Staying Cool

It has been unbelievably hot.  It rarely gets into the 90s let alone the 100s in the Northwest. We usually enjoy mild weather in the 70s during the summer.  Anything hotter than 80 and we all panic.  With the record breaking, high temperatures this week, we have been looking for ways to cool off.

The girls painted ceramic figures at a craft/art place that I have wanted to check out.  I think it would be a great place for a birthday party for Erin Joy because she loves art.   I thought it would be air conditioned and a nice break from the heat outside.  There was no air conditioning, but the fans were nice.

We decided to go to the town library and learn about beads and beading.  I figured the library would have air conditioning.  Nope.  No air conditioner in the library, but the program was moved to a community center next door.  The community center had air conditioning.  In fact, it was a "cooling center" especially kept cool for the elderly and other people who can't handle the heat.  It was extra cold inside.  NICE!!!!

We swam in our little pool outside.  I have read several magazines and a good book (Weedflower) while sitting in the pool the past few days.  I accidentally dropped my book in the water.  It is a good thing it was an inexpensive book I bought for my school kids.  Weedflower is a good book, by the way.  It is about a girl who is forced to live in a camp located on an Indian reservation during WWII because of her Japanese ancestry.  It is written for upper elementary or middle school aged children, but I enjoyed it.
The fire fighters have been spraying kids at local elementary schools and giving popsicles to the kids.  It was a lot of fun.  Well, Rachel had fun anyway.  Erin Joy was too scared to play, but she did enjoy the popsicle and posed nicely for me by the fire truck.

The river near our house has been a great way of cooling off.  The water level was higher today than it has been the past few days.  The water is also full of sediment.  The heat has melted snow in the mountains and carried a lot of sediment with it.  It was pretty brown today.  It felt refreshing so we didn't worry about the color of the river and just played.
The best way we have kept cool was we FINALLY bought a new car with air conditioning!!!  JOY!!!!  Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of my new car because it is being repaired.  Just bought it yesterday and it didn't make it off the lot.  We are driving a loaner car (with an air conditioner) until the car is fixed.  It is still under warranty.  I'm a little bit nervous about that, but I already signed the papers.  I'll post pictures when I finally have possession of it.  A part is being ordered and I should have my car in a week.  Stay tuned.....

Thumbs Up for Jetty Island

Heat Wave? Record high temperatures?  No problem for us.  We'll just go swim in the cold Pacific Ocean.  Nice!!!  We love Jetty Island.  

Pioneer Activities

We enjoyed the first annual pioneer day celebration at our church yesterday. In order to eat dinner, we had to earn 5 Pioneer Pennies by doing various jobs and chores.  If we wanted beverages and dessert we had to earn even more pennies.  The pennies could be used for fishing, greased pole climb (we didn't try this one), candy hunt, stick pulls, and other such activities.

My little family of three couldn't get this handcart up the hill. I'm not kidding. The little boy tried to help, but we still couldn't do it.  I had to swallow my pride and accept help from a man.  Gulp.  We were just carrying a half load of bricks, too.  I can't imagine pulling one of these things clear from Missouri with a full load.  I would definitely have NEVER made it.The jail was full when the rain started.  It was certainly the most comfortable jail I have ever seen (the "Share If" was in charge).  
Erin Joy loved grinding wheat.  I loved sampling the various kinds of bread with homemade butter, jams, and honey.
Searching for candy was a fun activity that I'm sure the pioneers never did.  We also pulled taffy, but I didn't take pictures.
Rachel thinks we should always wash our clothes like this.
The kid practiced wagon building skills by hammering nails into logs.  I can't believe how much my girls loved this.  They hammered a lot of nails.
Erin Joy loved fishing for silly little plastic Oriental Trading Company junk toys.
Making butter was a lot of fun and tasted great:)

Playing at the River

Rachel and I had fun playing at the river with friends yesterday.  And Erin Joy???  Well, she didn't like the bugs and she was tired.  After whining and sobbing, I finally escorted her home so she could take a nap.  Did she take a nap?  Of course not.  She took a marker and spent her time decorating toys.  I wonder when she is going to grow out of this phase.  She is constantly writing on things.  She used a permanent marker this time.  Nice.

Excellent Book

I just finished reading a book that I highly recommend to all people, but especially to those of you who have been touched by adoption.  I loved reading Lucky Girl by Mei-Ling Hopgood.  It was so refreshing to read a POSITIVE memoir written by an adult adoptee.  After reading The Language of Blood by Jane Jeong Trenka, I was concerned about my parenting abilities and concerned about my children.  I had a hard time understanding Jane's adoptive parents and their choices.  Mei-Ling's experiences and attitude were so different than Jane's.  Her adoptive parents were so supportive, caring, and kind.  I definitely hope my daughters are experiencing childhood as Mei-Ling experienced hers and NOT as Jane experienced her childhood.

