Green Bluff Adventures!

I love summer mornings in Spokane.  They start out a little cool but sunny...a welcome reprieve from the heat the day before.  We were out enjoying it today.  I finished nursing Max and was dressed and ready so we actually made it up and out a little sooner than we had earlier in the week.  I often ask myself "what is it about living in the basement that makes it so much harder to get outside?"  Then I remember that I am nursing a baby every three hours between which time I need to feed two other children and do all of the other households tasks that seem to quickly pile up.  But I digress....I decided on an impromptu visit to Green Bluff to pick fruit.  We had only been there once before and it was great, even idyllic, that I couldn't wait to go back.  Today they were hosting a wedding.  What a beautiful place to get married!

That picture doesn't do justice to the views around it.  It's so gorgeous.  We were happy to hear that raspberries were ready to be picked so after a little hunt to find them we enjoyed the sweet treasure!  I am tempted to share the detailed account of what followed after this but I lack the creativity to make it funny right now and fear that I would ramble....well not "fear" but anyway... and rambling about that sort of thing can get gross.  Suffice it to say that God enables us to do hard things!  Life with a nursing baby can be demanding at times and so I had to start nursing him in the men's restroom (Sam absolutely had to use the bathroom and the women's was locked).  Strangely they had a chair in the bathroom so I seized the opportunity to nurse Max while the older kids went potty.  It seems a bit crude to spell out exactly what proceeded so use your imagination...picture Maggie being nurse to Sam who had issues at both "ends" at the same time while I was nursing.  :)  I no longer say "You have GOT to be kidding me" when these things happen probably because my kids seem to bring on those moments on a regular basis. 

I felt like I needed to blog about this today to remind myself and others to remember to pray for the mothers in your life!!!  I often wish I could go back to the time before I had children and just serve the pants off the mothers I knew back then! 

So here is a little pic of the bounty from our journey. 

Strangely, even though it was the most chaotic experience I've had in a long time it was a great time at the orchard.  Walking through their gardens and picking cherries or raspberries, snacking on them as we go (they let you do that for free!) brings so much peace and everyone seems so happy there.  Fewer interceptions between children, less discipline needed, joy in seeing all of the fruit on the trees and bushes, and savoring the moments that make me stop and soak life in.  I love it there.

I told myself that I wouldn't post any pictures of Max until I had completed his birth announcements but I can't stand not sharing any pictures so here goes....

Maggie has placed her green baby, as we refer to her, by Max like this twice now.  We call her his little girlfriend. :)

This is a picture from our first time to the orchard a few weeks ago.  All of the cherries were picked today when we went :(

Peas from Granny's garden.  Aren't they pretty?  They are so yummy.

A shot taken at the Japanese Garden in Manito Park when my parents visited in June. 

Two of my favorite boys....also taken last June when my parents were here. 

So there you have it!  Learn from my mistakes today....monitor how many raspberries your children eat while picking and watch them drink the water that you tell them to.  Now I really need to get to cleaning my abode...

Funny things at Manito today..

I enjoyed a nice morning at Manito Park today.  Sam and Maggie were thrilled because it had been a while and Max fell asleep for a little morning nap so I was thrilled too!  On our way Sam told me that he was going to a buy a digger when he grew up because he wanted "to work construction."   Maggie added, "I want to be a mother."  I love it. Where is the "heart key" on this keyboard? :)

I was standing near the jungle gym watching the kids and 2 twin boys came to play, probably around age 8 or 9.  I listened as they discussed the color of their crocs (red and black) but chuckled at their level of specificity.  One said his were scarlet to which the other replied, "Then I guess mine would be midnight black."  And off they ran to the swings...  I had to laugh to myself when I saw this other boy a little younger, maybe 7, taunt another boy by saying in his taunting voice, "are you scaywed?"  It was such a cute ironic thing to see a boy unable to pronounce his "r's" but trying to be intimidating to another....  we all think we are "the stuff" at one point or another don't we?

As I was getting their lunch ready Sam showed me a picture he drew on the magna doodle.  I said, "Nice!  What is it?  Sam replied, "It's a person going somewhere to find somebody."  :)

I fell asleep while nursing Max just before the older kids' naptime and quickly got everyone off to bed hoping to be horizontal for a little while myself.  Sam and Maggie napped well.   Max woke up as soon as he was laid in his crib.  So I rock Max while on the internet and he falls asleep.....he wakes up as soon as he is laid down... and so the pattern continues.  Sam and Maggie get up and it looks like a diet coke run for me!

One more funny thing to share.  We were doing some grocery shopping in Fred Meyer a few days ago when a nice lady next to us asked Maggie, "Are you a good helper to Mommy?"  Sam replied," That's HER name!!! (with much astonishment)  How did you know her name?  How incredible that this complete stranger would know my name was "Mommy." :)

I love it all!