Ten!

Steve took Jake canoe camping last week as a special trip to mark Jake's tenth birthday. They canoed from Wickiup Reservoir down the Deschutes River, camping one night along the way.

Jake was slightly pleased to have caught himself a fish on Day 1.

Okay, more than slightly. It was a 20-inch brown trout. Not bad. Not bad. Eli made sure to rub it in by double-checking multiple times with Steve about his OWN fishing luck over the two days. Feel free to ask Steve's opinion of fishing. (insert your own mental paragraph break since blogger won't do it for me)

Jake was also delighted to discover that the fish didn't fit in the pan. He said they ate so much that he felt sick. In spite of a few downpours, they had a great time. Our other boys are definitely looking forward to their own special trip when they turn 10.

Maybe in the summer

Jake is our survivor ... he wants to live in the woods all alone, fishing and scavenging plants for food - and has often begged for the chance to do so. This spring, Steve finally decided to let him have a go. Being that he is at least a tiny bit responsible, Steve decided to go with him as an emergency buffer (and so we wouldn't get reported to the authorities by any curious onlookers who might see a grown man dropping a ten year old off in the national forest).

The deal was made that he wouldn't offer any help to Jake at all unless there was an emergency (for instance, cougars or drowning or hypothermia or...). Jake finally agreed to such stringent regulations after it was pointed out to him that Steve wouldn't even TALK to him. It still allowed him to be on his own with his own tent, own supplies, own survival skills.

He does know quite a bit about such things and has poured over his book of wilderness survival (we have definitely decided to sign him up for Scouts!) - but he didn't quite count on our May weather. Here they are, ready to embark in our fancy '92 Subaru.



The day was slushing ... not raining or snowing ... it was slushing. The snow was still deep at that elevation. If it had only been cold, they would have fared better. However, it was definitely in that terrible, miserable, sopping wet, hypothermia-inducing, feet sinking kind of slush.

Before they had even finished backpacking into a good site, Jake was soaked. Having expected nice, springlike conditions (with plenty of bugs to eat!) ... Jake wisely realized that this was not a good set up and teamed up with Steve.

Even our outdoor hero, Steve, couldn't start a fire. At that point, the prospect of spending the night and more didn't seem so great. They decided on a good plan.

They headed back down to Bend and a visit to Izzy's for the hungry survivors. Jake returned home after a trip to (close your ears, union supporters) WalMart to buy the b-b gun that we had decided he would be allowed to buy. Not what he had been hoping, but at least a good ending!

A new baby

You read that right ... the announcement is at the end of the post.

Dry, central Oregon winters may generate great ski powder, but they often don't provide good snowman snow. We finally had a decent dump of wet stuff not long ago, and Sammy was more than ready for a real snowman. It turned out he needed some mommy help. Together, we managed to scrape together enough snow to create a satisfactory snowperson ... albeit one with pine needles sticking out every few inches. We were working against the clock as this snow was not very deep and was melting quickly. Sammy does occasionally smile nicely for pictures. Maybe one of those ones will show up someday.
Then came Easter. While we've had snow cover on Easter before, this one merely dawned as cold. I love shots of little, candy-eating egg hunters.

A smattering of good weather brings out the mudmaker in any self-respecting boy. It's all extremely fun until mom won't let you in the house that dirty. By then you're cold and your only option for cleanliness is the wet water from the hose. The wet water you spent all afternoon playing in ... is now your enemy. Until this child, our boys thought it was hilarious to get chased down and cleaned off in cold water.

A recent indoor activity here has been card house building. Sammy wanted proof of his extraordinary abilities ... with a card house destroyer lurking right outside the guest room door. And, yes, that is a scab on someone's knee in the bottom left-hand corner. But it wasn't my child. And mine never argue either. (you did catch that I was joking, right? not everyone catches such things)

Sammy wanted credit for Jake's house, so he snuck into the picture while Jake decided to give his card house a pair of bunny ears.

Everything looks so fun and happy (as long as you skipped the crying-mud picture). It's not. I don't make snowmen every time someone wants one. Instead, I sometimes get frustrated with all the wet snow things that have no place to go in our small entry area. I don't always create a perfect Easter. (In fact, I even call it by that pagan name "Easter"!) I sometimes say "no" to playing in the mud. My boys argue and make messes and don't always do their chores correctly.

And right now, I'm not doing my chores correctly either. That's because I'm so exhausted with this fifth pregnancy. We have this fifth baby on the way! That means I'm too tired to prove our imperfect lives by taking a picture of the disaster that often currently qualifies as our home. At least that means I can blog. If I'm too tired to get up and clean, I guess I can perform seated activities. Not a terrible trade-off, until I look around and see the mess!

Playing catchup

Two year olds bring a lot of joy and mess. Silas has been such a delight. Being number four, we've known how quickly time flies with these little ones. (Jake just turned 10 and we've passed the halfway mark of our time with him in the house!) Here is Silas making a mess while cleaning up.

Silas has been a super late talker. Having been evaluated for speech, it was determined that the German in the home is enough to delay him. When we ask if he wants to read some books, he is just as likely to fetch us an English book as a German one. But this advancement hasn't yet translated to other areas such as potty training ... here, he just doesn't seem to know what to do with that potty seat.