Anyway, Lucky Girl is a nice break from the "why me" and blame passing that is so common in memoirs.  Mei-Ling was born in Taiwan in 1970 and adopted by an American couple after the parents in Taiwan decided they couldn't take care of another daughter (she was the fifth daughter).  I thought it was interesting that they couldn't keep their daughter, but did adopt a boy months before Mei-Ling was born.  

Mei-Ling finds out about her biological family when the nun who arranged her adoption sends her a letter.  She was not actively seeking to find them and it takes her awhile to decide she actually wants to meet them.  Her adoptive parents were very supportive and offered to go to Taiwan with her.

In the book, Mei-Ling talks about the many visits with her biological family, the good relationship she has with her adoptive parents, her visits with her sister in Switzerland, and some of her thoughts about being raised in Michigan.

I love Mei-Ling's attitude.  She dealt with a lot of tragedy and pain within her adoptive family and her biological family.  Her attitude was always positive and she never seemed to be a victim of her circumstances.  I would love to meet her someday.  I hope and pray my girls develop her same positive outlook.

Here is just one quote from the book that struck me:

"I sometimes resented people's assumption that adoptees  automatically, deep down, feel part empty or abandoned, that we must suffer some hole in us that will never be filled because our birth  parents could not or did not raise us.  I know people think this.  I know because psychologists and adoption experts write essays and books about it.  I know because of the questions people ask ('Did you always know you were adopted?' 'How did you feel about that?') as if being adopted might mean you are somehow incomplete.

I also understand that adopted parents worry a lot about this.  I've talked to parents who pine and mourn for their child's birth mother and father and fret over whether their baby will despair at not being able to know for find their birth family. 

...Ultimately, I think people tend to forget that on a basic level our relationships with our adopted parents are normal parent-child relationships.  The only difference is how we became parent and child...It's not biology that defines the relationship..."

Thank-you Mei-Ling.   Thank-you for being honest.  Thank-you for being positive.  Thank-you for giving me hope.

Summer

I love summer.  Freedom from school, freedom from work, long sunny days...life couldn't be better!  Here are some pictures of how we have been enjoying summer these past few days.

Swimming in lakes:

Playing in parks:

Enjoying children's chamber music:

Playing on the beach (Jetty Island):

VBS

The girls have really enjoyed going to VBS with their friends this past week.  This is the third year they have gone and they have enjoyed each year.  This year they learned a lot about Moses.  They also  learned that God is always with us and that He loves us and protects us.  

They loved the music and practiced quite frequently at home.  Included in the movie is video of them practicing.  The neighbor girls were visiting and joined in the dancing.  

We hope you enjoy a little movie of pictures and video from last week's activities.

Ice Caves

We had a great time at the ice caves yesterday with our cousins and friends.  I am so glad they have FINALLY built a new bridge across the river so we can hike the trail again.  The bridge was destroyed in the flood of 2006 and it has been frustrating waiting for a new bridge.  The new bridge looks very sturdy and should survive the next flood.  It had better NOT flood again...especially while I still live here...

Anyway, I love hiking to the ice caves because it is an easy hike and yet so beautiful.  I was so excited about the new bridge I took pictures of it and included the pictures in the little movie.

I think everybody else must be excited about the new bridge because it was very crowded yesterday.  We had trouble finding a place to park and there were more people at the caves than I have ever seen before.  The caves are just beginning to form so they are small.  We will have to go again next month to see the progression of the melting snow.

After hiking to the caves, we enjoyed playing by our river and eating a yummy dutch oven dinner.  Right now, I am eating very moist chocolate cake and ice cream and trying to not get it on the computer keyboard.

Erin Joy and Rachel narrated the movie so you can hear about our day from their perspective.  I'm not sure why Rachel has to talk about me going to the bathroom.  She makes it sound like I went to the bathroom in the river.  Sheesh.  I have to explain that a little bit.  The kids were throwing rocks into the river and I really was desperate to use the restroom.  I left them at the river with the adults in our group while I continued on the trail to the lovely outhouse at the parking lot.  When she talks about "big ones" and "small ones" she is talking about the size of the caves. 

