tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67466457180948187482024-03-15T21:10:19.284-04:00WigLifeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger397125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-36777936959319269172017-06-09T21:18:00.001-04:002017-06-11T11:19:37.873-04:00Up, up and away!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Going up in a hot air balloon has never been something I thought we'd ever do. When we arrived in Oregon, Ben made some connections at the airport that led to his becoming the new inspector and part-time mechanic for a local hot air balloon company (very part time second job). So, this happened as a result.</div>
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I documented the whole process as it's not something most people do every day, and thought there might be someone interested. First they tip the basket over and hook up the envelope (balloon).</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-77_4kymyt4s/WTsdStuanYI/AAAAAAAAGk0/lKB9mKXoq14t4G-d351e4ni7o0Zd7ePBACLcB/s1600/P1014494.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-77_4kymyt4s/WTsdStuanYI/AAAAAAAAGk0/lKB9mKXoq14t4G-d351e4ni7o0Zd7ePBACLcB/s320/P1014494.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Below is a picture of the top of a hot air balloon, it has a separate circular piece of fabric called the parachute that can be opened by the pilot to release the hot gases to descend.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HC5EVw2sFGQ/WTsdSuDp73I/AAAAAAAAGk4/q8XCtH-zK8I78PcXlJCP_d6V1tGGYyaSACLcB/s1600/P1014504.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HC5EVw2sFGQ/WTsdSuDp73I/AAAAAAAAGk4/q8XCtH-zK8I78PcXlJCP_d6V1tGGYyaSACLcB/s320/P1014504.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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On one side they are preparing for the lift.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HNNBMbSFF_Q/WTsdSgCdiOI/AAAAAAAAGkw/xYpMHB6v_pE2Pbgdr98xLJWnvVN03o4HACLcB/s1600/P1014506.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HNNBMbSFF_Q/WTsdSgCdiOI/AAAAAAAAGkw/xYpMHB6v_pE2Pbgdr98xLJWnvVN03o4HACLcB/s320/P1014506.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the other, volunteers are filling the envelope with air (intermittently firing the heaters into it).</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OOGADAQGU0c/WTsdTupB-8I/AAAAAAAAGk8/EQ_F62HS8LcH7Cpu1XgVLyaNM1301gw5ACLcB/s1600/P1014510.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OOGADAQGU0c/WTsdTupB-8I/AAAAAAAAGk8/EQ_F62HS8LcH7Cpu1XgVLyaNM1301gw5ACLcB/s320/P1014510.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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These two guys are hard to see, but they are running along as the envelope quickly raises up off the ground, helping it stand up more slowly. It looked like fun.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PWR_DBRCncY/WTsdTwh0kKI/AAAAAAAAGlE/USSa8lMOQWE_OhyAG8xyq5J5QSqyrC4UACLcB/s1600/P1014521.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PWR_DBRCncY/WTsdTwh0kKI/AAAAAAAAGlE/USSa8lMOQWE_OhyAG8xyq5J5QSqyrC4UACLcB/s320/P1014521.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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We all piled in (did I mention it was a 6:30am take-off?).</div>
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Look up!</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e7EkAOpqjYE/WTsdVIqjwkI/AAAAAAAAGlM/prYtXFZIw2Q0v3pQWhTCTPjukJV0C1rFACLcB/s1600/P1014530.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e7EkAOpqjYE/WTsdVIqjwkI/AAAAAAAAGlM/prYtXFZIw2Q0v3pQWhTCTPjukJV0C1rFACLcB/s320/P1014530.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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...and we're off! They gave Phoebe a platform so she could see over the edge of the basket (she's not taller than her big sister quite yet).</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--84K_r8cG48/WTsdVtjBkYI/AAAAAAAAGlU/M2IcUdSLbkEtWKo9NoA-SHsciElpP5ygwCLcB/s1600/P1014553.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--84K_r8cG48/WTsdVtjBkYI/AAAAAAAAGlU/M2IcUdSLbkEtWKo9NoA-SHsciElpP5ygwCLcB/s320/P1014553.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Beautiful Newberg, Oregon reminds me of England...</div>
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...only with mountains (see Mt. Hood). We reached 2000 ft at our maximum elevation.</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKQUCVM7AIc/WTsdVM6e8GI/AAAAAAAAGlQ/b46mYcyUOtAIKd2cILy9M0VyVb3XsnkVgCLcB/s1600/P1014551.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKQUCVM7AIc/WTsdVM6e8GI/AAAAAAAAGlQ/b46mYcyUOtAIKd2cILy9M0VyVb3XsnkVgCLcB/s320/P1014551.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The landing was more than "bumpy", she told us to get into crash position, we hit a field, then stood up and watched as we slow motion bounced up then back to crash position for a second "THUNK!" We hit the side of a ditch before finally landing. Our pilot asked Ben and one other guy to get out and help move the basket. You'll hear our pilot talk about whether the envelope would come down on something sharp like a sign or stake in the field.</div>
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Then everybody else got out of the basket, but the pilot asked me and the kids to stay in, we didn't expect to be tipped over!</div>
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Then, we were all invited to help roll up the envelope and to push out the air.</div>
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Juni and Phoebe were thrown on top to help roll out the air</div>
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It all fit in this bag and loaded onto a trailer that also carried the basket. We rode in the van that pulled it back to the air field.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1zX2_FSqa8I/WTsdW-m-lSI/AAAAAAAAGlk/ycx87v3TFq49WyiFqfVigfwi5z8ao3piwCLcB/s1600/P1014576.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1zX2_FSqa8I/WTsdW-m-lSI/AAAAAAAAGlk/ycx87v3TFq49WyiFqfVigfwi5z8ao3piwCLcB/s320/P1014576.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Volunteers who sign up to launch and chase hot air balloons get a free pass to ride every seventh time they volunteer. Seems like a fun retirement idea. </div>
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They served us a fancy breakfast when we returned to the air field. It was a memorable morning! </div>
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I just have one question. Why is it "a hot air balloon" and not "an hot air balloon"? </div>
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<br />Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-36371321523292459122016-03-12T21:11:00.000-05:002016-03-12T23:19:37.953-05:00February in Review<div id="cp_widget_9ef660ae-1b53-48f7-9354-c61f4b158297">
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Some of our February highlights</span></b> include driving East an hour an a half to the mountains to play in the snow in Sisters, OR... </div>
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Sisters in Sisters!</div>
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From the top of the sledding part of the hill:</div>
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From the tippy top of the hill, about 5,500 feet:</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3iOvlmJAGq8/VuRtkAr8XPI/AAAAAAAACdM/G7nf84SOI-UgruIXkYRYM4HtC8kAv_Bfg/s1600/20160213_122152.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3iOvlmJAGq8/VuRtkAr8XPI/AAAAAAAACdM/G7nf84SOI-UgruIXkYRYM4HtC8kAv_Bfg/s400/20160213_122152.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;"> ...and driving an hour and a half West of us to get sea level to play at the beach the same week as our trip to visit snow in the mountains.</span></div>
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qHjEoIbCp4A/VuR0HemV1lI/AAAAAAAACeI/kvdSS1WBFeMX8FCI0cMJp0eroE5TROMww/s1600/20160209_142812.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qHjEoIbCp4A/VuR0HemV1lI/AAAAAAAACeI/kvdSS1WBFeMX8FCI0cMJp0eroE5TROMww/s400/20160209_142812.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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(Some beach rocks, in case you were wondering)</div>
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February was also when Juni learned how to ride a bike in one day (oh glorious day!),</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2Bybg8yvW1Y/VuRtmAJn_5I/AAAAAAAACdU/SCMF_74zmwcL0t89GcX_VEjUuoWNzoxsw/s1600/20160220_105955.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2Bybg8yvW1Y/VuRtmAJn_5I/AAAAAAAACdU/SCMF_74zmwcL0t89GcX_VEjUuoWNzoxsw/s400/20160220_105955.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">and Ben starting back to riding his bike to work (which he did from our rental home when we first got here, but hadn't since September after our move). Now he rides to work any day it's not raining, which is about 50% of the time. He was recently promoted to Avionics and Modifications Team Lead at Garmin AT Repair Station where he is also Chief Inspector.</span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UTKyMvdCjRE/VuRwqRibJUI/AAAAAAAACd8/3IB5P7LXRYwCIXDko48_3dREqACZkDhFA/s1600/20160225_070300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UTKyMvdCjRE/VuRwqRibJUI/AAAAAAAACd8/3IB5P7LXRYwCIXDko48_3dREqACZkDhFA/s400/20160225_070300.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">We also decided it was time to get back to normal chores around the house. The kids now help with dishes and laundry, set and clear the table, sweep the floor, and clean the bathrooms regularly in addition to keeping their own spaces clean.</span></div>
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Don't worry, they still play every afternoon after school with the neighbors and get to be kids.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9w6MM-FkMPY/VuRtjBXn2bI/AAAAAAAACdE/ZYWBUk4oPCQc2dGZoFoeYmw4ON2WmqRVA/s1600/20160123_133533.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9w6MM-FkMPY/VuRtjBXn2bI/AAAAAAAACdE/ZYWBUk4oPCQc2dGZoFoeYmw4ON2WmqRVA/s400/20160123_133533.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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As do we! Here we are with our buddy, Gouda, the Guentner's Garden Center gorilla who lives close to our house.</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4jlQoDWc80A/VuRtmPy-DuI/AAAAAAAACdY/x-4zULlW7j8aLv9yBHNea9VzsZ_EFZ-iQ/s1600/20160228_121614%25280%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4jlQoDWc80A/VuRtmPy-DuI/AAAAAAAACdY/x-4zULlW7j8aLv9yBHNea9VzsZ_EFZ-iQ/s320/20160228_121614%25280%2529.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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This is the month that I pulled a tooth out with pliers for the first time. Ezra had a loose molar that was bothering him, so we fixed that problem. I'm also back to cutting Ezra's hair. We aren't doing much besides school and playing right now, we're still getting grounded.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Here's some Oregon observations from February:</span></b><br />
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The tsunami-like cloud we saw one day. We have seen three huge rainbows since arriving in OR.</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qKPaehOg8vQ/VuRwn67gP7I/AAAAAAAACdk/dyuQLI08iB0FL5cWFZN3V3kbdaSOVgofQ/s1600/20160212_173621.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qKPaehOg8vQ/VuRwn67gP7I/AAAAAAAACdk/dyuQLI08iB0FL5cWFZN3V3kbdaSOVgofQ/s400/20160212_173621.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The weather here is temperate ranging between 30-70 all Winter. I have NEVER in my life experienced such a warm February, most days are in the 50s or 60s. It's finally raining consistently as we were told it would in Oregon.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5TXX7Sivhpk/VuS1mT-M3QI/AAAAAAAACek/ckQAqa66gjogeCyqg8JQos-xlX8MM0OcA/s1600/20160302_163542.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5TXX7Sivhpk/VuS1mT-M3QI/AAAAAAAACek/ckQAqa66gjogeCyqg8JQos-xlX8MM0OcA/s400/20160302_163542.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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THAT is why I see fast food places with covered outdoor seating. The weather is moderate enough year round that as long as one is protected from the rain (and wearing a sweater), you could sit outside year round. </div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O9-Yl3H2ph8/VuS231c5luI/AAAAAAAACew/4Z_GJoOLAzMrL-bd4TM_SK0iqbdtwGWqA/s1600/20160227_105126.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O9-Yl3H2ph8/VuS231c5luI/AAAAAAAACew/4Z_GJoOLAzMrL-bd4TM_SK0iqbdtwGWqA/s400/20160227_105126.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We have a covered back porch and we didn't think much of it until others visited and said, <i>"Oooh, that'll be nice in the winter!"</i> Yup! Of course, it's fun to play in the rain too.</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_jMetRUHd_Q/VuS-byY_w2I/AAAAAAAACfA/Huplc6rxGnImI_dfxKmilb4kZKTep7Taw/s1600/client_PART_1455751750360_20160217_152756.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_jMetRUHd_Q/VuS-byY_w2I/AAAAAAAACfA/Huplc6rxGnImI_dfxKmilb4kZKTep7Taw/s400/client_PART_1455751750360_20160217_152756.jpeg" width="225" /></a></div>
