2011-09 SEPT

Geoduck adventure 10 images

Chicken Coop 29 images

1 Oh so nice to get a surprise memory from a dear friend! This is Ben and Cam in Kahana Valley last spring.	2 Showing Foster a new friend - a fellow banana slug on OUR trails! Enjoying the mulch salad bar no doubt!	3 A leaning Madrona tree on our trails is a good view spot.	4 Out and about - learning about mixing the genes of populations separated by a barrier - whether natural or not. Species differentiation happens that way. So they are trying to get a dandelion across the road to populate the field their genes.
5 Blackberry picking on the way home from school!	6 An early morning run - I found a submarine pulling into Bremerton. Dave thinks it's the USS Connecticut perhaps.	7 First day of school! Wearing an Eddie Aikau shirt and Hawaii shorts. And very reluctantly a sweatshirt.	8 A special surprise from mom - a new homework table area! Vintage desk!
9 Sam really likes it. A nice organized place to be. He is sitting down voluntarily here to do some alphabet practice. We'll see how long he loves it, but I will just the same!	10 Ben and I out on a cargo bike ride to pick up some snacks for the class. An 8 mile ride with this big guy is no joke. I don't need a gym!	11 Stopping at a little bike path along the ocean for blackberry snack on the way home. So pretty. Totally reminds me of Scandinavia.	12 He is a huge blackberry hog! Seriously!
13 The bike! Thanks, Dave, for this awesome 40th bday present!	14 Then a stop to see the "Peep Peeps!" They are growing up!	15 Another view of the bike. Can you tell I love it? I can haul a 200lb load on that back platform. See xtracycle.com if you are interested in turning a regular bike into a SUB.	16 Our mystery plant - broccoli that just didn't head? UPDATE - it is Brussel sprouts!!!
17 Exploring road-ends. This is Lytle Beach - a sweet community garden.	18 Lots and lots of plants. Someone really knows permaculture here, keyhole design, everything. Very cool.	19 Zucchini squash peeking around in there!	20 And more!
21 Big heirloom tomatoes!	22 We paid $5 for one at the Farmer's Market this particular morning - is that a lot? or normal? It was big.	23	24 Off to the actual beach now. This was fun. A large size beach access and some sand.
25 Cool shells with holes in them already. You may be seeing these turn into something. Chime? Necklace?	26 Some kind of larvae. Maybe the sand hopper flea larvae? Sam has such a good eye. Unbelievable.	27 Here they are exploring the tidelands with the ferry passing in the background.	28 Dave is in NY this weekend for his cousin Jen's wedding. So I am missing seeing the whole Krug clan very much. Snapping a lot of pictures to send to them.
29 I guess Amanda and Kingston are into clams, so they liked this picture.	30 A female crab, finally! Great job, Sam. He knows how to tell the gender by looking underneath. There is an F for female. M for male. ;0	31 And then this live clam!	32 Here is what the white-faced Capuchin monkeys do to open it up, mom.
33 You wear out the muscle on the clam.	34 The start of our Saturday morning - Farmer's Market then down to Lynnwood where Sam joined an ukulele jam session. Such nice people! Sam is still pretty shy about performing - he really doesn't want to mess anyone up. But I try to gently encourage him to play with other people as often as possible, which isn't all that often here. But this group meets on the weekends.	35 Bonfire bbq at Fay Bainbridge with new friends! Man the boys had fun with the other guys - I think there were about 9 boys under age 9!	36 Another road-end venture! This time getting in the water because it is pretty hot up here for WA standards. Can you see their faces? So funny!
37 "It's like ICE water, mom!"	38 Finally, Ben says "I'm going in!"	39 Then Sam goes in!	40 Oh yeah!
41 He is such a tough guy. No worries about a little cold water.	42 But this is what you see! DARN! Miss those Hawaii waters!	43 Ok so the road-end is a very small beach access. We made a huge scene, as we often do, even when we're trying to be very looooow-profile. I really reinforced that and the boys were very good. But still...we felt conspicuous because it's quiet (no trade-winds) and we are loud even when we're quiet.	44 As you can see, the peace did not last long. They outlasted the natives in the water, though!
45 And had a great time!	46 Just cracking up over something.	47 Making Bainbridge Island volcano, because naturally, islands emerge from volcanic eruptions.	48 Sam worked on that volcano for 90 min maybe? An hour for sure. Ben enjoyed entertaining Nick and Sabrina, new friends we met on the beach. Can you see what is on their bag????? OMG! So fun to talk island with them. They like to visit Hawaii.
49 This is what the road-end looks like. It is tiny. And the property owners are squeamish about people coming to it, but the City does maintain beach access at many such road-ends. Today I got smart and backed in so I could get out. They don't like you to use their driveways for turning around, so you get to do 40 K turns unless you get smart quick.	50 Then...soaker tub time! Such lucky boys. They had a fun day, as did I. I am the lucky one.	51 Naughty Ben sent bubbles all over the bathroom floor, so he got to clean up while Sam soaked.	52 Cute boys!
