Visiting, chores and riding at The Funny Farm

Just a few pics from doing chores and visiting out at the Funny Farm.
Enjoy!

Finn's first lost tooth

Actually her 2nd lost tooth, here...

Finn lost her first tooth last week. She mentioned to Cathleen that she had a loose tooth. Mummy checked the wrong tooth so didn't think anything she really did...until she showed us the tooth the next day, barely hanging on and flapping around with her tongue. And then, it was out.

Her adult teeth were already showing underneath and two additional teeth next to the first one are also loose. Wow is she excited. And in some moment of childhood clarity/fancy, she said that the tooth fairy was bringing her a new pink toothpaste and toothbrush, not money. We (ahem, the Tooth Fairy) found her some organic, pink toothpaste but held off on the new toothbrush until the next teeth fell out. Good thing, too, because a couple of days later, when trick or treating at a local dentist's office, she was given a new Crest toothbrush with Cowgirl Jesse (from the Toy Story) on it. She was elated.

All's well that ends well...

Fanning the flames

Both our kids love participating in everything we do. Having a fireplace presents it's own challenges for the kids but we've worked hard with them to teach them what they can and cannot do around it. Little man loves to help with the wood gathering and with getting last night's coals ignited. This morning was no different...except that he had only partially changed out of his pajamas. Too cute...

Little Jeremiah gathering firewood.

Little Jeremiah in the wood wheelbarrow.

Little Jeremiah and Papa blowing on last night's coals.

Our community garden plot

We've had so much fun over the last few years gardening in our community garden plot. This year, we had a bumper crop of peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, squash, broccoli, sunflowers, pumpkins, leeks, spinach, etc. Just before the first hard frost of the fall, we all headed out to the plot to get the last of our produce and Cat had the great idea of getting a classic fall harvest family shot. We took a few and had a great time. Happy Harvest!

Sibling love

The love between a brother and sister is something special and incredibly hard to break. These two love each other in a way I haven't had the pleasure of experiencing, being an only child.

Summer camping

After finding in August that Jeremiah would be laid off from work, we decided to finally purchase the tent trailer we'd been dreaming about for a couple of years. So the day after his last day at work, off we went into the woods to go camping with our new-to-us 1997 Jayco 8D (8') tent trailer. We found ourselves up the South Santiam river just over the Tombstone summit in a little campground called Lost Prairie. It was a little too close to the road for us so the following morning we decided to head East just a little further. Just a couple more miles up the road, we turned off onto the Old Santiam Wagon Road and found the perfect site next to the creek and away from the road.

The kids had so much fun being right next to the creek. Finn and Papa got to fish whenever they wanted, and little Jeremiah got to throw rocks in the water at will. One late afternoon, we all decided to walk along a stretch of the old wagon road. We daydreamed of finding old stuff discarded along the trail by pioneers, made up stories from years gone by, and picked wild strawberries and both red and blue huckleberries for pancakes the following morning. On the twilight walk back, Papa stopped and and asked everyone if they heard those sounds, too. Sounded to him like a man talking to his horse, then telling it to "Whoa!". We all waited along the road for a spell but when nobody came along, chalked it up to just hearing things. Still, it was spooky-cool to think that the voices of settlers from a bygone era might still be hanging around...

Sense of wonder

Finn and Mompba Ty at the coast

Finn and little Jeremiah on the trail

Finn at Heceta Head lighthouse

Jeremiah at Heceta Head lighthouse

Red mountain huckleberries

Finn bathing in an old ceramic tub by the fire...

The family game of checkers

Finn's well-loved tenny-runners

Anyway, we had a wonderful time and spent 10 of the next 14 days camping and spending time together as a family. So much fun and an incredible way to touch base with each other again. We even got to meet up with one set of Jeremiah's parents over at the coast. Wonderful memories.