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This is a tree near our home that I just love so much! The kids laugh at me when I pull over to take pictures of things like this. It's for you, my lovely dozen blog readers. I do these crazy things for you, which makes me kinda crazy, I suppose, or is it you, for reading this?</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SzVzFDndG1w/VuS1mfgCOUI/AAAAAAAACeg/JBkbIBGZxDMke9ooSHWJgNSYtQZ7HHVyA/s1600/20160310_165735.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SzVzFDndG1w/VuS1mfgCOUI/AAAAAAAACeg/JBkbIBGZxDMke9ooSHWJgNSYtQZ7HHVyA/s400/20160310_165735.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Finally, I've been wanting to share the cars with you! They have normal cars here, but they also have a disproportionate number of old cars. The reason? No salt on the roads! If it gets cold enough to snow, they use sand, but all the rain usually washes it away. We love seeing old Slug Bugs and other vintage cars all over the place.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_lOZNrnzCkg/VuTB-HMRHlI/AAAAAAAACfQ/d047tLk38L89fCWww9T3ct7OoWP0lthMw/s1600/20160228_120203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_lOZNrnzCkg/VuTB-HMRHlI/AAAAAAAACfQ/d047tLk38L89fCWww9T3ct7OoWP0lthMw/s400/20160228_120203.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In the news, Oregon State Capital building has all fifty state flags outside it, or at least it usually does. This week, it removed the Mississippi state flag from the circle of state flags after giving Mississippi fair warning that it needed to lose the bars and stars from it's flag or risk it being removed from our courtyard. Mississippi was not apparently phased by Oregon's threat. </div>
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<a href="https://youtu.be/qvIMLmdyqI4" target="_blank">This is the new invention</a> that has Garmin employees talking as well as little ones in my family. Evidently, we HAVE to save up for one. I'm not so sure about that.</div>
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We love you, you crazy readers, you! Thanks for visiting our little place in cyberspace!</div>
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Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-56635780811675484742016-02-03T09:59:00.000-05:002016-02-23T13:15:26.834-05:00The Month of January 2016: A Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Pictures and stories that sum our month up.</span></div>
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<b>The Bee Story Part 1</b></div>
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One morning shortly after we returned from our trip out East, Phoebe informed me there was a bee in the living room and would I get it. I pride myself in not shying away from bug retrieval and save the living creatures whenever possible. This bee was too high on the ceiling for me to save. I fetched the fly swatter and a chair and went for it. GOT IT - first time! I saw its head and upper body on the floor and scooped it up with some paper. I announced to the children that the lower half of the bee was missing and to watch their feet as they go about, lest they step on it's behind and get stung. The murder took place so very over my head, I kept shaking my hair and flicking the hood on my shirt to ensure it hadn't landed on me. I called the kids over to begin "table time" and breakfast, all the while worrying about that missing bottom half and it's whereabouts and feeling rather creepy-crawly all over...</div>
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Enforcing a new vegetable policy that states, "All Wiglets must partake of at least some vegetables at lunch and dinner, or sit on their behind at the table indefinitely."</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EOmEHtAU6Bw/VrFBTy-ceHI/AAAAAAAACZw/Kv8CP-7egqY/s1600/20160114_114506.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EOmEHtAU6Bw/VrFBTy-ceHI/AAAAAAAACZw/Kv8CP-7egqY/s400/20160114_114506.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We visited the Albany Carousel Museum at a friend's recommendation. Here each child is posing with their favorite future carousel ride. </div>
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...I do so love elephants! We'll have fun watching these magically coming alive.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yWdrJUjcRvk/VrFDn_S5ZvI/AAAAAAAACac/iVUSjWymJoM/s1600/20160118_140942.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yWdrJUjcRvk/VrFDn_S5ZvI/AAAAAAAACac/iVUSjWymJoM/s400/20160118_140942.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Behind the museum is the Callapooia River Watershed, which we enjoyed saying over and over.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0sVRigIKhaY/VrFBUWik1cI/AAAAAAAACZ0/WktZbC6orAU/s1600/20160118_135132.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0sVRigIKhaY/VrFBUWik1cI/AAAAAAAACZ0/WktZbC6orAU/s400/20160118_135132.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The words of a hymn (vs.4 & 5) took me by surprise and brought tears to my eyes at church one day. </div>
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<b>The Bee Story Part 2</b></div>
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Breakfast was being eaten and I was actively quizzing the kids on their Classical Conversations memory work when I felt a tickle between my bosom. I considered the worst case scenario and tried to dismiss it, but wouldn't rest until I could lay eyes on what I felt. I began to <strike>calmly</strike> jump up and down holding my restraining device out, away from me, to allow whatever it was to fall to the floor. It worked and below me lay my worst fear. The bottom of a bee...STILL MOVING. I began to fluctuate between loudly crying out, "EW, EW, EW!" in disgust and then laugh hysterically in relief. All the while two of my students sat dumbfounded with their mouths agape and one, the eldest, sat with a bemused smirk, thoroughly enjoying himself. The removal took seconds but my response lingered for over a minute, much to the horror (or delight) of my onlookers. Whenever I tell this story in person, the listener probably wishes they had ear protection. Sorry if it isn't as exciting to read, but I'm still processing it, and this is my therapy.</div>
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The psychedelic room at the Children's Museum.</div>
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A budding artist singing and playing her own songs at home (sorry about the drying rack in the way). </div>
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<b>The Surprise Blessing</b></div>
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We KNEW we had neighbors who were homeschoolers. We KNEW they had six girls. We KNEW we wanted to meet them. We did not know they would be the best blessing our family could imagine since arriving in Oregon. All it took was a few introductions and we now have a wonderful babysitter just a few doors down and our three found they each had a friend of a similar age, and collectively they are simply in heaven enjoying each other's company nearly every day. Hours of outdoor free play every afternoon upon finishing school work is pretty much ideal in my book. The little ones both love princesses and initially had trouble pronouncing each other's names and called each other "Glowy" (Chloe) and "FiFi" (Phoebe). We are still getting to know this wonderful family, but we are thrilled to have regular play friends for our kiddos. </div>
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The weather has been awesome! We do get cold days, but they're not bad (30-40 F), but it's usually between 50 and 60 and a sweater is all you need. I liken it to Tennessee's winter weather with more rain.</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">The neighbor's sixteen year old babysat for us last Saturday for the Garmin Gala. We'll let you decide how it went...</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DrI3ww8qTYE/VrF5hb1HqPI/AAAAAAAACas/JQ5BY7gylv0/s1600/img_0345.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DrI3ww8qTYE/VrF5hb1HqPI/AAAAAAAACas/JQ5BY7gylv0/s640/img_0345.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>
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The last one I couldn't help cracking up. Speaking of Garmin, Ben is working hard. They figured out how much he is capable of and have tasked him to be in charge of a big project right now, so he's working a lot of extra hours until that is over. He is amazing and I am so proud of him. </div>
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Life is simple right now. We aren't doing much extra, on purpose. No church duties, no extra curricular busyness. We are planting roots, starting at home. It's monotonous and low stress and I think, we all need that right now. Visitors are welcome though! We had several people mention coming out to Oregon in the Spring, the guest room is first come first serve, so let us know!</div>
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Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-41263781966477233412016-01-14T17:29:00.000-05:002016-01-14T17:29:45.183-05:00Home for the HolidaysWe went back home for the holidays. I call it home because Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee are where our hearts are. We spent two weeks in TN and GA and one whirlwind week in OH. Ben had a shorter whirlwind trip, spending two days with my family in TN and two with his in OH, then flew back to get back to work. It was exhausting both emotionally and physically, but somehow, in spite of the dread of more goodbyes and more tears than I can count, I was ready to get back to Ben in Oregon and to the process of settling, routine and school with the kids. <br />
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We met new loved ones...our new niece, Natalie Elizabeth,</div>
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and three of our cousins had babies since we left last Summer: </div>
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baby Leila Ray Irine Meadows</div>
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Asher Martin</div>
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and Quinnten!</div>
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We connected with old friends</div>
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The kids and I even got to enjoy our annual tradition of ringing in the New Year with two sets of dear friends as we have done for 20+ years. Ben Skyped with us for part of the evening which helped ease our first New Year's Eve apart.</div>
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We visited our old houses, just for fun.</div>
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We saw our most special people.</div>
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...and somehow I didn't get any pictures of our parents. We were too busy soaking you guys up!</div>
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There were sights and sounds that brought tears to our eyes.</div>
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Downtown Dover</div>
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The LifeBridge worship team</div>
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Family loving on our kids</div>
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Worshiping with family</div>
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There is a reason I gained weight over the holidays. Zero regrets!</div>
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Literal feasts that my mother put on (LOVE that my family all wore their traditional English crowns for Christmas dinner, and that we ate brussel sprouts, YES!!)</div>
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New Year's Day pork and sour kraut with Ben's family provided my green bean casserole and home-shucked frozen sweet corn fix. Soooo good!</div>
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Grandparent's cookies, ice cream, fudge and the neighbor lady's baklava! Oh my my!</div>
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I flew across country and back with three kids without Ben and even drove them from Ohio to TN by myself too (he drove the way up, then flew back to OR). The Wiglets were really wonderful travelers. Our road trip only had one barf, one silly putty stain on leggings, and one three hour period where a very "done-with-the-car-ride" four year old cried. Other than that, it went great! This was taken in Atlanta on our way home. We brought just two carry-on overnight bags, and left with four and two large check-ons. VERY symbolic!</div>
