In October we added a new member to our family! Her name is Candy Corn and she's a four-year-old bengal cat.
We adopted her from the Humane Society. She wasn't doing well in her previous home so her owners surrendered her. Their loss was our gain! Candy has been the sweetest little fur ball our family could have hoped for. She sleeps a lot and wants to be where the family is, even though she isn't the most snuggly cat ever. She is very easy to get along with and we love her so much already!
We were so lucky to adopt Candy. Since Ben is allergic to cats, we had to be picky about the breed. Ironically, Tommy started sneezing as soon as we brought Candy home, but Ben hasn't been bothered at all. (Tommy is not allergic to her, it was some other allergen.)
Our entire family went to the Humane Society to pick Candy up. The kids fell in love instantly, but I was quite nervous. None of us has ever had a house cat and we had no idea what we were doing, despite the research we did. At the Humane Society she wasn't unfriendly, but she wasn't really snuggly either. She basically walked around the cage they put us in, gazing upward, looking for a way to escape or climb.
She meowed the entire way home and stuck her claws out of the carrier we had. The kids were a little nervous with her.
When we got home we put her into a dog crate for a few minutes while she got used to us and we got used to her. The kids crowded around and adored her. When we let her out she wanted her space. We watched her jump onto the countertops to the kitchen window and I wondered again what we had gotten ourselves into!
When it was bedtime, we put her in the crate and put a sheet over it. We were told to do so to habituate her, but she hated it. After nearly an hour of constant meowing, I went downstairs and let her out. I pet her a bit and then went to bed.
During the night, Candy woke me up when she jumped onto our bed. I took her back downstairs and she seemed much more relaxed than she was before. I pet her and she "fell apart", as the girls say. When I went back to bed I told her to be good and I shut the door behind me.
I was anxious to get up in the morning to see if she had torn up the house and pooped everywhere. I shined my flashlight in every corner expecting to see cat poop, but I didn't find any. When I went down the stairs, I found Candy serenely sleeping on the couch. I was so relieved. That's the moment I knew we were going to be okay with this cat!
Over the following days, Candy caught up on her sleep and took some time to heal from her upheaval from one home to the next. She snuggled on our laps, purred, kneaded us, and stole our hearts. Candy has the softest minky fur I have ever felt.
It has been a constant battle to convince Clara to be gentle with Candy, but it's getting better over time.
There is something so special about having a furry little friend in the house. We love her so much! For the first few weeks, the kids kept shaking their heads in disbelief and saying, "I can't believe we have a cat!" They are so thrilled.
Candy came harness trained so we take her outside for little walks. She likes to sit in the windows and talk to the birds and squirrels. We even discovered that she eats spiders in the garage! She's got to earn her keep somehow.
We love Candy so much and we're so lucky that she has joined our family! Tommy made this fun movie trailer about her to celebrate.
This year I set up a photo studio in the kids' room and took some school pictures. Tommy is 11 in 6th grade. Lily is 8 in 3rd grade. Clara is 4 in Preschool.
We are in our seventh year of homeschool and still going strong! This year has brought some unique challenges with COVID, but we are adjusting. We still meet our homeschool friends each Friday afternoon, but this year we wear masks and stay outside together. The kids are able to participate in OMSI classes online each week. They even get to do blacksmithing and ceramics classes on site at Trackers! They wear masks, ventilate the rooms, and stay 6 feet apart. This is our new normal and we are trying to deal with it.
One day every week I take the kids on a long outside adventure. We go on a hike or play by a river. It's important to me to get the kids out, rain or shine. This winter I'm even planning to take them to Mount Hood to go sledding a few times!
Tommy is super interested in bladesmithing this year. He may even be getting some sharpening equipment for Christmas! He loves playing the Xbox with his friends and creating contraptions out of boxes and recyclables. Tommy loves our cat, Candy Corn. They snuggle on the couch during screen time and in his bed at night. He is growing into such a funny and responsible teen. He helps out around the house and helps me with the girls so much!
