Apples, Boots, and Such

It's apple time! Miri enjoys the whole process: the gathering, the eating, .....


...the schlepping to the barn....


...and the feeding to the horses. Though she has a little trouble reaching the feeders.

Miri admires her new mud boots (new-to-her). They are much too big still, but gosh, aren't they fun to attempt to walk in??

Hey, astute readers, what's wrong with this picture? (besides the mess all over the floor, the tarp the horse is standing on, etc.) Hmmm, the horse is on the wrong side of the stall wall. This is Jake, who wriggled his way into a tight space, getting into the barn while Mommy was unloading hay. He found the bucket of apples.

The Things Aleaha Says

"Mom, you haven't nursed Miri in a long time. Your boobs don't serve milk anymore, huh?"

Aleaha and Miri go to Happy Canyon

Aleaha and Miri attended their very first Happy Canyon show this year. I was filled with excitement for Aleaha to be there and with fear and trepidation about Miri-Yell. But Miri was fine, really. She was asleep during the first part (yay!!) , then woke up in a good mood and played with the little 13-month-old girl sitting in front of us. When she couldn't sit still and keep quiet anymore, Gramma Bon whisked her off behind the scenes to meet the horses and actors. She loved that part.

Aleaha loved the show. Here are a few excerpts...

During the opening scene, when the Indians are fishing in the pond:
"Mom, look, they're catching fishes!"

During the scene where the Indians carry the deer out.
"Mom, they were not very nice to that deer. They put an arrow into it."

During the scene where the white girl (Aunt Jodi) is taken captive:
"Mom, why did they take Aunt Jodi? What did she do to them?"

When Jodi dives into the water:
"But Mom, she's going to be gotten by the fishes!!!!"

After Jodi exited at a full gallop on the horse:
"Mom, where is Aunt Jodi now?"
My reply, wanting to assure her Aunt Jodi is OK and this is just for pretend,
"Well honey, she's down below, taking a shower."
A few minutes later:
"Why is Jodi taking a shower underground?"

At the end:
"Mom, it's the American Flag Song! I know this one!!"

There were a million more questions, of course. She tried to understand what was happening with the indians and cowboys and land and sickness. She told us some interesting versions of this on the way home, as it all sunk in. It's hard to ensure a 4-year-old can appreciate the cultural sensitivies involved in Happy Canyon. I asked her of her favorite parts, and they were the fireworks and all the horses, especially when they were running really fast. :)

Round-Up!!

The Centential Pendleton Round-Up was a woppin' success. It was basically our annual family vacation - a long road trip there; lots of food of questionable nutritional value; no naps; a great visit with lots of fam & friends; taking in the parade and rodeo and Happy Canyon; and the tiresome trek back home.


Mommy insisted on starting the night before we left with a celebretory dinner out at Ixtapa. Miri discovered the joy of the special whipped-cream-covered, cinnamon-and-jam-coated chips served at the end of the meal. Mas, Mama, mas!!


Miss Miri was fussing a bit on the way to Pendleton, so Mommy encouraged her to play with the tissue box. (She has a very cool trick -- she can blow her nose all by herself!) Ya know, it was a dollar-seventy-nine box of tissue, providing about 8 minutes of pleasure and peace. Totally a worthwhile trade!


Miri went with open arms to Aunt Kelly right away, but then insisted on going back to Mom.


Aleaha was delighted with the throwing of candy from people riding in the parade.


Miri loved the parade and clapped away at seeing all the horses.


The Westward-Ho! parade has become a mini-family reunion, with the chance to see my Aunt Jan's girls and their families. Here is Cousin Elena and her husband Chava -- the world's first daddy to nurse their son, Emery. ;)


Aunt Kelly and Cousin Liliana (with Baby Diego) take in the parade and get in some good sharing time.


A six-up mule and stagecoach ensemble. There were 1500 horses, mules, ponies, draft horses, and draft mules (or, what Aleaha calls "horse-mules") in the parade. But I don't know if they broke the world's record.


The Pendleon Round-Up Mounted Band. Mommy used to ride with this band and play piccolo. Maybe again, someday....


Cousins Tyler, Ella, and Hank were lovin' every minute of it. Tyler graciously gave his sister a boost for a better view.


Cousin Jennifer's boys Sam and Ira were loving the parade too. Here they cheer on the band from Athena-Weston -- Mommy's second favorite band of all. :)


There were 2 really cool entries from the forest service, including this 6-string pack mule line.


Can you imagine climbing through the wilderness on one horse and holding on to a leadrope with 6 pack mules laced together and loaded down? Them's some brave, calm animals!!


Terrible shot from my cell phone camera, but this was the Grand Entry of Old Glory. This moment, at 1:15 each day, with the flag, the Star-Spangled Banner, the fly-over of the F-15s, and the run-in is the best five minutes of the year!!


If you were there, you can tell what this was -- barrel racing! So different to see this compared to barrel racing in other rodeos. Those horses have to run twice as far, and it's really dangerous. Great to watch, though!


Funny bull, taking a little snooze, with his head in his grain bucket.

The Beach

We made a day's get-away to the coast recently. We enjoyed a little food, a visit to the sea lions, a stop at the candy shop, and of course, the beach!


We took a kite with us, as there's always wind to fuel it.


This shot summarizes most of what Daddy and Aleaha did -- he flew the kite, while she rolled around in the sand.


Daddy's keen observation: "It's a lot easier to unwind the string than wind it up again."


Aleaha did lots of body surfing...in the sand.


Miri was in the backpack for quite a while, but I knew she'd love it once I let her down. I also knew it would be a challenge to keep an eye on her! Here she keeps an eye on Daddy's kite. Note Aleaha in the background, rolling in the sand.


Miri used her sister's shoes to scoop sand. Atta girl, makin' do.


Aah, the tactile learning experiences.



The weather was amazing - warmer than I expected, so we eventually peeled some layers. And Aleaha decided it was time to investigate the water. We let the waves get our feet wet just a couple of times, and then retreated to the puddles back in the sand.


Off went Miri's hat...


...and on her face went lots of sand!




It was a struggle to get a shot of three of them.






Miri was fun to watch toddle about the sand and puddles. She was soaking wet afterwards. But wasn't that the whole point?

Chores

What has been keeping us so busy that there isn't even time to post in the blog? The end-of-summer chores, of course. Happens every year! And with our true summer weather behind us now (no fair, only two months?!?), we are in a hurry to git 'er done!


Aleaha, on a hay ride. A real one. Where once you get to the barn, you help unload it all.


She strikes a pose. But really, she did have to work too!


Over Labor Day weekend, we labored moving our chicken pen. It was quite an ordeal, as we had to partially construct the new pen, lock the girls up in the house the night before, drag the house into place (see Daddy negotiating that feat carefully with the tractor), then finish the fencing.


Miss Miri was quieted with a donut -- an unusual treat for us -- while Mommy & Daddy finished the pen. Of course, 20 minutes later she was on a sugar crash and had to have real food.


The girls are loving their new place. There's lots of sunshine (well, for now).

That was fast

I can't believe how quick my second child is growing up. Miri is walking. Been walking for several weeks now, and her oh-so-behind (on everything!) mother is finally just now catching up on the press. At first she had a darling little gorilla-like walk, teetering from side to side a lot. Now she motors around everywhere quick as a bunny.




Here is from August 15, when she was really starting to toddle with gusto, but still fell quite a lot.



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Listen carefully to her machine-gun sound...I think someone was clearing their throat and she caught on to it and did that for a few days.