Learning to Ride

I went away for a little solo camping trip last weekend at my friend Jill's land outside of Santa, ID, and while I was away my baby learned to ride a two-wheeler! He was so excited when I got home to show me his surprise and I have to admit that I was a little teary watching him. Learning to ride a bicycle is like the last passage from baby to little boy. And Claire was quite the little cinematographer, recording it all on our video camera so I could watch it when I got home. Her commentary was hilarious and at one point she was filming Ben on the disc swing and she said "This isn't a movie. It needs drama. If he hit the tree, now that would be a good movie!"

We welcomed two new members to our household last week, Sherbert (left) and Love Bird. Sherbert was Claire's birthday present from Mark and me, and, well, you just can't have two kids and one bird, so now we have two. Love Bird escaped the cage yesterday and was fluttering all around and when I caught him/her, he/she proceeded to clamp down hard on my finger and not let go until I had transfered him/her back to the cage. I tried to pretend like it was no big deal for the sake of the children, but that sucker hurt! I think we have a long road before one of the birds will sit happily on a finger or shoulder.

I got to do a little scrapbooking last night with my friends Erin and Cindy and I completed this page for my Heidi Swapp Year to Remember class. Our challange was to do some collaging around a large photo that made us happy. I like the results and I love that picture of Mark and me on the beach.

It appears that we are going camping this weekend for nephew Kevin's birthday. No final decisions have been made, but it's either that or we're spending the weekend at the river. August is my least favorite time of year here on the Palouse. They're harvesting around our house and it's dusty and dry. I love lentils and garbanzo beans, but it's in that "not in my backyard" kind of way.