Tacoma Tigers are better than Portland Lions?

Thursday after dance class, I packed up the rugrats to go see the new Predators of the Serengeti exhibit at the zoo in Portland. Very nice, although somewhat predictably, the three lions just slouched around on some big rocks (I'm sure the wise baboon Rafiki - had be been around - would have told me that it was Pride Rock on which they were taking their repose.) However, one young couple there with their children did point out a muddy paw print on the window at just about eye level for Mags and Ellie. So, unless some zoo employee is walking around with a fake paw on a stick smearing mud, the lions have actually approached the viewing glass at some point. But, alas, even if I had had the camera, it would have been tough to get a good picture during our visit. BUT, talking about viewing glass and giant cats, I'll take you back to the zoo at Point Defiance in Tacoma over Labor Day weekend. We got to see a tiger that was awake and seemingly hungry. I'm pretty sure he was giving the eye to the girls in the same way I would, say, a freshly seared bacon-wrapped scallop right about now (not sure where that craving came from...).

I congratulate the zoo in Portland for using the same type of viewing method for the new exhibit. So often at the zoo there, the animals are so far away, on the opposite side of a concrete moat, that it's hard to get a good look at them (at least for my old eyes.) The tigers in Portland always look so apathetic and bored and disengaged. I want a tiger that looks interested. Even if it's in my kids - through a sturdy glass wall, that is. Because when the tiger's interested - so are the kids. See for yourself:

Sunday Morning Quality Time

We are not a religious family. Jay and I both have a sense of wonder and awe when it comes to the world around us, but we have what seem to be similar skeptical views toward Religion and Church. We live in a county with LOTS of churches - especially the non-denominational Christian type that seem to be very into kids and reaching out to people in the community - even in the schools. I want my kids to be able to articulate their own philosophies regarding faith or whatever you want to call it, because I know that if we don't intentionally dig and then attempt to fill that hole in each girl, we will be leaving it up to the first friend they encounter at school who asks them to come along to church with them. We respect everyone's beliefs, but don't want to leave our kids' faith journeys in the hands of others - or leave those journeys up to chance.





So, this year, it is a goal of mine to figure out how we want to awaken their appreciation for the world around them, foster their sense of goodness, and define our Sunday mornings as time to spend happily and peacefully as a family. Maybe these mornings will someday involve some sort of something a little more structured, but for now, I like the idea of a walk in the woods, a spin on the merry-go-round and a stop to throw rocks into the Lewis River together.

Top Ten List #6 and #7: Parental Outings

Jay and I are pretty committed to giving experiential gifts to grown-ups these days, since, as previously mentioned, we don't really NEED anything and it's always good to reduce the amount of unneeded, although well-intentioned STUFF that piles up around the house. Plus, who really remembers where that third green sweater came from? But, you're always going to remember the fun day when you went to _______ (fill in the blank) with ________ (fill in the other blank). So, Jay and I went snowshoeing, and I took day trips with Mom and Pops, too.

Mom and I went to Bonneville Hot Springs for a spa day. They were selling $100 gift cards at Costco for $80 a pop, so I stocked up on a few and studied the spa menu. After Christmas, the weather was better than it had been before, but Bonneville is out in the gorge and getting there is a hilly, twisty ride where, on occasion, it's possible to envision your car sliding on black ice and plunging a few hundred feet down the gorge and into the Columbia River. For some reason, I booked us for appointments at something like 9 in the morning on a Sunday, so it was a somewhat rushed trip to get out there, but once we were there, it was really pleasant. The building itself looks a little dated from the outside, but the spa was okay, and the people were super-nice. I have had my share of facials and massages, but never before have I had a private soak in the magical mineral waters of a hot spring. A quick facial plus a luxurious pedicure, and I was feeling pretty good. Mom had a massage and pedicure. We ate a relaxing lunch overlooking the garden and outdoor soaking pool and then headed home. The most stressful part of the visit was choosing the color of polish for our toenails.

Pops and I had a Carleton Watkins day - Portland Art Museum had what proved to be a hugely popular exhibit called Wild Beauty, featuring the history of photography in the Columbia River Gorge. There were alot of photos by Watkins and his contemporaries, but the exhibit went up through more current times including the harnessing of the river's power when the dam was built at The Dalles (and the Native American fishing grounds and many petroglyphs were sunk under the river). We also went to the Oregon Historical Society (quickly), had a great lunch across the park at South Park and watched as a downed tree was removed from a third story window of a nearby building.

And I didn't have to buy a single thing this year from L.L. Bean.