It is a good thing Erin Joy had her helpful walking sticks.  It certainly helped her on our little strenuous hike:)

By the way, the date is wrong in the movie.  It was the 18th and not the 17th.  I didn't realize it until I had already uploaded it and I don't feel like fixing it.  Anyway, here are pictures from the ice caves and a few from the river with excellent narration provided by Rachel and Erin Joy:

Wiggles

We enjoyed a great Wiggles concert yesterday.  Having free tickets made it especially enjoyable.

We missed Greg, but Sam did well too.
Our free tickets were for seats very much in the back.  Beggars can't be choosers...It was still great from the nose-bleed section.

I tried various pictures with the flash, without the flash, and then just gave up and enjoyed the show.

The girls had fun walking on a ledge near the arena before and after the concert.

The concert brought back a lot of memories of Rachel when she was younger.  The first song they played today (Rock-a-Bye Your Bear) was Rachel's favorite song when she was about 2 years old.  I was so excited when they started singing that song today.  Rachel just rolled her eyes at me.  I embarrassed her.

She LOVED the Wiggles when she was younger.  She was born dancing and music of any kind made her move, but the Wiggles were definitely her favorite.  Erin Joy never enjoyed them as much so my memories of the Wiggles are of Rachel.  

Today, Erin Joy wore the hat that Rachel got when we went to a Wiggles concert when she was 2 1/2 or 3 years old.  The hat brought back good memories too.  I'll have to find a picture of Rachel at the Wiggles concert sometime.

Where has the time gone?  I can't believe she doesn't like the Wiggles any more.  I can't believe she is no longer my cute little dancing toddler or my cute little baby.  

I had to find video of her dancing to her favorite Wiggles song when she was 2 years old.  I'm sorry the quality is so bad.  I played with the audio, but it didn't get any better.  It was a bad video camera.  It is still fun to watch if you can hear it through the terrible buzzing.  I'm excited to show Rachel when she wakes up.  (Not sure why I am up at 4:00 in the morning...just had to find this video....)

Free Tickets

The girls had fun at the Children's Museum today.  Wags, the dog from the Wiggles was visiting and gave us free tickets to the Wiggles Concert on Friday.  Rachel LOVED the Wiggles when she was about 2 or 3 years old.  Erin Joy has never really liked them.  Even though they are probably too old for the Wiggles, we can't pass up free tickets so we will happily go to the show on Friday:)

Notice Erin Joy's art project...she didn't want to cut it out.  She wanted it taped to the stick so she could hold it up like a sign.  It looks like the sign that designates her class in VBS.  She loves to hold up the sign at VBS.  She is so excited to have her own sign and she has been parading around the house with her sign playing VBS since we have arrived home from the Children's Museum.  Silly girl.

Washing the Car Looks Like This....

Back to Washington

Our first stop on the way home was at an Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, Oregon.  I thought it was interesting.  The girls were pretty bored, but glad to get out of the car for a stretch.

After completing a little workbook, Rachel was sworn in as a "Junior Wagon Master."  She was very excited to get a plastic bracelet.  Erin Joy wrote random letters and drew pictures in her booklet.  She wasn't sworn in as a junior wagon master, but she did get a bracelet.

We camped at Emigrant Springs just like the Oregon Trail pioneers did...well kind of...we had a nice rustic cabin with electricity.

Wagon at the campground and trail marker:

Wagon ruts at the Blue Mountain Crossing:

We went to the Tamastslikt Cultural Center near Pendleton (I had to include this picture so I could spell it correctly).  It was very well done and a fun place to visit.  They didn't allow pictures inside the museum, but I took plenty of the exhibits outside.

We then visited the Fort Walla Walla museum.  We really enjoyed the pioneer village.
The girls said their favorite building was the doll playhouse.

We then went to the Whitman Mission.  The girls had fun grinding wheat.
This is where the mission once stood.
This memorial was erected in 1897, 50 years after the massacre. I'm not sure why they built in on top of a hill that we had to climb.  It was a hot day and we were very sweaty and tired by the time we reached the top.  It was nice to be welcomed by a drinking fountain.
Just for my father, we stopped at the Sacajawea Museum at the Sacajawea State Park where the Snake River empties into the Columbia River.  My girls weren't disappointed that the museum closed at 5:00 and we arrived after 5:00, but I was a little disappointed.  Rachel was tired of pictures, but Erin Joy posed by the river.  There was a swimming area at the river, but we were too tired to swim.  Seriously.  I can't believe that none of us wanted to swim.  

We were too tired to make the final 6 hours of the drive home so we got a cheap motel last night.  We returned home today.  I have to unpack, do laundry, clean the car, and so forth.  I'd rather blog then take a nap.  The girls want me to play.  They miss their cousins already.  Me too.  I really don't want to play...I really want to take a nap...