Wish

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday!  I made her a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. 

 

I added new items to my etsy shop and am offering 20% off if you use the code:  LOVE20 ♥

Olivia started guitar lessons with my friend Maria last month.  Her fingers are getting used to the strings.  Evening lessons while the weather got colder and some tea to warm us up.
We got a fresh batch of snow stuff....maybe it was tiny pieces of hail, because it pelted out windows last night.  And this morning, it was crunchy like ice.  

Sunrise...sunset

We woke up at 4:30am Pacific Time (felt like 1:30am Eastern Time) to watch the sun rise over Crater Lake in Oregon.  It came over the horizon about 5am, but before it did the sky changed so much. Horrible mosquitos there!  BUT it was worth putting up with.

Rob standing by Crater Lake midday.  Clear and beautiful.  From there we drove down to the Redwoods in California.

 Hannah caught a tadpole in the Smith River...and let it go.

 The Redwoods at Jedediah State Park and National Park.  The girls earned a Jr. Ranger badge here and at Crater Lake!

 I got that striped skirt in a shop called Mia's in Portland, just a walk from my sister and her husband's place...when I saw that it was "made in USA" I had to get it.  Their green tent.  We had an orange one.

 

 

 

In the distance you can see the Battery Lighthouse.

We took a tour of the inside of the lighthouse and got up in the top.  $3/adult and $1/children.  The times for the tour depend on the tide.  It is inaccessible when there is high tide...an island.

Grilling hamburgers with Oregon's Tillamook cheddar atop...and onions and pepper cooking in the cast iron skillet on the side. 

Me and Theodore (often called "Theobeans") in our checkered Vans.

Then, a few days later, we watched the sun set at Crescent Beach, California. And roasted marshmallows over the fire and ate them with Seattle's organic salted toffee Theo milk chocolates and graham crackers.  Best kind of s'mores!

Bright Monday

The week after Pascha (Easter for Orthodox Christians) is called Bright Week, so today is Bright Monday.  It's also a very special day because it is the feast of St. George (for those of us who follow the old calendar), which is also the name of our church!

My parents have had a difficult time recently, but made it to church this morning!  I was so glad, because they missed the midnight Paschal service, which is our favorite.  Here is a picture I took of Rob and the girls about 11pm on Saturday, all ready to go...

Olivia holding her candle.

Afterwards, we all broke the fast together.  This cheese pascha, below, was SO delicious and pretty with all the fruit around it!

Sunday we went to have lunch with at my parent's house.  I bought bunny ears for all the girls.

Today, Holy Communion in our church, and then a procession:

Almost everyone had an icon to carry and we walked around the church, Father Pavel and Father Daniel sprinkled the faithful with holy water...it was really beautiful.

Lake Erie

"Sword" fighting with giggles as the sun set on Lake Erie.  We're here for a vacation with my parents and all my sisters and their children...

We rented a surrey (I just looked it up and learned from wikipedia that it is named such because it was first built in Surrey, England, it was introduced in 1872 to the United States) for $15/hour.  And the yellow tandem bike was just $5/hour.

 Just enough seats for everyone...two tables pushed together!

We made cake pops yesterday.  My sister, Mary, gave Olivia & Hannah a birthday present to share...one of the coolest things I've ever seen:  a cake pop maker!!!  It's like waffle iron.  Below is a picture of Natalia eating one of the lemon zest pops we made...

A firefly...up close, for those of you who live west of Kansas...I didn't know they weren't everywhere, I thought they just came out as the summer came, varieties

Evening light...

Have you noticed the evening fireflies?  Last night, it rained at about 9 pm (it had been about 2 weeks since we had rain, so we were very glad for it, our garden needed it).  It thundered and there was lightning.  I went outside to check on Nutmeg (the chicken) and noticed that the fireflies were flying around our backyard and lighting up, yes...in the rain!  We saw fireflies for the first time in 2012 just last week.  It's not easy to capture them in a photo.

"O Gladsome Light of the holy glory of the immortal, heavenly, holy, blessed Father, O Jesus Christ: we that come to the setting of the sun, when we behold the evening light, praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God. Meet it is for Thee at all times to be praised with gladsome voices, O Son of God, Giver of life; wherefore the world doth glorify Thee."