Elk Creek and Wilson River

We met up on Sunday with Anne and Camille to spend the day in the Tillamook Forest. We started at the Smith Homestead - wading and splashing in the Wilson River - and then moved to the Elk Creek area for more wading, dam-building, rock-throwing, clambering on rocks, leaf and stick racing (Pooh sticks), etc.

The girls played pretend all day long - they were cats, dogs, blue jays and robins, jaguars, bunnies, and sea otters. They were sisters; they were lost together; they were babies; Anne was their otter mama; they were magical unicorns... it was fun to eavesdrop and be an occasional bit character in the unspooling tale.

I love these Oregon creeks and forests. I love to be in them and to watch my children exploring, and I always come home feeling restored.

Jumping into the extremely very cold Wilson River, on a cool and cloudy morning. It was even too cold for Anne!! Unheard of.

Gah, that dimple. Slayer of a thousand hearts.

I wish I could remember what snarky joke or ridiculous thing I said to make Anne crack up in this photo. :)

At our second location - Elk Creek - a more secluded spot for rock clambering and floating sticks downriver. Not the same deep swimming holes as Wilson River, though.

We have had some tough days with Sebastian this summer, but this past week has been better and calmer and happier. He loved being at Elk Creek - told me repeatedly how much he loved playing in the river and being in the forest - and it made my heart happy.

This tree was growing entirely horizontally out of the river bank. Amazing.

Looking down on the girls from a huge boulder in the middle of the creek.

A little rock climbing traverse along the creek's edge.

Oh. Love this.

climbing Mt St Helens

We've been planning it for months - you need a permit, and they sell out fast - and on Thursday I climbed Mt. St. Helens with a big group of friends. I drove up on Wednesday night with Michela and Joanna, and we stayed in a rustic cabin with another friend, Maya. On Thursday morning we met at the trailhead at 5 am to begin the ascent: Anja and Luna, Adrienne and Jeff, Paula, Tracy, and the four of us from the cabin.* A second group started at 6:30 - Elise and Todd, Elise's sister and boyfriend, Mary and a friend, Chenin.

*Actually, Maya got lost in the pre-dawn darkness and mountain roads, and didn't show up for 45 minutes. I volunteered to stay at the trailhead and wait for her; she came just after 5:30 and we hit the trail at 5:45. We caught up to the first group on the way up; the second group we saw in passing on our descent.

It was a gorgeous day - perfect weather, a few clouds but amazing views, not too hot even at midday (mid-70s).  We followed the Monitor Ridge route, a 9.6 mile round trip gaining 4,665 ft. The first two miles of the trail were an easy uphill ascent through a mountain forest; the next two miles were scrambling over and around big boulders; the final section is ash and loose gravel, very challenging to keep your footing.

 

Mt. Hood in the early morning sun.

 Looking down on the clouds.

 a columbine flower

 Mt. Hood, again, this time with foregrounding trees.

 Peer closely to see the red-headed, yellow-throated bird that warbled at us.

 Mt. Adams

 

at the summit!!! Mt. Rainier appears as you make the crest.

Looking down into the crater of Mt. St. Helens

 Adrienne and Jeff, Anja and Luna

Liesl learning to read

A somewhat long (and sometimes very slow) video of our Liesl girl learning to read. Steve remembers learning to read with the same Fred and Ted books, which is really sweet. Liesl set a goal of learning to read this summer, before kindergarten begins in September.


Liesl learning to read from B. Avery on Vimeo.

She learned to tie her shoes last week too - she needed new shoes and chose a pair of purple Nikes with laces. I told her that if she wanted to keep them, she had to learn to tie her own shoes. So Sebastian sat down with her for 30 minutes and did an amazing job of coaching her through each step - demonstrating, asking her to repeat each move multiple times, praising her efforts, leading her to the next step. She was clearly ready, and he was fantastic, and by the end she could tie her shoes. She got to keep the shoes and she proudly ties them herself. Yay!

Sebastian and tennis

Sebastian has become really interested in tennis this summer - it started with some old balls and our (ancient) tennis racquets, hitting the ball back and forth with Nadine on the street in front of our house. Then he started taking a racquet over to the school to hit a ball against the wall there and also using chalk to outline a court on our street.

On Saturday, while Liesl and I were off on our Timothy Lake adventure, the boys had a bicycle/tennis outing. They rode their bikes from here to the Sunset Max train station, hopped on the train heading downtown, ate lunch at Pine St. (pizza and Israeli food), and then went to Target for new small-sized tennis racquets and tennis balls. They rode the train back and then biked to some nearby tennis courts to actually hit the ball over a net on a real court. Sebastian has pretty good coordination and has a decent forehand already; his backhand needs work but he's really enjoying it. And he's fast, with a good sense of how to position himself on the court and get himself set before hitting the ball.

We went back to the tennis courts on Sunday morning, the whole family, to play some more. Liesl got into it too - it's still a victory when she just makes contact with the racquet and the ball - but it was really fun.