OMSI and Pacific Pie Co.

On a nice Sunday a few weeks ago, Marcus and I took a trip to OMSI with the 3 oldest kids (grammae and papa graciously watched Gemma and Sedric).  I've lived here almost 16 years and I've never been to OMSI aside from watching an IMax film once.  Bunny has been there once, and James twice.  It's about time we went as a (partial) family!

OMSI stands for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

This "vacuum and air" display was fun.

Volunteers manned stations with science experiments.

The water play...er, physics...section was nice
(Mariposa especially liked this one).

Erosion table in the pc environmental change
room (Marcus loved that one)

 Ok, I know I will sound like a TOTAL snob when I say that I was not that impressed.  I mean, I was impressed with the size, volume, and quality of the exhibits, but it seemed more like a playground than a science learning environment.  It looked to me that most of the patrons did treat it as "just" a fun place to be (no learning required).  Mariposa did do some great work at the sailboat table (she guessed at where to put the sail, adjusted the boat's design, etc.) but the real fun was playing in sand at the erosion table and playing on the "jumprope" machine.  I guess I prefer a more in-depth experience on a single subject...maybe a trip to OMSI's planetarium is in order.  

But don't get me wrong, we did have a lot of fun!!!!  And it was nice doing big-kid stuff without chasing after Gemma and Sedric.  I'll have to take them to the Children's Museum on a different day.

Marcus was in charge of the restaurant selection for lunch, and he did a great job.  Who knew we had a PIE restaurant????  I was thrilled!!!

A nod to upper Michigan--Bun and I got pasties.

wrapped sausages...kinda like a pie...?

dessert: Marcus chose a hazelnut chocolate
bourbon pie...it was fab!!!

Other choices: chocolate/peanut butter, apple streusel, and
key lime pies

I would definitely go to Pacific Pie Co. again!!  The (vegetarian) pasties were good but next time I will go for a meat pot-pie like Marcus chose.  And more sweet pies as well!

R.I.P. Dr. DeKlotz

I learned today that our dear pediatrician, Dr. DeKlotz, passed away yesterday afternoon after a short and sudden bout with pancreatic cancer.  He was a wonderful doctor to all 5 of our children, and he will be greatly missed.

Bunny's 2-month checkup, November 2002

with James, July 2005

with Mariposa, February 2007

with Gemma,  July 2010

with Sedric, August 2012

Here are some of our most recent pictures of our visits with Dr. DeKlotz, just a few months ago:

January 2014

January 2014

Say "Cheese!"

"Theeeeese!

A Nice Day before the Rain

The other week we had a really nice Sunday before a big bout of scheduled rain, so we made the most of it by spending the afternoon outside.  Grandpa (my dad) requested that I take out Marcus' phone and click some pics, and text them to him and my mom.  Poor grandpa, their snow just melted in Ohio!  Here are some pics that I took with my camera, while taking pics for gpa:

Seddy loves playing with the chickens.

Marcus and I (with Gemma's help) were measuring for a new
chicken pasture to be able to rotate and let the current pasture
rest and recover for a few months.

The hens make these holes to take dust baths.  The horse trailer
at the top of the hill is their "coop"...hey, it works well and it
was FREE, better than spending $$$ building a coop!

I went down to our small forested area (which we
call "Cougar Cafe") and found this beauty--a
trillium, Michigan's state flower!  I was thrilled!

Our little muddy stream down at Cougar Cafe (the kids call
this the "quicksand" since it's really deep mud).  It was so
peaceful down here in the forest, I wanted to stay all day.

Tulips are up (and as of this posting, they are almost blooming).

The kids love the new dirt pile.

You can see what Seddy wants to do.

Daddy took him along for a ride.

Later I looked up and saw this.

Three kids in the trailer.  They LOVED this!!!

Some random happenings

Marcus and James (with siblings' help) set forth to match as
many lego heads with lego body parts as possible.

Papa brought his tractor to help with an outdoor project:
a shed for the bikes and lawnmower.

Marcus is hard at work, supervising.

From the other angle, to see where the shed will go in
relation to the house.

I'm pretty excited about this bike shed, because it will get the bikes out of the garage and the barn!  Also, it will get the mower out of the barn, which will free up space for us to do a MAJOR de-junking and a minor barn remodel.  And as an added bonus, the shed will block the propane tank from view.  (triple-win!)  We'll be ordering the shed from Lowe's before too long (the next time I can make it into town without kids...ok it may be a while...)

Who got ahold of my camera??

guilty!!

Galumpkes

The other weekend we made Grandma H's stuffed cabbage, or "galumkes" as we know them.

In grandma's handwriting (heart)

...and in her meandering recipe style.

 Marcus had requested I make these.  We hadn't had them for YEARS, at least 5 years because I don't think we ever made them in our new house.  The last time I had galumpkes was at Tony Packo's in Toledo.

filling the boiled cabbage leaves with meat and rice

a lot of galumkes fit in our soup pot

covered with tomato juice, onion, garlic, cider vinegar, and oil

the finished product
(sorry the pic is on it's side)
(and yes, those are Christmas dishes.  We've been
a little busy around here.  They work just fine.)

a really good eater (ate half of my plate too)

I hadn't made them in so long because I figured the middle kids would hate them.  Well I was right.  But who cares???  The were SOOOOOOOO  good!!!  The older kids liked it just fine, the middles ate the filling and complained, and Seddy (as you can see) LOVED it.  Marcus and I couldn't get enough.  Really.  Seddy ate all of our food.  Next time we will make a double batch!!