Amy Scott's Thoughts

Sharing the thoughts that bounce around in my brain!

Sunriver Summer Vacation July 19, 2023

Filed under: Family Time,Parenthood,Travels — Amy Scott @ 2:04 pm

Last week, we were blessed to take a vacation to Sunriver, OR with Jeremy’s parents and his brother’s family. If you recall, we took a trip to Sunriver this last October. While it might seem odd to take a vacation to same place within year’s time, we jumped at the chance to go when it was a suggested destination. We love Sunriver!!! We’ve visited it now in many variations and we’ve loved them all. We’ve been with my parents in the spring, just our family in the fall, and now with Jeremy’s family in the summer. The only season we haven’t visited in is winter. It’s my new life goal to make that happen. Bring on the Sunriver snow! Someday!

Sunriver is one of our happy places. There is so much to love about the location. Forgive me while I gush! The biking trails around the resort are awesome. I got up early most days to have some quiet, walking time to start the day. Each walk was beautiful! We also rode bikes around the area and did a little geo-caching. The Cove is the aquatic center for the resort. It has two pools, two hot tubs, and two water slides. We were there everyday and it’s probably the boys’ favorite part of the resort. Around the house, we enjoyed yummy meals, played games (card games, board games, Switch games), and I found plenty of moments to sneak away with a book.

We went on a few outings outside of the resort. We visited the Lava River Cave and made it all the way to the end. This was a site the kids wanted to visit in October, but it had already closed for the season. They were so excited for the chance to hike in the underground cave. The experience was similar to ones we’ve at the Ape Caves here in WA. Our boys love adventuring, especially in caves. We also visited the High Desert Museum. It’s a combination museum and small zoo. They had a super interactive gray fox and a playful group of river otters. They were the highlight of the visit. We also enjoyed their birds of prey exhibit. After wandering the museum, we did mini-golf and an arcade at a local fun center.

After checking out on Saturday, we were still able to hit the pool for a couple of hours before hitting the road for home. The kids were so bummed to leave. It was truly a fantastic trip. Good times with family and plenty of awesome activities! It was hard to say good-bye. But like I said, I’m hopeful we’ll be back again!

Now that we’re back home, it’s still pool time everyday in our backyard pool. It’s not quite a cool as the resort aquatic center, but it gets the job done. We’ve hosted two pool playdates this week with another one planned for tomorrow. We love sharing our pool with friends. It’s supposed to be 90 today, so I’m pretty positive I’ll be reading poolside today while the boys have a splashing good time.

I’m cherishing these sunny, swimmy, summer memories. Each week flies by with it’s own set of adventures. Oh! Graham mastered the art of swimming while we were away. He took off like a little fish in the deep end and surprised us all. We decided that with this new development, we don’t need another around of swimming lessons this summer. We love our local pool and swimming lessons were a big hit in June. They also fill up the calendar and make for longer days. We’re all okay with the extra margin in our days, especially now that Graham is swimming like a champ. It’s a joy to watch the kiddos reach these milestone moments!

Splashing around at The Cove
Biking around the neighborhood
Hanging around the resort
The Lava River Cave
The High Dessert Museum
Mini-Golf & Arcade
 

July Happenings July 9, 2023

Filed under: Family Time — Amy Scott @ 4:41 pm

We are one week into July and what a week it’s been!

We kicked off July with a birthday celebration for my father. He donned his chef’s hat (figuratively, not literally) and made a turkey on his Traeger for his birthday meal. It was super tasty and a special treat to have a holiday meal in July!

For the 4th of July, my forever friend, Maggie, and her family came to spend the day with us. The kids splashed in the pool and ran around the yard most of the day. The adults played board games and supervised the shenanigans. We enjoyed some BBQ and lots of goodies. We ended the night with a few fireworks.

