Wow – what a weekend! I’m totally wiped, but had a lot of fun getting to that point. Here’s a roundup, using pictures, because they will hopefully do the job!

Halfway through a 6 mile run down to Lynwood to meet up with Dave and the boys for breakfast. I love those breakfast sandwiches, and love them even more when I’ve earned one 🙂

I found this saws-all blade on the road and picked it up to save a tire. Never found a trash can along the way so ran with it like this. Quickly found cars gave me a very wide berth!

Now we’re in Tacoma for an exhibition game with Coach Chris’ son’s team. It’s a Squirt rep team, so a level up from us.

We got crushed, BUT – one of the coaches played O’Callahan from the movie Miracle! Lisa was so stunned! Mike is a very humble and nice guy.

THEN we headed to Poulsbo for dinner with some families from the team (an hour north) and took two boys (cousins) home for a sleepover since they can’t come on Wed when the rest of the guys do. I had NO idea what I was in for. OMG. They had a blast, and so did the boys. It was wild, though. Here they are admiring Sam’s cube collection. They also enjoyed shooting in the garage to see how fast they are on the radar gun, soccer (me as goalie), basketball, tucking chickens in (wish kids did that!) and more…oh…knee hockey before bed. It took hours to wind them down.

Breakfast before their game. Thanks to Dave, we all ate well! Thank you, honey!

So – Sam had a game, which they won 2:1 (just barely – tough game!). Then we did open skate while waiting around for Ben’s Mites practice. I spent 3 hours on the ice (I help corral kids and pucks), Sam 4 hours. Here he is tying Ben’s skates. I was so tired by this time that I lost my keys 3 separate times. I finally told another mom where they were! I felt nearly drunk with tiredness, but just kept moving or I would have keeled over! Lots of fun, though.

And THEN…home for Burns Night which my friend Ben McCafferty and I had FIRMLY in our books. Not to miss! I dashed home via Safeway to buy flour, sugar, and biscuits to roll haggis up in. We raced home, Sam made shortbread (I didn’t know Dave had already gotten some in the oven) and ordered pizza, gathered wood for a fire and started to get it going just as Ben and crew arrived. Ben didn’t want to wait for me to nurse along wet wood so took matters into his own hands. He makes me look TAME, doesn’t he? I’m glad to have friends like this for perspective 😉

I’m trying to learn Russian, and now that I have a very good (FREE) app to help with Cyrillic, I’m making headway. I was able to say a few phrases in Russian, but without knowing the letters I just couldn’t get much further than repeating conversational phrases. (It WAS fun to find a pair of Russian parents in Winthrop over break and speak to them, though! Dave was like: “Leave it to you to find the only Russians in the valley.”) So tonight I was practicing writing the letters I’ve learned on Google translate. If you use the drawing pad, you can test your accuracy. From there I moved on to speaking Russian. It was time for the boys to brush their teeth, so why not learn something practical? Here’s what it looks like:

Google translate – I spoke in Russian and finally got it correct enough to translate what I  meant to say! You would not believe the outtakes, though! I was LAUGHING out loud. Then I had the boys and Dave try. Dave thought it sounded like I was asking for a cheese stick. (Sounds like “vremya chestit’ zuby malchikov”.) In the outtakes below, I’m hitting the microphone and trying to pronounce the words correctly. If I don’t get it right, funny translations appear above.

Friday Ben’s Mites team played during the Warriors’ intermission. It was fun for him, but 3 hours of transit to play 5 minutes on the ice? He REALLY wanted more skating time, but managed to score a goal from all the way at the other side of the ice.

Sam and I made pies yesterday to take to our friends’ home for a dinner gathering (which was wonderful). He made one with red apples and a sugary sauce which was actually pretty good, and I made one with green apples (double crust). Came out respectably enough.

This is a coprolite – fossilized worm feces from a lake bed in Seattle. I brought this up at dinner with friends last night and just had to display it because it’s so odd, and unless you come visit my artifacts shelf in our foyer, you’d never have the distinct privilege of seeing fossil worm feces.

Family photos get more fun every year!

See? Props for adults this time!

Happy 14th Anniversary, to us! Dave’s face is priceless.

And because I like to keep up on customs and traditions…I checked out Scottish Hogmanay traditions on Wikipedia. That infallible source of the people.  The entry had me at chicken wire and flammable materials. Dave and I went for a bike ride down to a brewery on the island (this is a sort of broken tradition dating back to before kids, when we had time to go on a 30 mile bike ride then stop for a sampler). Now that it’s relatively safe to bike here (Hawaii – not so much), I decided to reinstate the tradition for our anniversary. Needless to say, I was pretty buzzed biking back uphill after a few samplers! We took it slow and got home in time for me to undertake this adventure. See bottom of post for the video.

