A wonderful morning on the shore of the Columbia river

Today we spent the morning down by the Columbia river. We have a favorite spot we go to, a little bay where the water is very shallow and doesn't have a current, and where there is a huge fallen log the boys love playing "pirates" on.

Today I learned that I need to do some more intense training with the boys about not talking to strangers.

After playing for a while, we sat down on the log to have a picnic lunch. While we were having a picnic we kind of got into an awkward situation. A little ways from the big log, a homeless man had set up his camp in the bushes. At first when I saw him I considered leaving, but since there were some other families on the beach near us, I decided to stay. When I made this decision, I unfortunately did not take the boys' reaction into account.
When the boys saw the man sleeping, they of course had to make sure I knew too (with much pointing and loud voices)... which in turn woke the man up. I was about to shoo the boys down off the log and back up the path to the car, when Mark loudly said to the man: "Hi! Good morning! Do you live here?" (the man answered "Good morning" and "yes") and Holden chipped in with "I'm Holden! I'm three! We have a cat named Lola! My Mom and Dad make pizza!" Mark then asked the man what he was going to eat for breakfast, and after hearing his answer (a can of tuna), before I could do anything, Holden pointed out that we had food, and invited the man over. The man smiled, stretched, and (to my horror) accepted Holden's the invitation. The boys were (unfortunately) friendly as always, and told the man all about what they wanted to be some day, etc. - I tried to do damage control by telling the boys not to talk with their mouth full. The boys offered the man one of their sandwiches, and since it was too late to just get up and leave (we were perched up on top of the TALL log, and the man was, presumably by accident, leaning on the part of the roots we needed to climb down on), I gave the man the sandwich. I was kind of hoping he would walk back to his camp to eat, but instead he stood next to the log while he ate. I have to admit that I felt very uncomfortable, mainly because I neither had Ben nor Lincoln with me, and because there was no good way I could tell the boys that this is a stranger and therefore they should NOT be talking to him at all (at least not without angering or offending the man). The guy looked harmless and sad, and he didn't smell like alcohol, but I couldn't help noticing the formerly broken nose and missing tooth... so I didn't want to make him angry. I did speak up very adamently when he offered to help the boys down off the log when they finished eating. I told him I was really not comfortable with that, and helped the boys down myself (even though they could have climbed without help). I then said it was really time for us to go... I wished the man a good day, and then I could finally usher the boys up the path and away, followed by many exclamations of blessings from the man.

In the car I had a VERY good talk with the boys about talking to strangers. This included first asking them if they knew the guys name or even anything about him, and what that makes him ("a stranger")... it then began to dawn on them that they had gotten us into a bit of a pickle. I explained to them that it is good to help hungry people, but that we never never invite a person we don't know to have a picknick with us, especially not if our Dads aren't with us to help protect us. The boys pointed out that they "liked" the man, but I told them that even though he seemed nice, we don't know for sure that he wouldn't try to hurt us.
I am proud of the boys for being generous with their food, but at the same time, at this point in their lives it is MORE important for them to be safe. It is one thing if they talk to strangers in the store (although I have told them MANY times not to), but a whole different story if they chat up a homeless guy down by the beach and invite him to have lunch with us!

Anyway, all is well that ends well. Here are some pictures I took before the picnic:

Last year the boys both still needed someone to hold their hand to balance the length of the log...

They could do it all by themselves now!


...all ashore that are going ashore... (note the dinosaur sidekick each of the boys has tucked into the front of their jackets)

...climbing up into the "sails"...

...all aboard!!!

Cap'n Holden and Cap'n Mark sailing the boat out of the harbor...

Cap'n Mark up in the crow's nest

Holden decided he was done climbing "up high" and had fun throwing rocks into the water

Mark spent most of the morning sailing the ship from the very tippy top of the roots.

"Look Katie! I did it!"

...sailing "to invade the Ottomans"...

...the view from our log ~ you can see Mt Hood off in the distance, and the Portland airport is across the river on the right.


The boys, err, I mean, pirates had lots of fun throwing rocks into the water. We have the rule that when I take them to the river they have to be 10 steps from the water. They were very good about keeping the rule. (When more adults are there with them I don't mind them getting closer...)

I have to admit, the boys might actually be able to throw the rocks further than I can...

"We should come here more often, Momma!"

What a beautiful world we live in!