On my dad’s actual birthday, the boys and I joined my parents for a breakfast out that morning. I had cinnamon roll pancakes that were both beautiful and yummy! The boys and I enjoyed being a part of Grandpa’s birthday celebration. And it was a good distraction from my afternoon plans…

Life is made of highs and lows and it’s certainly easier to blog about the highs and skip the lows… But a big part of my week revolved around getting a root canal on Wednesday afternoon. At my dental check-up in June, my dentist was concerned I might have resorption happening in one tooth. I was sent to the endodontist and it was confirmed. Thankfully, the root canal went quickly and after the numbness wore off, I’ve felt fine. Now I have two more dental appointments ahead so I can get a crown. Five dental appointments mixed into my plans isn’t really how I wanted to spend my summer, but teeth are important and I want to keep mine so… yay adulting!

Okay, back to the highlights! Yesterday was Jeremy and I’s 17th wedding anniversary! Woo hoo! My in-laws watched our boys so we could have a date day. We hit Costco and Target, which is always a special occasion without kids. We ate out and then Jeremy very kindly took me to see The Little Mermaid. We were the only ones in the theater so we were able to makes comments throughout the movie without annoying anyone. It was a fun day and I’m always grateful for the time we get to spend together. I love our family adventures, but kid-free time is appreciated!

Our Sundays in July are extra fun at church. We run our VBA (Vacation Bible Adventure) program as a part of our Sunday morning curriculum. The boys are having a blast at our Stellar Sundays. The new songs, theme, crafts, and snacks have been a hit. We also have a swing chair ride and inflatables up in the parking lot between church gatherings. It certainly makes Sunday mornings feel like a party.

Well, that’s just week one of July! We are always looking forward to the next adventure, just around the corner!

Celebrating Grandpa’s Birthday
Stellar VBA Week 1
Seeing Stars
Happy 4th of July!
Such a fun day to celebrate with friends
Pool + Friends = The Best Time Ever
Sparklers
Fireworks
Breakfast with the Birthday Boy
Best cinnamon roll pancakes ever!
17 years married to my sweetheart!
Movie date!
Steller VBA Week 2
Steller VBA Week 2 – Swing chair rides after church are awesome!
 

What I’ve Been Reading – June 2023 June 30, 2023

Filed under: Amy's Bookshelf — Amy Scott @ 1:32 pm

Bookish Thoughts for June

Hello Summer Reading! I beat my January total of 21 books with 22 this month. Before you get too impressed, I didn’t beat January’s page total, though. I was able to get through so many books this month because many of them were short. Sometimes I like to wade through longer books and sometimes it’s fun to quickly hop from book to book. Both styles of reading are enjoyable to me. I was given this month of Kindle Unlimited for free and KU greatly influences my reading. I get my fill of rom-coms while I have KU. My subscription will be over in less than I week and I have plans to revisit my home library. The Lunar Chronicles are next on my summer reading list.

Occasionally, I’ll venture out and try a new author. I read Love and Loathing by Gig Blume because it was a Pride and Prejudice retelling. She has a whole series based on Jane Austen. I might explore the rest of the series whenever I get KU again. I read Rook to King by Carina Taylor and that sent me on a binge of her books. I enjoyed that they had a bit more adventure and suspense then the usual KU rom-coms. June was also had new releases from of Emma St. Clair, Courtney Walsh, and Katherine Reay. I love new releases! Such a fun reading month!

Their book selections for July! Owen is still into birds, but Graham has moved on wild animals.
My boys have discovered Wild Kratts on PBS Kids. Birds are still a big obsession around here, but we’ve added more animal books to mix. Thankful for our public library!

Mid-Year Book Stats

  • January: 6,484 pages read, 21 books (308 average pages per book)
  • February: 5,400 pages read, 21 books (257 average)
  • March: 4,045 pages read, 13 books (311 average)
  • April: 3,574 pages read, 12 books (297 average)
  • May: 5,390 pages read, 15 books (359 average)
  • June: 6,029 pages read, 22 books (274 average)
    • 105 books total and on track for my goal of 200 books in 2023

Top Picks for June

Non-Fiction: Like Ice Cream: The Scoop on Helping the Next Generation Fall in Love with God’s Word by Keith Ferrin. I discovered Keith Ferrin’s work over a decade ago when he taught at a children’s ministry conference and then spoke at our church. This book is super short, but very impactful. I’ve read it at lest four times. I plan on teaching a workshop this fall on a similar topic and wanted a content refresher. I can’t recommend this book enough.