Lily continues to be interested in art, fashion, animals, and writing. She is always making lists of things and writing stories. She loves to listen to story podcasts and to read books on her phone. She recently got her ears pierced and looks forward to coordinating earrings with her fashionable outfits. You can always find Lily drawing, doing a puzzle, or making up a game by herself. She has become such a good friend to Clara and such a responsible cat owner.
Clara is our little spunky one. She has so much energy and creativity that it's hard to keep up with her sometimes! She always has an idea of a project to do or a science experiment to test or a contraption to build. She loves to do art by cutting up paper and gluing it back together in different orientations. Clara is so social and wants someone to play with her all day long. She loves to play outside with the frisbee or a soccer ball. Clara keeps us laughing with her candor and her interesting perspectives. She loves fiercely and physically, which results in a lot of admonitions from us to be more gentle.
September brought a new set of trials to our lives. After six months of living through and adjusting to a pandemic, Oregon was plagued with ferocious wildfires. Before and after the hazardous smoke descended on Portland, we spent a lot of time outdoors and enjoyed our time as a family. I think all of us will agree that we will never take clean, breathable air for granted again.
Hiking Time with Friends
We spent some time hiking with our friends. One morning we met our friends Sadie, Jack, and Benny, at Powell Butte. We saw a deer as we pulled up and then enjoyed a leisurely walk through the woods together.
We also started meeting up with our homeschool group again. Because of the uncertainty of the pandemic, we took the spring and summer off from regular activities. It was so nice to meet up again and feel social and normal! We hiked around Tryon Creek together and had a great time.
At the end of the month we met up with our friends, Anya and Mitzi, for a last hurrah at the beach at Mary S. Young. We enjoyed having the beach to ourselves and taking one last dip in the river before the temperatures cooled for Fall.
Labor Day
On Labor Day we biked over to a new food cart pod on 82nd for lunch. We took our food to Essex Park for a picnic and enjoyed our time together. Later that night the wind picked up to hurricane speeds, setting the stage for the wildfires to start. We had no idea what we were in for.
Wildfires
After Labor Day we started hearing about wildfires that were ravaging the woodlands of Oregon. On Wednesday afternoon (two days after Labor Day) the kids and I took a walk. We watched with dread as a wall of smoke blew in from the south. It cleared out a little bit and then completely overtook us for a solid week.
As I write this, I can't believe it was only one week that we were plagued by the smoke. It was so traumatic. Every day we watched as the Air Quality Index reading stayed in the hazardous range. Sometimes the reading was too high for the meter to read. It wasn't safe to go outside for any amount of time. I couldn't even exercise in the garage. The air was yellowish grey and everything stunk like a dumpster fire.
There was some concern that we may have to evacuate our home. We watched the fire line approach Portland and we heard updates from friends in Oregon City, Gladstone, and Clackamas that were being evacuated. Our friends in Beaver Creek were literally 3 miles away from the fire. As I write this in March 2021, they are still displaced from their home because of smoke damage.
I gathered a few items and made sure that our important documents were accessible. I read up on what to pack if we needed to evacuate. Luckily, it didn't come down to that for us, but many in the state were not so lucky.
We ran our HVAC fan constantly to try to clean the air in our home. By Sunday night it was making a very loud wheezing sound. We discovered that the filter was completely full, blocking the flow of air. Luckily, we had extra filters on hand. They were completely sold out at the stores! You couldn't even order an air purifier online. They were completely sold out everywhere. Ben cleverly used one filter to construct an air filter using our box fan.
I remember going out to fill up the car with gas, just in case we needed to get out of town. It felt like the apocalypse, it really did. Nobody was outside. Those who were wore giant gas masks to filter out the smoke. Businesses closed, the trash pickup was delayed, the library hold pickup was cancelled. We limited our outside activity to once per day to get the mail and pick up any packages.
This was the first experience I have ever had where it was literally dangerous to step outside the door. It was frightening, depressing, and traumatic. We were trapped. I don't even know how we coped. I remember taking a bath and doing some yoga inside. I remember doing science experiments with Clara and napping. I remember crying a lot.