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The three and a half week trip wasn't long enough with each person we saw, and there were countless people we wanted to see and couldn't. Wading neck deep in familiarity, friendship and love filled our hearts up. We returned ready to conquer the unfamiliar roads, find our places in this new world, rock out our jobs at Garmin or home and even hit a few New Year's resolutions for at least a few weeks like we usually do. Thank you for pouring into our lives, we love you all back. Please call or email if we didn't get to connect, we really would love that! Happy New Year all!Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-12483255508492323522015-12-07T01:08:00.000-05:002015-12-09T09:33:28.182-05:00Oregon Adventures XX<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
*The funny bits have asterisks, in case you're in a hurry. :-)</div>
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When we aren't going to be spending Christmas at home, we don't buy a real tree. We get this Charlie Brown one out of the attic instead. As I strung the lights on, half of them went out. I was thinking it was the ugliest tree we'd ever had, when the kids couldn't stop raving about our beautiful tree. Ha!</div>
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The girls making granola bars all by themselves for the first time. (They were good, but exceedingly chocolatey.) All three also sewed their own pillows this week.</div>
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Yesterday, we went to Portland for a baby party for Ben's cousin, Levi and his wife, Julie. It wasn't until 2pm, so, we went early and parked near the Portland Saturday Market. I walked to the market to do some Christmas shopping while Ben and the kids had a wee adventure.</div>
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They walked across Burnside Bridge to a bus station. This was taken at 10:30am. It was a rainy day, it doesn't start to get dark lately until 4pm.</div>
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And rode a street car to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry).</div>
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They had lunch there and played while I finished up most of my Christmas shopping. I picked them up a little too early for the party, so we drove all over Portland until it was time for the party! We met the host of the Oregon Public Broadcasting show, "Think Out Loud," Dave Miller. Ben's cousin's wife, who is great with child, is a producer of the show. We also met a band member of Levi's old band, "Ages and Ages," who we used to go see in Pittsburgh when they toured. It was a lovely baby party and had excellent Lebanese food. </div>
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I sang with a group of five other women at church today for special music, and had a solo part. It's fun to sing again. Ben has played hand drums for the last two weeks to accompany one song we are learning at church. The weather was in the high fifties today and absolutely gorgeous. A month ago a day in the fifties felt cold, but now, it's glorious! It has been raining most days for at least part of the day or night for the last few weeks. The grass is no longer brown, and the trees, though they have lost most of their leaves, many of them have moss on them that is a brilliant green now.</div>
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*Before we moved here, I had a strange conversation with Ezra in the car one day. He announced that he would not be using an umbrella in the rain any more as he wanted to be "an organist." I paused to think about this for a while and asked if he meant that he would like to be someone from Oregon. He said, "yes, an organist!" I explained that people from Oregon are called, "Oregonians, not organists or Oregoners." It turns out that lots of people call Oregon, "Ore-gone," like it's no longer here. Oregonians don't like this pronunciation. They prefer, "Oregun". Could someone from Wyoming tell me what they prefer? Wyoming or Wyomee? Thanks.</div>
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*Phoebe had another moment...every five minutes Phoebe was announcing that she loved me as she sat there in her Princess Elsa dress eating leftover sausages and an orange for lunch, she exclaimed, <i>"I'm happy...and thankful...and reasonable."</i> I beg to differ on the last one, but it wasn't the time for arguing these things. </div>
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We are counting down the days to our big trip out East: 7 left! We are excited to see as many people as possible. Ben won't be with us for most of the trip, but we'll see him for a few days in the middle. We plan to do a ton of baking this week. I will try to get a picture of the trees and their moss for you. Have a great week!</div>
Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-66853303954633598582015-11-29T16:56:00.001-05:002015-11-29T16:56:18.812-05:00Oregon Adventures XIX<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is our November from beginning to end.<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fcaB54VlEJs/VlPZ2e5l6SI/AAAAAAAACPY/a_9xOzHUC9c/s1600/20151101_180241.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fcaB54VlEJs/VlPZ2e5l6SI/AAAAAAAACPY/a_9xOzHUC9c/s400/20151101_180241.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We surprised her with a horse ride for her birthday. She loved it! </div>
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This note was accompanied by a raspberry plant. It reads, "<i>Here's hoping that you take root in our church family. The Smiths</i>". We love all these new people at our church already and we're just getting to know them.</div>
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Two birds have hit our big sliding door window that leads to our porch. This one, a black capped junco, sat stunned for a half hour afterwards then flew off. The second one didn't make it. </div>
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THIS is why we have to have flood insurance. There's a lovely creek in the nature preserve behind our house. Whenever the kids get antsy, Ben takes them to feed oats to the ducks. Evidently, bread isn't good for them. Gluten free ducks. </div>
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The Canada geese are plentiful this time of year, they live here for the winter and return to Alaska in the Spring. There is a <a href="http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Ankeny/What_We_Do/Resource_Managment/Managing_for_Geese.html" target="_blank">wildlife refuge</a> ten minutes away where most of them stay, but a few like the nature preserve behind our house. Thousands of them fly overhead several times a day and can be heard even with all the doors and windows closed. They are skittish, not mean, so I don't mind them, but worry about them pooping on our heads when we're out. (That happened to me during a visit to England when I was 8 and I have goose poo PTSD now.)</div>
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Ezra has a weekly chess date with his Great Grandpa Jennings. Grandpa is teaching Ezra all the moves and some strategy. It's the best he focuses on anything!</div>
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A few weeks ago, we unpacked the last of the boxes, sat in all the packing paper and made "snow angels" to celebrate being done. It was bitter-sweet for me. It made the permanency of our move very real to finish unpacking (read: I felt like throwing up that whole day and cried a lot).</div>
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The Riverfront Carousel in Salem was a hit.</div>
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We went with Ezra's new friend, Abel, and his family. His mom and I are friends.</div>
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The Oregon Zoo in Portland was lovely. We went with my friend, Bonnie, and her out-of-town family.</div>
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We finished recording the CD for the kid's school. My friend, Susanne, and I put all their memory work for two subjects to music. Ben and I recorded guitar, drum and vocal tracks for 24 more songs for the second half of the school year.</div>
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Drum roll, please! This is before...</div>
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...and this is now! The tooth fairy brought her a dollar. Isn't she sweet with all her blue stripes and toothlessness?</div>
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Then there is this one. This photo was her request and her choice of pose. She has said a few things, I have to share...</div>
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While looking at a picture of the Quaker Oats guy, she asks, "<i>Why is George Bushington on here</i>?" </div>
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Recently, while explaining that my cousin who came for Thanksgiving was our flower girl in our wedding, she asked, "<i>What does a flower girl do</i>?" </div>
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"They take flower petals and drop them on the floor for the bride to walk on as she comes down the aisle."</div>
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Longingly she looked at me, and said, "<i>Oh, I would like to be a flower girl, but I am being a vet when I grow up</i>." Atta girl, don't be tempted to be a professional flower girl, they get paid way less than ring bearers anyway.</div>
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Then, there was the day she said, "<i>Daddy, I have a Chinese name. It's Scream Scream</i>." Oh look, there's Sceam Scream now, photobombing her sister.</div>
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Ezra had a couple of doozies too. He came into the kitchen, where I was, and did this pose for 20 seconds and said, "<i>Mom, what is missing?</i>" Hint: It's the same thing that he has been wanting for Christmas (a football). His silly way of reminding me what to get him made me chuckle.<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UA-lh9Rf-oM/VlsiIXA-RAI/AAAAAAAACSU/i-4B4OJQV6M/s1600/20151122_152811%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UA-lh9Rf-oM/VlsiIXA-RAI/AAAAAAAACSU/i-4B4OJQV6M/s400/20151122_152811%255B1%255D.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
Also, on the Christmas topic, Ezra knows our tradition of giving each child only one gift at Christmas to represent God's gift to the world and had a good question. He asked me why it was that they only receive one present from us for Christmas, when God is, in fact, three persons? Shouldn't they receive THREE gifts? Nice try, Ez. <br />
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Our flower girl came to see us! My cousin, Lauren, lives in Washington and came down to join us for Thanksgiving. She's all grown up now, a photographer in the Navy, and is as sweet as sugar.</div>
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Guess who we visited after dinner? The ducks!</div>
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Moving across country is a big change, but one that we have always had peace about. I still don't know where to find awesome olive oil, like I had in Ohio, or bulk flour. I still use a GPS to get to all but four places I go. We still don't know anybody we'd just leave all our kids with without feeling like we're imposing (unless we pay them). We are still enamored by the mountains and ocean. We haven't been overwhelmed by rain...yet. Ben still loves his job. We have yet to see the full picture of our lives here, but are optimistic, and nostalgic. Thanks for reading.</div>
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<br />Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-49290488914102264902015-11-24T01:50:00.002-05:002015-11-24T01:57:34.164-05:00Oregon Adventures XVIIII should have known it was an omen when our jack-o-lanterns had to be tossed as they were moldy messes by the time Halloween rolled around. We learned that with the frequent showers here, pumpkins don't last long outside.<br />
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In Ohio, we had a tradition of hanging out with our former neighbor, Betty, every Halloween and help hand out candy on her block, because we didn't get too many trick-or-treaters in the country, where we lived. This year, several people from our Ohio church spent time with her for that night. We called her and she proudly informed, <i>"Eleven people were here for hot cocoa!"</i> That made our day. We really were missing Betty on Halloween. <br />
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To make the day a little spooky, and to check off something off my to-do list, I let Juni pick out something to dissect from her kit she had ordered and bought with her own money. She chose the frog. She and I outlasted the rest as we took apart every bit of it and even extracted the cornea from it's tiny eye. It was like a little plastic ball, so fascinating! <br />
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The night before Halloween, we took part in a Halloween fun night at our church's community center, which is an outreach to the local community. We helped hand out candy to the kids and had dinner with them. The pictures below were taken there. <br />