Fiction: The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh. This book was so sweet! I couldn’t put it down. Isadora is a lonely researcher who decides to do a study on happiness. Through her experiments she finds friends who become like family and love. There were moments where I was laughing out loud while reading. This is definitely one of my favorites from Courtney Walsh.

The Book List for June
1 Star = I did not like it. 2 stars = It was okay. 3 stars = I liked it. 4 stars = I really liked it. 5 stars = It was amazing.

Non-Fiction:

  • 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You by Tony Rienke – 3 stars
  • How to Break Up with Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life by Catherine Price – 3 stars
  • My Name is Hope: Anxiety, depression, and life after melancholy by John Mark Comer – 4 stars
  • The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective by Richard Rohr and Andreas Ebert – 4 stars
  • Like Ice Cream: The Scoop on Helping the Next Generation Fall in Love with God’s Word by Keith Ferrin – 5 stars

Fiction:

  • A Sweethaven Christmas by Courtney Walsh – 3 stars
  • A Sweethaven Romance (novella) by Courtney Walsh – 3 stars
  • The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh – 4 stars
  • Just One Word by Melanie Jacobson – 3 stars
  • Her Last Dance by Melanie Jacobson – 3 stars
  • The Royal’s Best Friend by Melanie Jacobson – 3 stars
  • Betting on the Best Friend’s Brother by Melanie Jacobson – 3 stars
  • The Royal’s Fake Bride by Becca Wilhite – 3 stars
  • The Pocket Pair by Emma St. Clair – 3 stars
  • Ember Rising by S.D. Smith – 3 stars
  • A Shadow in Moscow by Katherine Reay – 3 stars
  • Love and Loathing by Gigi Blume – 3 stars
  • Rook to King by Carina Taylor – 3 stars
  • World’s Worst Boyfriend by Carina Taylor – 3 stars
  • Mr. HOA By Carina Taylor – 3 stars
  • Miss Trailerhood by Carina Taylor – 4 stars
  • Forget Me Twice by Carina Taylor – 3 stars
 

The June Wrap-Up! June 29, 2023

Filed under: Family Time,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 6:15 pm

June is coming to a close and what a month it’s been! Way busier than I expected, but so much fun! If you recall my last post, we’ve had lots to celebrate in June. We had our final June celebration was this last weekend and it was a pretty big deal! My dear, sweet Grandma (or GG as the next generation calls her), turned 90 on Tuesday. We had a family gathering on Saturday to mark the occasion. My grandma is a special lady! I get my sweet tooth from her. I have so many childhood memories of family vacations and visits with her. Now I love chatting on the phone with her, knowing she’s praying over my family, and watching my boys play with the same toys I did at her house. She is quick to listen, encourage, and pray. What a blessing to celebrate this milestone birthday with her!

June has been filled with all kinds of good summer things. Since my last post, we’ve had another pool play date. We love opening our home to swim. I enjoy sitting on the deck in the shade watching the kids splash about. It’s even better with friends! We had a family dinner with friends and broke in their new bocce ball set. I forgot to snap pictures, but I tweaked my chocolate chip cookie recipe and found a way to keep them soft and chewy. I changed the brown sugar to white sugar ratio and baked them for a minute less than the directions said. I also tried keeping a slice of bread in an air tight container with the cookies and it worked! Hooray for baking victories! Other recent baking projects have include brownies and cinnamon rolls… I’m thinking tomorrow might be another baking day. I love rotating through treats. I’m the type of person who always has some kind of dessert around the house.