53 Hi Daddy! We're in your tub!	54 Enjoying the view. Then PB/J and salad and grapes for dinner. Their request (no Tam, I did not serve it in the tub this time!!) Since it is DAVE's soaker tub, we do try to be somewhat formal about soak time. For now anyway. Things could change with time...	55 Ben watering the plants. I turn the pressure WAY down because he REALLY likes to water. So he can just go at it with a trickle and is totally happy.	56 Feeling like such a farm mom, Dave was away last weekend so we ventured out into the webby woods (spiderlings all over creating webs!) to forage for blackberries to make crepes. That whipped cream I made ALL BY MYSELF. I guess it is not too hard, but I felt very mature making whipped cream.
57 Yum!	58 A tour of Sam's classroom. Like how she is having them draw pictures, then organize them into groups - categorical data analysis.	59 Sam's desk, with Ben looking on.	60 Love LOVE the voice levels graphic! Can I put this on my phone as an app and just point to it in restaurants? Seriously!
61 Very spacious room. No being crammed in here like in Hawaii.	62 Very good selection of books. Not too little-kiddish.	63 Sam's is on the right. Funny guy looks like he has a beard! This is his picture of himself on the first day of first grade.	64 More books all nicely organized.
65 I am just so pleased with his school and his teacher. This song is funny.	66 Grammie (Marilou) in NJ sent a fun package to the boys - this is them reading the "TO" section on the address and gathering interest in the contents.	67 A new dinner-planning tactic. Send Dave a picture of the plan so he can edit by 5:30pm should he choose to. Otherwise I am rolling with it and no critiquing upon arrival home.	68 Ben's Wednesday routine - hit the farm stands on the cargo bike.
69 Pumpkin patch! This is about 1/4 mi from home, very close to Sam's school.	70 And can you see the draft horses down the lane? This is a WORKING farm! The city leases land to young farmers. This is such an incredible place. To the left in this photo is a vineyard, to the right is the pumpkin patch. I bought corn from the farm this morning - they had just come off the stalk 10 min prior. We grilled them up tonight. I know the winter will get ugly here, so we're soaking in all this goodness now for sure!	71 Then to another farm for eggs! Ben likes to thank the ladies for our eggs. They really clucked for him!	72 This is where you go in to pay. She keeps them in the fridge and you pay on the honor system in a little bucket. Very cool.
73 Corn in the back, eggs toward the front of the cargo bags, bread in a pouch and off to pick blackberries by the beach. It really sounds idyllic, doesn't it? It is, definitely. I feel like I'm in a movie sometimes, I feel that lucky.	74 My little buddy smearing blackberry goodness all over! Seattle is to the left (out of the frame).	75 Sammy doing some drawing of a blue whale, the biggest creature on earth, and a shark, and a dogfish. We were talking about ratios and proportions last week so he drew some guys of different sizes.	76 Ben at the bike getting a bike all tuned up - a 16" wheel big guy bike. As you can see, he is well into the 16" size. Sam is in the 24" size, amazingly, but still on a 16" so we clearly need to bump him up, and get him some gears for these hills!
77 Ben made these tracks all by himself! I was out doing some CrossFit stuff of my own while squirrels were throwing acorns down on me and laughing. I could hear Ben inside grunting and growling in frustration now and then, while I was outside growling in pain doing burpees!	78 A little spice for the brain every now and then at home. Sam did a great job of figuring these out one evening on his own, then wanted to send it in to his new teacher. She wrote such a nice note back. LOVE his school.	79 Two silly boys at Marina Market with a whole mess of chocolate reward for an outstanding Friday night dinner date with mommy! You've got to read the post on 9/9 to understand the whole story. What a night!	80 Running back to the truck! These guys are powered on something you don't still have when you're 40!
81 The tractor at the farm stand! This is Karen. She let Ben sit up in the tractor and even turned it on for him! Now she is off to spread manure on the crops. What a neat place, just 1/4 mi from us.	82 So we're out on a random "food hike" I called it. We ended up eating yogurt first, found we were still hungry, devoured nachos (having to check out the local eateries so we'd know what we like, of course), then ended up at the video store to find Little House on the Prairie, so of course then we needed to get candy to go with it. Sam found LEGO candies! "They fit TOGETHER, mom!"	83 Swedish fish for this guy! What a ridiculous mom!	84 Then to pick up Ben's pick from tuning up...Sam likes this 24" bike. Used at $179. Yikes.
85 Then to Battle Point Park where there's 1.5 miles of this trail all around the park, and a fantastic playground.	86 Ben was frustrated at first, lots of growling (gravel makes it tricky - the training wheels prop the tire off the ground at times). Then the second lap was much better - we "got back on the horse" and went at it again. Sam was a generous soul to let Ben bike alongside him. I could see how proud Ben was of himself.	87 While making dinner, I spied Sam and Ben out at the roping/climbing tree. So I watched carefully to see what was going on. It was very quiet.	88 Sam had made Ben a climbing harness and was hoisting him with a pulley system!
