The big BIG Waterfall

Yesterday I got to go to Multnomah Waterfalls with a few of my favorite people!

Since my Momma is normally on the "taking" end of the camera, she took advantage of the fact that Dad was around and asked him to take a few pictures of her with Holden and me.

Aren't the waterfalls pretty? We walked all the way up to the bridge, but it was pretty wet up there from all the spray, so we opted to take a picture at the bottom instead.


Grampa Bradley sure was happy! Dad took a few days of vacation, so we've had the treat of having him at home during the day.


Dad's long arms came in handy: he took this picture of himself and Momma.

This is Holden and me up by the bridge. This was the only part where my Momma thought it was safe enough to take a picture of us "without a hand"... the gaps of the railings of the bridge were pretty big, so we had to hold someone's hand the whoooooole time... we also got all wet from the spray!

This picture is a small miracle. We are all four smiling a REAL smile! My Momma is pretty proud of getting this shot, even though she did cut everyone's feet off by accident. Doesn't Grampa look proud to be with his "boys"...? I had a really nice time with Uncle Rob and Grampa and Dad.


My Great-Grandma Nana Carol (I insist on calling her by her full title/name) came to visit us from Gig Harbor for 2 days. It sure was nice to see her again, and it was the first time in a looooong time she got to see Grampa and Uncle Rob!


Dad took this picture of my Momma while we were at the table. Since (as mentioned above) she is usually on the other end of the camera, I am going to include this one, just for fun.


Look how big Lincoln has gotten (and note the blurred, ever-wagging tail!)! He weighs about 50 lbs now... and according to his paws, still has a decent bit of growing to do!
Just for comparison, this was Lincoln 3 months ago. He weighed 15 lbs. This means that he gained 35 lbs in 3 months! He has also lost all his baby teeth, and now as a big set of adult-dog chompers! With his long legs, Lincoln can also run a lot faster now. Thankfully, he always loops back to us (rather than running away and not coming back, as many husky/husky mixes do). Lincoln made a friend this week. Grampa brought his golden retriever Annie with him. Those two played and played and played their little hearts out! We went to the dog park twice, where they got to run off-leash. They spent time in the dog run by the side of our house, and also spent plenty of time inside with us.
Annie can run a lot faster than Lincoln, but Lincoln is a bit taller (and maybe heavier) than Annie, and he liked to tackle her and chew on her jowls. At the end of the day, they were both completely tuckered.

Zoom! Climb! Run! Play!

OH! What would I give to have 5 acres and a bunch of friends to roam them with every day... on Sunday we had wonderful sunny weather. In the evening my Dad took Grampa and Uncle Rob to the men's Bible study at our church, and my Momma took me to play at the church playground. The church has 5 acres of fields, and there were a bunch of other kids there... we had SO much fun together!

First I showed my Momma how well I can climb ALL the way to the top of the playset ALL by myself.

Then some of the kids whose families live right by the church brought out their COOL COOL cars! I got to ride in the Escalade with Annabelle, who is 5 years old, and quite the good driver. There were 4 cars in all.

Annabelle's Dad had mowed a track around the 5 acres, and we got to drive around the track!

Hi Momma, see? I'm back safely!

Then came the best part: Annabelle's Dad let ME drive the car ALL BY MYSELF! I ran into a tree once, and kind of got myself stuck in the tall grass a few times, but BOY was it fun! There were several Dads running alongside the cars, making sure we didn't have any wrecks.

See, Dad? I have my DRIVERS LICENSE now! At least the kind you need for driving very small cars on a very large grassy field!

Since there were more kids than cars, we got to take turns running along with the cars. In my opinion, that was almost as fun as driving!

This is my friend Tristan. He's a pretty good driver, too. He's my big buddy, I really like him 'cuz he teaches me stuff.

We sure are a couple of handsome Dudes!

When the kids with the cars had to go home, those of us who stayed behind played on the playset for a bit more. The bouncy-platform is pretty broken, but it still was fun to jump on it.

Then Tristan taught me how to play "red light, green light" which is similar to the "stop and go" game my Momma plays with Holden and me.

Finally, we played with a wagon someone had left next to the church. Tristan, Kamiah and I enjoyed being pulled around!