On our way to the brewery

bar top selfie. Hubby a little shy about selfies in a brewery. Can’t imagine why.

I wrote this in the bathroom. He never saw it! (Obvious reason…men face a different direction than women when using the privy.)

It’s been a very busy weekend with Thanksgiving then a hockey tournament (replete with days’ long bake sale fundraiser). And just for fun, on Friday night Sam and I were horsing around (you know where this is going) with whipped cream and pumpkin pie. This is a family holiday tradition going back several generations. My mom’s dad apparently had a mischievous streak: “honey, I think the whipped cream has gone off a bit? Could you check?” My grandmother took a little sniff, then BAM! a swift bop and her nose was full of the fluff! This continued on with the children…each older child in turn would stifle a laugh as the next in line would be inducted into the whipped cream hall of fame. I didn’t really remember this when I went for it on Friday night…the moment just seemed to be there. Sam was swiping whipped cream with his fingers and stuffing it into his mouth, so I grabbed a handful and helped him stuff his mouth a bit – it got messy quick! He grabbed the can, tried to spray me, I escaped with a little in my hair. Then I asked Sam: “Hey, Sam! Can you still SMELL the pumpkin under all that whipped cream?” He bent over to smell…and yes, I plunged his nose right into the white fluff. (Buttercream frosting leaves better nostril marks.) He took off chasing me around the house with a handful in retribution and when I got cornered I turned around helplessly and saw him smiling in pursuit! That’s when I noticed…a THIRD OF HIS TOOTH WAS MISSING!!! He’d chipped a front tooth on the plate! OMG!!! OMG! This is reeeaaallly BAD! So, my hockey player had a badly chipped tooth, but not from hockey, or any LEGIT sport as the teenagers at the rink were quick to point out. It was from HIS MOTHER shoving his FACE into PIE! Freak accident, yes, funny now, yes, but I felt (and still do) horribly about it. We have the most incredible dentist, though, who was willing to come in yesterday to assess him and fix him up today. Here’s a shot of the progress. You can’t tell now. Today I got bucked off for the first time in two years of resuming riding. So – an epic day for me as well. I should have known better than to grit through a sense of Emmy not being in a cooperative mindset. Riders call it “behind the leg” – not accepting direction. It’s a decidedly unsettling feeling when a horse isn’t moving forward under you. The etiology of all bad things horse-related is riding a mount who is not in front of the leg. I should have jumped off and lunged to reassert my proper place in her horse hierarchy, but I’ve worked through such rides before. Today I was really relaxed – maybe because I have a lot on my mind (work, sick kids, school stuff, visiting family, etc.) and had survived hockey, so I wasn’t really ON mentally myself. You have to actually be a bit edgy to ride well – very much in tune to your environment and the beast. A bit wired. I wasn’t today. I was relaxed, which, oddly, enabled me to fall well. I saw it coming – a buck on the canter depart which threw me forward, then I couldn’t recover fast enough for the next one and saw myself sailing toward a wall. Hit my head (that’s what helmets are for) and landed on my back. Within a few minutes I was back on after my instructor, Janet, had a conversation with Emmy. In describing this to Dave tonight, he said that could be courageous or stupid. I replied that Roosevelt (my current historical interest) would have gotten right back on. Dave replied “Yes, because that was his mode of transportation and he still had 1,500 miles to cover.” 😉

Emmy plotting my demise.

Back to the post title. I was packing up kids into the truck yesterday after the tournament was over and the younger sister of our goalie was asking her mom this question. She’d just heard Sam call me that 🙂 I’m sorry for the influence of my crazy children! Oh – wait – I should apologize for MY influence on THEM I guess! Hope you had a sane holiday!!!!

Trying to get a Thanksgiving hug from Sam – it’s a full contact sport!

All of the November pictures have now been annotated and uploaded to the ALBUM. Videos of hockey games, hockey practice, stick and puck, Emmy (the awesome Irish Sport Horse I borrow to ride), and…is there anything else? Soccer games…oh yeah, that. The wet, cold, soccer games! Oh, and me cooking a few actual meals that start with raw ingredients. That were edible. And people ate them. I think even liked them. A shopping trip to beat all…just days in the life. I got rear-ended for the second time in my life (I’ve never caused an accident or gotten a ticket but after starting the hockey commute last year, I’ve been rear-ended twice!). The bike rack on the back of the truck really puts in an extra layer of defense, but is not well liked by the Lexus which met it up close. Poor car. Enjoy the photos and drop me a line to let me know how you are. Tamara… 🙂 Liisa? How the heck are ya?

