Happy Birthday Cole!

I will be forever grateful that I had the brilliant idea to limit the birthday parties to everyother year. On these off years I am always relieved be able to keep things simple. Saturday night we went out to eat. Tuesday was Cole's actual birthday in which we ate cake and went to the roller skating rink. Much to my surprise the roller skating was a big hit. I was not sure at first if it was a good idea, especially for Cole who spent about the first 20 minutes on the floor and near tears. But in the end everyone had fun.
I could not help but flashback to my youth and rollering skating at Skateland. When I walked in the door I felt like I had stepped back in time, especially with the retro music playing.

Happy Birthday Cole!

In which I get poison oak, Hannah encounters a snake, and we find hidden treasure

Letterboxing - an outdoor hoby that involves following clues to a waterproof box hidden in a public place (like parks) and containing a rubber stamp and a logbook. Finders stamp an impression of the stamp in a personal logbook and then leave their own stamp in the letterbox's logbook.

My friend Heather introduced me to letterboxing earlier this year. We needed to take our Webelos on a hike and she thought a letterboxing hike would be fun. She found one at the Hoyt Arboretum that was about 2 miles long and had 4 letterboxes hiden along the way. It was a good hike and it was fun for the boys to have something to look for while we hiked.

Since then I have looked up several letterboxing routes in our area to take the kids on this summer. The boys aren't interested, Luke actually laughed at me (teenagers!). Cole had fun when he was with his friends but has no desire to go with his sisters. It has turned out to be a good Saturday activity for us girls to do when the boys are gone all day dirtbiking. They have had a lot of fun with it and it has taken us to some pretty local parks and nature trails.

This is our first letterboxing trip to the Tualitin Hills Nature Trails.

Last weekend we went to Cook Park in Tigard. Tyler was not sure about reaching down inside this stump to get the box out.

So Hannah said she would do it. (Surprising considering #2 below.)

Our supplies.

Some things that we have learned on our adventures:

#1 Wear shoes and socks. For some reason I did not consider that I might have to actually do some work to find some of these boxes and after the first trip when I had to wade through poison oak to get to the hiding place I have decided that flip flops are not appropriate footwear for letterboxing. As carefully as I tried to step around it, I still got a spot of poison oak on my leg that itched for some time.

#2 Sometimes letterbox hiding places are also home to other things. Like snakes. As Hannah discovered when she picked up a box that we found at Pirate Ship park and found a little black garter snake underneath. I don't think screaming and running are in keeping with the letterboxing code of discretion. Luckily she kept her head and held on to the letterbox.

#3 If at first you do not succeed try, try again. Some letterboxes are easy to find, others require some thought and carefull searching. A few times I have been ready to give up when I just had to sit down and think and look around to make sure I have searched everywhere, and suddenly we find what we have been looking for!

Saturday mornings at the Beaverton Farmer's Market and a Strawberry Pie

I am wondering why it has taken me this long to get down to the Beaverton Farmer's Market in downtown Beaverton. Last summer I was in the habit of getting up early on Saturday mornings to do my grocery shopping and I would visit the Cedar Mill Farmer's Market in the parking lot of my Safeway. I just figured the Beaverton Farmer's Market would be more of the same so I never went. I was so wrong!

The Beaverton Farmer's Market is 10 times the size of the tiny Cedar Mill Farmer's Market!


Last Saturday I dragged my family down there partially against their will. We were all pleasantly surprized at how much is down there. We got a flat of these beautiful strawberries.


We love this guy's tomato's. They have graced the tops of our 4th of July burgers and been made into tomato and cucumber salad several times this week.

Next we need to try these lovely squash and zucchini.


They also have a multitude of flowers.

And food vendors. The girls and I went back there yesterday and tried these crepes. They were running out of batter they were so popular. The Sweet Italy was delicious! Stuffed with mascarpone cheese and topped with berries (they happened to have blueberries on this day) and lemon zest.

Hannah is wearing her mad face because she didn't think she liked blueberries. Turns out she does.

The girls really just wanted to play at the playground and in this fountain.

The Beaverton fountain is a popular place for kids in the summertime. When we first moved here I was shocked to see kids playing in the public fountains. I could not believe that this was allowed! But actually it is quite popular and there are a number of public fountains throughout the Portland area where people go to cool off in the summer. Why they don't just go to a swimming pool I have no idea.

What did I do with all my strawberries you ask? Made strawberry pie of course!

I found this recipe on a blog I frequent called yourhomebasedmom. It reminds us of a pie we used to get at a local bakery that is no more. I have made 4 of these pies now. Two for Father's Day and two for the 4th of July barbecue we had with our neighbors. They came back for more the next day. It is so delicious I am going to give you the recipe. You're welcome.

Strawberry Cream Pie

Graham Cracker Crust:

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (one package)

1/4 cup sugar

6 Tbsp. butter, melted

Combine the above ingredients and press firmly into a 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 375 for 5-8 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Cool.

Strawberry Glaze:

1 cup strawberries

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

1/4 cup water

Crush 1 cup strawberries. Combine 1/4 cup sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Add water and crushed strawberries. Cook and stir over medium heat until slightly thickened. Strain through a mesh strainer. Cool.

Creamy filling:

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup heavy cream, whipped

4 cups whole strawberries, hulled

Blend cream cheese and sugar. Stir in vanilla. Fold in whipped cream. Spread evenly in cooled crust. Refrigerate.

Place whole strawberries stem side down on top of creamed filling, pressing slightly. Spoon glaze over berries and chill for 3 hours.

Now go. Make some pie!

It's Official

Baseball season is finally over!

After 4 months, 53 games, two tournaments, coutless practices, and a tanker full of gas we are done for the season. As much as it wears me out at the time, I miss it when it is over.

Cole has actually been done for a month now, but it has taken me that long to get my hands on these pictures and then scan them (which Luke had to figure out for me by the way).

I would love to say I took these pictures, but I cannot take the credit. There is a dad on Cole's team who takes professional pictures. I have never seen him at a game without his whopping big camera and tripod. His telephoto lens is bigger than my whole camera put together.

My favorite are the series shots. Of course his camera will take about 10 shots per second. (And I thought it was pretty cool that mine takes 3 shots per second.)

This first series is Cole batting.

The next series is a pretty awesome catch that Cole made. I actually caught this same play on my video camera, but I still haven't figured out how to get video on here.

This one obviously did not make it in time for the out, but I thought it was a cool shot.

Luke's baseball team was a little like the badnews bears this year, except that they did not win at the end. It is the first year he has been on a losing team, but he handled it pretty well and did not complain. There are actually a few advantages to being on a crappy team.

#1 Luke got to pitch! He was generally only good for an inning or two, but he did not do half bad and he seemed to get a little better each time he got out there. These pictures I did take. (Can you tell the difference that thousands of dollars of camera equipment make?)

# 2 He got to be 1st in the batting order.

At first I could not figure out why the coach would put Luke first in the batting order, he is not the best batter on the team (but don't tell him that). He is however the best base runner! He can steal around those bases like no body else (and I am not just saying that because I'm his mother!)

Here he is stealing home during the last game of the season.

A fitting end to a fun if not successfull season.