Wild in the Rain: Gifts to GO!

There seems to be much more thought going into Christmas gifts lately and I love seeing it!  Do we really need or even want more toys?  I will always cherish my son's gift list the first Christmas he was really able to talk.  When I asked him what he wanted for Christmas, he said, "I just want everyone to have a home."  Oh, my Mama heart!  Me too, Sweetheart!

Wait, are those musk ox, Canadian geese, and an emu holding up traffic?

And while there are things we do to give back to those in need in our community, and as much as I wish I could grant that request, we do want to get something special for our children.  I've really enjoyed this rhyme I hear popping up; "Something they want, something they need, something they wear, something they read."  What a practical and pleasantly limiting guide!  The one thing I might add, or blend into the "something they want" is somewhere to go, but I suppose that really throws off the rhythm of it!  

Last Christmas, my brother and his wife got our whole family tickets to Wildlife Safari, a game park about an hour south of us.  And it was SO much fun!  I felt like it was a gift, a mini-vacation, and a home school field trip all blended together!  The kids are all ready asking to go back again!  This was such a welcome gift!

Despite the rain, we saw such a variety of creatures from all over the world.  There was even a petting farm where the kids were able to pet and feed.  On the weekends, a train will take you through the park and it looked like there are always special animal encounters you can sign up for.  The little ones asked so many questions and I feel like we all learned a lot.  I highly recommend a visit if you get the opportunity!  

The joy of this trip and the memories made caused me to start brainstorming other potential non-stuff gifts we might consider in the future.  What would you add?

1. Zoo
2. Music lessons
3. Sports fees
4. Swimming lessons
5. Horseback ride
6. County/State park pass
7. Library card (for out-of-town dwellers)
8. Theme park
9. Art lessons
10. Museum admission

Cause for Thanks

They just keep getting bigger and more amazing!

Good news!  I have officially been able to renew my nursing license through Alaska!  During this sabbatical of being a full-time stay-at-home-mom, I found it was impossible to keep my Oregon license while not working full time.  I still don't know how I'm going to get it transferred when (if?) I do decide to go back to nursing, but I'll just cross one bridge at a time, I suppose!  So that time consuming hurdle has been overcome.  Also, our computer had been out of commission for quite some time (close to a year?) and my electronically genius of a brother was able to get it fixed so I can stop fighting a losing battle trying to blog from my lap top!  All that to say, I'm back to blogging!  Hooray!  I missed this!

Happy Thanksgiving from the adult table! =)

So, how was your Thanksgiving?  Ours was slightly more low key this year with just our immediate family, my parents and great uncle, and another family from our church.  With no other cousins in the family, I really appreciate having other kids around!  Isn't it nice when they can keep each other distracted and engaged!  Everything was pretty simple, lovely, and delicious thanks to many helpful hands.

Love seeing four generations (though not linear) learning together!

Right after the meal, I set the turkey carcass and leftover veggies to simmer in the slow cooker.  Two batches of bone broth later, it was time to clean up.  A couple scraps were scavenged for the dog, but as my daughter helped me pour the broth into the jars we uncovered the brittle bones.  

She was so fascinated and we had such a great time snapping them open to see the hollow interior of bird bones, the marrow where the red blood cells are made and the vertebrae.  There was even some spinal cord left so we brought her brother over to show how the cord went from the brain, through the spine and out to the rest of the body.  It ended up being a great science lesson!  You just never know where a lesson will pop up! =)

Happy discovering this week!

Colored utensil holders from most of those present at our feast!

Frozen Pipes and Star Analogy

Making friends with the neighbors

Do you ever start looking back through old photos and sort of get lost in time.  Our Decembers have often been interesting months.  Most notably, of course, was two years ago when our daughter was born in the midst of an Alaskan snow storm. 

So Tiny!

But both the year before that and just last year, December was the month the temperatures finally dropped low enough and long enough for our pipes to freeze despite our pipes being wrapped with electric heat tape and in frequent use. 

The inside of our windows come December

It was a bother, but really, not that big of a deal.  Especially in the lower 48 here, we can become so used to having things a certain way, anything else becomes shocking and pitiful.  But so many people up there live in dry cabins anyway, our being without running water for those few weeks at a time was generally regarded as a minor inconvenience. 

 There were water stations in town where you simply hauled your tank (be it pickup bed sized or the 7 gallon blue ones like we had) and filled up whenever you were in town.  We were thankfully close enough to the Fox springs to be able to fill up with that pure water without having to drive into town.  Or, if we were really in a pinch, we had all the water we wanted right outside our door.  All we had to do was set pots of snow on the stove to melt and boil. 

He loved this job!  Good science experiment, too!

 Being careful to avoid the yellow or brown patches, of course.  An older, single nurse from the hospital I worked at up there said she felt much more prepared to survive in the winter than in the summer should something happen, because she had all that fresh water all around her and a stove to heat it on!

December 2012

 

December 2014

Tiny bits for washing dishes.  Showers were obviously out of the question, but washing up with a washcloth was usually sufficient.  We would give the babies shallow baths in the galvanized tub.  Then use that water to spot clean laundry.  An outhouse would have been nice.  And I really understand the relatively high density of outhouses in the area.  One flush takes a lot of water!  You just get used to thinking about things differently and learn not to waste something even so common as water. 

At the plumbing store...again.

And then the electricity would go out every so often, but every house out of town had a stove.  Maybe this sounds crazy, but looking back, I really appreciate how those times grew me and caused me to get creative and see things in a new way.  It’s so rewarding to be thrust into a potentially dangerous situation like that and come through with flying colors.  Like a victory.  I am very grateful for our new home here in Oregon and love that we get to settle here, but I hope I never lose the lessons I’ve learned nor forget the adventures we’ve had in Alaska.

