Potholes Camping Trip

What fun! My whole family went on a camping trip to the Potholes Resevoir Camp ground just south of Moses Lake here in Washington. Amazingly we found we could pack the SCA Pavilion and all of its poles (with the exception of the rain fly pole) in the Ford Focus as well as two tables, the 5 gallon water cooler, food cooler, clothing bags, camping chairs, baby pack-n-play, air mattress, dish chest, ground tarp, and blankets and we still could install the carseat properly! We were almost an advertisement for what a Ford Focus can do for you on a long trip.
With all of our stuff togther we had a lot of places to sit and hang out.We even packed Padon's chair which he fits in perfectly. When he sits in it, with his feet flat on the ground, his legs bend at 90 degree angles giving him a very comfortable seat which just makes his little chair look so cute and tiny.
Sarah unveiled her tatoos to my parents who were suprised and a tad shocked (my Dad more than anyone else) but they took it well and I think they are too cute. Sarah loves them and that is what matters.
I finally got to roast smores! Three times I have tried to do smores at SCA events and either I end up going to bed too early or it is inappropriate to bring them out because the kids are still up and they are not aloud to have any. It really seems like you have to roast smores camping especially with family because that was what we always did before. I just strongly had this feeling like, how could we not?! and I wasn't the only one because I believe Sarah and Jane also brought the makings for smores. The only bummer to the weekend was that I was fighting a chest cold that was creeping up into my head and it was making me ache and feel so tired. I took the opportunity to take a nap too when Padon fell asleep (so adorable) on my lap. Both Saturday and Sunday Padon woke up three hours earlier then normal because it was so bright in the tent and he was facinated with the sounds going on outside. Walter was awesome Saturday morning and took care of Padon so I could sleep in and try to regain some energy to fight my cold. On Saturday afternoon I was dying to take Padon out Kayaking so I put him in his swimming suit and put on the life jacket that Sarah had gotten for him.
It really was the right size but with no neck if you sat Padon down the edges would push into Padon's face and this made the whole Kayaking experience start off on a bad foot. He did a good a good job of holding himself together but,

after trying it out with him facing forward it seemed better to face him backwards so he could see me.That did help a lot but he kept holding onto the ring in which we were sitting and because his hands were on the side of the boat I accidentally rolled the paddle over his fingers three times. I was trying really hard to keep the paddle out in front of him but it was making me sit akwardly and try as I might I still hit him in the head twice and dripped water on him twice. The second dripping of water was the icing on the cake and he started to cry inconsolably. It was such a bummer because he had been enjoying the water and watching things glide by. Luckily my parents were near to shore and they could pick him up.
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At least we got the chance to go kayaking with my sisters. My sister Sarah had also gone out with my nephew Greg and while Greg was about as unahppy as Padon with his life jacket he did a lot better and silently lounged in front of Sarah. Jane was awesome and took a chance on loosing her new and fabulous camera by balancing it on her kayak and took the awesome group shot below.
My Mom and sister Jane brought their dutch oven's and made amazing meals that I would never think to have while camping, even car camping. We had lasagna, chocolate cake, peach cobbler, cinnimon pull apart, and an awesome casserole.

Padon and Greg got along even better and I think they are starting to remember each other. It seemed to me that they were more relaxed this time in each other's proximity and played together without a whole lot of eye poking, scratching, and slapping. Padon's Sponge Bob Square Pants bandaid was an attraction to Greg but why wouldn't it be? It was bright blue with bright yellow squares on it.

I got this great picture of Padon sleeping that so reminded me of camping with him last year when he was itty-bitty. Just too cute.

It was a really good time even though we lived under the protection of bug spray. I wouldn't mind if this became an annual event. I think that people maybe concerned about gas prices but I'm of the mind to make it work. I'd like to believe there is always a way to do anything you would really like to do.

Empty Nest

So all of our lovely ducks are gone. This really has been quite heart breaking for us. We purchased 5 ducklings last spring and raised them in a brooder and were pleasantly surprised to find that ducks are amazing pets not to mention their eggs are larger and better for you than chicken eggs. Even more amazing they loved playing with Roadie, chased her and her ball, and were quite affectionate to Walter and followed him where ever he went.