The boys wrapped up two weeks of swimming lessons today. They didn’t pass their levels, but we expected that. The progress they’ve made this session definitely shows. They both worked so hard! This summer was the most excited they’ve been for swim lessons. They couldn’t wait to get the pool each day. They are super sad lessons are now over. I, on the hand, am rejoicing. I’m thankful for a break in the pace. We’ll probably do another session this summer, just not the next session. The boys have our home pool to keep practicing in. The forecast for the next week looks hot, so I’m sure I’ll still be poolside, just in the comfort of my own backyard.

Well, that’s the June wrap-up! July is right around the corner with it’s own set of new adventures! Until next time…

Quite a few of our floaties have popped over the last year, so it was time to add a new one into the mx. Surprisingly, this popsicle easily holds three kids or one surfing child. And it has confetti on the inside. What’s not to love?
Celebrating my sweet Grandma!
Happy 90th Birthday, GG!
Playing at the park after swim lessons. I need to invest in some sunglasses for Graham. All pics of him this summer are at awkward angles to avoid the sun.
Fun day at swim lessons!
Fun day at swim lessons!
So proud of these little swimmers!
 

The Many Celebrations of June! June 20, 2023

Filed under: Family Time,Travels — Amy Scott @ 6:31 pm

It seems like we’re jumping from celebration to celebration on our family calendar! Lots of big reasons to celebrate this month. At the beginning of the month was my nephew’s birthday. The following week, we celebrated my in-laws anniversary and retirement. Since we had the Scott clan gathered for a retirement party, we also added my brother-in-law’s 40th birthday, an uncle’s birthday, and Father’s Day into the mix. With celebrating 5 occasions on one day, I felt like throwing confetti all day long and wishing everyone I passed a “happy celebration day!”

We sandwiched the big Scott shindig with some birthday fun. We celebrated my mom turning 60 with a family meal on Saturday and a waffle brunch on Monday (her actual birthday). After all that partying, we took a Father’s Day trip to the Oregon Coast and celebrated Jeremy and my dad on Father’s Day with a meal. Wow! That’s a lot of parties! We also mailed off multiple graduation cards this month. Also, the June party vibes aren’t quite finished yet, but I’ll save that for a future update!

In non-party news, the boys started swim lessons yesterday. The process changed from in-person registration (where Jeremy would wait in a long line that formed before 6:00am) to online. The online format had me nervous because I could only register one kid at a time. I wondered if Kid 2 would lose their class space because I was registering Kid 1. Luckily, we got the classes we hoped for. It was also nice to register the boys while we were out of town at the beach. The boys have done great with their swim skills these first two days. I can tell they’ve been practicing. Graham, especially, has much more confidence this summer. Yesterday was a wet lesson and today was a cold one. Thankfully, the forecast looks better for the rest of the lessons ahead. June weather is a bit unpredictable around here.

As you can imagine, I have lots of pictures to share. I could use a lot of words to highlight each of events above, but I’m going with the “a picture is worth a thousand words” concept today. Enjoy!

Celebrating Grandma’s 60th birthday with pizza, strawberry shortcake, and Animal Crossing.
The Scott Clan gathered to celebrate Nana & Papa’s retirement.
The Bethel Church Staff – notice how the shirts match the screen. Haha!
Waffle brunch with the Birthday Girl!
At Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach, OR looking for puffins. Owen was thrilled to find them!
Always adventuring together! Photo credit: Graham Scott
Merman Graham
Ice cream at cute shop called Zinger’s in Seaside, OR.
Hotel pool time is always a favorite!
Searching for sand dollars in Seaside
Seaside swings
First time visiting the Seaside Aquarium. Don’t let their faces fool you. We all found this octopus fascinating!
At Fort Clatsop to finish a trail we didn’t complete last summer.
Always birding!
Happy Father’s Day, Jeremy!
Back to the pool for another round of swimming lessons!
 

Getting Outside June 8, 2023

Filed under: Amy's Bookshelf,Family Time — Amy Scott @ 1:48 pm

We’ve had a stretch of delightful weather here in the PNW and we’ve been loving the outside time that affords. If you ever find it odd how often I comment when we have nice weather, please realize that in Washington state we sometimes have June-uary, where June feels like January. We never take sunny days for granted because they can be rare, even as we near the start of summer. What kind of outside fun have we been having? I’m glad you asked!