We had a reservation to go camping at Cape Disappointment at the end of the week. However, we didn't want to go camping if the air wasn't breathable. We decided that on Thursday morning we would check the AQI and either go camping or drive east to Utah to stay with Carson and Desiree. We felt like climate refugees with nowhere safe to go.
Luckily, things on the coast started clearing up first. When Thursday came around it looked safe to go to Cape Disappointment, which is what we did. Hallelujah, did we have a great time breathing the clean air!
Cape Disappointment
Ben took the afternoon off work, we packed up, and left as soon as we could. We could not wait to get out!
The closer to the coast we got, the cleaner the air became. By the time we stopped for dinner in Astoria, the smoke was a light haze and the smell of the ocean overpowered the putrid smell of the wildfires.
We got settled into the yurt and then walked 5 minutes to the beach. We stayed for an hour or so that first night and just breathed in the cool, fresh air. I saw people online describing it as an "air snack". That first night we literally took deep breaths and enjoyed our first time outside in over a week. I almost cried as I watched the kids run freely in the sand, twirl in circles, and jump around.
That night we slept deep and well. We were awakened (everyone but Clara, that is) by our smoke alarm chirping around 1:00am. It was annoying, but we honestly didn't even care about the inconvenience. We were SO grateful to be safe and to be breathing fresh air. It was a lesson in letting the small stuff go.
The next day was Friday and we spent the entire day outside. It wasn't very cold, but it was the coast so everything was damp all the time!
We played at the beach all morning. The pictures and videos tell the whole story better than my words can. We ran around, played in the water, and walked down to the end where the water crashed up against a cliff. The kids picked up driftwood and built little houses with it. We listened to the waves and the birds. We tasted the fresh air. I'm not sure the sun came out at all, but we didn't care. It was a beautiful relief.
The girls and I took a warm shower after our morning at the beach. That was one of the highlights for Clara :)
In the afternoon we played games at the picnic table and drank tea. The kids and I played hide 'n' seek in the forest behind our yurt. We didn't have a campfire because there was a strict burn ban, but we didn't care. We didn't even want to smell fire at that point!
On Saturday we woke up, packed out, and did a little walk out to the lighthouse. It was cool to see everything from above. There was a ton of fog so we didn't get to enjoy much of the scenery, but everything we saw was gorgeous.
By the time we arrived back in Portland, the air had totally cleared. A heavy storm with lots of rain hit on Friday while we were gone and washed everything clean. It felt like a completely different world than the one we left.
Seaquest State Park
One week after returning home from Cape Disappointment, we went camping again in Washington. This time we went to Seaquest State Park, just over an hour north of us. It is located on the road up to Mt. St. Helens and, despite the name, is not near the sea.
We met our friends, Adam and Jamie Bird, at Seaquest. They live in Seattle and have become our camping buddies. Their kids are the same ages as our kids and they are really chill and great to hang out with.
On Saturday we ventured up to Johnston Ridge at Mt. St. Helens. The Vistor Center was closed due to COVID, but we walked around and got some good pictures. The clouds never parted all the way for us to see the full volcano, but we saw bits and pieces. We hiked along the ridge a bit and willed the clouds to clear. It rained on and off and we had a great time.
When we returned to camp the kids just played and played. It was so wonderful. They ran around together and played volleyball in the field, stalked rabbits, and played card games at the picnic table. I even took a little nap in the yurt while the other adults chatted and the kids kept each other busy. We learned again that camping with friends is the best possible scenario!
On Sunday we packed up and played a few last games. We made arrangements to go camping with the Birds again next year and drove home. Ironically, the sky was completely clear as we drove back to Portland. Mt. St. Helens laughed at us all the way home from her uninhibited viewpoint. Oh well.
Shenanigans at Home
September was such a crazy month!
