Fall Hike

 We went on a short hike today to enjoy the fresh air after the rain (it rained yesterday) and to enjoy the beautiful fall colors. According to the weather app, we might get some snow later this week. The kids are excited.

Walk by the river

 We were going to go for a short hike yesterday but couldn't find the right hiking trail, so we ended up going on a road that led to a bike route by the river. It was beautiful with the sunset and was a pleasant surprise. 

Rice that was recently harvested in a field.

There were lots of marigolds growing in the grass and weeds by the path.

Hiking and the views (and cicada shells)

 We went hiking a few days ago. The trail was a bit tough in some places so they had ropes you could hold onto while you climbed up or down...the views were really good. It was so refreshing to be out in nature again. The kids had fun finding cicada shells along the way and we saw a few big praying mantises. 

Rice growing in a field close by

Cicada Shell

Language Learning and Food

 We are trying to learn the language here now that we've moved. I can almost read (slowly- but hope to improve!); they have a different alphabet than English. The kids also hope to learn the language and can say "Thank you," "Hello," and a few other phrases. It's frustrating not knowing the language! Yesterday we went out to eat and had a hard time ordering the food. I have food allergies so we were also trying to ask which things don't have meat. When I was pregnant with my 2nd kid years ago I had a hard time with meat (I would throw up) and had the same problem when I was pregnant with our 3rd child. After he was born, I tried to eat meat again but still felt yucky after eating meat. So I just gave up eating meat. However, it means that going out to eat as a family is often very difficult, no matter where we are. I've resolved to just bring my own food (normally a sandwich since it's fast) because most often I end up watching the kids and my husband eat food that I can't eat. Well, I could eat it, but I feel super yucky afterward. I also don't do eggs either- they really make me want to throw up. Yesterday, we ordered fried rice...but it came with lots of eggs (we didn't know it would) so I couldn't eat it either. It's just much easier for me to eat at home most of the time; which I don't mind. However, if we ever go to someone's house, I should try to learn how to explain that I have food problems in the local language so I won't offend them. Below is some of the food we got at the restaurant yesterday.  

Potstickers

An Unexpected Trip To Seattle

 There was a mix-up in our flights to Asia and we had 2-3 extra days in Seattle, so we went exploring a little. I was surprised at how many trees there were. The downtown part had lots of tall buildings, but not lots of people walking on the streets...probably because we were there in the mornings when most people were at work. We went to Pike Place Market, the Space Needle (my youngest really wanted to go there!), and walked around. One of the more interesting places of note that we went to was the "gum wall." In the 1990s a small theater opened and they had a rule that you couldn't chew gum inside. People who were chewing gum just stuck it on the walls outside the theater doors. The theater tried cleaning the gum off, but then more gum was put on the walls. Eventually, they gave up. Now it's a small tourist attraction in Pike Place Market. 

The Redwoods (and forest and river)

 We went up two rivers the last few days. Actually, there are 3 rivers close to where we live at the moment and numerous beaches so the last few weeks we've been swimming and exploring all 3 rivers. We have a few favorite swimming spots. We also went to the redwoods yesterday (a 30-40 minute drive away). We are so thankful and incredibly blessed to live in a place with so much beautiful nature close by. We will miss it when we move (sometime in the near future; we were supposed to move last month but are waiting on some paperwork..."Hurry up and wait" is what we hear often about it). 

"Fairy Cups" mushrooms. I had never seen them before; they are tiny!

More mushrooms 

The redwoods are so huge and tall.

The kids have loved swimming so much this summer and the rivers are very clean here.

The County Fair

 It's the end of July already! We've been enjoying the summer: swimming at the river (mostly the kids- I often take a book to read or do some watercolor or chat with other moms if we go with other families...the water's too cold for me to swim!), spending time with friends and family, etc... Last week we entered some of our arts and crafts, baked goods, and flowers from the yard into the local county fair. It's the second year we've done this and we've enjoyed it so much! The people who organize the fair are so encouraging and say how great it is to see kids and young people doing arts and crafts and baking. Many kids nowadays spend so much time on video games and tv that they don't want to learn handicrafts. Anyway, the kids have loved entering items in the fair and getting prizes for them. This year the kids and I won first, second, and third place ribbons for our items, cash prizes, and gift cards. This picture is of some of the things we baked for it; the kids each baked a batch of cookies to enter. The picture below is of a rock collection my daughter put together. Earlier in the year she found some petrified wood and some other interesting rocks. 

