Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm

How have we lived here for almost six years now and never been to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival? I feel like I have been missing out on a necessary rite of Spring tradition, like going to the pumpkin patch in the Fall.

Friday was a day off school for the younger kids, and probably the most beautiful day we have had here in many a long month. We were seriously due for some sunshine and spring weather, and we finally go some this weekend. It was a great day for the girls and I to head down to Woodburn for what I thought would be a couple of hours and turned into the better part of the day.

This place is truly a wonder. With over 40 acres of tulips it was a sight to behold! They also have lots of activities for kids, concession booths, craft booths... and miles of tulips to wade through.

It is a photographers dream. The girls kept asking me to stop taking pictures, they wanted to do stuff. I still feel the urge to go back and take more.

One of the activities they have is a letter boxing route with 5 boxes hidden throughout the farm. We spent a good while searching them out and ended up with all but the last one. It was frustrating to leave our task unfinished, but it was getting late and we were tired. Better luck next year, I guess.

A beautiful day!

More Spring Break Fun

Here are some more pictures from our week of spring break. We also went to central Oregon to impose on my sister's family for a few days. The kids always have a good time together.

We had a fun day sledding on Friday. We got a mix of some snow and sunshine and it was not too cold out so it made for a pretty good afternoon.

Now, enough of winter! Bring me some sunshine and warm weather!

Tillamook

Last week was Spring Break and by Monday I was ready to get out of the house and do something. I put my slightly reluctant family in the car and we drove down to Tillamook. Driving to the coast can be a hit or miss activity. You just never know what the weather will be doing and it doesn't matter what the weather man says, the forecast will change hourly. Sure enough it was raining when we got there, but this was fine because our first stop was the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

It is always surprising to me how entertaining it can be to just stand and watch an assembly line package cheese. We could almost stand there and watch all day. There is so much going on.

Hannah wants to work here when she grows up. In fact, she wants this lady's job which seems to be standing there and checking random packages of cheese. For what, we were never quite sure. air perhaps? We did stand here for a good 20 minutes trying to figure it out.

Tyler would like this guy's job of checking to see if the cheese has aged properly.

Cheese tasting.

Of course, you can't leave here without ice cream.

By the time we came out of the cheese factory, the sun was partially out and it was a pretty nice day. We drove down to Cape Meares to walk down to the lighthouse and gaze out at the ocean.

The octopus tree.

Day 1 of spring break down; 4 to go.

Pizza Night and an Awards Night

My favorite day of the week is pizza night, which is usually on Friday. It is the only day of the week that I don't have to think about what's for dinner. The decision is already made, and it is guaranteed to get no complaints! Everyone loves pizza night.

For years I tried to make my own pizza, but with no luck. I bought a pizza stone from the pampered chef, I tried different recipes, I tried cornmeal on the pizza stone... it was never quite right. A couple of years ago I read in my trusty Cooks Illustrated cookbook about a method using parchment paper, and finally after long wait - the perfect pizza crust! Now we eat it once a week.

Whenever people ask me for my pizza dough recipe I always tell them - It's not the recipe, it's the parchment paper! I still use my pizza stone. I preheat it in the oven at 500 degrees and roll out my pizza dough onto a piece of parchment paper. I use the back of a cookie sheet to slide the whole thing into the oven and bake about 8 minutes. It's the perfect pizza crust every time.

For the record I like the Pioneer Woman's basic pizza crust, but I have sometimes been known to use a store bought pizza dough. It really doesn't matter. Sadly, most of my family will only eat pepperoni on their pizza. I usually make half a pizza for Tyler and me with pineapple and ham on it, but I secretly wish I could sneak some veggies in there. If I am feeling ambitious I will save a small piece of dough and experiment with other toppings. Like this white pizza with arugula. Yum.

On another note, Luke's wrestling awards night was this week. Oh, happy day - wrestling season is over! (one more post-season tournament in Reno in 3 weeks and it will really, really be over).

Here is a terrible picture of Luke receiving his varsity letter. (That's the last time I give Danford camera duty.)

It was very interesting to hear his stats for the season. He wrestled 42 varsity matches - won 22, lost 20. He earned 140 varsity points, which was 5th highest on the team. He had 15 pins, which tied for the most on the team. Also, he only got pinned 6 times. I can just breathe a sigh of relief now that there were no injuries on that list. Congratulations Luke!

High School

Luke's Freshman year of High School is half over already. Where does the time go? I feel like school just started. It's already starting to slip away too quickly. Part of the reason for this I know is because this kid is just so darn busy.

Here's the thing about High School that I never knew ... High School sports will completely and utterly monopolize your life.

And it starts over the summer before the school year has even begun. Daily Doubles. Now there is a monopoly on your time if there ever was one. Two practices a day, two and a half hours each, for two weeks. Who on earth would want to do such a thing? Luke did. When he came to me and announced that he was going to play water polo I thought he was crazy. He had never played water polo a day in his life, he had never even been on a swim team (although he is a good swimmer). Water polo is a tough sport. I had visions of him getting pulled under water, swam over top of, pushed around, drowned. Where is my faith in my kids? All that stuff did happen, of course - (except for the drowning part) but Luke is a tough kid, he can take it. He caught on fast and started on his JV team all season and played in a couple of varsity tournaments. Can I just say how much fun this was to watch? The games are fast and furious and they are over before you know it but it's really some of the most fun I have had watching my kids play sports.

Before I knew it, the season was over and he was on to wrestling. Not my favorite sport. But here is one thing I have learned about watching sports - if my kid is participating, I am interested no matter what it is. It is not an easy sport to watch though. I have never been so nervous watching my kids do anything. I start to feel nauseous before I even get there and my whole body tenses up just watching him. I admit I have had to close my eyes a few times. He is very intense about it too. It is one thing if your team loses a game, but when you lose a wrestling match - that is all on you and it can be a tough pill to swallow. Likewise, if you win it can be a big high. Needless to say, we have seen a wide spectrum of emotions around here this season. The win to loss ratio is about even right now.

(Gotta love the purple singlet!)

Wrestling will all be over with by the end of February and I must say I will be much more relaxed when it is. But I have to admit I will miss having some kind of sporting event to watch him in. ... At least until he finds something else to get involved with. I have a hard time picturing him with time on his hands.

Back to Reality

This holiday season has flown by just like every one before it. I am always a little melancholy at the start of a new year because it means the end of the winter break. I love having the kids at home for two weeks and having fewer activities and generally just having more time to relax and hang out as a family.

It was a good break. We slept in a lot and watched a lot of movies. We did some shopping, hung out with friends and baked up plenty of tasty treats. I definitely ate too much and so did Luke. He had a rough couple of days getting ready for a wrestling tournament that took place between Christmas and New Years. He wrestled 7 matches over the course of two days. He won 3 of them and lost 4, which was not what he was hoping for but not bad for a freshman wrestling on varsity among some fairly stiff competition. We spent the better part of two days watching most of it. As much as I will say I hate to watch wrestling, I think I hate not being there more.

Now the kids are all back at school and I am getting my house put back together. It's time for the January cleaning and organizing to begin...

Lazy, Lazy Me...

My little Hannah turned 8 and got baptized recently. OK, it was two and a half months ago. I really don't know where all that time went. All I know is that suddenly I am way behind on this here blog.

It was Labor Day weekend actually and my whole family was in town. My parents came out from Virginia and my sister and her clan were in from over the mountain. It was nice to have everyone together for a few days.

I can't believe my baby is eight and now all my kids are baptized! I am getting old! Next they will all be in college!...