Between the wildfire trauma and two amazing camping trips, we did find time to play and learn at home. School started officially with Tommy in 6th grade, Lily in 3rd grade, and Clara in preschool. We decided to overhaul our curriculum and try something completely new. I ordered a bunch of Moving Beyond the Page units which brought with them some satisfaction and some frustration. This is the best first day of school picture I could coax out of the kids:
Clara and Lily put on a ballet performance for us one evening. It was so delightful.
September was filled with lots of trial and lots of joy. It took a few weeks to come down from the trauma of the wildfires. Healing came from spending time in the woods and at the coast with our family and friends. Even though it was a turbulent month, I really learned again to appreciate the small and simple things: time with family, the ability to move and breathe freely, our comfortable home, clean water to drink, and the companionship of my husband.
July brought another month of COVID-restricted activities, but we managed to have a lot of fun anyway. We spent a ton of time outside with friends and family and we even snuck in a trip to Utah! After going to Utah I realized that we can basically see anybody safely as long as we are willing to stay outside and wear masks. We all stayed healthy and are so grateful to have spent such wonderful time with our friends and family.
Camping at Silver Falls
After the disappointment of a couple of cancelled camping trips, we were able to snag a night in a cabin at Silver Falls. We felt safe there with the single-use bathrooms and the isolated loop of cabins.
We only spent one night at the cabin so it was pretty simple. We picked up a pizza in Silverton on the way and burned the box in our fire pit. Nothing burns better than greasy cardboard!
The next morning we packed up quickly and went on a quick hike to see two of the waterfalls. It was a weekday so the trail wasn't very crowded. We saw Upper North Falls and North falls, the latter of which we were able to walk behind. The walk down is a little bit treacherous with weeping rocks, steep dropoffs, and uneven footpaths. But it was really cool to be completely immersed in the beauty and majesty of the waterfall from all angles.
Berry Picking/Sauvie Island Beach/Mary S. Young
One of the silver linings of COVID is that we have really discovered some fun outdoor places within 60 minutes of our house. I learned that the berry farms were open and required masks, so we felt safe doing that with some friends. After picking berries on Sauvie Island we drove down the road a few minutes to the beach along the Columbia River and played for the afternoon.
We also played at Mary S. Young, our favorite hang-out spot of the summer. Over the course of about five months it was fun to watch the water level recede and the sandy beach grow in size. The kids always have a blast at Mary S. Young, no matter the water level or the company.
Independence Day
We celebrated a low-key Independence Day this summer. All of the big firework shows were cancelled due to COVID so we stayed home and did a few fireworks of our own. Our neighbors came over and shared their fireworks with us, chatted, and let the little girls have a water fight.
As part of our Independence Day celebration, we watched "Hamilton" over a couple of nights. I don't think the kids understood most of the actual storyline, but they all (especially Clara) loved the music. Lily spent some time of the following days researching different characters in "Hamilton", so she learned quite a bit. It was fun to finally join in the "Hamilton" craze.
The kids are such great friends for the most part. They play so well together and are usually very kind and take care of each other. They love jumping and wrestling on our bed. Nothing is better than listening to their laughter upstairs.
Utah - The Wards
We finally got to see our family! They came to Portland in January for Lily's baptism, but we had to cancel some spring trips because of COVID. Now that my family and Ben's family all live in Utah, it's easier to see everyone at once.
We had to modify our roadtrip a little bit on the way over. Usually we stop at a McDonald's so the kids can run and play while we eat. This time we drove through Dairy Queen and ate in a park. We brought our own water with us in the car and tried really hard to be quick on our potty stops. The drive to Utah went well and was uneventful. Just the way we like it. The only time we had to make an unplanned stop was when Clara put her foot through her seatbelt and then it locked and she couldn't get out of the tangle!
The first day we arrived in Utah we got to meet the kids' new cousin, Thorin. He was born in June and spent the first week of his life in the NICU. All the kids got to hold him and swoon over his little face. I got to spend a few extra hours with him the next day so that Carson and Desiree could have a little break. It was so precious to hold him and sing to him and feed him. He kept falling asleep, even when I tried to do tummy time with him. He's a little treasure!
