Pacific City

My two favorite things about Oregon are the mountains and the coast, and I love how close we are to both! We recently took a weekend trip to Pacific City where we stayed at Thousand Trails RV park with Daniel's parents and Moss's cousin, Isaac. The park had warm showers, an indoor pool, a trail leading to the beach, and lots of wildlife to look at (including some very tame rabbits who we fed by hand.) We had so much fun hiking up the dunes, playing in the sand, and just being together in nature. Looking at these pictures makes me want to go back again soon.

Bring on the color!

We when bought our airstream we knew we would need to make a lot of changes to make it more our style, so we've slowly been doing renovations as we have time/space/money to make it feel more like our home and less like grandma's. Our first big change was taking out the dinette to give Moss more floor space to play. We replaced our table with a small fold-out table from Ikea...(man I love the Swedes and their space-saving ingenuity). We also added a rug, some toy storage, and a media cabinet, which hides the Xbox, along with games, movies and books. I also found some bright and cheery material that I intend to make new curtains with. This weekend Daniel and his dad will be replacing our floor (currently carpet and vinyl) with some new eco cork flooring. I can't wait to see how it looks. I'll also be posting some more before/after pics of changes we've made, but for now here are some of my favorite colorful things from our home on wheels! 

Book love

My new favorite parenting book: Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves: Transforming parent-child relationships from reaction and struggle to freedom, power and joy.  This is one of those books that you wish you had found long ago, like before all the struggles of raising a baby or toddler came about.  
I haven't even finished this book, and it's already changed the way my husband and I relate to and interact with our son, as well as with each other. I admit I've been reluctant to read a lot about discipline, mainly because the little that I did read seemed too controlling and didn't fit my parenting philosophy, but this book instantly clicked for me. A quote from Mary Haskell included in the book: "Nothing you become will disappoint me; I have no preconception that I'd like to see you be or do. I have no desire to foresee you, only to discover you. You cannot disappoint me." What a wonderful view to have towards our children and each other. I just wanted to share this wonderful find in case it can help someone else in a similar way. And please share other good reads if you've found something you love as well. 

Moss turns 2!

After a breakfast of tofurky, blueberries, and green smoothies we loaded up the car with cake making ingredients, presents, and food for the day to head up the road to Stayton (15 min from Silverton) where Moss's party would be. (I opted to have it at his cousins house so he could play while I prepped in my sister-in-law's wonderfully equipped kitchen and so we would have plenty of space for everyone as seating in our trailer is limited). So we spent the morning picking strawberries from the garden, watching ladybugs, jumping on the trampoline, playing the piano, and playing chase with his cousins. I think all of this alone would have made for a wonderful birthday for him. Add in some balloons, blueberries (minus the cake), and presents, and you have one very happy boy. I hope this and every birthday can represent how loved he is by all of his family and friends (with or without the presents).

Silver Falls, Oregon

This was our second time to hike at Silver Falls, and it was just as beautiful as we remembered it. Last year we took turns holding Moss because he was just learning to walk and our stroller wouldn't fit down the trail, but this year we were able to let him walk some and then use our hiking backpack for the steep and narrow parts of the trail. I think we all had a better hike this time! He explored the wide paths, picked flowers, watched bugs, and sat on benches (since he's now big enough to climb into them by himself). His fascination with every new encounter makes me look at things with a new appreciation. I cherish these times being outdoors with him and getting to observe his connections with nature forming right before my eyes. Sharing these moments with him makes the challenges of parenting somehow melt away. At least for a little while...

Children's Museum of Phoenix- March 2010

I was so excited to find out about this place, (http://www.childrensmuseumofphoenix.org/) and I couldn't wait to take Moss! Eco-friendly toys and activities, non-VOC paints used in the building, and lots of educational toys made from recycled materials. Awesome. And it was. Moss had a blast and could have spent the whole day there. One of our favorite things was the tricycle car wash!

Arizona zoo- May 2010

(Now that our blog is up and going, I'm going back to post some photos of previous locations. I guess you can call us "snow birds" now because we spent the first winter in our trailer in Phoenix. Personally, I missed the snow and all that comes with cold weather...snuggling, bundling up in thrift-store sweaters, and sipping hot cocoa, but I will say that playing outside with Moss in the warm sun in January pretty much made it up for it!)
The Phoenix zoo was hot and overpriced, but Moss had never been to a zoo before, so we decided to go while Nina and Bumpa were visiting. We had fun watching and learning about the different animals, but I still don't like the feeling I get when visiting zoos. Something about seeing animals behind bars just doesn't sit well with me. Perhaps that's one reason I'm a vegetarian! The petting zoo was our favorite, and we wished we had found it earlier because Moss was getting pretty tired by then.

3 lbs of organic blueberries for $3 = one happy mama!!

Yay for Oregon berry season!! Marionberries are Moss and Mama's favorites, but blueberries are a close second. Today we went to Forsters Organic Blueberry Hill, just up the road from us in Silverton, to pick some.  This was the first weekend they were open so not all the berries were ripe yet, but there were more than enough to keep us busy & fill our bellies while we picked. I'm pretty sure Moss ate his weight in blueberries while we were there. Not many of the berries he picked made it to the bucket. I ended up using a ton of the berries to make a pie so I think we'll have to go back soon to restock our supply. Next up: marionberries!

hunting for the perfect place to pick

                                                        

daddy found it

                                                                    

picking

                                                                        

eating

                                                                      

and eating...

                                                                          

and more eating

Grand Canyon

Daniel's parents came to visit us in Phoenix during the last few weeks that we were there, and after that we all headed out on a two week vacation with our final destination in Oregon. Daniel's next job would be in Salem and Daniel's parents were going to spend the summer at Bart & Kristen's house. Our first destination was the Grand Canyon. Here are a few pics from the few days we spent there. We plan to go back when our kid(s) are older so we can all hike to the bottom to camp.