Ok, one more "cheese!" for the camera... but then, GOOD LUCK getting a good shot of us! (this whole batch of pictures had about 20 very blurry ones of moving kids that had to be sorted out)


After a while I got bored being pulled by grown-ups, and decided to try pulling my friends! Without any help, I was able to pull Tristan AND Kamiah across the parking lot!


I'm a strong, strong kid!

And then the sun went down, and Dad and Grampa and Uncle Rob came out of the church, and we went home and had dinner, and I went to bed and dreamt of sunny days playing in the great outdoors...

Springtime Garden

Happy Easter!

Last Wednesday evening I got to go to the coffee shop with my Dad. Once sitting very comfily in a recliner with my very own cup of hot cocoa, I looked over at my Dad and said "Dada, now we have our coffee, we can talk about IMPORTNANT things." Dad asked what I would like to talk about, and I said "Well..." and I then proceeded to tell my Dad that Jesus is my friend and that he died for our sins, but that then he became alive again. Easter in a nut shell.

Hope you all had a blessed Easter celebration.

My Momma asked me to let her post some pictures of her garden. Obviously, not all the plants have come up out of the ground yet. But you get an idea, and I'll let her post some more pictures once some more plants have come up. My Momma asked me to thank my Great Grandma Nana (Dad's Grandma Carol) for all the many many plants she gave us! Thank you for your generosity, we will enjoy your beautiful plants for many years to come!

This is part of our front yard. My Momma just edged the lawn, so it looks nice and tidy. A lot of the plants haven't come up yet, but the daffodils and hyacinths my Momma planted bulbs for are blooming. The tulips should start to bloom in about a week.

We have blue hyacinths,

as well as white and pink ones.

The daffodills are a mix of white, white and yellow, yellow, and yellow with orange.

Here is the little evergreen clematis my Momma planted next to the entry. She plans to let it grow up over the entryway, and back down the downspout to the other side. That might take a few years.

One of my Momma's antique chairs got damaged beyond repair during the move. The seat is gone, and one of the legs is too cracked to hold a person... but it works just fine as a flower stand! You're welcome to copy her idea, if you like it.

These prim roses are actually going to be planted in one of the flower beds in the back. But for now this is a good spot.

Meet the pigduck named Patooty. He lives by our front door.

So. Here is the back yard. You have to use LOTS of your imagination, because most of the plants haven't come out of the ground, the grass hasn't grown yet, and the bushes and trees don't have any leaves yet. The lower level has bushes along the left, a large, mossy bigleaf maple and some pines and firs, and once they come up, lots of ferns. The lower level will have a moss path, which will probably take a few years to grow. The moss that my Momma put on the rocks (salvaged from the ground before terracing it) is taking well, by the way.

About half-way along the boulder wall my Momma asked the landscapers to build natural stone steps. You can't tell very well in this picture, but she stuffed moss and some small succulent rock-plants into the cracks. A hardy ornamental grass and a bunch of ferns (not yet grown out of the ground) are planted on either side of the steps. My Momma has "planted" most of the stepping stones above the stairs that lead up to the deck - she will finish the last 4 this week some time. The upper level (above the stairs) is going to be a grass lawn - my Momma seeded it this weekend, so we should be able to play on it in about 2 months.

This is my Momma's favorite plant in the back yard. It's a trillium she got from Dad's Grandma Carol.


My Momma stuffs pieces of moss we collect on our walks into the cracks of the rock wall, and most of it has taken. A few pieces died, but those that didn't look really nice!

The landscapers place the large boulders, but then my Momma filled the larger gaps (where soil would have eventually eroded down) with medium and small sized rocks. The small gaps between the rocks are just right for planting wild strawberries e.g.

The little star magnolia might not bloom this profusely every year, since it is planted in the shade. But boy is it pretty! This version "only" grows to be about 15-20 feet tall, so it won't interfere with the large shade trees we have.

This little prim rose is a "baby" from a plant Dad's Mom gave to Great Grandma Nana. It has an honored spot in the bed right next to the steps.

Our back-yard-neighbor gave us quite a few plants, too. This is one of them, although we don't know what it is called. Courtesy of our neighbor, we also have more than 400 bluebells planted all over the back yard. Once the little clumps have grown together it should be quite spectacular in May in future years...

This King Henry flowering currant is mostly known for its fragrant and beautiful flowers, the berries are good for jelly or for birds to eat. We also have a black currant and two red currants, but they don't look as pretty.