89 See the harness??? Oh my!	90 Very clever! He is untying Ben now.	91 Hog-tied and trying to get free!	92 Thanks, Sam!
93 Sam on the phone with Gramma telling her about digging up the geoduck. He was pacing and pacing around the table.	94 Taking guitar lessons now. Learning to read music - notes on scale and guitar tab. Right now learning "Two of Us" (Beatles).	95 Not to be outdone...but down to three strings. I let him work his way down the strings 'til there's just one for a while, then we restring. Otherwise it's really loud around here.	96 Mommy made a nice track to practice riding on his bigger bike (Sam's 16" bike is now Ben's, and Sam has a new (used) 20" bike now).
97 Sam had this great idea that I bring a bike to school for him to ride by hitching it to the cargo bike and towing it. So I did, with his new bike! What a great surprised look he had when I rolled up, as requested, with a NEW BIKE! With gears!	98 So off we went to blueberry picking at a local farm.	99 Beautiful flowers for sale, too.	100 These boys picked and picked for 45 min, harvesting about 3 lbs!
101 Concentrating so hard that he is unaware of drooley coming off chin!	102 So cute they are!	103 The little paws carefully grabbing berries.	104 A favorite stop in Poulsbo. This is our first time back - they actually recognized us! How cool!
105 Muffin head!	106 Ben blew me away - after biking 5K while I loped along, then coffee/muffin, he pushed me on the merry-go-round then JUMPED on himself!	107 Here he is pushing again!	108 Doug - can you see this? It looks like your truck. Ben and I are touring a farm in the early morning hours.
109 Now off to another farm to collect eggs. Ben is saying good morning to the cow.	110 So pretty, isn't it?	111 Looks like he's ready to work! It's very cool out, so I have him dressed up.	112 Bought some soap from my friend, the farmer :)
113 Pigs!!! The husband, Mark, says pigs are like dogs. They bark, they run, they play.	114 Thinking this all through and watching carefully.	115 Then to pick blackberries, and finally up to Bay Hay to meet up with my friend Angie and her daughter! This maple leaf cookie was GOOOD!	116 There's Angie and Rachel!
117 Funny kids - go Rachel! So strong!	118	119 At the Farmer's Market they had a chickens in costume contest! The winning chicken was a taco :)	120 Chele's Kitchen playing.
121 Boys not feeling well, so all tucked into "the nest."	122 Out to Bainbridge Baker's for breakfast - man oh man that is a good breakfast sandwich! Hands were diving in so quick that I had to take the picture really fast. Sorry it's blurry!	123 I drew a twisty track for them to ride while getting a little sunshine in. Sam had a fever the day before so he is pooped and taking Mon off from school.	124 The Harvest Sheaf we made for Harvest Fair, then donated to our local farm stand for a cheerful display.
125 At Ft Ward for a ride! "Mom, some people do it wike dis!"	126 Other Harvest Fair creations at school!	127 Ben helping hand out popsicles after the Harvest Fair.	128 Sam is quite proud of this hammock he made.
129 It is very strong!	130 This is the face chipmunks make.	131 On a mt bike ride to Battle Pt Park. It's a mile each way through the trees on this awesome trail. I love it! I had to push Ben much of the way due to the hills, so I actually got quite a bit of an unexpected workout!	132 A flat section at last!
133	134 That's the name of the trail!	135 This is how you get to it from Battle Pt Park. A little tricky to find so we came at it the other way the first time.	136 Sam on his new (used) bike from Craigslist.
137 The coolest vegetable on the planet! This is a Romanesca broccoli. Almost nutty flavor. Roast it with olive oil and garlic. As a friend said at the bonfire we took this to - it's fractal, man!	138 My first batch of baguettes from the new starter! Yay! So happy it is finally going.	139 Dave bought himself an early 40th bday present - a mandolin! It is very popular with two other gentlemen!	140 Daddy getting to play it finally!
141	142 What a healthy sourdough yeast starter looks like after weeks of nurturing ;0	143 The Harvest Fair "land slide"! Sam going down on left.	144
145 Now Ben!	146	147 Music, food, cowboys...	148
149 Carriage rides. We had a great time!	150	151	152 Spinning yarn from a sheep just to the left of him.
153	154 We were on our way to the Harvest Fair when we were stopped dead in our tracks by a downed maple!	155 Hmmm...guess we need to cut ourselves out of the driveway!	156 Ok - this looks like fun!
157 Yummy dinner daddy made for us, and Sam's HUGE creation he's been working on for weeks. It's a space station. Closing ceremonies (so we can get the table back for mom and Richard's visit) is in a few days.	158 Yum!	159 More of the space station, for posterity.	160 Ben not feeling well still, so we went on a bike ride down to Bainbridge Bakers because he was in a muffin mood.
161 Can you see our constant companion, "Grown-up Eagle" sitting next to us? He rides in the paniers on the bike, peeking out.	162 Now he's having a look-see at the rooster at Bay Hay. Eagles are known to eat chickens here. It is a big seabird buffet around here, so I'm told. I guess we'll soon find out!	163 Trying to get pictures of this handsome guy coming home from school!	164 Trying to trick him into just one picture.
165 I look out from the living room and see him, perched in the tree like a Bald Eagle. Or chipmunk.	166 Climbing around on that hammock he made.	167 Library story and craft time for Ben!	168 Trying to figure out how to use multiple layers to stay warm! Leggings are great!