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We searched on-line and couldn't find any information regarding trick-or-treat times, except that our area gets to decide on it's own what we do. Evidently, that's code for <i>"your neighborhood doesn't do much for Halloween". </i><br />
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Our new home is in a suburb with lots of retired neighbors. I asked two of them about the traditions and one said they would be in Aruba and the other said they'd be anywhere but home for Halloween. So, we waited for dark to come and see if anyone turned on their light out front. We were prepared with travel apple sauces and glow sticks (enough for 50 or so), and Ben agreed to wait for the doorbell. I decided since the neighborhood was darker than normal, we would seek out the trick-or-treating action. Unfortunately, it was raining...hard. The kids and I took off by car for a nearby neighborhood that has nice houses and found one block with some action. Lights on, kids with parents walking outside in the rain, perfect! We parked and got out. We walked to about five houses in the rain and were drenched to the bone. We knew Oregonians don't use umbrellas, and so we didn't bring those, but we did see others with ponchos on. That would have been smart. Clear trash bags would have worked. As you can see we had some on hand.<br />
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Juni's outfit started to malfunction after about the third house and every few steps another balloon fell from between her legs and she would announce, <i>"I have released another one! It's a boy [or girl]!"</i> <br />
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Ezra and I were laughing so hard we were crying as we picked up her "eggs" from all over the sidewalk and people's porches. We were headed back to the car when I started to rethink my choice to grab gift bags for the kids to collect their candy in (we decided NOT to transport plastic pumpkins across the USA and left them in Ohio). Completely saturated at this point, their candy fell through the bottom of the paper gift bags. Phoebe was cold and miserable, and so we grabbed what we could of the candy and headed home: four soggy doggies.<br />
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[Ezra is top left and Phoebe is the left Elsa in the front row. Juni had to remove her costume by this point so she could sit down to eat.]</div>
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In hindsight, the rain may have contributed to Phoebe's dress no longer lighting up or singing, "<i>Let it Go."</i> I'm not complaining though. We made sure a desk lamp with an extension cord was on our front porch since our porch light has a motion sensor and wasn't staying on for us. Two families, a total of three children, came by that night and we gave them double apple sauce and glow sticks. We have been eating applesauce everyday since and have yet to finish it all. And so you have our first, soggy Halloween in Oregon!Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-85997166593892274652015-11-16T01:19:00.000-05:002015-11-16T01:19:55.270-05:00Oregon Adventures XVII<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Our Bus Adventure</div>
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When we first arrived in Salem, Oregon, I purchased some bus tickets for us to use sometime. One day a couple of weeks ago, I packed some hot cocoa and snacks, a jacket for everyone and off we went. It's a half mile to the bus stop from our house and despite my rushing everyone, we still missed the first bus. So, we sat at the stop, sipping our cocoa and 15 minutes later, our bus arrived.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p8p1UI-OF9c/VklmYLKrBBI/AAAAAAAACNs/TID6qsy8hLw/s1600/20151021_110551.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p8p1UI-OF9c/VklmYLKrBBI/AAAAAAAACNs/TID6qsy8hLw/s400/20151021_110551.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Ezra needed rain boots, so that was our mission, to get good quality unisex rainboots that all three would eventually wear. We were going from the bottom of the bus line to the very tippy top to an REI (outdoor supply store). What normally would take 20 minutes to drive by car would now take one hour. Isn't that fun?</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LzK2CyaT_D8/VklmX3eB6VI/AAAAAAAACNo/SMBsYuzBXnA/s1600/20151021_115659.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LzK2CyaT_D8/VklmX3eB6VI/AAAAAAAACNo/SMBsYuzBXnA/s400/20151021_115659.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We got the boots uneventfully and shared some pizza for lunch, then decided to head back. The kids were loving the bus rides sooo much they begged to stop anywhere else, just to get off and on again and make the adventure last longer. I agreed we could stop to get some milk since we were out. The first grocery store that had a stop near it was LifeSource, our favorite health food grocery store. I settled for a half gallon when I remembered the prices and then Ezra reminded me that his two week waiting period was up for spending his savings on something. Two weeks before he had requested two six packs of a special pop they carry at LifeSource (I can't recall it's name, but it only has sugar in it, no artificial flavors or corn syrup). We make them wait two weeks to use their savings to distinguish it from their spending money and to make them think about whether they really want whatever it is or not. We also don't buy pop unless there's a party. So, he really wanted this and was using his own money. </div>
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That's when everything changed. I felt this wetness on my lower back, I looked and I was covered in hot cocoa, which was dripping out of the backpack I was wearing, down the lower back of my shirt and top of my jeans. Upon inspection, the last person who had drank cocoa, had not closed the lid and had replaced it in the backpack upside down. We had no vehicle and I looked like I had pooped my pants...at the health food store. It was perhaps a second after this realization that I saw the first person I knew. It was that person who has only seen me repeatedly blundering in life for whatever reason: Late for something because we got lost; out of gas and at a gas station that you have to have a membership from online to get gas (yes, they have those here!), and so on. There was nothing to do but incredulously explain what happened. The person laughed as if, "<i>That's so typical for you!</i>" and walked away. I realized they were right and after putting the sopping backpack into a garbage bag that a kind store employee provided me, I headed to the bathroom. Thankfully, inside the backpack, my jacket was on top and hadn't gotten drenched in hot cocoa and I tied it around my waist covering the questionable stains. </div>
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In hindsight, I'm not sure why we spent so long at the store after that, looking up and down every aisle. Perhaps, I was processing it all or playing it cool, or most likely, trying to convince the kind store employees that were were there to spend money, not cause trouble. A lady from church was on her lunch break and we chit-chatted. I would have told her about the problem on my backside if she hadn't been in a hurry, it was just as well. With my jacket being white, I worried it would soak up the cocoa and show through, but alas I was ok. We checked out and headed to the bus stop. The buses were much more full on the way home and Ez and June sat toward the back while I sat with Phoebe in an open seat toward the front. </div>
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Twenty minutes later we got to our stop (again, this would have been seven minutes in a car) and started walking the half mile toward home with the plastic garbage bag containing the messy backpack in one hand and the paper bag from LifeSource in the other, both too heavy for the kids to help with. The milk, the two six packs of black cherry pop and impulse egg rolls in it got heavy fast and in readjusting, the handles broke. I tied them together again and gritted my teeth as I led the kids home, tremendously thankful I had only purchased a half gallon of milk.</div>
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This is a picture of the last time I wore this shirt, the cocoa stains did not come out (it actually got dried in the dryer by accident before getting checked - another fail). The pop is gone now, the boots are great, and the kids still beg to go on another bus adventure soon and I'm open, but we will leave the thermos and cocoa behind.</div>
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<br />Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-22179310354849781842015-10-31T01:39:00.000-04:002015-10-31T01:39:13.584-04:00Oregon Adventures XVI<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Edible Mushroom Retreat</span></u></div>
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This past weekend, we went on an edible mushroom retreat at Drift Creek Camp. Yes, this is the camp that when I picked Ezra up from it this past Summer he said, "I ate berries and they made me throw up!" Then, all of <a href="http://wiglife.blogspot.com/2015/07/oregon-adventures-vib.html" target="_blank">this</a> happened.</div>
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We had free time the first night, then a presentation in the morning on what to look for and what to watch out for.</div>
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Then they fed us well so we wouldn't be tempted to eat mushrooms on our hunt, then sent us out searching.</div>
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The presenters did some mushroom hunting on the way to the retreat and found this King Bolete. It's edible!</div>
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A Big Leaf Maple leaf - which Juni brought in and had inspected by the mushroom expert, who found fungus on it! </div>
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I heard there were a lot of banana slugs out on the coast and was very pleased to find two. This one found a mushroom before we did, it was slimey, he can keep it. Ezra happily informed me that he had licked a banana slug earlier in the day to make his tongue go numb.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BNb3H6TcAfo/VjGL9bhzV1I/AAAAAAAACLg/O1_5oAC43U0/s1600/20151024_123813.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BNb3H6TcAfo/VjGL9bhzV1I/AAAAAAAACLg/O1_5oAC43U0/s320/20151024_123813.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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The slug licker over Drift Creek</div>
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Here's a fun little mushroom we found, no idea what it is. We finished so early, we had to kill time before the expert returned from his hunt to ID our finds.</div>
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Juni still loves little toads.</div>
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Ben checking out the salmon</div>
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Can you see them?</div>
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Finally, all the other hunters returned with their goodies. Here the mushroom guru was putting Ezra's 'rooms into piles of edible and non-edible. He found one Chanterelle, several Honey Mushrooms and lots of poisonous ones.</div>
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Here someone found a good selection of coral mushrooms. Our leader told us he has friends who eat the colored coral, but the white ones are diuretic. He said he doesn't eat any of them.</div>
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Some people found A LOT of mushrooms!!!</div>
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That's it for those in a hurry, but for anyone wanting to learn a little extra about mushrooms, see below. I love to share what I learned! None of the pictures below are mine, found them all on the internet, so you know.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><u>Fungi</u> </b></span>(which he pronounced "Fun-jee"): </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Here's how they eat!</u></span></div>
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Three ways:</div>
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<b>1. Mycorrhizol</b>: Half of mushrooms and almost all truffles are mychorrhizol. They form a symbiotic partnership with trees. The tree gets nutrients, the mushroom gets it's food from the tree's photosynthesis abilities. No one has successfully reproduced these kind of mushrooms in a lab, they are only in the wild.</div>
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<img height="205" src="http://wonkonthewildlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/mycorrhizal-fungus-1038x532.jpg" width="400" /></div>
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<b>2. Saprobic:</b> These are decomposers. Did you know that wood would not decompose without these? There are two types. One digests cellulose which produces "brown rot" </div>