Well folks, that's all for now. Once all the other plants (ferns, hostas, astilbes, solomons seal, and so much more) have come up, and our back lawn has sprouted some green, my Momma will take more pictures!

Our nice nice weekend!

My Dad posted some cell phone pictures of our weekend on his MoBlog, so for those of you who don't check it, I am re-posting them here.
We had such a nice weekend! On Saturday morning, Dad and I got up and made yummy pancakes for my Momma.

I am a good little helper in the kitchen! I can pour and mix like a champ, and I'm also good at licking spoons.

After having pancakes we went to Portland! We went for a walk along the river, got some ice cream.
Well, to be more specific, my Momma and Dad had ice cream. I adamently insisted that I did NOT want ice cream, that I just really wanted to feed the ducks. We had a whole bag of old bread in our backpack, and it was just sitting there, waiting for the ducks. We went down to the water, and were promptly joined by a bunch of Canadian geese and 4 ducks. I had lots of fun feeding them! At first I was content tossing little pieces of bread into the water... then I discovered that I could use the bread for target practise! I got pretty good at tossing the bread ONTO the geese's backs... nobody objected, since bread really doesn't hurt. It rolled right off anyway, and was eaten without complaint. One very naughty goose stole a BIG piece of bread right out of my hand. My Momma tried to shove it away with her foot... and got hissed at.

When we were DONE feeding the ducks (aka when the bread was gone... I could have fed the ducks for a lot longer if there had been more bread), I decided that "I DO want to eat ice cream, please!" - Since we had to go by the ice cream shop anyway, I got lucky. YUM!

Sunday was a good day, too. Dad and I wore the shirts my Momma got us for Christmas. My Momma and I cooked breakfast for Dad: stuffed croissant-muffins! I got to put the fillings in, (herb cream cheese, kilbasa, aged cheddar), and my Momma needed my help counting out the slices of apples for the plates, too. Momma, Dad, and I each got 4.

My Moss Terrarium!

We created a miniature biosphere last week! Every day we go on a long walk in our neighborhood, and my Momma likes to pick up little pieces of moss to put in the cracks of her rock garden. Well, this time Holden and I got to collect some moss, some pretty pebbles, and some dirt, and we planted them in a jar! First we put the dirt into the jar (my Momma says that if we do it again we need to sterilize the dirt first, either by baking or microwaving it... there are now LOTS of creepy little worms and funny other creatures that are making little trails inside the jar). Putting the dirt in the jars was fun, 'cuz we got our hands nice and dirty. Then we put a smoothe rock in (to look like a mountain), and put moss around it. Then we dropped a few pebbles in, stuck a stick with some lichen into the moss, and each of us got to put a little plastic animal in there. Holden chose a sheep, I chose a turkey. We then put a few spoonfulls of water in the jar, and closed the lid. In theory (if the jar isn't shaken by inquisitive little hands, and has enough light), the moss etc. inside the jar is supposed to sustain itself: the water condenses, then drips back down into the soil. If it goes well, my Momma wants to make a few miniature rock gardens inside some jars for herself.

I was so excited about my moss terrarium (jar) that I just would not hold still... my Momma has 5 very blurry pictures of me, and this one is the least blurry one.

Holden was very happy about his moss terrarium, too! I'm happy to have a friend to do projects with.

Here is my jar, you can see the moss, the turkey, and the lichen "tree"


Here is Holden's jar, with moss, a sheep, and some red pebbles under the lichen "tree"















Speaking of gardens, my Momma WILL post some pictures of our garden in the near future... right now our star magnolia is beginning to bloom, and the daffodils and hyacinths are blooming, but all the other plants haven't grown up out of the ground yet. My Momma spent a good bit of Saturday edging the front lawn, and digging up some very stubborn dandilions.

I had fun digging in the dirt today while my Momma worked on the flagstone pathway... I have my very own "house" behind the big maple, with my very own boulder, and some bricks to sit on (my Momma found them in the dirt while digging a hole for a tree). I have figured out how to dig up worms in the garden, and proudly show each of them to my Momma. She's learned that it is generally a good idea to check my pockets BEFORE going inside - worms don't like going through the laundry, and picking dried-up worm corpses out of my pocket AFTER going through the washer and the dryer is not a whole lot of fun. Let me know if you need any worms. I'd be happy to dig some up for you.