Shopping for all the fixin’s with Sam and Ben the day before Thanksgiving, after giving them frozen yogurt for lunch, AND allowing them to each have a cart. Maybe not a good idea, but they were model boys! No one got hurt, no one got admonished, and they found the things they were sent after, even in a crowded store. The parking lot was packed, the store was packed, but I honestly have not had a more pleasant time with them! We DID come home with enough to make FOUR pies, but that’s ok. We’ll get to that. I make a decent crust and it’s fun to do over the weekend. (Between hockey games? Huh…) On the way out of the store we raced shopping carts down the parking lot. There’s a nice slope for coasting. Yes, I was safe. 🙂 Turns out you can steer with your feet!

Mom and Richard arrive to find the mess left behind by the storm the night before (which knocked out power).

All cleaned up and burning away! Cheaper than hauling it 😉 Plus, you know I like fire. It was hard to get me to come in for turkey…

How long has it been since my last update? I think a couple weeks since we went up Mt. Zion…the boys and I… So, it’s time to post a few updates!

An impromptu Wed fire, hockey shootout, s’mores before dinner, and pizza supplied by the fabulous Larry, Eli’s stepdad. Thank you, Larry!

The weather has been really really cold, windy and wet this fall. Soccer has never been this much fun since I played in NJ! Still, the kids are all smiles and Ben continues to enjoy his time with the team. They are playing well together and winning some games, to boot.

Sam is leading dry land (warm-up before the game). Earlier in the day he was doing dry land in the bleachers while Ben was playing in a wet soccer game. This prompted me to see if the coaches wanted him to run dry land while they put together lines for the game. It seemed to work out well. Sam enjoyed it.

Wheat continues to learn how to integrate into this flock. She is very timid, still, requiring feeding by hand and constant vigilance to be sure she weathers the stormy weather ok. She finds hiding places where she can hunker down and stay out of the general chicken milieu. She’s learning to tolerate Calvin’s amorous advances. She’s an intelligent and sensitive little bird. I’m happy to see this through as long as it takes.

Ben leaving after a game. His bag is as big as he is!

Taking 4 hockey boys to stick and puck, then open skate, on Veteran’s Day. My bag is in there as well. 5 hockey bags…that’s as much as this truck can hold without putting the roof carrier on! What a funny time that was at the rink. Look for a link to “figure skating.”

Here is the FIGURE SKATING VIDEO!

This was pizza time between skating sessions. I think there were 9 boys. That is Dee in the back (purple jacket) taking pictures as well.

Sam has wanted a snake for a long time. I find myself in a spot where I need to consider: Xbox? Or Snake? Apparently the name “Bob” would be bestowed upon the 4′-5′ boa he hopes to bring home. Santa??? Thoughts? It’s only $60. Ha! And LIVE feeder rats! I can see it now – stopping on the way home from the rink for a feeder rat, then to Taco Del Mar, for feeder burritos. Geez…just when I thought my life couldn’t get more interesting.

I’ve learned Morse Code! Every morning the boys give me a word to spell out in code, then I check my accuracy. This has been a dream for some time – 5-10 years. And at last, I’ve learned!

A “happy Ben” picture after a great hockey game! This is his buddy Sam (not brother Sam).

We stopped at the commissary on the way home. $397 worth in the truck. Ben was in charge of the $5 tip you give to the ladies who help you out. But where is it? Apparently he’d put it UNDER a bag thinking it would be fun if the little lady found it as she loaded the truck and wondered if it was for her. Sweet little treasure hunt…NOT! Sam and I shared this look of disbelief. It’s one in a long string of looks we’ve given each other with Ben lately. Just earlier that day he was missing both hockey gloves AND a left elbow pad. Thankfully I was able to find old backup pairs for the game, and then Humpty Dumpty was put back together at the rink from the lost and found, and another boy’s bag. Still…the missing items list has grown distressingly long in the last week or so. Time to turn the noggin on.

Saying good morning on Obsidian’s first day of school! 🙂

I am HORRENDOUSLY behind in sharing what has been going on here! Last week was the first full week of school and Dave happened to be away. The logistics of running two boys with three sports between them are complicated. The car pools are coming together for ice hockey, though. First colds have come through the house, but everyone is doing ok. I hope this week is a little more sane but I am not convinced it will be given my workload forecast…for which I’m grateful! I grabbed a few pictures which somewhat give you a sense of what we’ve been doing.