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<img src="http://images.bqbasementsystems.com/150/wood-damage-dry-rot-thm.jpg" /></div>
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and one digests lignion which produces "white rot".</div>
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<img src="http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/wong/BOT135/images/White_Rot_Aspen.jpg" /></div>
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<b>3. Parasitic</b> - These attack living plants causing disease or death to them. Honey mushrooms are one we found that are edible, but are parasitic.</div>
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<img height="300" src="http://www.michiganmorels.com/beyond_the_morel/2004images/honey4.jpg" width="400" /></div>
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When identifying mushrooms, there are a few things to note to help you identify them. </div>
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Do they have <b>gills</b>? If so, which type?</div>
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<img height="400" src="http://www.toxinology.com/generic_static_files/images_generic/MD-lamellae_attachment1.gif" width="339" /></div>
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Or do they have <b>pores</b>? Like the King Bolete!</div>
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<img height="391" src="http://www.backyardnature.net/n/12/120527bp.jpg" width="400" /></div>
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Or <b>teeth</b>?</div>
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<img height="300" src="http://www.uwgb.edu/biodiversity/resources/mushrooms/Fungi%20of%20Toft%20Point%20Photos/Dentinum-repandum-2.jpg" width="400" /></div>
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Next, look at it's <b>stem</b>...</div>
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These are Matsutake mushrooms and are highly prized in Asian cooking... <img src="http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/images/tmag1.jpg" /></div>
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...and should not be confused with the Smith's Amanita, </div>
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which can cause kidney failure. See the bulbous stem?</div>
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<img height="300" src="http://www.mushroomexpert.com/images/kuo5/amanita_polypyramis_02.jpg" width="400" /></div>
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Does it have a <b>ring/veil</b>? If so, does it go up or down? One he showed us went down like the one below and was edible, the other, looked just like it, but the veil went up and causes profuse sweating.</div>
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<img src="http://www.midwestmycology.org/images/identification%20images/mush_id_diagram1.jpg" /></div>
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Make note of it's <b>habitat</b>. Did you find it in dirt, on a tree, what type of tree? By the way, he mentioned lawn mushrooms as generally being inedible.</div>
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<b>Crafty moms, take note! </b>The final way we were taught to identify a mushroom was by it's <b>spore print</b>. Anyone can do this and easily with any type of mushroom!</div>
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Cut off the cap of the mushroom and set it cap down on some paper. If you have two, put one on dark paper and one on light. Cover with a bowl for four or more hours and then remove. You will be left with beautiful spore prints that are great for helping identify the mushroom as spore color can be the only difference between edible and poisonous doppelgangers. </div>
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<img height="325" src="https://www.anbg.gov.au/fungi/images/0017.jpg" width="400" /></div>
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It is always safe to assume that mushrooms are poisonous. It is wise to not consume any that you have picked without approval of a veteran mushroom hunter (ours was a third generation mushroom hunter, has his PhD in mycology and wrote a book on Truffles): Dr. Matt Trappe. Also, many edible mushrooms are only edible after cooking, so never eat one raw that you've found in the wild! </div>
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We haven't eaten our edible mushrooms yet, but will be sauteeing them in butter tomorrow. It will be the last time we eat wild mushrooms until we return to another mushroom retreat. Oh, and if anyone is in the market for a good book on mushrooms, he recommended this classic, "<i>Mushrooms Demystified</i>," by David Arora. For kids, I still love, "Katya's Book of Mushrooms," by Katya Arnold. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Have a FUNgi day!</span></div>
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<br />Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-64829272540701135582015-10-18T17:17:00.000-04:002015-10-19T09:34:52.102-04:00Oregon Adventures XV<div style="text-align: center;">
The view down our street - it's almost a dark purple tree!</div>
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Conifers are abundant here, but the beautiful deciduous trees are what remind us of Fall in Ohio.</div>
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On Friday, the school behind us had a jog-a-thon and we got to participate since it is P.E. related.</div>
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Run, Ezra and Juni, run!</div>
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We joined a second library for the sake of convenience. This one is right by our CC campus in Albany. We felt a little like the Beverly Hillbillies as we discovered their checkout process, you just scan your card, then set your books on this contraption and it automatically checks all your books out. You can set up to 10 books at a time on there! When you return them, there's a chip reader in the return slot, so before they fall into the bin, they are checked back in! Welcome to the 21st century, Wigtons!</div>
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Phoebe and I had a date yesterday and went to the locally famous Gerry Frank's Konditorei. She ate almost all of her giant piece of chocolate cake. I had only half of my peanut butter chocolate cake and I still have an upset belly from it! We had fun planning her upcoming birthday and chasing ravens in the parking lot afterwards.</div>
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Cute Phoebe facts: She frequently says, "<i>I'm growing my hair long like Rapunzel so I can decorate your house for Christmas, Mommy.</i>" She likes PINK, princesses, Elsa in particular, kittens, puppies and horses. That is four year old Phoebe in a nutshell!</div>
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Today (Sunday), we had a lovely morning at a church we've courted 3-4 times and are now off for a family bike ride. I will add pictures when we get back. It's a lovely day! </div>
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Juni had a little intrepidation at first but bravely held on and overcame her fears. </div>
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Ben and I are working on the second half of the songs for the kid's school memory work for Classical Conversations. We have about 10 songs left to do before Thanksgiving, we are right on schedule. </div>
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<br />Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-74006884618976155692015-10-11T00:23:00.001-04:002015-10-11T12:01:16.028-04:00Oregon Adventures XIV<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Our Junia turned 7 at the end of last month and here are some memories from her special day:</div>
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Her new CC friend, Julia, has a twin brother and both spent the day with us.</div>
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We went back to Air Salem and this time, I didn't take ONE picture, thankfully Ben did. See Ezra's <a href="http://wiglife.blogspot.com/2015/06/oregon-adventures-iii.html" target="_blank">birthday blog</a> post if you want reminded why I didn't take pictures this time.</div>
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Then we went to a buffet called, Izzy's, for a fun lunch. Juni was sung to by the staff and got this exciting piece of cheese cake, which I ate for her, since she didn't like it.</div>
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She was much more excited later that evening when she got the cake she had chosen herself: CHOCOLATE! That's my girl! Actually, her Daddy likes it too, and since his birthday was the day before, we relit those candles and sang again for him and they shared the cake.</div>
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<b>Fun Juni fact</b>: When Juni was one her front tooth had to be pulled when it broke above the gumline in a bathtub slip. Now, the remaining front tooth is loose! She has waited a long time for this! We will keep you posted.</div>
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OK, for the first time in a long time, I am caught up! The pictures below were taken today. That's right! Today. This is what we did today. Just have to keep saying it! It's way more fun to blog about current events than old ones.</div>
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Today, the girls and I went to Oregon's Mennonite Festival! We went mostly for the children's auction, where kids get paddles to bid on fun things (see Phoebe's win below). But, it's famous for their quilt auction. We looked at all the pretty quilts and listened to the auction for a while. All proceeds from the festival go to world hunger relief.</div>
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I noticed a very elderly lady leaning against the back wall, behind bleachers filled with auction goers as she wrote down the sale price on her program listing all the quilts. I could see her wheels turning, plotting out the most lucrative quilt for next year's auction.</div>
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We also played in a maze made of hay bales, which made me sneeze. We bought lots of apple cider and had fun together. I saw people from all the different Mennonite churches we have visited. One sweet older gentleman greeted me and said how good it was to see me again. I do wish I remembered which church we met at, he was very sweet. </div>
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Ben and Ezra met friends in McMinnville at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum while we were shopping. This is Ezra in front of the Spruce Goose, the world's largest wooden airplane.</div>
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Ben said their collection rivaled that of the Smithsonian. He was very impressed with what he saw today. This is the SR-71, the world's fastest airplane. This is Ben's favorite aircraft and he loved finally seeing one in person.</div>
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Ezra was pretty impressed too! This is a full size replica of the Apollo Mission Lunar Lander. They got to try landing it using a simulator. According to the simulator, only 14% of people attempting the landing do it successfully; Ben nailed it first time and was the only one today to do so.</div>
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This evening Ben and I unpacked boxes of more things we own. We have been married for 18 years now and have accumulated far too much stuff. We are making every effort to reduce some of this baggage. Moving is exhausting, goodnight!</div>
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<br />Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-79862361081495716782015-10-07T01:04:00.002-04:002015-10-07T01:04:52.154-04:00Oregon Adventures XIII<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Have we mentioned that Oregon is beautiful?</div>
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What we miss from Ohio this week: <a href="http://www.ovharvest.com/" target="_blank">OV Harvest</a> (best olive oil and balsamic vinegar in the world, sold right there in downtown New Philadelphia, Ohio) and our church, <a href="http://lifebridgedover.org/" target="_blank">LifeBridge Community Church</a> (best church in the world).</div>
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School is underway. Just like everything else in our lives, it too, looks COMPLETELY different from a year ago. Thankfully, one thing has remained consistent, Classical Conversations (CC), our classically based homeschool group that is a nation wide program. We go once a week and the kids do presentations, learn new material, do science experiments, art projects or music, and play with friends.</div>
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Ezra (in yellow, on left) attends a weekly Lego Robotics Club for homeschoolers </div>