Last Thursday kicked off the month of June and it was the start of our local library’s summer reading program. As a special treat, we went into the library. (We almost always use the drive-thru window). The boys selected their free books and received a new library tote bag and free tickets to our local fair. They get another free book and more rewards when they complete the reading program. Of course, all the books we came home with from the library were about birds. We have a serious case of bird brain in this household. Being a bird nerd takes research!

Friday, we took a walk to the beaver dam behind our house. Jeremy recently downloaded a bird ID app based on the bird’s song. We have quite a few forest birds that we hear, but never see. Owen hoped that by walking into the woods, we would spot a few of these elusive birds, but sadly, we did not. It was still a lovely walk, though. The trail was green and smelled of wildflowers. We saw plenty of signs from our active beaver neighbors.

On Saturday, we observed one of the deer in our yard might be pregnant. I was watching her around 2:00pm and wondering about her behavior. Around 5:00pm, Graham yelled that there was a baby deer in the yard. It took a little searching, but we discovered the new baby, only a few hours old. The boys have taken to calling the mama deer, Rosie, and the baby deer, Fern. We now spot Rosie and Fern daily and we all gush over Fern’s cuteness.

We attended a soccer birthday party on Sunday for one of the cousins. The kids had a blast playing a game of soccer – kids vs. adults. According to the kids, they won. I’m guessing that’s true since it was a mob of kids out there. They were a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, Owen and Jeremy’s allergies were stirred up by the wind and the grasses. It’s definitely allergy season and one of the few “cons” to going outside right now.

The boys have opted to be in the pool most afternoons. We had a pool playdate earlier this week. I love chatting with a friend while the kids splash around. We have another playdate this afternoon and we are excited! Swimming is an excellent way to wear out rambunctious boys. It’s a joy to watch them float through their summer afternoons. Because we are hosting multiple playdates this week, I made “cool” treats to share with our friends. I love making ice cream cone and popsicle shaped cookies. They are surprisingly easy to decorate and they are so adorable! I enjoy picking the colors and giving them a summertime feel.

That’s the update from our neck of the woods. These are good days to get outside, enjoy nature, and make a splash! (Also, to eat cookies… and read books!)

Kicking off the summer reading program at the library!
These are the books you’ll find laying on beds, couches, the coffee table, the dining room table, the floor… pretty much everywhere around our house! Luckily, I haven’t found them in the bathroom… yet.
Listening/looking for new birds
This trail leads to what the kids call Beaver National Park.
Binoculars at the ready
Love watching them roam the woods
Baby Fern
Soccer Sunday! Nana shared allergy eye drops with Owen after this picture.
Some “cool” treats to share with friends
Afternoons are for floating!
 

What I’ve Been Reading – May 2023 May 31, 2023

Filed under: Amy's Bookshelf — Amy Scott @ 2:22 pm

Bookish Thoughts for May

I renewed my subscription to Kindle Unlimited this month and plowed through quite a few new releases from my favorite independent authors! I also dove back into reading through Courtney Walsh’s books. I reread books by Emma St. Clair to prepare for her new June release, The Pocket Pair. All my fiction was in the solid three star camp this month. I liked the books, but none of them were a new favorite. Just good stories to add joy to my day. I only read one non-fiction book this month. I feel a bit guilty about that. I have four non-fiction books on my TBR list at the moment. I’ll try to prioritize them in June. I have a strong pull to stories and it won this month. Since picking my favorites was too difficult this month, I thought I would write a short thought about each book I read.

My boys gave me an Amazon gift card for Mother’s Day and told me it was for books. I ordered two devotionals and a book by John Mark Comer. I’m slowly trying to add all his books to my home library. I’m using The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days alongside my daily quiet time. When I finish, I plan to switch to Bob Goff’s devotional, Live in Grace, Walk in Love: A 365-Day Journey.

