to blow away as we left.

Relaxing in the pool after we got back.

Sunday morning most of us went to Sacrament meeting at the church in Seaside. Afterwards, the girls really wanted to feed the seagulls so Curtis and I took them down to the beach to feed the gulls and go on a short walk. Then in the evening some of our group went to Indian Beach to have Michelle take some family pictures for us. We had to wait around for a while though because the sun was too high. When taking pictures the sun needs to be setting or behind clouds so it doesn't cast shadows.

Did some exploring at Indian Beach after pictures were done. Found our first star fish! This one was orange and mostly under a rock.

Alice found a purple colored star fish.

I think these are Sea Anemone. 

Monday morning some of us went to Sunset Beach to do some beach combing looking for sand dollars and shells. We didn't see much by the time we got there but Laverne went ahead and found lots of sand dollars. She said she was following the birds. Alex did find a live crab in one of the pools and Stillman picked it up. Curtis, Charlotte and Nikki found some cool shells in good condition. We didn't find a lot but I am pretty excited about them finding those shells!

Stillman and the crab.

Alice got wet in her clothes and I walked her back to get a towel. She fell asleep in the chair next to GG. We had walked quite a ways to get back to where GG was and by the time we walked up to GG the water was coming up under her chair while she was reading a book so she didn't even notice until I said something. Ha ha! Good thing Alice and I had to go back because we had to help GG move further up the beach since the tide was coming back in.

Jayden and Jack are great buddies.

The treasures they found, including a toy turtle! ha ha

It was pretty foggy at this beach.

I don't really remember what else we did that day, probably just relaxed at the condo. Later that evening though a group of the boys got together in the conference room to play games. I went down to play originally but I wasn't feeling up to being the only female and learning a new game. I watched for a bit and then went back up to my room because I was tired.

Stillman, Derek, Garrett, Curtis, Teancum and Helaman.

Tuesday was a big day waking up at 5:20am to drive down the coastline to Newport and the Devil's Punchbowl. We had to go that early if we wanted the tide to be low enough to walk inside the punchbowl. I also spent some time beach combing there looking for cool shells, sea glass and agates. We were there for a couple of hours. Then we stopped for lunch and headed to the Aquarium in Newport. It was pretty cool and I think the kids enjoyed it. We then headed back up and stopped at the Tillamook Air Museum an hour before it closed and then hit the cheese factory right after, again right before it closed. We relaxed in the pool when we got back. That day was packed with activities and driving but it was fun!

Alice standing in the punchbowl

A lot of people started showing up and it filled up fast (with people).

At the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport walking through the glass tunnels.

 

The Tillamook Air Museum was huge. We definitely needed more than the one hour that we had.

They had some cockpits that the kids could climb into.

Going inside the big air plane called the Guppy that's outside in front.

It was a quick trip through the cheese factory too. Charlotte enjoyed this truck.

The girls got to feed a fake calf and milk a fake cow. They had fun.

Wednesday was our last day before heading home and we just wanted to do a little souvenir shopping and take it easy. After doing some shopping we went to eat lunch at Pig n Pancake with Stillman's family. Then we did some relaxing. Our last thing we wanted to do was to have a fire on the beach.

One more ride on the carousel.

The girls picked out stuffed animals. They were just posing for a picture at this hat store.

While I was shopping the boys played in the arcade.

Waiting at the restaurant.

Breakfast for lunch for these kiddos!

The view from the balcony of our room out toward the ocean.

The view going the opposite way. This is Broadway where we did our souvenir shopping and some eating out.

Fire on the beach!

The treasures we collected. We threw away some of the black shells later because they were peeling and cracking.

It was a great vacation and I'm so thankful we were all able to go. We weren't sure if Nikki was going to make it because she had just moved and started a new job.