Top Ten List - #4: Snowshoeing on Mt. Hood

This year, we decided to take advantage of the fact that my parents were here on New Year's Eve to actually go out and do something that required us to stay up until midnight. This is no small task for us - It had not been achieved or even "neared" since we became parents. For Christmas, I had asked Jay what kind of experiential gift he might like since neither of us could really think of another "thing" we needed. I don't know what kind of answer I expected, but the answer I got was, "I'd really like to go snow camping with you." Then, the love of my life went on to describe his prior snow camping experiences which included anecdotes like, "Yeah, one night Myles went too far off our beaten down area when he had to pee and he sunk in the snow up to his neck." And, "You know when you're snow camping, you can't build a fire because it will sink into the snow." I don't know where I fall on the general population's scale of cold tolerance, but I can tell you that upon first hearing the Robert Service poem The Cremation of Sam McGee, I felt like his kindred spirit. I like camping. I LOVE my husband. I am willing to try new things. But, I'm just, shall we say, "wary" about digging a snow cave and snuggling in for a sound night of sleep.

I really did want to take the opportunity to do something fun outside in the snow, though. So, I started Googling and found an outfit out of Government Camp that does snowshoeing outings near Mt. Hood Skibowl. I arranged for us to take part in the New Year's Eve snowshoeing adventure, complete with a slopeside view of the fireworks over Skibowl. A four-hour outing start to finish, and then a warm night at the Resort at the Mountain down the hill in Welches.

We had gotten to the Columbia River when I realized I had forgotten my camera. I kicked myself for that. We had gotten to Gresham (about half an hour from home) when I realized I had forgotten my hiking boots. That one was kind of an insurmountable issue, so we made the trip back with me feeling like a complete idiot and with Jay not saying much to prove me otherwise. Fortunately, the evening was young, and we were able to make the trip back, get dinner at Edgefield, and head toward the mountain right as the snow started. By the time we reached our room, it was starting to accumulate. By the time we got to Government Camp, the snow was coming down hard, the revelers were coming out in force and we were starting to worry about how we'd get the truck back down to our hotel at 2 in the morning without killing ourselves or being killed by some drunken snowboarder in a Vanagon or something.

Opting to live in the moment, we found Mt. Hood Adventure and met up with our leader and group. There were around a dozen in our party, and we got into the untrodden snow behind skibowl at around 10:30 at night. It was pretty magical because the lights of Skibowl illuminated the sky enough so we weren't completely in the dark, but with the snow falling steadily and with the trees draped in heavy blankets of white, it wasw easy to imagine we were in a more remote location than we actually were. After an hour or so, we got to a spot where we were able to build a fire (in a wide-lipped metal bowl to prevent the sinking fire issue) and settle in for hot chocolate and fireworks in the snow. It was awesome! The walk back was much easier than the trip out since we had padded down a "sidewalk" that we just retraced. We did (slowly) make it back to the room in time to crash sometime before 3 AM. The resort's restaurant had a truly wonderful all-you-could-eat New Year's brunch for a reasonable price with bottomless mimosas included (!!) Since we'd been toasting with hot chocolate and Rice Krispy treats at midnight, we felt entitled to indulge with our blintzes and smoked salmon. Then, we headed toward home in heavy rain, making it just hours before a huge landslide blocked the main highway between Portland and the mountain for days. Yep, a new year's to remember for once. Let's hope the year itself is as good. Maybe snow camping will make it onto the calendar.

A Night of Gershwin

Jay and I got out Saturday night to go to the symphony, and really enjoyed a light meal and the first half of the performance. See this link for a review. Looks like we were right when we decided the second half would probably be a let-down after the highlight of the night (no dis to Rachmaninoff). Guess we made the right choice to go home, return our babysitter to her house and get to bed. Because we are old and must be to bed before 10:30. But wow, Thomas Lauderdale was fantastic.

Samudra

On Monday, the girls and I went to the Oregon Zoo to see the new baby elephant. "Elephant" is one of Ellie's favorite words lately, and babies of all kinds are a big draw for both kids. When we got there, we saw the remains of the line barricades that had been used for the crowds waiting to see the petite pachyderm over the weekend, and I felt not so badly about corralling my kids into line for only about 20 minutes. I actually have never seen a line with such universally well-behaved kids. It was kind of strange. Luckily, the two female elephants who are not the mom were out front in the outdoor area so we could watch them while we patiently and quietly waited to see... a small gray lump sleeping like a log in a pile of sawdust.

