royalmom

After several rides around town, we finally loaded the bikes onto the car to try out a small section of the Banks-Vernonia railway trail.

The top of the trestle…



The trestle again. We were up there!

So…..getting bikes and accessories loaded up is a bit of a nightmare with a family of six. This was a good test to see what we need and what we no longer want. We learned that just because a bike rack says four bikes can fit, it doesn’t mean we want to spend the time it requires to make them fit. Stay tuned. We’ll get this figured out.

Xander learned to ride a bike and it has ignited a renewed excitement for the activity. It feels great to have 2/4 of the kids riding but the other 2/4 are giving me a 70 pound cargo to tow around the ‘hood. They jump in very excited for the ride, so who can deny them the fun? Not me…so my legs are gladly paying for it.

I’m aiming for the Worst Day of the Year bike ride in February, which is 18 miles. Cue Eye of the Tiger as we set out to increase our bike mileage over the next few months.

I don’t document the kids home activities enough, so I thought I’d just run around a snap a pic of what they are all doing *right now*.

“mommy…MOMMY, see! Red marker!”

Working together to make a mask for each of themselves.

Isaac tells me he is playing a game called Borderlands.

We spent the day at Horning’s Hideout and had a great time! I love that it’s so close to home. There are peacocks roaming around everywhere and lots to do.

Simon surprised me by casting his line out really well his first time fishing.

Between untangling lines I got a few casts in myself…

I just missed Isaac’s biggest smile I have ever seen when he thought he had a fish on the line. We didn’t catch any this time but plan on bringing better bait and trying again soon.

Caterpillar find…

A face covered in dirt is a sign of a good day outside for Lotus…

We had planned to take the bikes with our newest bike rider: Xander!!!! but he was a little sore from all the practice yesterday, so we walked instead.

When all the leaves start to change it is going to be beautiful!

We joined some unschoolers in our community for camping at the coast and, unbelievably, it was our first camping trip of 2012.

We tried out a yurt for the first time and it was nice, we’ll definitely use them again.

Xander was up in a tree a lot of the time.



Oregon Coast Aquarium


Doesn’t Xander look nice with his hair back? He is still growing it long but doesn’t like the wind whipping it into his face.

One of my favorite moments was watching the kids play tag…

Walking to the beach…

Jason and Lotus back there at the water line…

A small neighborhood park, we happened to drive by, has the most incredible slide! Jason and I went down too and it was grown-up worthy;)

Cascade Locks…






Ice cream cones for lunch…


Hiking to the top of Multnomah Falls…

We made it to the top of the waterfall…


Chalk art in nature…

Milk break…

Not a bad view…

We took a short hike in Forest Park…

Then we played on this sweet playground…

The chain link side gate/corner fence, held together with a bungee cord is no more! We don’t have the RV pictured so the utility trailer is tucked behind he gate now. Jason does good work once again.

A very old “before” pic…

Now…