Trip up to Washington state and back

 We had to do a last minute trip up to Washington state and back last weekend so we drove up the Oregon coast to get there. It was a trip I had wanted to do anyway because it's such a beautiful drive with lots of places to pull over for views. We also got to visit the Lewis and Clarke national park, where they re-created the winter fort they stayed in all those years ago in northwestern Oregon. We also got to visit a few lighthouses we hadn't seen before in Oregon. 

The start of summer

 The kids are all on summer break and it's been super busy so far! We've got family visiting from out of town, we're getting ready to move overseas (back to Asia, but to a new place) next month, and we're trying to spend some time with friends (and family). We're going camping tomorrow for a few days and then riding horses later in the week. The kids have had 3 horseback riding lessons so far and LOVE it! It's normally super expensive but the place they go to is affordable (and a huge blessing!). We are so thankful and incredibly blessed to live in a beautiful place with rivers, the ocean (beaches), redwoods, and so much close by. We went to the Oregon Caves last week; a place we wanted to go to before we move. It was really good and took an hour and a half to get through. Below are some pictures of a few things from the last week or two. Last summer I worked through some recipes from the UK and really enjoyed it. I'm not sure if I'll have time to work on something like that this summer since we're moving. However, my oldest son (12 years old) has been in the kitchen lately cooking up a soup and a few other things. He finds things he wants to cook, writes down a list of things to get at the store and then cooks. It's great to see him in the kitchen (and my other 2 kids too!).

An old habit....

 In China it's often hard to get small change; even more so now that most people use their cell phones to pay for things instead of using cash. It seems that the whole country instinctively knows about the lack of small change because they do it everywhere. It's hard to break small change. Even though it's been two years now since I moved, yesterday this habit came back. I went to the used book store by the library and bought a few things that were $6. I didn't have a $5 and a $1 so I gave her a $10 and a $1. That way she could give me back a $5. In China, this would be super normal. They wouldn't want a $10 because they'd have to give you back four $1s. They'd much rather prefer a $10 and a $1 so they just give you a $5. However, I'm not in China anymore and the lady looked at me with a confused look: why did I pay $11 instead of just $10? It really threw her off! She gave me back 5 $1 bills. 

An afternoon at the beach

 Some friends introduced us to a new favorite beach. The kids had a blast playing with their kids. They went down some sand dunes and explored some tide pools. It was beautiful.

Afternoon at the river

 We went to the Winchuck River this afternoon. We have been there before and it's always so beautiful! We are so blessed to live in a place with such beautiful scenery...and the beach and the redwoods close by too! We've had a bit of sunshine lately so we've been trying to soak it up. We found a small frog and lots of water spiders who glide on the top of the water. Yesterday we met up with some other families to go to a lighthouse. Sadly, the lighthouse was closed but we could walk around it and there were lots of tide pools to explore. The kids had so much fun and it was all the better with their friends there too!

A weekend trip and Lighthouses

 We went for an overnight trip over the weekend for a follow-up doctor appointment. Our youngest son (7 years old) broke his arm a month and a half ago. It was a bad break and they flew him to a bigger hospital to put 3 small metal pins in it to hold the bones in place. A week and a half ago we went there to get his cast off. They took out the 2 metal pins they could see. This weekend was his surgery to get out the final pin that they couldn't see. When they put the pins in the arm, they normally leave part of them sticking out so they can just pull them out. However, one of them got pushed further in. Anyway, we made a little trip out of it and re-visited the Cape Blanco Lighthouse (which was extremely windy and foggy!) and went to the Heceta Lighthouse.

                                                        Cape Blanco Lighthouse (foggy!)

Heceta Lighthouse