in memory

One of my first memories is the laughter that ensued when I asked my parents if you could marry your cousin. I guess it was pretty obvious how I felt about my hero, Johnny. It was probably about the time this photo was taken... we were both in my uncle's wedding. Weren't we precious?

I love you John.

i've seen london, i've seen france...

Check out this picture I snapped from the plane on the way back home...

I always love looking at the patterns that the landscapes make in farmlands. This grid seems too perfect. How did they do that? It's hard to imagine how they're able to create such rhythm down on the ground. Flying from the Midwest last Fall I was amazed by the circles. Click on the links for "grid" and "circles" - I'm so in love with Google Maps ! I often find myself wasting SO MUCH TIME exploring the world with it. In fact, it kind of makes the world seem small. (Or maybe I'm just getting bigger.) Why travel when you can just pop down in Athens or Africa or Machu Picchu while finishing your morning coffee? You'd need to be Matt Lauer to actually get that kind of distance. Maybe I'm just tired from all the aftermath of traveling right now. Maybe I'm just really super happy to home. The past couple mornings I've woken up feeling so happy to be home. Home sweet home. I've seen London, I've seen France, I've seen a fair number of this country's biggest and smallest towns. Maybe I'm done. Focus is on home for now. It's going to be a great Summer here at home!

back

Back from our trip. I love this bag I picked up from Apple Green in downtown Hood River:

Oregon

sure
is
pretty!

It took me some time to get over all the green - coming from Southern California where about this time of year everything is starting to dry out and all the hills are golden, the abundance of green was overwhelming. I thought I would photograph all shades of green and create a collage and quickly realized that Oregon is not shy about it's green. Even the greenest trees are covered with green moss...

Now that's just showing off!

This was my first time going up this time of year. I'd never seen new growth like this on the evergreens - such a pretty shade of green. I'm sure my awe is laughable to a lot - but this was all new to me! So beautiful!

As if the green weren't enough, we even had some fun in fresh snow atop Mount Hood. Snow was falling a mere 3 days before we were there. Snow in June! Me and my California ways - I didn't think it was even possible for snow to exist in June. Next to that there were days of bike riding, picnicking, hiking and playground scouting - much to the grown-ups' dismay, there were lots of playgrounds to be conquered by the short campers in our party. Long afternoons at playgrounds gave me a chance to pull out my cross-stitch again, though. Not a stitch had been made since our last trip in the Fall.

Camping was fun - exhausting, but fun. We were amazed by the long days - still twilight by 10 o'clock at night. That had it's effect on schedule and bed-time, as you can imagine. Our little guys were not ready to fall asleep when it was still light outside - so we had several very late nights. (which made the husband and I a wee bit grumpy the next day) The smartest decision we made was to hit the hotel in Portland for a couple nights after camping and before flying home. There is nothing like being in a clean hotel room after camping. After a long bubble bath I found myself walking around on the carpet barefoot and happily wiggling my toes - enjoying the absence of dust or dirt. We had fun knocking about Portland - but I loved coming back to our hotel room which had been cleaned and was crisp and cool from the air conditioner. Room service has never tasted better!

So maybe I'm not a true camper at heart. I love being outdoors - I appreciate the connection with a place you can get by sleeping with the elements. I'll always enjoy camping trips. But, I must admit, there is part of me that is very (I don't want to sound sexist here, but...) GIRLY. I love clean feet. I love crisp comforters. I love room service and I love hotel housecleaning. After spending a week on the tail of our little rascals, the ability to sit back in big comfy chairs drinking overly priced Jack and Cokes delivered to our room (in California you can ALWAYS find a liquor store that's open at 7pm - not in Oregon!) while the kids ran around and did as they pleased was pretty close to heaven. And now that we're home and I'm faced with unpacking and laundry, that hotel room is sounding pretty darn good.

mostly sunny

Where did May go?

I just don't know.

Cleaning, packing, preparing for a trip. Latest weather check for Hood River, Oregon...

A littler cooler than I'd like (I'm spoiled - 73 degrees is perfection for me) - but it sure beats days and days of rain, which is what the forecast was showing a week ago. The husband and I are prepared to encounter resistance, temper tantrums and quarrels. It's sufficient to say that we've stopped thinking of vacation as a time of relaxation. For now, vacation simply means a good time with all of us together - which is perfectly wonderful. But we do often long for those days where vacation meant bringing several good books (him) and a bag of yarn + knitting needles (me) and sitting on a beach somewhere for hours on end. So if this turns out to be a great trip, we'll be pleasantly surprised. If it turns out to be a camping trip gone crazy, we're prepared to deal with it and make the best of it. Hopefully, they'll be mostly sunny. In either case, we'll all be together - which is ultimately why we take such trips.

So, be thinking of us - huddled in our little tent (electric blankets, portable DVD players, bathroom + kitchen accommodations in my parents' trailer - yeah, that's about as "roughing it" as we get) - and hopefully the adventure will satisfy these little bugaboos for long after we get home so I can get some crafting and sewing done!

Please Note: The shop (OUToftheBOXcalifornia.com + OUToftheBOX.ETSY.com) will be closed until Monday, June 23rd. Any orders placed between now and then will be shipped on the 23rd!