Sadly early last fall we lost one of the Blue Swedes (male) in the night to a racoon when the ducks were accidentally left out of their coop and it made us realize how vulnerable our little buddies were.

Over the year they weathered really well in the cold winter and very late spring but in May we lost the Rowan (Malard looking male) to another racoon when it seemed he didn't get put away with the others. This was a shock because he was a big chaser of Roadie and endless fun to watch. Two weeks later something got the male Pekin in the coop and with our hearts really broken at his passing we began to be really fearful for our last two ducks but at a loss of what to do with them in the mean time. We couldn't figure out how the racoon had gotten the Pekin. Two nights later Walter came home very late to hear a big bang in the coop. He went running with rifle in hand to find that a racoon was in the coop and that it had come in through the roof. It attempted to make a wild escape but with a few shots Walter had killed the animal that had been part of, if not a main reason for, the torment our chickens and ducks over the past year (we went from 12 chickens to 3 in one week). The satisfaction was short lived because Walter soon found that our last two ducks, the girls, were really bad off. The Blue Swedish was in such bad shape we "took care of her" right away and tried to have high hopes for the female Pekin. The vet however took one look at her and sadly said that she would need to be put down.

It seemed so quiet without them and for a couple weeks I would find myself looking for them when I came home to see where they were waddling today. Walter and I both agree that we won't get any more chickens or ducks until we build a new chicken coop. The one we have is too old and really needs to be reinforced. Luckly the chickens have been very self sufficent and have been roosting high in our outbuilding away from predators. Who knows when we will get to a new coop but I hope it can be a project next summer because it really just doesn't seem like home without them.

Birthday Party's Rock!

Padon's Birthday Party Rocked! We cleaned up and decorated the house
managed to get two sheet cakes in the shape of a dragonfly and iced and waited for everyone to arrive.

All of our closest family and dearest friends came.
Walter manned the grill and cooked up some great hamburgers and hotdogs. My Mom brought the Margaritas, Leo brought the beer and wine, and there were blue slushies and rootbeer sodas for the kids.

After lunch everyone managed to pile themsleves into our living room where Padon unwrapped his gifts. Eliot, Ivor, and Greg were very eager to help Padon unwrap his gifts which was great so they could be part of the fun.
It was a swarm of tiny hands examining all the new and way cool stuff.
Eliot was great at picking out the gifts, handing them off to Walter and Padon, and doing her best to restrain herself as she watched Padon pause when tearing off the wrapping paper. There was much to learn in the art of quickly tearing off the paper.
After presents we readied ourselved to blow out the candle and Walter cut and served the cake.
We gave the bottom end of the dragonfly to Padon after stripping him down to his diaper and let him go hog wild. He ate a lot of the icing and about a quarter of the cake before he felt he had, had enough.

I rushed him down the hall to the bathtub to wash the icing off, put him in comfy pj's and put him in bed for a needed nap. Sadly I had forgotten about the Pinata. So while Padon missed out on the Pinata everyone else had a great time watching Greg, Eliot, and Ivor pull off the ribbons waiting to see which ribbon would release the treats. Eliot found the right one and with some hard tugging the bottom was ripped out.

It was aweome. There was 5lbs of candy, plastic lizards, frogs, and snakes stuffed in the pinata and it took some shaking, wiggling, and digging to get all the good stuff out.

I handed the kids goodie bags and let them fill them up with the treasure. Needless to say I still have a gallon bucket full of candy, lizards, snakes, and frogs but it was so worth it!
We ended the afternoon with my brother, Pat, showing of his new hot ride and giving my Dad, Mom, and his girlfriend Catherine rides on it around our yard.
We had a great time, the party was everything Walter and I hopped it could be, and Padon had a great time with everyone around.

Happy 1st Birthday Padon!

Padon is already 1! We can't believe it!
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I took Tuesday, June 3rd, off so I could be home with Padon on his birthday and we had a really great time. We started off the day with chocolate chip pancakes which strangely made Padon cough, sputter, and sneeze (He doesn't do this with non-chocolate chip pancakes). Which of course spread pancake everywhere.
He kept rubbing his face and eyes and there was just no way to keep the pancake from spreading all over his face. He only ate 3/4th of his pancake . We'll have to try something else next year I think.

