Urban Heronry

It's April, but winter drags on. We haven't even cracked 50 degrees for days and the rain keeps drizzling down. On the bright side, we spotted another heronry - this time in a busy urban situation. It was actually a few weeks ago on an outing to the Ballard Locks with my sister-in-law and my neice that I noticed several herons in a large Alder tree. Then my eyes scaned over the tree and noticed a few big nests with herons actually sitting in them! I knew I had to bring Chris back for a photo shoot before the trees leafed out so we went back last weekend and here are the shots.
The herons above were actually building this nest together. We saw one of them delivering sticks to the other to place on the nest.


There were only about 4 nests altogether.


This is the setting at the locks. The nests are in the Alders to the right of the Fir tree on the other side of the locks from where this photo was taken.

The Heronry

This post is actually the second part of the previous one which I meant to write weeks and weeks ago after our last weekend trip up to the cabin. That's me standing below a heronry also known as a heron rookery.

Last summer I noticed big groups of herons hovering and circling above some alders near the cabin. Being summer, the trees were covered with leaves so I couldn't see what the herons were doing after they dropped down into the canopy, but I had a feeling that something important was going on in those trees.

And sure enough, when I made a point to investigate now that the trees are naked, we discovered this community of nests. Some trees had up to six nests, all about 2-3 feet wide.



We took the boys to see them the next day under a bright blue sky and icy wind. The trees and their nests were swaying back and forth and I could imagine what a lovely nursery that would make.

It's funny that I grew up here and have seen Great Blue Herons my entire life, but I've never seen a herony. I wish we could see it full of baby birds, but I'm sure that would upset them all too much.

Weekend Away

After a six month hiatus, we finally made a weekend trip up to the cabin. Mom and Dad generously offered to have Ember so it was just the four of us this time which made it quieter, simpler, and easier to do some serious walking and exploring. It was a nice break and a balm to my gridlocked muscles. I'm never as relaxed as I am by the woodstove in the cabin. The livingroom becomes as dry and hot as a sauna - warm enough that they boys were down to their underwear and I took off my Patagonia fleece which is mighty rare for me in the winter.

Plus it's just so pretty there. Even when it's totally socked in and matte grey with clouds and mist, the water, sky and land become a study of the softest greys and blues. And without any wind, the water looked silky flat. Later the sprinkles became real rain which roughed up the surface a little. The boys worked on this raft, loaded it with shells and rocks, and then launched it out to sea. Later we looked for it, but it had quietly disappeared.
Yogi in the mist.

Birthday Bowling

I had to save these for a separate post since there were so many cute shots. The birthday activity was bowling which was a first for our kids. (Actually, I think it may have been only a 2nd or 3rd time for me!)






A few times the ball took an impossibly long time to make it to the end of the lane -- which gave the kids enough time to gather and contemplate it's journey.

Weekends

The end of another weekend. I used to look forward to weekends, but in some ways they're even worse than the week days. It probably all comes down to expectations: I think weekend = fun, relax, sleep in etc... but instead it's more like weekend = extra cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, moving stuff from one part of the house to the other which is definitely not the good time I was expecting.

At least last weekend was fun. We road-tripped down to Portland to spend the weekend with my sister-in-law, father-in-law, and my darling niece to celebrate her 6th birthday. I actually felt relaxed - something that's becoming ever more elusive to me. Plus we went out to Por Que No? for some super tasty Mexican food. And on Sunday morning Sat Kaur made me the most wonderful cup of coffee made in an Italian stove top moka pot. I'll have to get myself one of those.

Here are the photos:

Hanging out in the basement. Pritam is the tiger!


Sat Kaur helps Ember into some dress-up clothes.


Pritam as a tiger.


Dinner at Por Que No?

My Three Favorite Trick-or-Treaters!

The Viking, the Chef, and the Garden Fairy



That's a lobster in Chef Beck's pot.



Making the rounds...