But he is quite skilled with the butter knife when mom isn't looking.

Si's big brother, Sammy, turned 5 this winter and learned how to wink.

Silas moved into a big boy bed with Sam. Steve built a "rustic" bunk for them. We put all four boys in one room for some nutty reason. It's actually working quite well for the time being.

Enjoy those little ones of yours!

Almost two months

We've been back in Oregon for nearly two thirds of the time we were gone. It is kind of a sad thought ... as if a time that was so consequential to us could feel meaningless by passing so quickly. The morning we left for home, Jake told me, "I don't know if I should feel happy or sad." I assured him that it was perfectly normal to feel both at the same time. We all were.

We have so enjoyed returning. And we have so missed Austria. We bravely called our Iranian neighbors a few days ago. We were nervous about all our forgotten German and the ability to speak without the oh-so-necessary hand gestures that aid those who are not fluent. It wasn't easy, but it was beautiful to hear their voices. They moved into our apartment and had news for us: shortly after we left they went without heat for 20 days during a cold snap.

I remember how crossing cultures can affect a person. But this was the longest trip I've ever taken. We wondered how it would affect us. I didn't expect too much struggle in coming back. It seemed to me one would have more trouble returning from a third world country. But I had forgotten that the people to whom we were giving aid came from nothing. From destroyed Chechnya, land-mined Afghanistan, beatings, hidden night escapes, traveling by foot with children, .... We're not known for extravagant Christmasing, but it wasn't nearly as easy to buy those presents this year. It just didn't sit quite right.

Above, you see Si on his airplane bed. The boys all got great behavioral reviews from anyone in earshot over the Atlantic. But Silas' grades dropped dramatically over the United States. He finally slept on the fold-out trays. We almost didn't make that flight. Lucky for the people sitting in front of us, we made it with 12 minutes to spare. They got to enjoy Silas (evil laugh).

And below ... home sweet home, full of food and some new things. We were very blessed by our dear friends who took care to make sure we had an easy homecoming. Since sickness hit us right away, this was a bigger blessing than they probably thought it might be. A huge thank you to Rachel ... who lived for two years in Mexico with all her boys and knows exactly what a returning family needs. And to our dear church home, what a blessing you all are!

St. Niklaus found us three days later on the sixth of December with euro chocolates. How DID he know where we would be? The tooth fairy is up on her stats, too. Having delivered money to Eli for one lost tooth in Guntramsdorf, she turned around and found another tooth in Bend. Smart girl, she is.

The hastily-obtained Christmas tree that looked every bit of it's hastily-chosen self.

And, Silas ... who is FINALLY learning how to talk, tucked away in his crib with a mattress that doesn't sink a few inches on one side. Yes ... he had quite the bed in Austria. Now that's something I should have gotten a picture of, but didn't!

Considering more blogging,

brooke

More notes

It snowed today for the first time since we've been here. We had decided not to bring snow clothes (crossing summer/fall/winter created difficult packing decisions). This means that many pairs of socks were used for mittens today. Many.

My very sweet new friend, Sharon, took me around Vienna yesterday. We really enjoyed stopping in at Cafe Demel ... chocolatier to the emperor. My piece of cake is on the right. Do you see the purple candy on top? I resisted buying a box of those candies ... I'm not known for buying depreciating assets like purple candies for 16 euros. But it was a delicious piece of purple, and they are known to have been a favorite of Empress Sisi.

Here we are, after traipsing around Vienna in the rain, looking for those hard-to-find European good deals. Have we ever mentioned it is NOT a good deal to shop here?

Well, Steve complained that my piece of cake got a blog entry and his trip to Innsbruck received nothing. In spite of my jealousy, it's not my fault. I don't blog someone else's trip. In closing, did you know we have a secret passageway?

Notes

Eating a lango in Vienna. The boys shared one ... they are like a garlicky elephant ear.

- I've been told that if you don't have a scarf on your neck, your cold will get worse. You will possibly even catch cold.

- If you don't go for that line of thinking, they sure look great. I bought some. And a sweet new friend (Hi, JoAnn) taught me how to use them.

- I was in the changing room this week taking Sammy and Si to "tournen" (gymnastics). In the midst of moms and dads ... five women changed their pants into something more comfortable for Mommy & Me class.

- I love getting the kissy-kissy-cheek-press from my new Austrian friends. I'll miss them.

- People will stop you on the street to "scold" you for not dressing your little child warm enough. Silas is really good at getting his socks and shoes off. Did you add those two together?

- I'm worried about Silas' Afghani friend who played with him the entirety of every Thursday night. He was supposedly transferred over the weekend. He seemed so kind and lonely.

- Iranian tea is possibly the best tea ever made.

- Rice can be quite complicated to make - if you want to do it "right" according to my neighbor from Iran. Who knew? Now I do. Come on over for dinner.

- Silas learned how to say "octopus". This is a major accomplishment for our quiet little boy.