My Mother’s Day Books

The current theme with my boys is birds. Below is their choice for their June books. Additionally, they each spent their own dollars and purchased used books from Thriftbooks this month. They fell in love with the books in the library birding backpack and wanted their own copies. Graham selected Birds of the Puget Sound Region and Owen picked The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, Western Region. They are in a bird nerd phase at the moment. Reference books are always a fun addition to our home library. (Okay, I think most books are a good addition to our home library…)

The boys with their June books

The Book List for May
1 Star = I did not like it. 2 stars = It was okay. 3 stars = I liked it. 4 stars = I really liked it. 5 stars = It was amazing.

Non-Fiction:

  • Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown PhD. LMSW – 4 stars – Through research and stories, Brown shares how to grow and rise up after challenges and failures. Not an easy topic, but such good insight.

Fiction: All 3 stars

  • The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart – Quirky characters and suspenseful adventure.
  • Ripped & Shipped by Savannah Scott – The title made me cringe, but it was book 7 in a series and I’m a sucker for reading a whole series. Loved the focus on looking past stereotypes and not letting past prejudice define the future.
  • Why Trey Let Me Get Away by Kortney Keisel – A sports romcom. Loved the teammate involvement and acknowledgement of the 5 Love Languages.
  • Desire or Defense by Leah Brunner – Another sports romcom. The teammate involvement made the book!
  • That Time I Kissed the Groomsman Grump by Julie Christianson – A spin-off of her Apple Valley series. I enjoy reconnecting with characters I’ve met in multiple books.
  • Juniper Bean Resorts to Murder by Gracie Ruth Mitchell – I was drawn to the idea of an author who kept killing off her main characters unintentionally.
  • How to Kiss Your Enemy by Jenny Proctor – I enjoy the farm setting in this series and how each book reveals more about the Hawthorne family.
  • Kissing for Keeps by Martha Keyes – A follow-up to a Christmas novel I read and the start of a new series.
  • Hometown Girl by Courtney Walsh – Small town Hallmark vibes with a kidnapping cold case to solve.
  • The Buy-In by Emma St. Clair – First book in the Graham brother’s series, I read it to refresh my memory before the next book comes out in June.
  • The Bluff by Emma St. Clair – Second book in the series, same as before.
  • Things Left Unsaid by Courtney Walsh – Great focus on forgiveness, honesty, and healing from the past.
  • A Sweethaven Summer by Courtney Walsh – Finding friendship and family in a small Lake Michigan tourist town.
  • A Sweethaven Homecoming by Courtney Walsh – Book two, focuses on forgiveness and coming home to family.
 

The Unofficial Official Start of Summer May 30, 2023

Filed under: Family Time,Homeschool Adventures,Travels — Amy Scott @ 1:40 pm

I realize that the official start of summer isn’t until June 21st. We’ve unofficially (but officially) started our summer! The boys wrapped up their school curriculum last week and we are now in summer mode. It feels good to have 36 weeks of school completed and in the record books. We don’t ever fully break for summer, though. We just scale back our school over the summer. This means the boys will do about 30-60 minutes of school work about four days a week. It’s a super flexible schedule and keeps their minds engaged over the summer months. In the past, we’ve done between grade workbooks as a our summer school, but we’re changing it up this year. Graham will continue to focus on his reading program and Owen will do a slow start of his school books for next year. The goal is for Owen to be roughly two weeks ahead in all his subjects by the start of our school year at the end of August. Graham might also get ahead if he is motivated. We’ll see!

It’s really been too long since I last updated you on the happenings of our crazy crew. Oops! You’ll find that I’m short on words today and heavy on pictures. The recap of our life looks something like this… Jeremy went out of town for a men’s conference. The boys had a sleepover in my room with a movie night. We got pizza and visited Silver Lake, the Mt. St. Helen’s Visitor Center, and Seaquest State Park in Castle Rock, WA. Grandpa & Grandma joined us for that adventure. We got donuts one day and went down to the empty church parking lot for bike riding and scootering. We had a cavity-free dentist appointment. We wrapped up school and co-op on the same day. We visited NW Trek with family to celebrate my nephew becoming a teenager. We visited our sweet GG (Great-Grandma) and the boys got to share their love of birds with her. We’ve a had sunny park playdate with friends. We’ve also had friends over to swim in our pool. The weather has been sunny and dry so we’ve been outside often. It’s been delightful! May has been a lovely month!

