Studying in the Summer

What we've been up to in Klamath Falls:

I've survived my first week of Anatomy and Physiology, though I have to say, cells are BORING! I like the memorizing of body parts so far, but reading about the nuclear membrane and cell division and what every single microscopic speck of something does is not giving me many thrills. Being away from Julia has been somewhat easier than I thought. She doesn't cry when I leave, which is nice of her. I have class for two hours a morning on tuesday and thursday, and a 4 hour lab on wednesdays. The first lab only lasted an hour and a half, so I'm hopeful that most labs will not take the full 4 hours. This class is one of the many pre-requisites that I'll need before I can apply for a Midwifery program. I sent in my last assignments and my final for the intro to Psych class that I've been taking online. That's a good feeling. I can take developmental psych this fall through the same place, Western Washington University.
The weather has turned lovely, and we've been enjoying it. My parent's house has a yard that is fenced in, so we can leave the door open and let Julia wander in and out to her heart's content. That makes life wonderful.

Julia loves a bowl of water to splash in

wearing overalls from my baby days

thrilled with laptops

and books

the new chickies, Pippi and Poppy. Julia's thrilled with them too. 

can you see the auntie in the tree?

taking up skateboarding

 Our family friend, Daniel Lund came up from California for a couple of days. He's mechanically minded, so while he was here, he figured out how to install a used dishwasher we found on craigslist to replace our broken one. It was a $50 investment instead of paying someone $300 to fix the broken one!

fixing... note the huge pile of dishes awaiting the maiden voyage. 

fixed!

My sister Grace got fed up with the green sponge painted effects going on in the kitchen, and in one day, by herself, painted it with primer and two coats of pale yellow paint. A vast improvement! Now I'm dropping hints to her about the pink bathroom. 

and then she made homemade pasta!

yay!

North and South and West and East

We've been all over the pacific NW these past days. After a brief few days in Klamath Falls, we drove back to Mt Vernon, WA for more quality time with the northern grandparents.  After a couple days of seeing family, we packed the car and drove west out toward the edge of the washington peninsula. Some Holden friends gave us use of their geo-dome cabin for a few days, and we had ourselves a Holden Reunion, with Angie, Trevor and Aubrey, Nate and Sarah, and Melissa. We had an amazing few days, going to Rialto beach, meeting up with the Hainses, and hanging out in the cabin, eating amazing food and drinking amazing beers and watching two amazing babies play together. Those days flew by, and before we were ready, it was time to drive back east, to get ready to take Dave to the airport. We stayed overnight in seattle, basking in more company for a last night as a family in a good long while. At 5 am, we awoke and drove to the airport, sending Dave to Greece for a 6 week program in ancient studies for educators. After we said our goodbyes, Julia and I got back in the car and drove all day to get to Klamath Falls again. We had an amazingly easy trip. Julia slept more than I thought possible, and we made it by 4 30 pm with only a couple of stops. Now we are getting settled here, where we'll mostly stay for the remainder of the summer. I'm going to start taking an Anatomy and Physiology class tomorrow at a community college while Julia stays with her grandparents. This is new territory for us. With the exception of a few dates, we haven't been away from her and so I'm a little anxious about it.  

Grandma Gini found all sorts of toys for Julia at garage sales!

sharing cheerios

rocking out on mom's rocking chair, made by Grandpa Dave

pointing the way to awesome cheese

Julia warmed up to Aubrey instantly, and to Trevor surprisingly quickly (she's usually more shy around men)

Aubrey and Julia "play" a game called Killer Bunnies. not sure what i think of that. 

babies sharing in car seats

so many rocks! (gogk, Julia says)

and so many sticks!

the babies find a fort

and it is claimed for Cameron

until it is attacked by ruffians

we feasted on cheese and crackers and microbrews and cherries

a family portrait

Julia learnd that she LOVES the waves. she'd sprint right into them

Aubrey was more sensibly cautious

they were delighted to wake up in the same room

and left no corner unexplored

they both got baths in the sink 

and played outdoors

it was wonderful

and a photo with Dave on the ferry

Bath time fun

If you can't see the video, and you are using safari, try firefox or another browser. works for me.

Rag Curl Tutorial

This is a fun activity that we've been doing ever since I can remember. It does involve a certain degree of uncomfortable sleeping, but beauty is pain!
You need some strips of fabric, preferably from some old t shirt or rag of some sort. You also need a head of damp hair and it should be evening.

The stylist separates sections of hair and wraps them around the rag strips, curling the strips up close to the head and then tying the two ends into a square knot. This is repeated all over the head. Small sections = small curls.

some of us don't need rag curls.....

The rag curled girl then goes off to bed!
In the morning the knots are untied and the curls are released in all their glory.

Yay! Definitely worth the poor sleep.

the rags. totally reusable!

Mousse or gel might be advisable if you have curl resistant hair.  I also remember mom doing something similar with bobby pins called Pin Curls. They were even less comfortable to sleep on.

Homecomings

We've been reveling in all the friends and family around here! My sister Grace came home from a year of backpacking around Europe and my sister Anna came home from graduating college. They are both hanging out in the pacific NW this summer before scattering again this fall (Anna to china with a Fulbright to study early childhood education in the rural areas, and Grace to yet undetermined probably foreign adventures)

Grace's luggage= backpack. Anna's luggage=the rest plus 6 more boxes  not pictured. 

Julia, Me, Anna, Grace, Caroline

We've also been hanging out with Bekah, Julia's Godmother and various other friends that we see far too little these days!

We bought Julia a scooter, and she is very infatuated with it. She hasn't quite figured out how to sit and scoot, but instead stands over it and shuffles along holding onto the handle bars. It's pretty cute!

We also spent a day checking out real estate, dreaming of the day we'll buy a house.

Dave and I took a trip down to Klamath Falls for a fast visit with my family. We spent the night at the Edgefield in Portland and met up with more friends.

finally some lovely weather!

Julia did quite well in the car, rather surprisingly!

Loki the dog was rather indifferent to Julia's adoration. 

Great Granny and her little furball of a dog, Sammy

Julia loves wood chips!

and Loki

and frisbees

and Legos

so in love with Legos that they beat her love of baths.

Dave walked Olaf to school

Grandpoppa Jack, Julia and Grandpa Dave

Julia's sleeping in the toddler bed that Grandpa Dave made for her