The next day, the fun continued with what I coined, "Uncle Wes's Desert Death March". He asked if I wanted to go for a hike. "Sure!" I said. Next thing I knew, we were walking in full sun with no shade in sight, over a steep rocky desert trail. Luckily we had plenty of water and the hike wasn't all that long. We got a beautiful view from the top which was accompanied by Oreos. We all picked up lunch, drove back to Grammy's house, and continued the fun there with a water fight.
We hung out at Grammy's house most of the week, played games, read books, and played the piano. However, we did venture over to Wes and Jamie's for more outdoor water play on their trampoline and slide. It wore the kids right out!
All of the cousins came over a few evenings later for dinner and more outdoor play. We were trying so hard to be careful about COVID that we had everyone wear masks while we were together. Even though it was hot, the kids all did great wearing their masks. They played in the sand, had a Nerf Gun fight, and ran around together like old friends.
The day before we left, Clara scribbled on some little post-it notes and stuck them to Grammy's kitchen wall. She explained that she placed them there so that Grammy would not forget her. This of course brought my mom to tears. Clara really knows how to touch tender hearts.
Lily spiked a fever the morning we were supposed to go to the Chattertons' house. We spent a nervous few hours on the phone with the nurse, watching "Next in Fashion", and taking Lily's temperature every 15 minutes. Eventually the fever went down, we all breathed a sigh of relief, and headed to Springville for another week in Utah.
Utah - The Chattertons
Life at the Chatterton home is very chill. Aunt Steph took the week off work so everybody was home together the entire week. It's always really nice there.
The kids got to play with their cousin, Grant, all day every day. Clara and Grant are just a few months apart so they became cute little friends. Tommy has always been the big boy cousin that all the little boys look up to. He fills his role with kindness and patience.
Grandma pulled out her crafts to keep the kids busy. They read books with Grandpa. I brought some film canisters and Alka-Seltzer so we could launch some rockets in the backyard. Grant thought that was pretty awesome!
The adults and Tommy played a game of Risk one afternoon. John won, of course, but Tommy actually gave him a good run for his money.
I got lots of time to exercise and nap. Grandma took the kids on long drives through the farmland of Springville to look at the horses and cows. The kids played well together and established their own town called Tickle Town. They each had their own job and responsibility in the town.
One day the kids and I joined Steph and John on a hike up Spanish Fork Canyon. We followed a river and got to see some cool weeping rocks.
We had a really wonderful time with our families in Utah. I'm so glad that we braved COVID to see everyone. I have to admit that we were slightly relieved to return to Portland where nearly everyone wears a mask in public, even if they are outdoors, but it is always hard to say goodbye to family.
Black Lives Matter Protest
Right after we returned home to Portland we participated in a family-friendly Black Lives Matter protest in SE Portland. Protests had been happening daily since May due to the murder of George Floyd. We felt that this gathering would be a safe way to get the kids involved.
I have to say that participating in this march was an amazing experience. The organizers lined up music and speakers that were inspirational and knowledgeable. I learned so much about Portland's racist history from them. It felt sacred, like church almost.
The kids made signs and we marched out to Hawthorne, held our signs, chanted, and then walked back. Everything was organized by volunteers and without police help, since we were protesting police violence. It touched me that groups of adults volunteered as medics, security, and traffic control. We had everything we needed to march through the streets safely and effectively. I felt really inspired by what a community can do for each other by pulling together.
July was a beautiful month, full of lots of time outside, lots of family, and lots of fun.
July was a turning point for me in this pandemic. I realized that we could safely get together with friends as long as we were outside and wore masks. After we returned to Portland I lined up several playdates with friends we hadn't seen for several months. We were able to get together safely and let the kids play for the first time in forever.
I am grateful that we made the trip to Utah. I don't know when we'll be able to see our families again. They say a vaccine is being developed, but who knows how long that will take. For now, we'll hold on to the memories of this summer and hope they get us through!