By far the most gratifying experiences to date have been weekend hikes with the hockey families – groups of 13-14 people, including 8-9 boys. The hikes have been big, with equally big views and the kids have really enjoyed themselves while we parents have gotten a good workout. They still have energy to horse around after dinner, ice cream cones in hand, while the sun dips below the ridge line. I’ll post more hike pictures as soon as I get them annotated. I’m also very happy that several programs are getting off the ground at the local schools – a Math Docent program at two schools and a Coder Dojo at one… stay tuned. Lots more details to take care of there, but I’m very encouraged. Speaking of school, Sam is LOVING it, which is a huge success – rating it 15 out of 10! Ben is very happy at school as well and only causing the expected amount of trouble. 🙂

Ben on his first day of school – this is after school with his buddy, Cole.

New zip line installed – it’s a huge hit! And a good workout hauling your buddy up for a ride 🙂

This is the morning routine – neighbor Kai pops over on his way to the bus and they work on cubing algorithms or shoot the hockey puck. It’s awesome. We are SO lucky to have great neighbors and be so close to the bus stop.

And back to the rink – this time with two boys! This is Ben’s first year playing Mites and he is really enjoying it! This is him waiting to step on the ice for his first practice.

And…another first! Power outage! Very windy today. We broke out the camp stove and made eggs and hot chocolate. Ben is going “ooooh!”

New hen adopted from my friend Anne (who actually sold this house to us). Her flock mates were killed by a raccoon, so she’s bunking in with us. This is her second night and she’s bravely assessing roosting options. I’m happy to say she was tucked up next to the King, Gordon, when I closed the coop door. Very little bluster and bullying. She’s a real sweetie.

The Bainbridge Boys have been hiking every weekend – twice up 6000 footer Mt. Townsend (9 miles roundtrip, 3000′ elev gain) and enjoyed a great view on their second attempt. We have had such fun with these boys, and for some hiking is a brand new sport which they totally love. Great dry land training!

Here are more pictures from Darrel: https://www.flickr.com/photos/austin-family/sets/72157658183827500

We used hockey sticks for trecking poles 🙂

Out on a trail run yesterday with the Bainbridge 6 – more than 5 miles! They were a riot – doing parkour along the way, chasing me with a cricket and generally causing a huge ruckus with big smiles on all our faces. I love the time with them – they are so full of energy.

Some wounded Warriors catching a ride 🙂

Marching back, cricket in hand! Remind me to tell you about the unfortunate demise of Blake Mill Johnson.

The plum tree really produced this year so we were determined to make good on the haul!

Plums drying in the dehydrator to make medieval plum pudding (which actually contained plums whereas modern plum pudding doesn’t seem to!).

Ready to go in the oven. ..

Plum torte based on a 1989 NYT recipe. Here’s hoping! With Dave cooking lentils it really smells good in here!

This video is a cross between Dick Proenneke and Blair Witch Project, but these were SERIOUSLY the biggest bucks I’ve seen in a while. Mostly the “big daddy” you hear me mention, but who is the first to leave the scene. You don’t get to see him much, but he was huge.

Now for some great pictures I haven’t posted yet – last weekend we hiked up Mt. Walker and enjoyed the day with Mom and Richard. They were able to enjoy some walks around other trails nearby before driving to meet us at the summit. Then we enjoyed an awesome dinner at The Timber House!

Out on a walk on Mt. Walker with Mom and Richard.

Richard telling Ben all about this old tractor. You are so wonderful, Richard, to take the time to explain everything.

Having a picnic lunch before starting up the trail!

Selfies are getting more unruly by the year! Ben looks a bit too much like the Biebs.

Great shirts from Nana and PopPop! Krug #47 on the Bruins!

Fun at the summit 🙂 It was a HOT day – over 95 when we started but a good breeze through the woods. Sam is working on a large 7×7 Rubik’s cube!

Here’s their awesome new coach! The chickens were in awe!

Gramma got caught on the chicken mesh around the planters while we were trying to get the naughty hen OUT of the planter box! Richard ran to get scissors to free her button but Ben managed to get her free first 🙂

Then off to Hammy’s for dinner. While we waited, Sam worked on lowering his 3×3 times – he’s approaching world class elite solving pace! He takes cubes with him everywhere. So cool to watch him focus and his fingers are a blur!