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At home, the Wiglets like to do school in their "spaceships" when possible. When we do CC memory work review, they like to fly to "<i>CC-topia</i>" and visit "<i>Englishia</i>" and "<i>Mathland,</i>" etc. where they meet a strange person at each place who oddly enough looks just like their mother, but each speaks with a different accent within their mother's repertoire. They love this, even though the "stranger" is constantly quizzing them. Works for me!</div>
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A new adventure just began last week for us, Ezra and Juni now go to the elementary school behind us everyday (except CC day) and participate in music and P.E. They enjoy this a lot, and the school has been very welcoming and made efforts to consolidate their classes as much as possible. I have enjoyed riding my bike with the kiddie trailer to and from to drop off or pick up Juni each day.</div>
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Our trips to the school have given us the opportunity to see (just in one week!): </div>
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Crawdads in the creek, </div>
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tons of dogs being walked,</div>
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a Stellar's Jay,</div>
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a tiny snake, </div>
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and this giant slug! </div>
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This is preferable to a tiny slug and giant snake, yes?</div>
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Zoomin' in!</div>
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The Stellar's Jay took our breath away.</div>
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Another change for us is the kids are growing up. Before we left Ohio, their future aspirations were to become a paleontologist (Ezra), a milk maid (Juni) and a mermaid (Phoebe). Now, Ezra wants to work for Garmin, Juni wants to be a scientist and Phoebe a vet! </div>
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<span style="text-align: center;"> Ezra makes a new original Lego creation and food creation every day, he can make whole meals now.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Juni is currently obsessed with science and is constantly working on new experiments, crafting or reading.</span></div>
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Phoebe is everywhere all the time, but is consistently girly. She gets to have her nails painted anytime she sleeps through the night, which like the books, "<i>If you give a mouse a cookie...</i>" If you give a Phoebe nail polish, she almost certainly has to find a princess dress to put on, and once she has a princess dress on, she is reminded she loves to twirl around and asks you to put on some music...and so on and so on and hopefully in the end, she exhausts herself so much she sleeps through the night...and earns more nail polish the next day.</div>
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<br />Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-76875799835454086982015-09-27T01:48:00.002-04:002015-09-27T01:48:50.754-04:00Oregon Adventures XII <span style="text-align: center;">My parents might have detected a hint of homesickness when we were talking a few months ago, a couple of weeks later they called and said, "<i>We're coming to see you guys!</i>" Our spirits instantly lifted and have remained at a good place ever since. </span><br />
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We took them to Salem's Saturday market. Ezra got to be a helper to this hula hooper who was once on <a href="http://www.nbc.com/americas-got-talent/video/that-hula-hoop-guy-judge-cuts/2886045" target="_blank">Germany's Got Talent</a>.</div>
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Sunday we took them to the Oregon State Fair (where Ben was volunteered by Ezra to go up on stage). Ben was less than enthused.</div>
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I think my parents had a a good time.</div>
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We did too!</div>
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This is the footpath two doors down that takes you to either the elementary school behind us or to a nature preserve with wild blackberries and a creek. Phoebe rides that tricycle every chance she gets!</div>
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We go every night that the kids are needing to burn off energy, which is most nights.</div>
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One tradition my parents have started is to put on a tea party for the kids every time they get together. The parties always have themes and are quite elaborate. Some have suggested my mom go into business putting on themed tea parties. This trip, they did not disappoint. It took months of preparation, as usual, with days of work preceding the actual event: baking cupcakes and painting little wooden figures to coordinate with the characters in the book, "<i>Pilgrim's Progress</i>," the theme of this week's tea party. Themes in the past have varied from, "<i>The Very Hungry Caterpillar</i>," to "Pirates and Fairies". In the weeks prior to my parent's arrival, I read aloud a children's version of "<i>Pilgrim's Progress</i>," by John Bunyan as retold by Geraldine McCaughrean. They loved it. Now, they get to act it out with figurines they made with their grandparents!</div>
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Gathering the materials for this project (and getting them to Oregon) was no small feat as well.</div>
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Up close</div>
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Tea Parties often involve costumes for the kids. Here Ezra is in the new tree house that came with the house, taking a break from the tea party theme and instead acting out Monty Python's famous line, "<i>Your mother was a hamster and your father smells of elderberries!</i>" I love that my dad taught him that!</div>
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Not sure who enjoys the tea parties more, my parents or the kids.</div>
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One night my parents watched the kids for us so we could go on a date. We went to a very nice restaurant called, "<a href="http://www.rafns.com/" target="_blank">Rafn's</a>" that used only local foods, then just walked the streets of downtown Salem to get to know them a bit better. This was a cool tree we found.</div>
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We walked a super long time. It was a lovely night.</div>
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We drove to the ocean the day before they left. I think, if I had to guess, this was my mom's favorite place. I think it brought back memories of when we lived in Monterey, California. I was just little (maybe five?) and my dad was there to learn Persian Farsi at linguistics school. I can still say, "My name is Rebecca and I am five and a half years old," and count to ten. :-) He used to write our Christmas lists in Farsi, so we couldn't read it. </div>
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Sunday we went to Portland and met some of their friends from England and Germany, while they toured the Sunday market.</div>
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They got to see some of Portland's finest.</div>
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Including <a href="http://voodoodoughnut.com/doughnuts.php" target="_blank">VooDoo Donuts</a> which has a constant line stretching down the street (we did not bother, though we all wished we could try the crazy donuts they sell there). We had some maple bacon ice cream from the market instead, which was surprisingly good.</div>
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The week and two days went entirely too fast, but it was medicine for us all and greatly appreciated! Not pictured are all the restaurants we visited together and all the work my parents did in our home while they were here. I didn't do any laundry or dishes for the entire week thanks to my mom and tons of odd jobs around the house got done thanks to my dad. While sight seeing, I heard them often compare Oregon to England or Germany, which I think could be interpreted as "<i>feels like home</i>" coming from them after having lived in Europe for 23 years. We definitely felt they came and gave their blessing on our new home and it was just what we needed. Thanks for visiting, Mom and Dad!</div>
<br />Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-22018311159604618692015-09-15T01:00:00.000-04:002015-09-15T01:00:02.506-04:00Oregon Adventures: Moving Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
When we moved all our household goods from Ohio, Garmin sent a giant moving truck and movers who packed all our breakables (we packed up the rest). This time, we were only moving 15 minutes away from our rental home... </div>
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to our newly purchased home, </div>
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<img alt="6388 Doral Dr SE, Salem, OR 97306" height="266" src="http://photos1.zillowstatic.com/p_h/IS13rxidxlw7121000000000.jpg" width="400" /></div>
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...but we were without professional movers...or so we thought. In the two weeks prior to moving day, we had numerous people call about an e-mail forwarded to them by their pastor at Salem Mennonite church, offering to help on moving day. I believe twelve RSVP'd, but 15 showed up.</div>
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The Linds were the lead volunteers and brought their truck and trailer along.</div>
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They started a little before ten and were done by eleven a.m., so we had an early lunch! I wanted to order Chipotle catering, but it was so expensive, so earlier in the week I made homemade refried beans, shredded some chicken, cilantro lime rice and had our own version of Chipotle. </div>
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Many of our morning helpers stayed on for round two at the new house. All was done by 3pm and our plans to order everyone pizza were null and void as it was far too early for dinner. We had one incident where I smelled something funny inside the house and we realized it wasn't the forest fires outside, it was the box sitting on the stove top that had caught fire! Our new stove has knobs in the front that turn on easily, something to be aware of!</div>
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We felt so overwhelmed by the gracious help of so many people we didn't even know. We were exhausted the next day, but visited their church again, just to say thank you! We were so humbled when our house sold in one day in Ohio, and again, faces in hands, completely full of gratitude for the help that was sent. </div>
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It's been three weeks since moving day, and one week after the big move, my parents visited from Tennessee for one week (lots of pictures and stories forthcoming about that), and have begun our school year. Today, Saturday, the 12th of September, is the first day we've spent completely focused on unpacking since the move. We took everything out of the garage to sort and organize it. We had no less than twenty people stop by and ask if we were having a garage sale! The kids were worried people would walk off with our things if we weren't out there.</div>
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We have loved living in this neighborhood already! We chose the house mainly because of the layout, the low traffic and proximity to two parks. Turns out, there aren't many cars, but there are a LOT of people that walk by all day long: Dog walkers, moms and dads with strollers, walkers, runners, people taking their kids to the school behind us and so on! It's been fun for the kids. We also have a brave gray squirrel and our own family of Western Scrub Jays (stock photo, not mine).</div>
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We are very much at peace with where we have chosen and in spite of still being surrounded by boxes inside (the garage looks great!), we still feel very much at home. We are so ready for some permanency and routine, it's been a long transition!</div>
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<br />Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-30845142348442879102015-09-12T10:30:00.000-04:002015-09-12T10:30:02.971-04:00Oregon Adventures XI<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
There was so much interest in the train that runs along the road, that when I finally saw the train as I went Northbound on River Road, I grabbed another pic to share with you. I should have mentioned in the first place that this train goes very slow. It is odd being allowed to drive so close to it though.</div>
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Well, we basically had one last whirlwind week just before we moved on August 22nd. We started out with a trip to OMSI, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry located in Portland. It is huge and fun! Here's Phoebe playing chipmunk in the imagination play room.</div>
