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PARK DAYS
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EASTSIDE PDX HOMESCHOOL PARK DAYS - Tuesdays, 1:00-4:00

Come play in the park every Tuesday at 1:00 at Normandale Park! We’ve had so
much fun in past summers, and hope to get to see old friends and meet new
families this summer. Bring lunches and a blanket and enjoy the beautiful
Portland summer days.

Where: Normandale Park: between NE 55th and 57th, off Halsey
http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?action=ViewPark&PropertyID=444

We meet at the far south end of the park on 55th, where there is plenty of
parking right by the play structure. Also, bus #77 goes right past it and there
is a Max stop just a few blocks away. This is a really nice shaded park with big
beautiful trees and very nice playground equipment that is hardly ever crowded.

For more information, contact Elizabeth: elizabeth_oconnor at yahoo.com

"Adventures" in sellwood...Okay, so maybe they were really more like "Outings".

If you are looking for a an easy field trip for your kids and are in the Portland area, consider Sellwood. You can walk pretty much any direction from anywhere in this neighborhood and find something kid friendly to do.

What we did:
Naomi's Organic Farm Supply: Think goats, chickens, and seeds. The goats are penned, but super friendly and looking for love!
http://naomisorganic.blogspot.com/


Looking Glass Books: SO this bookstore is actually housed inside of a real train car. “With adult supervision, kids can select a book, climb into the overhead seats, and pretend they’re really riding a train," says the owner. My kids preferred to climb all over the outside of the train (I'm not so sure that is really allowed, but no one told them not to!).
http://lookingglassbook.qwestoffice.net/

Grand Central Bakery and Ugly Mug Coffee House: Both have kid friendly areas and don't mind the occasional spilled hot cocoa.
http://www.uglymugpdx.com/

Sellwood Park: Man do I love Portland's parks. How many other cities have this much dedicated green space? Sellwood Park is just one of the many examples of beautiful and serene (okay, I have htree kids so it seems serene to me!) places to visit in the city. It is also home to one of the entrances to......It's situated on a bluff that sports one of the nicest views of Portland, from the Oak's Bottom Estuary to the West side downtown waterfront and city skyline.
There's a large, shady kids area with swings, play structures, slides, and trails leading down to Oak's Bottom and to Oak's Park, Sellwood's own little haunted amusement park.


Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge:140 acre Migratory Bird Park. It's a "140-acre floodplain wetland located along the east bank of the Willamette River. Part of the park is built on a sanitation landfill consisting of 400,000 cubic feet of construction waste material layered with soil. " But to us, it serves as a great afternoon hike for the boys. They searched for worm and bug friends - Ian has the best eye for somehow finding tiny creatures hiding under leaves, and made up their own bird calls - which I'm sure was probably annoying to anyone really trying to hear birds!
http://www.pdxfamilyadventures.com/2007/11/14/oaks-bottom-wildlife-refuge-hiking-loop

Whirlitzer In The Sky, and Roller Skating Chipmunks

Oaks Park Skating Rink: Yes, it's still as awesome as you remember it was wehn you were little, and No, they haven't changed ANYTHING. Even the smell.

CHIPPER IS STILL GOING STRONG!

Ian was SO excited about touching this chipmunk that he couldn't stay on his feet (and not because of the skates)! I almost had him sit down and breathe into a paper bag to calm down- not kidding. Haha!

MIDTERMS

Approx. 20 Oranges later we get this:

Because sometimes $7.00 worth of Oranges is what it takes to get 5 minutes of homework time!

KOMBUCHA; a.k.a. What's that gross blob doing on your counter?

In some parts of old China and Japan, it was often the custom for families to give a new bride a Kombucha as a wedding gift. This was nurtured throughout her marriage and then passed on to her own daughter.

Thanks to my lovely friend Liz, I was finally able to start up a batch of my own home made Kombucha last night. For those of you who don't have a clue as to what that is, I offer you the following explanation:

Kombucha is a living drink made by fermenting tea and sugar with the kombucha culture. It is thought to have originated in the Far East, probably China, and has been consumed there for at least two thousand years and was known as "The Tea of Immortality". Many of the benefits reported include improvements in energy levels, metabolic disorders, allergies, cancer, digestive problems, candidiasis, hypertension, HIV, chronic fatigue and arthritis. It ‘s also used externally for skin problems and as a hair wash among other things.

Some people find it utterly disgusting, and some like myself will spend the $3.50 per bottle because we have somehow overcome the weird fermented moldy taste and have grown to love it!





Follow this link to find the recipe that I used:

http://www.write101.com/kombucharecipes.htm

I also added some fresh ginger and a little bit of juice that I had in the fridge.....I'll let you know how it turns out!

CAN WE MAKE CHOCOLATE PIZZA?

"Can I have three girlfriends over to spend the night? Oh, and we would like to make a chocolate pizza and a kitty litter ( think tootsie roll cake) pie thankyouverymuch."

Ummm, maybe to the first question and are you crazy!? to the second. It's not that I am completely against girls having fun at a slumber party, but start with a household of 5 people two of whom are in the 4 and under crowd, now add in another 3 pubescent girls, now top it off with a virtual boatload of sugar = not gonna happen!

So this is what we did instead:

PINK LEMONADE LIP BALM

PROCESS

Mix:
1 C. solid shortening
1/2 c. pink lemonade powder
We added some shredded cocoa butter

Melt in microwave or on stove

Mix it up really well again

Pour into whatever little containers you have lying around and let set for an hour or so

Done.

KITCHEN TRICKERY

To tell the truth I really do not enjoy spending a lot of time in the kitchen unless it has something to do with re-arranging, re-decorating, or participating in some other task that has very little to do with the primary function of the kitchen, which is cooking. This is something that I have been trying to overcome seeing as how I have many little mouths to feed and like to see them eat healthy, home-made goodness. This means that inevitably, I have to spend some time in the kitchen, pretending to be interested in cutting, mixing, spicing, etc. etc


The problem here is that I really don't care too much about food myself. If it were up to me, (and if my arteries and fat cells would agree) I could quite happily live on macaroni and cheese with little hot dogs cut up into it. But fortunately for my body, I have kiddos who I don't want to eat that junk, and so I am trying to make the kitchen a more inviting place for a crafty (but not cook-y) mommy like myself. I figure if I can trick myself into thinking that I am doing some type of fun tactile project with the food, that I might actually begin to enjoy it - even if Jason regularly laughs at the fact that I never seem to make food that looks "normal" and every snack seem s to be in the shape of some animal or a smiley face. :) And if I can get the kids to focus for more than a minute or so to help out with the cooking / food art project then that's even better. Let's just blame my dad for all of those "cheese stick log cabins", "birds in a nest", and "ants on a log".