Here is the recap in pictures!

Movie night and sleepover in Mom’s room while Dad is away
Papa Pete’s Pizza with Grandpa & Grandma
Birding at Silver Lake with Mt. St. Helens in the background
What a wonderful view of Silver Lake and Mt. St. Helens
Starting the day with donuts
When your driveway is made of gravel, sometimes you have to find some pavement to ride!
Cavity-Free
Last Day of School!
Cheers to summer! I gave the other co-op moms a small appreciation gift for the end of the co-op school year.
End of school rewards: Graham rediscovered Ryan toys and Owen selected a 6.5lbs. bird book!
A few highlights from NW Trek
Saying hi to GG
 

Hints of Summer May 17, 2023

Filed under: Family Time,Homeschool Adventures — Amy Scott @ 2:32 pm

Okay, maybe the word “hints” isn’t the most accurate. It feels like summer is here in the PNW. We are experiencing a heat wave and it has me completely fooled into thinking it’s summer… right now. With just a week of school left, the weather is messing with my head. It’s making me want to ditch the books and head outside for all the adventures. Now, don’t worry, we will finish and we will finish strong. I might have already printed our “last day of school” signs… I was so tempted to use them on Monday, but I didn’t give in. Only 5 school days left. We can make it! Hooray! Summer break is right around the corner!

Mother’s Day weekend was a fun one! On Friday, I selected our activity of the day as a way to celebrate Mother’s Day. I requested a visit to the historic waterfall highway outside of Portland, OR. Jeremy and I started visiting this highway of waterfalls when we were dating and it’s been a place we’ve returned to many times. It’s a family favorite! Multnomah Falls is the most popular waterfall on the route and now requires reservations over of the summer tourist season. My goal was to visit it before permits became required at the end of the month. We stopped at Multnomah Fall first and then we did a new hike to Ponytail Falls. If you hike to the top of Horsetail falls, Ponytail Falls is beyond it. The trail takes you behind the waterfall which was a neat experience. We all enjoyed seeing a new sight and hearing the powerful pound of the water in the crevice behind the waterfall. We also hiked down to Bridal Veil Falls before heading off to lunch and errands in city. It was a beautiful day to visit one of my favorite places with my favorite people.

Saturday and Sunday, we celebrated Mother’s Day with Grandma and Nana. It’s a blessing to be close to our parents and to have such wonderful grandparents in our boys’ lives. We enjoyed Chinese food take-out with my mom and had our first BBQ of the season with Jeremy’s mom. Usually, Memorial Day is the unofficial kick-off to summer, but I would say Mother’s Day weekend took that title this year. On Saturday, the kids ran through the sprinklers around our house. On Sunday, they had their first swim in the pool. It was a weekend full of sunglasses, sunscreen, water fun, and time with family. Full on summer vibes here!

With the school year quickly coming to a close, so is our co-op. We had a field trip last week were the boys learned flower pounding and floral arranging. We brought home lovely flowers and art to display. Yesterday was our final day of classes for co-op. The kids wrapped up nature journaling and PE. Our family gave a presentation on birds and I handed out a sweet “tweet” (bird cookies) to the class. We will get together next week for a end-of-the-year celebration and then break for summer.

I realize we have another full month of spring ahead of us, but the weather and the end of school are giving off strong hints of summer. These hints look like good times with family and friends and smell like sunscreen, chlorine, and briquettes. I’m daydreaming of the summer days ahead. They’re almost here!