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Ezra making spin art by light of a strobe light.</div>
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This room took my breath away. It's a room of babies. Real babies in formaldehyde from a few weeks old to birth. It's better than any ultrasound to show the humanity and miracle of even the tiniest unborn baby. As you enter, a sign says that all the babies died of natural causes.</div>
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There were parents telling their children about their birth experiences and a woman silently standing, unmovable in front of one baby, 19 weeks, I believe. It was a place of contemplation and reverence.</div>
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The girls especially enjoyed the Chemistry room where three lab assistants were available to help with one of their experiments set up around the room. We conducted four experiments before we moved on.</div>
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OMSI seemed endless, there was more there than our little ones were capable of seeing in one day. I appreciated the robotics department and the earthquake room simulating what we might feel someday. I am very much looking forward to taking Ben here.</div>
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This is Bonnie and her baby girl! She and her family kindly included us on their trip to OMSI. She's my Canadian friend who loves Yerba Mate tea so much. :-) She is my favorite surprise blessing since moving Oregon.</div>
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Wednesdays we have enjoyed going to the local Children's museum for drama time. Juni loves the "China Room" the most. I just noticed the jumping boy in this pic! Ha!</div>
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Thursday and Friday had us busy cleaning the new house and packing up the little we had unpacked at the rental home in preparation for moving day. So, we treated ourselves to Thai food at Mina's Cafe for lunch and for kicks tried the menu item called, "Bubble Tea." It was a smoothie with giant tapioca balls in it that fit up the large straw you use. So, you are drinking a smoothie then pausing to chew up what feels like a gummy bear every few seconds. Ezra and Phoebe and I loved it. Juni is like her Daddy and is a texture person and Bubble Tea is too strange of a texture for her.</div>
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Saturday was moving day and it gets a post of it's own. Thanks for reading! </div>
Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-88838440231391434572015-08-25T10:59:00.000-04:002015-08-25T10:59:17.613-04:00Oregon Adventures X <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We had a lovely picnic with Salem Mennonite church, which we visited once before (and went to their camp). It was at a gorgeous farm halfway to the coast from Salem (about 45 min.). </div>
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They had meditative activities to choose from such as coloring, writing out Scripture, a drum circle, and feeding the baby goats and sheep. After lunch we went on a hayride together to visit a Christmas tree farm and Christmas tree SEED farm. I learned a lot about the reproduction of conifer trees. It was a lovely day and we were smitten by the people and the scenery.</div>
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That week, we had orientation for Classical Conversations, meeting more people we will be spending the school year with. We went to drama time at Gilbert House Children's Museum, which the kids loved! Also, I went to a homeschool planning night with other moms where they were making chore charts, laminating things, creating spiral bound books of work for each semester and plotting out their school year. It was fun! </div>
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That weekend, since the last of our equipment had arrived, I finished the lyrics to the geography songs and we dived into recording 12 geography songs and 12 science songs (which my Ohio friend, Susanne, wrote). All contain the memory work our kids will need to memorize in Classical Conversations. If I can figure out how to share any of the music with you all I will! We have them in .wav and .mp3 formats, but neither are easy to put on a blog.</div>
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Like our setup to absorb sound waves? Ben said it sounded like we were in a bathroom, and so put blankets everywhere.</div>
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ACHOO!</div>
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We busted out 24 songs in two days! I am so happy we got it done! Now to do the other 24 before Christmas so we can have the second semester covered. Ben and I love singing and recording together. We may have to start making our own kids music CDs just to have an excuse to sing together. I love that man'o'mine!</div>
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<br />Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-60588936907826531572015-08-17T10:52:00.000-04:002015-08-17T10:52:01.622-04:00Oregon Adventures IX<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I love water pad pictures. They are so happy!</div>
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Tuesday, we went peach picking with our friends, the Linds. I had never heard of Veteran peaches, guess we're not veteran peach pickers yet! They were very good, similar to our favorite Contenders. For those thinking of peach picking who haven't, it goes really quick. Like ten minutes to get almost 20 pounds. They're big and heavy compared to berries and before you know it, it's over. We paid $1/pound.</div>
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There is a road near us that we take as a quick route to most places. It has a train tracks going down them, and once in a while, there's a train on them! Ben had seen it a few times, I hadn't and of course I took a picture when I did finally get to drive along side a train down the road. </div>
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Saturday, we decided to do something much calmer than last weekend. Ben's words were, <i>"Let's visit something beautiful." </i>We ended up choosing Silver Falls State Park in Sublimity, OR. There are ten water falls in a 7 mile hike. You can walk behind three of the falls. </div>
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It was very lovely, see for yourself!</div>
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It was about an hour away from our rental home in Keizer, Oregon. We took Ben's '67 Plymouth Fury and I wore a scarf in my hair to look the part.</div>
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There were black fields around us and the odd smell of beef jerky looming around us. It dawned on us that the fields were burnt! Locals later informed us that this is common practice in this area to purge unwanted insects and weeds from a field as well as provide nutrition to the soil.</div>
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We did a shorter hike circuit of about 2.6 miles rather than seven and saw two water falls instead of ten.</div>
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Evidently, during a drought, the waterfall doesn't splash you in the face as much when you walk behind it. We were told by some that it might do that. I think this waterfall is far from it's normal splendor right now, but still lovely.</div>
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Finding treasures along the way!</div>
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The second fall we saw.</div>
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Phoebe wants you all to know about her favorite edible weed: wood-sorrel. It tastes like lemon! Make sure the leaves are heart shaped. We have never seen them so large as at this state park!</div>
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Well, this took me some time to get posted, but here it is! Lots more to catch you all up on! We closed on our house Friday, but don't get the keys till today. We are excited about it! Anybody free this Saturday? We appreciate any help moving and are providing lunch and dinner to helpers! Let me know, if so! :-)</div>
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<br />Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-43360858827493047732015-08-08T18:58:00.000-04:002015-08-08T18:58:01.130-04:00Oregon Adventures VIII<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Our eighth week here was lovely, though I have no pictures to prove of our time at a church camp that was a community outreach for the local area we live in. I got to know some wonderful people at Salem Mennonite church and many from the community. </div>
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Saturday, we decided to head to Portland for two reasons. #1. Portland's Saturday Market!</div>
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This is a local brand of kombucha that is super healthy for you. Some brands are better than others for you. They sell this one at our local health food store in Salem.</div>
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See anything wrong with his head?</div>
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Ezra had to try too. I'm more disturbed by his choice of clothes, how did I not notice this pairing when we left the house?!</div>
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Within about 20 feet there was a magician, a guitarist playing music and a hoola-hoop performer. I saw lots of great artsy things I would love to buy for Christmas, but it was too crowded for lingering with the kids. There was about another block of market that we didn't even get to see.</div>
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There were people everywhere. This has been consistent everytime I have gone to Portland (4 times now?). Tons and tons of people. It is one of the most crowded places I have ever been. I liken it to New York, only the buildings are shorter.<br />
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There were even interesting people doing interesting things for free, no money being requested. Just in the middle of space.</div>
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#2. The other reason we came to Portland was for FLUGTAG. Translated, it means Flying Day, in German. It is sponsored by Red Bull and is a race to see who can build a silly flying machine and get it to fly the furthest after they push it off a platform over the water. These boats are lining up to watch the action from the water.</div>
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It was a really hot day, mid 90s and did I mention there were a lot of people there? As we walked to find a spot to watch, we walked through the "hangar" where all the aircraft and their owners were.</div>
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We saw the Beach Bums</div>
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The Flying Squirrels</div>
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The Purple Unicorns?</div>
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Australian TinkerBell? Bang-a-Rang</div>
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The Bowling Spartans?</div>
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Mr. Tumnus?</div>
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I give up.</div>
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See the Red Bull runway? It ends over the water. There are thousands of people on the lawn between us and the water.</div>
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See?</div>
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Phoebe was crying because she was hungry and since everybody stood up in front of us when it started, the kids had to take turns being held up to see the action. So, there was always one or more upset. We saw a few flying machines take off and plop into the water, but decided to go when the crowd behind us started pushing and crushing us. We found out later, that the whole thing was shut down early by the coast guard because The Portland Spirit couldn't get through the FlugTag boat traffic. (photo below from KOIN.com) We were long gone before the masses were disappointed by the news of their fun ending early.</div>
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<img alt="A twitter picture shows the Portland Spirit among smaller boats watching the Red Bull Flugtag, August 1, 2015 (@mbrawley1)" height="300" src="https://lintvkoin.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/portland-spirit-vs-red-bull-mbrawley1-twitter.jpg" width="400" /></div>
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We didn't end up missing as much of FlugTag as we thought! We took all of Sunday to recuperate from our Portland trip. It was whoa whoa.</div>
Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-90504257048521924342015-08-03T00:00:00.000-04:002015-08-07T22:42:17.387-04:00Tid Bit<div style="text-align: center;">