Okay, enough reminiscing.  I guess what I was leading to is gratefulness.  I know Thanksgiving is over, but it really should be a mindset rather than a single holiday, anyway.  Choose to be content, to be grateful for the things you do have, especially during this crazy month of gifting.  Remember all we have been given, the best gift of the offer of Living Water with the birth of Jesus!  Yeah, that’s “Christianeese.”  I’ve got to stop that, but I like the analogy.  Jesus Spirit living with those who love Him is likened to Living Water that is vital for full life and quenches the thirsty soul.  !  I love Christmas as much as the next person, but it’s just the beginning of the story!  The climax will have to wait until Eastertime, though! =)

We haven’t really started celebrating yet, mostly waiting until after our upcoming birthday party, although Christmas tunes are finally playing regularly.  We did do one activity in preparation for Christmas that I thought I would share because I feel like it was a fun learning activity for my littles.  We had an apple that was starting to look like it was dehydrating from the outside after it had sat on the shelf for much too long.  I brought the littles over to watch for the hidden star as I sliced the apple around its girth.  What delight when they found the familiar shape in the middle. 

 

 As I continued to cut thin slices to (finish) dehydrating for our popcorn/cranberry garland, I told them about the star that shone when Jesus was born, that the shepherd’s saw in the fields and that the wise men followed for their long journey.  The star was there for everyone to see, but the wise men knew what to look for, sort of like how we knew how to look for the star in the apple.  I’m not sure if the analogy played out perfectly, but it was fun to talk about as we worked together.  I’m always up for new Christmas ideas and I know there are tons of amazing traditions and ways to celebrate Christmastime out there.  I’m curious, how do you start off the season? 

Sorry for the dark photos!  Sometimes life doesn't happen in perfect lighting! =)

 

First-Time Tradition: Black Friday Family Hike

How was your Thanksgiving?  I feel like this was the best one we've had in a very long time.  We hosted for our families for the very first time this year! Being two thousand miles away certainly deters the frequent family visits! =)  But this year we had 16 people, four dogs and our two cats in our little mobile.  And it was so wonderful!  Not a perfect meal, but perfect time together.  

Not the purpose of this post, but a couple recipes we have for Thanksgiving that I love (and some were asking for) are the whole wheat rolls (shaped like these pumpkins if you have the time!) with French Cardamom Apple Jam, Balsamic Rosemary Ham, slow-cooker cranberry sauce, Broccoli Casserole (recipe to come) and Spiced Cider (this one is my husband's concoction and I'm hoping he'll let me share this one here soon, too!)

What I really want to write about is a new tradition we were able to start this year and I definitely want to uphold in future years: a Black Friday Hike!  While this may not have been feasible at our Fairbanks home, hiking in this mild climate’s November was refreshing!  After a bacon-and-eggs breakfast, all interested piled into a car and drove just down the road or the maze of trails at the arboretum. 

It was quite frosty, but only on the north side of the hills and became quite pleasant in the sun.  We just dressed in layers and I had room in my pack for all the extra layers as we hiked on the south side.  Another perk of having some grandparents along: extra arms to carry tuckered tykes! 

 We ended up hiking about 3 ½ miles, some of it quite steep, and I’m proud to say my eldest did it all on his own!  Boy, did they sleep good that night!

It felt like the perfect activity for the day after Thanksgiving as we were able to go out and explore together (hikes are much more fun for my little wildlings if the grandparents are along!) and we worked off some of the feast from the day before!  And I hate shopping, so that wasn’t even an option, anyway!  How do you celebrate Thanksgiving after the meal?  I love how each family does certain things to make the celebration uniquely theirs!

 

Beyond the Books: October

Another month in the books of our first year homeschooling preschool!  Again I wanted to share the ways we took learning past the books.  When I say books, really all we're doing is a couple of workbooks I found at the book store for writing and math.  Partially because he doesn't get this as much day-to-day and also just because he wants to learn!  I love that mindset in him!  He finished his first two books this month and was so proud of himself (as we were!)

 



AND he learned to ride his bike with no training wheels!  No book can teach that =)

New structures: as much as we could we talked about how each of these were made and why.

Harbor Docks

Covered Bridges



Lava rock observatory

Giant Compass!

Light house visit

New landscapes


Waterfalls



Coastal rocks



Tide rising



Ancient Lava Flows

New animals:

So much learning at the Whale Museum

New plants and how they work:

Kelp at the ocean: grows under water with air pockets

How logs can hollow out at the center



How pumpkins grow on vines in the field (and what the insides look like!)



How apples grow from trees (and how to pick them)



Carnivorous lilies in a bog 

On a stay-at-home morning (hence the jammies =) ) he changed the plates on our vehicles almost all by himself with his own tools!

 Our friends' little preschooler has been super interested in volcanos, so we decided to make our own.  I'd done the baking soda and vinegar before, but this time we added food coloring and dish soap and it really made it dramatic and longer lasting.  We also made our own volcanos out of a cup set on a plate, then covered in tin foil.  I attempted to make it look like a snow-covered peak by spraying it with hairspray and dusting with flour.  Such fun!

 

Then we got the guys in the kitchen helping us cook to make carameled apples.  I had help throughout the month cooking.  Such a great way for them to reap the benefits of their hard work and be careful with the measuring and stirring.

 

 

Cultural Experience: Highland Games!  Such joy watching the events and pipes, then they danced the night away with the Highland Country Dancers (P.E.?)!

 

 

There was so much more, but I'll leave it at that for now! If you'd like any more information about any of these things, please wade back through the posts of the last month or feel free to shoot me a comment or message!  Happy learning!