After breakfast Walter and I got Padon ready to go to the Picture People to get his picture taken. The photographer did a nice job and we took home a couple pictures to frame.





The day before Padon's birthday we had gone out shopping for his birthday party and also bought him the gifts that I had been dreaming about for months. Walter had bought him a wooden sword and leather to make him a sheath at June Faire, he had also grabbed him a rubber chicken at Party City (which he has really enjoyed chewing on), I got him a baby doll, and we picked out a really large red ball that he hugged onto in the store. We also picked out a Fisher Price Barn Yard and large baby leggos compliments of a gift from Padon's Grandma Mary Jane and Padon was so excited to see all these new things.

He was facinated with the wrapped gifts,

And so patient as Walter helped him open the hard ones.

He really liked the face of the baby doll. He kept touching its mouth and eyes and he laughs when you sit it up and make it look at him.

We ended our day by playing in the play area at Alderwood Mall, eating lunch at Red Robin, and taking a very very long nap when we got home. It was a really good day!

June Faire - 1st Day trip since our 1st June Faire

We took our very first "Day Trip" to an SCA Event this year for June Faire. Typically we are the die hard SCA campers and we camp every event but this year we decided to spread our money out over the summer and day trip a few events. June Faire was one of them. Not too far away in Port Gamble, just north of Kingston, it made a perfect day trip opportunity. We took the ferry across to Kingston and on the way we saw this RV that just cracked us up. RV's tend to have catchy road worthy names on them but this one proudly sported "Citation Supreme". We just couldn't figure out anyone would want to name their vehicle Citation. It seemed worth a picture.

This was the first time the public welcoming June Faire event wasn't located in downtown Port Gamble and because it was in a more spacious location it seemed there were a lot more people camping and coming in. So many there was shuttle dropping off people and Walter had to park the car two miles away. He left me with our stuff for the day and went to go park the car at a trail head (a much closer location than the Albertson's they were telling everyone they had to park at).

Contrary to the picture, Padon was not pissed about being in the Sleepy Wrap and enjoyed being able to see what was going on around him and I enjoyed having his weight out of my arms and the freedom to move around more comfortably.

Walter (the one holding the green shield) was excited to be able to fight in a 5 man team in the day's battles. Most of the members of the 5 man team that he practices with on a regular basis were unable to come and he was disappointed that he might not get to fight. He was really pleased, however, to run into another couple fighters in a similar circumstance and between Arnor, Walter (Idris), Theodric and two other non-Medlestead fighters a 5 man team was created. They didn't win as much as they would have liked but overall had a really good time.

There was this one boy in the crowd of mundane (public people visiting an SCA event) people that was just too funny. He was so excited to see the people fighting he was vibrating with the energy. He was jabbing in the air with his invisible sword ,hoping up and down, pointing and hollering at the fighters. He was so cute.

After the fight Walter came back to camp to make a late lunch and to snuggle with his biggest fan. Padon and I had watched a lot of the fighting but a lot of it was lost on him and he enjoyed looking at the people closest to him instead what was going on in front of him.

Purcible (sp?) and his wife Elsbeth came over to chat with Padon and get in their baby fixes and
then we made our excursion off to the vendors to drool over their goods, say hi to our friend Nyssa and get some advice about furs. Walter was able to find a little wooden sword for Padon's birthday and some leather to make him a sheath he could wear on his back, Conan the Barbarian style, and I was able to find some awesome leather laces for Tim and Amy's boots. A day after the event I learned that there was a shoe cobbler teaching about how to make period shoes and I could have just about died for having missed it but what can you do. Triple Bummer!!!!

We ended the day with a play put on by members of our household. It was really well done, very funy and was accompanied by authentic Eduardian (?) candies (candied orange peel (soooooo good), candied ginger, and a mix of nuts). Padon watched with fascination around the people sitting in front of us.

Before we left for the evening I had to take a picture of the coolest wagon ever. A gypsy-esk wagon; I totally love it's double doors, curtains, and lanterns. I would totally give up our pavilion for this wagon!