Adventures in Peach Picking

Wednesday we went peach picking with some good friends.We found a fun new farm and it ended up being more of an adventure than I originally planned.

I absolutely love taking my children when we go to the farms. I love that they see where food come from and it reminds me of going to the farm with my dad and grandpa when I was a little girl. This was the first time we had gone to a peach farm. I love the smell of a peach orchard. It made me feel like I was five again. Hailee and James for the most part really enjoy being a part of the whole experience as well. They are great sports as long as it doesn't get too hot, they are turning out to be true Oregonians.

 Deneille and I in peach boxes 1981 (I think). James in a peach box, 2010. I think we found where James gets his bald head. Those Wagner genes sure are strong.

Hailee is always the best helper. I can always count on her for being the best girl.

I can always count on James being curious and a little bit of a trouble maker. While picking peaches he gave me the biggest scare to date. He likes to explore and he is never worried about if I know where he is. While picking peaches he kept running off in one direction. I had to chase him down quite a few times. One time he ran off and I didn't see him. I went in the direction he had gone every other time and I could find him. As I frantically looked for him, I couldn't help but think of every possible worst case situation. I went back to the top and asked them if they had seen him, I really didn't want anyone leaving with him. Then continued my search. I finally found him in the opposite direction he had been going and about 7 rows over from where we had been. He was happily playing in the trees. The trees in this orchard are really low to the ground (making it really easy to u-pick, but not so easy to find little boys). I finally found him because he had gotten something sticky on his hand and he fussed a little. Thankfully I was close enough to hear him and it all ended happily. I'm pretty sure he is going to be the death of me before he turns 5.

By the end of the morning we had over 80 pounds of peaches and about 80 pounds of kids to take back to weigh. The kids loved riding on the wagon.

Soccer

Soccer has begun again. Hailee is in heaven. She is in the blue 'pinny' by her coach, Coach Dean. We love the program she is in. Coach Dean is so great with the kids and Hailee absolutely loves soccer. The only thing that would be better, according to her, is if she could go every day instead of twice a week.

Camping

The biggest problem with spending a great weekend camping is figuring out how to cut down 150 fun pictures into one blog post.

We had such a great weekend camping. The best part for me about camping is how much Todd loves to camp. He wants to do everything and enjoys doing everything. He loves to set everything up, cook everything and do everything around the camp site. I get to sit back, enjoy and take lots of pictures. It was the perfect thing to do on my birthday weekend.

We all had such a great time. We camped in the Tillamook State Forest, the campsite was just 30 minutes from our house. James was very please to camp next to a little creek. Thankfully it was small enough I didn't worry too much. He could play to his hearts content without too much worry from his mom. Here he is with his "game" face on. He was very serious about exploring every square inch of the place.

I am fairly certain that if he had his choice he would live in the wild. Clothes and mom's just get in the way when he really wants to have a good time. While I was packing I packed a big variety of clothes for the kids because I wasn't quite sure what to expect since it was our first time camping in Oregon. As I took the kids clothes out to the car I was worried I had gone a little overboard, but it wasn't long after we arrived that I realized that James would need every single thing I brought for him. For some reason he just couldn't stay clean and dry for very long. As you can see from the video below...




They had this great little water pump for us to get water. Hailee and James just thought it was wonderful.

Hailee had such a great time as well. The first night we were going to bed and talking about what we wanted to do the next day. Since Tillamook was fairly close I mentioned it might be fun to go see the cheese factory. Hailee quickly said "They have Vanilla ice cream at Tillamook." Todd and I started laughing to which she said, "They do, they really do have vanilla ice cream." My parents took Hailee to the cheese factory when they were visiting when James was born and she remembered getting vanilla ice cream and a cat from the gift shop. With such a great recommendation how could we not go.

We did find Tillamook Vanilla ice cream along with 30 or so other flavors and had a great time visiting Tillamook. We also went to the farmer's market and checked out the town of Tillamook.

One of my favorite things about camping is eating yummy food. Things just taste better when it's cooked on a fire. Todd and I are getting quite good at cooking over a fire and I think we've finally perfected out tin-foil breakfasts.

The best thing about taking a kid camping for the first time is introducing all kinds of new things. One of the things is S'mores. He wasn't sure at first about the sticky-ness but he did love the recees peanut butter cups.

One of my biggest worries before going camping was James and the campfire. Thankfully he was really careful and never tried to get too close. Hailee is turning out to be a little pyro after all. She loved helping Todd start the fire. James just loved running around and poking things with a stick.

I don't think we could have had more fun. It was so nice to get out and enjoy Oregon's nice weather.

James either has this smile or his serious exploring face on in almost every picture. I think he says it best for all of us with that big smile. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend together.

What to do this weekend?

With his lack of verbal communication James had decided to give a few hints about what he wants to do this weekend. I'm pretty sure he wants to go to the beach. 

Blueberries

There are very few things my family loves more than berry picking...one of those is berry picking with friends that show us a great new place to pick. Some friends from our ward showed us a new farm. It was so lovely. Nice and shady and the berries were delicious. For most of the time we were the only ones there so the kids just got to explore and pick berries to their hearts content.

James was so pleased to be free to explore the berry patch to his hearts content. He was pretty good to stay somewhat close to me and the other kids.  Hailee loved playing and picking berries with friends.

The only problem I have now is finding space in my freezer for 10 more pounds of berries. It's a good thing berry season is almost done, I don't have very much room left in my freezer. Up next canning season. I'm looking forward to peaches, pears, apples and possibly tomatoes.

Alsea Falls

On the way back from the Scandinavian Festival we decided to drive through Corvallis. It was fairly close and we haven't been back since our summer with HP. The kids both took naps while we drove around. When they woke up we decided to go to Alsea Falls. Hailee and I went there when my parents were visiting by James and Todd had never visited.

Alsea Falls were as beautiful as I remember and the weather was nice and cool too. It's been quite warm in Hillsboro, so it was nice to get out of the heat.

After visiting the falls we decided to go downstream a little bit to see if we could find a nice place for the kids to play in the water. We kind of lost the trail and were going down a steep slope without a trail. Hailee was being very dramatic, any little slip she would cry out and grab me or anything she could find. With every little squawk James would just laugh and laugh. Her 'terror' was hilarious to James. It was so funny to watch.

It was such a beautiful day. The weather was perfect and we got home by the time our house was nice and cool. On the way home Todd was telling me how being outdoors was good for his psyche. It was good for all of us to have a little family time.

Here is a video of just how different our children are. I don't think two kids could be more different. Maybe that is why they get along so well. The waterfall is quite loud so you'll probably want to turn down the volume.

Scandinavian Festival

We met Susan at the Scandinavian Festival on Saturday. It was fun to watch the dancing and try new food. James especially enjoyed the meat pie.

 It was so much fun to get together with Susan and Deborah and catch up a little bit.

Since it was so hot and the kids were tired we didn't stay as long as we normally would have, but it was fun to get together with Susan.