The after-party!

Fall Weekend

This morning we carved our pumpkins and for the first time, the boys actually tried out the tools and made some of their own cuts. Ember didn't quite get the idea. We pulled all the seeds and gunk out of her pumpkin and then she kept scooping it back in. It's funny how much the boys have talked about Halloween. They carefully plan their costumes, change their minds and plan a new one. And they keep asking me when I'm going to break out the "decorations!" We have exactly one decoration: Mr. Bones. So Beck and Yogi got busy and made some paper towel ghosts and ghost stick puppets and stuck them around the house. Which is just perfect anyway.



I keep trying to get outside to take a walk today, but by the time I get it together, it's pouring again. After lunch during which the sun was shining, we packed everyone into the minivan for a walk around Magnusson Park. When we got there it was raining lightly so we started off. After about 10 minutes, it was nothing short of a deluge. The kids were soaked - especially Beck who rode his bike around the track two times before we headed back to the car. We got home, stripped off the wet clothes and sunk deep down into our mugs of hot cocoa instead.

All in a Day

I shot these little videos earlier this week. On Tuesday Ember has ballet and the boys both have swimming lessons. This is the third year the boys have taken lessons and finally they don't look so much like they're just thrashing around in the water. Progress! Here are the clips.
Beck's dive.


Beck swimming


Yogi swimming


Ember in ballet class

Nature Trail

These photos were taken at one of our newest favorite walking spots. It's a nature trail with some ponds in an area that was formerly a Naval Air Station. It officially opened late last winter and we've walked it several times each month since. Maybe the coolest part about it is a Pacific Tree Frog breeding ground where we've seen many little frogs. We've also spotted a coyote, a very active bee hive that the boys accidentally stumbled upon, a quail family that lives in a brush pile, cedar waxwings, hummingbirds, herons, bald eagles, woodpeckers, lots of ducks. Not bad for a being in the city.

In the Heart of the Canyon

I just finished this book which left me a little nostalgic for my own summer days spent in the parks. A great read.

Here we are again...

So long since I've sat down to write my blog. It feels a little strange and awkward and I'm sitting here thinking that I can't remember how to put the photos in. I think about the blog often, but I simply don't have time these days. We're working on that - this week Ember will start at a Montessori full-day preschool. For now she'll just do two days a week, but as soon as we can we'll up that to five.

Chris and I look at each other and wonder what were we thinking last spring when we settled on homeschooling both boys and having Ember at home too. The truth is we weren't thinking because too much happened during the first 6 months of 2010. The foot surgery and the long recovery period, the road trip to CA, and then after we returned my doctor found a "solid mass" on my right ovary. We lived through a couple of scary days considering the possibility of cancer, but I had the surgery, they removed my right ovary, and it turned out to be just a big tumor. A week post-op we cruised to Alaska and the day after we returned we had some very dear friends visit from Colorado for another week.

Summer slid by and then the official school year started. And that's when things started to get really rough on me. Ember is bored and frustrated. I'm pulling my hair out trying to keep her busy while I teach the boys and take them to all their classes (swimming, archery, art, Kumon reading...)I've been dropping her off at a "drop-in" preschool which is limited to 4 hours a day, but squeezing in a drop off and pick up time is just adding to the craziness. Add to that the laundry, the constant vacuuming, picking up, kitchen and bathroom cleaning -- well, you get the picture.

Ember. As it turns out, she has been the most challenging of our kiddos. She likes A LOT of attention all the time, she is extremely possessive and volatile and gets angry fast. Don't get me wrong - she's also funny and quick to learn new things, she loves people and is super friendly. It's just that this situation is not meeting her needs. Or mine, for that matter.

I'm hoping things start to open up a bit with her spending more hours at school. And I'm hoping to re-start Homecake. We'll see how it goes.

Photos. You can see me and Beck flying kites at the mass ascension event at the Whidbey Island Kite Festival.