Castle ruin

We hiked for what felt like an hour (and could have been) up a tree-filled hillside. The trail wound through on its way to the ruin we had spied some time ago from a swimming pool in Baden. It is called Ruin Rauheneck. It is also supposed to be from the 12th century and even has a ghost story - but we read it in German, and I don't think we're good enough to translate it. I found a little history on the castle here and there. I don't know how much of it is true. But suffice it to say, it was really an eerie-beautiful place that we fully enjoyed.

Above you see the little chapel altar in the castle. There was a stone cross above the door into the room. It was fun to imagine what it looked like.

Trees growing inside of the ruins that makes it seem so very ancient and special. Steve loved taking more pictures than you'll ever want to see when we return. It makes history come alive to imagine real people living real lives so many years ago.

Well, I just accidentily deleted an exciting picture for the boys ... the spot from where the archers could shoot arrows. They liked climbing out and looking down to the ground. It was fun to walk out for adults, too. Too bad I don't feel like uploading it again. :)

The tower at this castle is a triangular one. It was really dark and musty. The day was foggy and the fog began to descend into the valley while we were there. It made it very beautiful as we looked out and then began our hike back into town and to the train for our way home. We had a really nice day and everyone voted these castles as the top thing to take y'all to if you come visit us in the next three weeks!

You would think

You would think we had hit some castles by now. It's been on our list for a long time, and we didn't even actually try to go to any castles yesterday. We tried to visit a medieval abbey that is still in use, but the buses didn't cooperate with us. So, after much deliberation (which included unnecessary train rides in the wrong direction), we decided to brave the iffy weather and hike to some castle ruins. We had a great, mostly non-rainy day ... probably our favorite sight-seeing day so far. We hiked out of Baden up to beautiful Ruin Rauhenstein first. Here you see the cliffside view.


We could find almost no history on this castle ruin, except that a former owner took the roof off to pay some tax in time past. We loved the peacefulness, the fall colors, the trees growing in the middle of it, the hiking and the price - free. It is set directly outside the lovely valley of Helental, which is supposed to be beautiful, romantic and famous for it's hiking. People love to hike here ... they call it wandering. And each little, carefully-marked trail is called a "wanderweg". (literal translation - wandering way)

We climbed the tower and could see the town of Baden surrounding us. It was easy to imagine times gone by. Looking to the hill straight across, we could see the next ruin we wanted to visit. I loved the view of the castle without its roof. Steve loved that it was a ruin. The boys loved the toilet that was merely a hole leading directly to the outside of the castle.

All in all, it could have been very romantic. Here is a peaceful picture taken by our fun neighbor, Adam, who joined us on our outing.

Of course, romantic hikes through castle ruins from the 12th century are always a bit interrupted by the "girls have cooties" crowd.

We hiked on to our next ruin ... saved for the next post.

"Normal"

For most of our two months, we have lived normal life. Coming with our four children has meant that we still get to clean the same amount, cook the same amount, supervise the same arguments, school the same children, wash the clothes and make the boys pick up their room. We may be in Europe, but we're still grocery shopping. (Actually, Steve is grocery shopping - it turns out our schedule pretty much only allows HIM to do that honor.) That's not a lot to write home about, except that those same things can be and are all different and harder. They take longer, too. So here are some things that are normal .............. but not.


Going to the bathroom: While it may not be the squatty potties I encountered in India, it does have it's own special flair. We have performed unscientific experiments and discovered that smell travels faster in air than in water. Note the special "shelf" in the toilet making all our experiments possible. We like the U.S. ones better. :)


Shopping is a normal activity. But it's not Safeway or Albertsons. It's called Billa or Zielpunkt. Without a van, we walk and carry all our own food (six people eat a lot). With a baby-sized refrigerator, we shop often. The food must have fewer preservatives here, because it all goes bad much more quickly. We pay for our shopping bags, so we re-use them. At most stores, you must put a coin in the cart to use it. Don't forget to weigh your food and mark the price ... the cashiers do not do it for you. And be quick about it at the check out. Really quick. Our Bend Fred Meyer grocery store cashiers wouldn't last five minutes here.

Reduce-Reuse-Recycle. Or die. Or be arrested or fined or something. We all recycle. But Austrians RECYCLE. Paper bin. Plastic bin. Colored glass bin. White glass bin. Milk carton bin. Old food bin. Metal bin. Regular trash. That's not all, actually. Here's the sweet set up in our neighbor's apartment. Much cooler than ours. I admit: I like recycling.

Cooking is three times a day here, too. We have fewer ingredients, because we didn't want to buy a new pantry for three months' worth. The pans in our kitchen are awful! I'm not used to cooking with gas ... so I burn a lot of dinners. I think my sweet Iranian neighbor thinks I actually can't cook. We eat the exact same thing for breakfast every day. Muesli. Muesli. Muesli. The biggest difference? The size of the items. I present to you the largest bag of flour we have found so far.

Television. Actually, we don't have it. But we watched it on vacation. Did you know that Strawberry Shortcake is called Emily Erdbeer (Emily Strawberry)? And Curious George is called Coco. As expected, it's in German.

Have a great day! Steve is at The Oasis right now. It has been our all time favorite thing to be there. The people are absolutely wonderful. It's what I would want to post about every day.