Saltwater Painting

It has been a long time since I have been able to be "creative mommy". I am so tired from working that I can't get past dinner time, packing our lunches, dishes, bath time, and then back to working, but it is summer and although I am working it is nothing like during the school year. Anyways, my students are going to be doing saltwater painting (1/4c of warm water, 6 tsp of salt and I did 5 drops of blue food coloring) tomorrow so I thought I would try it out with Izzy. It makes a great raised impression of salt on the paper. I am going to have them color sea life and then use the salt water paint over it for a crayon resist. Should be fabulous.

Another Reason

Here is another reason why I cut our trip short.

I have NEVER seen her fall asleep while eating and have seen and heard many stories about kids falling asleep. Personally, I thought it was a phenomena that my child would never experience. But in the middle of eating, she turns over in her seat, her eyes roll back, and that is where she was while we all ate our dinner.

Family Trip

My family has been planning a trip to see Aunt Elsie in Oregon for almost a year now and we have finally gotten up there. It has been 6 years since I have seen her and miss her. She is a funny woman who tells LOTS of stories, makes the best pot roast, listens to the tv loud, and is completely set in her ways. However, I love her dearly and the best present and reminder of her, is that Izzy was born on Aunt Elsie's birthday. So every year it is very easy to remember her birthday.

Our trip started with Izzy, my dad, my grandma, and myself, heading up to get Kari in Humboldt. We drove just a little more that day and stayed in Crescent City at a little motel on the water. This gave us plenty of time to see the ocean, look for shells and to our delight sea life, and relax. There is nothing better and more calming then the ocean and sand.


The next day we drove all the way to Salem. We saw beautiful country. We took plenty of walks in Aunt Elsie's cherry orchard. A simple pleasure in life, picking your own cherries right off the tree. She discovered birds and loved to watch them feeding from Aunt Elsie's bird feeders.

(I know this picture has nothing to do with this paragraph, I just love that she is willingly eating carrots).

My husband, who is the best in the world, drove all the way up on Tuesday to see us. He met Izzy and I at the A.C. Gilberts Discovery museum in town. I have found myself to be a childrens museum connoisseur and this was one of the best. We had a great time. We also stopped off at the state capitol to take a look around. Izzy discovered the rotunda.


The next day we went to Portland and visited the Oregon Zoo because they had ELEPHANTS!!! Izzy has never seen a real elephant so it was delight for her. One of our favorite exhibits oddly enough was the bats.


I then cut our trip short and Paul and I took Izzy home. Being on the road with a 2 year old is delightful, but tiring and surely is not a "vacation". I am thankful though, that all that were there were so helpful with her. She is exhausting, but wonderful.

Day with Friends

We were so lucky to have an unexpected visit from Henry and Joshua, Bruce and Amanda's kids. They changed their vacation to see us since we wouldn't be able to see them in San Francisco since we were going to Oregon. We had breakfast at MiMi's (a personal favorite of all of our's), then to Fort Natomas (which was awesome, highly recommend), and then off to FairyTale Town which is always a winner. They then came over to our house and we hung out and had lunch. We were sad to see them go because the boys and Izzy get along so well and us adults get to catch up, but hope to see them this Christmas.

2009

2008