Beck and Yogi standing proud on a fort they discovered on the beach.

Hello again

It's been a long time. Sorry about that. I'll be brief: My foot is pretty much healed up and I'm back to walking regularly. Ember turned 2! I turned 41!! We spent 17 days on a road trip to LA (more about that later when Chris has the photos ready). We got a 10 foot magnetic whiteboard for the basement. That pretty much covers all the exciting news. Here are some photos:

There was a particularly warm day in March and we visited some childhood friends of mine on Whidbey Island. So lovely.

Lovely

A friend shared this with me the other day. She saw it on PhD in Parenting which is well worth a visit, too.

Now and Later

Well. It's been a long week. After a few days Beck got over his stomach flu, but then on Friday night I came down with it. After two pregnancies I've done more than my share of throwing up, but this bug kicked my butt. And I'm still not feeling exactly right. Yogi got it 12 hours after I started and is still having symptoms.

The good news is that my foot is feeling better and I've caught myself not really noticing my foot for little periods of time -- not feeling anything either way which is how I normally feel about my feet. A good sign. I have my next doctor's appointment on Friday.

So other than running to the bathroom and grabbing my barf bucket, I've been busy planning a little trip to Vancouver Island which we'll take this summer. After I read THE ADVENTURES AND SUFFERINGS OF JOHN R. JEWITT CAPTIVE OF MAQUINNA I decided I'd like to see the place where this story played out especially since it's so close - just north of us off the west coast of Vancouver Island. We'll be taking a day trip on the M.V. Uchuck III out to Yuquot, also known as Friendly Cove, which was the summer home of Chief Maquinna and the Mowachaht/Muchalaht people. I'm planning to spend some time with the kids studying more about the NW Coastal Indians before we go so they have some idea why we're there. It's very remote so it will be an adventure. Here are a few photos:

This is the boat we'll take from Gold River out to Nootka Island.


Friendly Cove from above.

Another Fun Day with Young Children!

Monday, 7:30 am. Chris walks into the kitchen: Hey, did someone poop on the kitchen floor?

Yogi: Oh, yeah. I did, but it was just a little accident.

Monday, 11:30 pm. Beck: Daddy? I'm almost done spitting the vomit out of my mouth. (This was actually just the first episode out of many, many last night.)

Jumping On the Bed

Report From the Couch

Oh boy. I'm on week four with the crutches and it's getting pretty old. About the only thing that feels exciting right now is the fact that this will be a very good tv week -- season premier of Survivor and The Amazing Race and of course tonight is another episode of The Bachelor -- which sadly enough, has been the highlight of my week for the past few! Do you see how bad this is?! Seriously, I'm feeling pretty bummed these days. I miss walking, I miss moving freely, I miss feeling productive.

And on top of all that my foot hurts. The stitch line where they harvested the bone starts to throb after just a few minutes of being vertical. I look down and my foot is reddish purple and slightly puffy all over and it feels like the whole thing is going to burst out of that line of stitches.

On the positive side, I have read some fabulous books lately. This was great and this was even better. Such lovely writing delivering stories I can't put down. And I'm almost finished with this which is a collection of essays and recipes. I just love her funny, descriptive writing and I'm itching to try several of the recipes, too.

We saw this film the other night which I enjoyed and made me laugh out loud.

And this felt a little homemade, but left me inspired and talking with Chris about what dreams we'd like to live with our family. I love this stuff!

Snow Day! (Guest Blogger: Chris)

Yesterday I took the boys up into the mountains for a sledding birthday party. We met the birthday boy and other families at a sledding hill in Hyak, just beyond Snoqualmie Pass. We've had no snow in Seattle this winter, and so this was a welcome opportunity. The boys got bored with the sledding fairly quickly (the slope was not as steep as the "sledding hill" next to our house), so they dragged me into the woods for a snowball fight and snowman construction. A picnic lunch and birthday cupcakes finished a fun morning.