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Saturday, July 18th, even though we were all still pooped from a big week, we didn't want to miss seeing Salem's Art Fair and Festival. We got to look at amazing art (maybe a fourth of what there was to see) for 20 minutes, then had to find the kid activities, then sit and eat sno-cones with squirrels at the park (this is Bush's park again).</div>
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This is where I got uncomfortable with the squirrel invading my personal space (read: I jumped back scared). I had no food, just my cell phone, but he/she had to sniff it to make sure it wasn't edible. In our part of Ohio, we had gray and beguiling black squirrels. Here we see gray and speckled. Fearless speckled.</div>
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Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-45372292637494713902015-08-02T08:34:00.000-04:002015-08-02T08:34:29.874-04:00Oregon Adventures VII<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Our seventh week began with a short return to the Gilbert Hall Children's museum. With a membership, we figure it's our duty to try and go once a week in the Summer and perhaps every other week in the school year. Ezra is not hitting Phoebe on the head as this optical illusion suggests. </div>
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Phoebe and Juni had their intake appointments at our new doctor's office. </div>
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Tuesday, we had an adventure trip to visit a friend in Dayton, Oregon who attended LeTourneau University the same time we did and also married their college sweetheart. On they way (25 minute drive in a new direction -NW), we passed these interesting fields, miles of them. Clusters of what looked like grapes hung down around them and they were almost as tall as a telephone pole. See answer at bottom of what it is. My friend had to tell me when we arrived what these were.</div>
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Then we saw an eagle's nest, which was pretty exciting. </div>
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THEN, we were surprised when the road ended. </div>
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The sign said $2 for ferry ride across. You would have thought we had gone to Cedar Point Amusement Park. We were all excited and nervous at the same time.</div>
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It was just a wee ferry. You can ride it for free as a pedestrian, so we could go back and forth all day if we wanted. {{Memory Lane trip next - skip if you like}} Once upon a time (May 1998), Ben and I visited my parents in England while they were living there. We did a tour of Scotland to honor Ben's ancestry visiting Wigtown, Scotland, which, if you say with a good Scottish accent comes out, "Wigton". Another place we stopped in Scotland was Inchmahome Priory. To get to it, you stand on a dock and turn a sign and wait. Eventually, a very old man arrives in a little boat. For 50 pence he'll give you a lift to the priory which is surrounded by the only lake in Scotland (not a loch): Lake of Menteith. No cars, but very similar otherwise. Our trip to Dayton reminded me of this fun memory. Somewhere I have cheesy pictures of Ben and I kissing at the Inchmahome ruins. OK, back to 2015.</div>
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The sweetest family ever: The Sweets! Jeannette Sweet and I were in the women's dormitory together at LeTourneau at the same time. She also homeschools her kids, so we had lots to talk about (while Phoebe stuck stickers to me).</div>
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Later in the week, we visited the "O-port" according to Phoebe. She's been working on it and it sometimes get corrected to "Orport" or "Airpert". Ezra and Juni are determined to teach her the proper pronunciation. He showed us the newest toy: a remote control helicopter lift. Here's <a href="https://youtu.be/rA7S6mMfyto" target="_blank">a video</a> of it in action, if anyone is curious.</div>
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Daddy's desk. When he comes home from work, I noticed the kids say, "How was Garmin?" rather than work. It's almost like they think he's visited an old friend all day!</div>
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Saturday morning, we did pottery at home, as promised to a certain almost 7 year old.</div>
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Phoebe's showed a lot of character.</div>
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That afternoon, we went to Salem's public library to read to animals, wasn't that nice of us?! It may be our new ministry. :-)</div>
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Not shown was us being home the rest of the week. We enjoyed it very much!</div>
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ANSWER: Hops! See it leaping up to the sky?Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-60736347156710285452015-07-31T17:02:00.000-04:002015-07-31T17:02:20.457-04:00Pint Sized Post<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Between bites of burrito at lunch today...</span><br />
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Phoebe: "Mommy? Did you know that the whole world is in Jesus' hand? So, we are walking on His hand!"<br />
Me: "I hope it doesn't tickle too much."<br />
Juni: "<i>I</i> hope He doesn't have to itch His nose!"Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-9380212910174850602015-07-30T11:37:00.000-04:002015-07-30T11:37:01.063-04:00Tid Bit<div style="text-align: center;">
Ben is sharing his bike ride to work yesterday with anyone interested seeing a biker's view of Keizer and Salem, Oregon, or just getting some vicarious exercise this morning! </div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ezOA6AHUGwE?rel=0" width="560"></iframe></div>
Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-51033195622274499602015-07-29T00:00:00.000-04:002015-07-29T00:00:07.528-04:00Tid Bit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img src="http://lamplighter.cooperyoung.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/1013Growler.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></div>
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Something of interest to me here is the kombucha. I made my own kombucha in Ohio. Since we are still surrounded by boxes and living in purgatory, I have been buying kombucha. They have these things called "growlers" (see photo above) that you can buy anywhere and fill at a growler fill station, We have a "Growl Movement" store near us. You can fill it with any of their beers or kombuchas on tap for about $14. You take it home and when it's empty, bring the growler back and get it refilled! If you prefer, you can fill them with the kombucha on tap at some local restaurants or the health food grocery store. For those who don't know what kombucha is, it's a fermented beverage that turns to vinegar as it ages, rather than alcohol. It is widely known for it's <a href="http://www.foodrenegade.com/kombucha-health-benefits/">many health benefits</a>, including being anti-inflammatory for arthritis, it's anti-cancer properties and most of all it's amazing probiotics, which can heal the gut of all sorts of things. In other words, it cleans you out! Between all the kombucha and the fresh berries, we are doing really well in the regularity department, if you know what I mean! Woo wee!</div>
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Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-84099758183728109572015-07-27T16:35:00.000-04:002015-07-27T16:35:39.978-04:00Tid Bit<div style="text-align: center;">
We are getting excited about moving. We should close in about two weeks. Here's a sneak peek at the front of our new home. </div>
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<img alt="6388 Doral Dr SE, Salem, OR 97306" src="http://photos1.zillowstatic.com/p_h/IS13rxidxlw7121000000000.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></div>
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We are constantly inundated with newness (yes, even a month and a half after arriving). New roads to drive, new people, new grocery stores, new fashions (kind of), new trees, flowers, opportunities. It's fun on one hand, but exhausting on the other. <span style="text-align: center;"> It's the best way to not feel sad or lonely, distraction!! So, if it seems like we are going a lot of places and doing a lot of things, I am also eating a lot of chocolate and we are not living in reality yet. The house above symbolizes the return of normal for us. We are hungry for routine, sameness, familiarity. We should close in the next week or so...</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span>Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6746645718094818748.post-119649859447156752015-07-25T21:19:00.001-04:002015-07-25T23:17:34.716-04:00Oregon Adventures VIb<br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;">Rest of the week in pictures:</span></div>
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Friday morning we set out to pick up Ezra from camp. On the way, we saw this impressive lumber yard!<br />
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Here he is with his buddies after a week together at Drift Creek Camp.</div>
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That's when the fun started. I mean the pain. So, Ezra was whooped, understandably. But, we needed to eat lunch and we were right by the ocean, so a quick picnic was in order before we headed home. Everything seemed to go wrong. Upon arriving at the new beach we were excited about, I realized (#1) I left the picnic cooler full of food on the kitchen floor at home. So, we picked up some fish and chips to go. No biggie. We head back to the beach.<br />
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I set the pop that we were to share on a very stable log of driftwood beside us. As we began to eat, a gust of wind came and (#2) knocked the pop off the log and it melted into a sandy oblivion and on Ezra's flip flop. Two Wiglets completely melted down for numerous minutes. One even took the said flip flop and drank from it the few drops that hadn't been lost in the sand, much to his mother's horror.</div>
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#3. Jelly fish. <i>"Hey mom! I saw a jelly fish!" </i> Dubious, <i>"That's seaweed,"</i> Ezra, <i>"No, behind that, Mom, look!"</i> Yup! Jellyfish. So, I told him to stay away, they could sting him and some are very poisonous. I know someone who knows someone who almost died from a jellyfish sting. He says, <i>"It didn't hurt when I picked it up."</i> I was ready to go at that point and should have. I kept freaking out about the jellyfish that Ez touched. They were everywhere! Two very nice ladies came by and encouraged us that there are many non-stinging jelly fish, so I let the kids touch them after that.</div>
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See it?</div>
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Just then, (#4) I look up and a giant crow flew past us with something orange in it's mouth making his orange beak look twice as big. I watched it fly past and said, <i>"I have a bad feeling that bird just invaded our picnic." </i> We all ran to the blanket and the Styrofoam container that I had combined all the leftover food in, had a hole in the top of it. All of the fish was taken, Ezra's granola bar was gone too. Exhausted, Ezra was back to crying, which Juni decided to join in. She was not over-tired, hungry, nor had she lost food to a crow, but nonetheless, she sobbed along side Ezra over the loss. I decided at that point we needed to leave.<br />
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#5 The Bathroom: I ask everyone to try going to the bathroom before we embark on our hour and a half trip home. Phoebe protested insisting that she did not need to go and was personally offended that I would question her. So, the one who had not been crying, began to <strike>cry</strike> WAIL.</div>
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After potty efforts, and all three still sniveling, I sit them down in the grass and get the (#6) Magic Powder. As I shook the powder on their feet and legs, the sand amazingly brushed off them and they named it, "<i>Magic Powder</i>". <i>Where did it come from? What is it? It smells so good! </i> They climbed in the car announcing that they all wanted Magic powder for their birthdays. As they played with this idea happily in the car, I shook my head in wonderment at the emotional insanity surrounding me.</div>
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Look at the funny ad I found for Magic Powder (1979)!</div>
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...and that was the end of our sixth week in Oregon.</div>
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Beccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055614519164865378noreply@blogger.com3