Wednesday, August 24, 2011

More camping and some crafts to

My sister Anna has been here all week, her final stop before a year in China. We've been celebrating this by camping! This time we drove west to the southern tip of Oregon and stayed at Harris Beach. It was beautiful and dramatic and lovely, but it was also cold and damp, and since we are not plan-aheaders, we could only camp for one night and then we would have had to move to another site. Driving west, we passed through a tad of northern California and we were excited about the redwood forests, so instead of a second night on the ocean we opted to move inland to the redwoods. It was a good move! We got a beautiful campsite surrounded by huge trees and a 3 minute walk brought us to the most beautiful wonderful small river. It was clear as glass, rather shallow and refreshingly cold. Just beyond that was classic redwood forest full of giant trees with millions of nooks and crannies to be explored. We found the hole to china, the hole to canada, the hobbit house and the bridge to tarabinthea, to name a few. Julia loved both camp sites, running with abandon into the waves of the ocean, rolling in the sand, learning the word "blackberry" in reference to the fruit, not the technology, rolling in the dirt, and insisting that her marshmallows be served on a stick. Her language capacity has suddenly taken a step forward. She is much more interested in learning and repeating words. bak-bweh, (blackberry) Neh-neh, (Anna) beh-plene, (airplane) dah-brey (library) and tee-tee (pee) are a few of the latest. My family has always camped for vacation and during travel, because we are not monetarily rich, and because we are fond of nature. I became aware of the term "glam-ping" to refer to those who camp with the most luxurious things they can find, and there are some funny things that we do that fits in that category completely, such as bringing down comforters to cozy around the sleeping bags, bringing fancy root beer and boxes of wine to sip with our dinner, making wonderful food like slow roasted chicken in bbq sauce and homemade sourdough bread and smores with almond chocolate bars. We have never camped with a camper, or with a mosquito tent over the picnic table, or with a jet-ski or any number of what you might consider traditional luxury camping items, but I love the way we camp with our old plastic dishes and the wash tub that has "barbie clothes" scrawled across it in my handwriting. (Though there are certain memories of certain trips best forgotten, like the foot-of-water-in-the-tent-night) Oddly enough, Dave and I have not camped together yet. It will be interesting to see how our styles mesh when we finally do get around to taking a camping trip together.

Auntie Anna taught Julia that if she drags her toes, she will get swung up high!

lovely ocean

but cold! only Olaf was brave enough to get more than his toes wet.

happily filthy

more lovely ocean

She's pleased to have gotten her hands on Olaf's hat. 

she was not so pleased to get washed of sand in the cold shower. 


she would be much more pleased about car trips if only she could drive

dad the gnome, at home in the redwoods




that be Olaf, dwarfed by the tree




a hobbit house

mom has stories about dad falling out of trees in their pre-courtship



I can nurse on a rocky beach, no problem!

and she can nap on a rocky beach, no problem!


not so pleased to be awake though. 

we tried out pigtails. super cute but she looks much older!



I made this! (by made I mean that I found the driftwood and got Dad to drill me a hole for the candle. pretty nifty, eh?)

I made these too! in a much more legitimate sense of the word. 

little leather-soled, fleece lined booties for the winter!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Camping and Auntie Anna!

We got back to Klamath Falls and I was sucked under by the final weeks of my Anatomy and Physiology class. Not one to pass up adventure though, I decided that studying could be done while camping. We took a 2 night trip to Lake of the Woods, about an hour away. It was lovely! Hardly any bugs, tons of dirt for Julia to play in and a beautiful lake for swimming, canoeing and fishing. It was hard to think about studying, but one could do worse than to study beside a campfire. Julia simply adored everything about it. The tent, the dirt, the lake, the canoe, the dock, the food, the fire. She especially loved informing us every few minutes that the fire was "hottt." It got even nicer as the weekend crowd departed and things got quiet in the campground. Our dog Loki is just ideal for a camping companion. He stays close, doesn't bark, and loves biting at the waves. He was not too pleased when I tossed him off the dock though. 
Today I took my last final and now I am done with part 1! I do wish I could get the class over with in one swoop, but I need to go live with Dave and be a family again more than I need to rush through the classes. Maybe this spring I will leave Alaska a bit early and start in again. Meanwhile, I'll start thinking about taking Developmental Psychology online this fall. And then yesterday the Amtrak brought my sister Anna into town! She's here for about 10 days before leaving for a year in China as a Fulbright scholar. We celebrated her 22nd birthday today, and I made her chocolate cake. It was actually something of a frosting disaster, as it crumbled and cracked at the slightest touch, but flowers from the garden disguised the caving wall fairly well. We brought my Granny in for the party, and Julia finally warmed up to her enough to sit on her lap. We're concerned about Granny as she's on blood pressure medication that has been giving her dizzy spells that are getting worse. She still lives alone, next door to my aunt and uncle, and does too much, quilting constantly, caring for her small dog and maintaining a huge garden. It is worrysome, but she's pretty fiercely independent.

for Anna's birthday gift I designed a small travel earring case. it hangs on the wall, and rolls up when it is time to go. The earring hanging part is linen, with a looser weave to make hooking the earrings in easier. There's a little pocket in the bottom for necklaces and rings. 



Dear Subaru, Your car makes a delightful clothesline.
(no time to dry the diapers before camping)

Julia loved the tent!

and the water!

The hook-on high chair has been an incredibly useful piece of baby furniture. 

Julia adored the dirt. I'm thinking she might need a sandbox. 

on a stump with Olaf and Loki

completely filthy!

she loved running up and down the dock too.  

and she loved the canoe, though I don't have any pictures of her in it. She would sit up front in between my knees and I could paddle around her. She would reach for the water though her life jacket made it hard to reach. 

Just like Olaf.

cake!

Auntie Anna!

Great Granny!

M & Ms!

and even some cuddle time.