Hockey game this morning! The teams both played really well and it was a close game.  Sam got his third hat trick of the season. I’m sitting now at an Arduino circuit board workshop checking It out. I was floating around learning and mentoring as best I could. Needed a quick break! Ben is reading Through the Looking Glass – finished Alice in Wonderland yesterday. He says the Queen of Hearts is kinda strict.  :-X

Ben is psyched about these new soccer cleats Daddy picked up for him!

And some skating at school with some buddies. This was a great time! We did some zone entry drills – watching Adam and Sam go at it in a friendly way was really cool. They switched offense and defense frequently.

The days are non-stop around here! I have arranged mini camps with responsible older teenagers, and Camp Caden this week is very popular! It was six boys and one fearless girl. They started out with skating at school across the street (which was a little problematic for one boy who brought his dad’s hockey bag instead of his own!) then did some shooting here, then some other activities. I also left out some dead devices (phones) for boys to take apart and put back together. They didn’t exactly do the learning exercise, but they did seem to relish taking them all apart. I have an amazing parts box now.As a reward for reading 30 min (I started small given the group) the boys got to cook up some Taquitos that Sam got from the commissary. They also enjoy mixing up Nestle Nesquik. As soon as I got home from riding, I had to grab Sam and Ben and head to the dentist. I didn’t quite get out the door as quickly as planned – lots of show and tell, messes that I’m a little OCD about, gear gathering, milk left on the counter, etc. I called and apologized then headed down after dropping one boy off so he didn’t have to drag gear. Dentist was very understanding – the receptionist has 7 kids! I really enjoy the house being full but I will admit being the master coordinator is tiring for me – you’d think it would come easier as I do it all the time, but I still don’t like being on my phone texting, coordinating, emailing, scheduling, devising, etc. etc. I want to just SIT sometime and hang out with the kids! It’s a bit busier this week due to a little ride and review I’m doing on Sunday, so I’m fitting in one extra ride. The boys are really enjoying hanging out with friends and were really helpful tidying up today. We did a quick 10 min broom and mop routine because it was a little messy and sticky. 🙂 The floors look really nice now!!! Just in time for Friday. 😉 And the Nerf bullets…I have picked up 20 just as I walk around. I swear they are procreating!!!! Honestly!

Ben has the skating bug BAD! He skated from 4pm to 7:15 tonight and wanted to put them back on after dinner! He’s really gotten good. So natural on them.

This is me being brave and trying to ride a dressage test up at the Saddle Club arena where I will be in a mini show (ride and review) on Sunday. Horror of horrors. It will be embarrassing. But – good experience! It was more like barrel racing today than dressage. We kicked a cone over, nearly jumped one, and careened around like ranch hands. Someone was a tad wound up about the cones being out there and a small kid’s wagon with supplies in it. Ah well…it was fun. I think I even neck reined once. 😉

Ben practicing while Sam is in roller hockey. Couldn’t feel more like Hawaii with this warm weather!

Roller hockey mini-tournament – thanks for the camping flag, Dad! We are putting it to excellent service!

And breaking with tradition, we got off the island for some much needed family time on a nice bike path, 7 miles out from Port Townsend and back through woods and rolling hills. Happy Fourth, God Bless the USA!

I’ve spent much of the last week testing and uploading new skins for the photo album. I hope you find it easier to use on mobile devices. There should be a Facebook comment feature, and also ways to share photos via social media if you wish to. You would not believe how long it takes to upload 10 years of pictures… OMG. 😉

My Dad came out for a week in June and we concluded the visit with an awesome trip to San Juan Island! My Dad was quite a trooper dealing with all the activities which surround having boys – from eating messes, body noises, hockey in the house, roller hockey games, and going to watch me ride in a lesson. He really got into all the action, enjoyed all our routines, and we had so much fun catching up with him. I loved all the camping tips, like how to roll a tent and tie it up (so you don’t have to deal with the stuffing-fiasco that the tent bag always is), kitchen patrol (Dad was KP boss!), and how to properly embellish ice cream (sauer kraut or jalapeno jam, anyone?).

Here are a couple shots. Please visit the album for the full tour! (Images are uploading now!)

Camp is all set up!

Sunset over British Columbia.

American Camp is an enormous National Park. We were really impressed with its expansive beauty for such a small island.

Did you know that you can roast socks to dry them out? Ben suggested that the rainy evening was due to my stinky sock evaporation. I can see his point! But I thought it was pretty frontier-girl of me. 😉

One attempt at a family photo!