At one point, his little elephant ear did swipe reflexively at a bothersome fly, so I'm confident that he was awake. Then, we voted for our favorite elephant name. Maggie chose Duc, I chose Bao, but the majority of Portland elephant fans went with Samudra. So, he is Sam. Sam he is.

Here's a video from someone who was luckier than we were:



Here's another - the Zoo put this one out. It shows the baby and his mom with one of the other female elephants:

You Can Lead a Girl to a Pony, but You Can't Make Her Ride

Sunday morning we made our annual trek to the Clark County Fair. We (the girls and I) are planning to go again with neighbor Susie on Friday, but this was our family outing for the weekend. The fair is fun - I'm getting used to it after a few years. It's different from and similar to the Sussex County Farm and Horse Show (which has morphed into the New Jersey State Fair - You go, Sussex County!)

While you won't find waffles and ice cream (sadly), you will find LOTS of farm animals and farm people - which send the girls into extreme emotions - whether those reactions will be excited swoons and whoops or terrified screams and parental leg-climbing is sometimes very, very difficult to predetermine. This year, I'd say the big winners were the goats. I would not be surprised if someday we have little "naaa naaa" sounds echoing through our yard from behind the veggie garden (where Jay has already decided our goat area will be).

We were disappointed that due to insurance costs, (human) kids are no longer permitted to climb in and play with the baby pigs. They are pretty fun to watch, though, except if you can read. The hand-lettered sign above them says in four months they will weigh 295 pounds and be ready for slaughter.

Maggie was so excited when she saw the little ponies on the pony ride that she actually tried to cut in line. I was excited, too - I carefully kept myself from reminding her that she freaked out last year before her turn. This year, she was PSYCHED. I told her that we'd have a helper get her on the pony. She picked her pony. Then the man in the red shirt came to lift her up and FREAK OUT FREAK OUT FREAK OUT!!!!!!!!!!!! The legs were a-kickin', princess shoes were a-flyin', and she was screaming as if I had just thrust her into the waiting arms of a child molester. We recouped our $5 and went to the adjacent dairy barn for an ice cream cone and a breather.

Of course, Jay was holding Ellie during the whole escapade, and when we turned to leave, she started screaming "HORSIE! HORSIE!" So, Jay figured, "What the hell..." and got in line. And yeah, she rode the horse. She was about half the size of the next smallest kid. Then, to illustrate the difference between Dads and Moms - Jay stopped walking around in the pony circle with her. There's my BABY riding around on a pony without an adult holding on to her. I could not have felt more proud and scared at the same time if she went up in the freakin' space shuttle.

Poor Mags. We might try again Friday, and I'll see if I can get her up there without the man in the red shirt. She did, however, find a horse that she liked riding very much.

She also redeemed herself by riding a kiddie ride all by herself after we rode on the merry-go-round together. Oh my God, what am I going to do when it's time for them to get their driver's licenses?

How Many Berries Does It Take to Make a Child Explode?

I took the girls to Columbia Farms on Sauvie Island to go berry picking today. By myself. And, oh my God, the berries!! The girls were mostly tolerant, if not actually productive - although Maggie picked up on the "they don't charge you for what you eat in the field" notion immediately. She was like a little Joey Chestnut in the aisle. Although we had an entire half-flat, she kept asking if she was going to be able to have any of them when we got home.

Now, I just need to figure out what to do with all of the berries in, oh say, the next 12 hours before they start to get mushy and attract little bugs. Jay and I are mostly fine doing like Mags and Ellie and just gorging ourselves straight from the little cardboard containers, but it's ALOT of berries. I'll let you know what happens...

Father's Day

Sunday had been set aside for outbuilding floor installation, so we celebrated Father's Day on Saturday at Marshall Community Park (or as Mags calls it, "the park with the wood chips") in Vancouver. (On the last picture, be sure to follow Ellie's gaze over to the double slide...)

I sure am glad he's my kids' dad...(even if he doesn't always do things just like I would). And here's part of how I know he's a good dad - feedback from Mags:

"Mom, I want you to make my oatmeal like Papa does. He makes good oatmeal!"

"Mama, that's just the same as Papa hugs me when he puts me to bed!"

"Mama, I want you to sing me the song that Papa sings..."

What a difference a week makes!

Thanks be to the weather gods for offering up days like this on a weekend! It's back to clouds and rain today, but still not nearly as cold as it has been. Hopefully May will bring spring with it.

We took advantage of the sun Saturday morning to go to Lewisville Park just north (2 miles) of Battle Ground (if that gets your attention, Pops...)