Excited to borrow the birding backpack from our local library!
Flower pounding at co-op
Flower pounding at co-op
Owen’s Flower Art
Graham’s Flower Art
Sweet tweets! My contribution to the family bird obsession is cookies.
Multnomah Falls
On top of the world on our hike up to Ponytail Falls.
The smell of the wildflowers, the view, the green – all made this hike amazing!
Made it to Ponytail Falls
Behind Ponytail Falls
Behind Ponytail Falls
Horsetail Falls
Bridal Veil Falls
First time being door greeters at church on Sunday morning.
Mother’s Day Selfie
All the summer vibes!
Giving a science presentation on birds at co-op
 

A Few Spring Things… May 4, 2023

Filed under: Family Time,Homeschool Adventures — Amy Scott @ 2:08 pm

We find ourselves in May and the PNW has actually had a few warm and sunny days in the last week (today, unfortunately, is not one of them). I’d forgotten it was spring and that May was right right around the corner. We saw quite a few snowflakes in April which left me feeling like Washington State was Narnia under the reign of the White Witch – always winter and never spring. As the calendar and the weather changed, it dawned on me – we are here! The end of the school year is in-sight. Our summer schedule is coming soon and the weather has finally decided to shift seasons! Hooray! Each sunny day sets my mind to scheming… What great outdoor adventure can we have next? It’s finally time to head outside!!!

As you can see, I am excited about the change in weather and the promise of a schedule change soon. Homeschool moms are just as susceptible as teachers and students to the call of the end of the school year. I hope the next month holds many fun, outdoor adventures. Let me share a few we’ve had over the last week or so. Fishing season is now open and the boys have gone out numerous times. A nearby lake is stocked with tagged fish that have prizes associated with them. The chance of catching a fish is exciting enough, but add a prize on top of that! It’s highly motivating. Sadly, the fish haven’t cooperated. The lack of fish catching hasn’t dampened the spirits of the fishermen.

Our co-op is doing a unit on nature journaling right now. This week, they dissected tulips. Last week, they dissected barn owl pellets. I learned that owl pellets aren’t poop, but actually the regurgitated contents of the owl’s stomach. I’m not sure which I consider more gross. Owen loved dissecting the owl pellet because of his fascination with birds at the moment. Graham was happy to watch. The boys are also doing soccer as a part of co-op. So far their “team” has won each game and they are really enjoying this activity. We’ve never participated in youth sports before, but if this enjoyment of soccer continues, I might just add soccer mom to my title as well.

Friday was a beautiful day and our family adventure day. We visited the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, outside of Lacey, to do some birdwatching. Owen was very professional with the binoculars ready and his birding checklist in hand. Owen can give you a detailed list, but I will just say we saw many birds. It was a lovely morning for a walk and we all got our first sunburns. Oops! We tend to forget the glowing orb can burn you. We haven’t gotten use to it being around.

Jeremy spent part of the weekend getting his garden ready and tending to the yard. The grass has woken up and apparently needs to be mowed… often. I’m thankful for a hubby who loves taking care of the yard. I’m not an outdoor chores girl. I’ve come to appreciate nature walks and the benefits of fresh air, but that hasn’t extended to gardening. I feel like keeping the kiddos alive is enough for me. Asking me to keep plants alive feels a bit too extra to me.

We checked out a birding backpack from the library and we hope to put it to good use over the next few weeks. It has a couple pairs of binoculars, an assortment of bird books, a couple local plant charts, and information on where to go birding in our area. I have a few outings in mind for May that should get us out on trails and birding at the same time. I’ll need to temper my expectations. I’m aware that my kids + binoculars = a slow walk. Patience will be key. Hopefully, we’ll catalog many birds while we enjoy the backpack.

Okay, those are a few of the spring things we’ve experienced over the last week. Not to be too redundant, but I’m thrilled it’s May! The countdown is on for the end of the school year and there are plenty of good times to have before we switch to our summer schedule. Woo hoo!

Opening day of fishing season!
Science experiments are a favorite part of our school week.
Their faces accurately express how they felt about the barn owl pellets!
Our bird expert
Watching a blue heron
A nice day for a stroll
Made it to the end of the boardwalk!
Love our family adventures!
A few little birds found their home with us…