Do You Love Yourself?

An interview with Mai:

Julie: Hi Mai.
Mai: Hi Mama. You ready?

J: Ok, here we go. How old are you?
M: 5.

J: What's the best thing about being a girl?
M: I like wearing eye shadow.

J: Do you love yourself?
M: Ya.

J: What do you love most about yourself?
M: I like that I can play on my swingset.

J: Do you not like anything about yourself?
M: NO!

J: What's the favorite part of your body?
M: My head ~ because I can think. I can think about math, my stuffed animals, my mom, and what I'm going to do tomorrow.

J: What's the least favorite part of your body, if you have one?
M: My feet.

J: Why your feet?
M: Because you can't decorate them very much - just polish. Plus - they stink.

J: Are you a happy person?
M: Ya - I'm a real happy person. Like, if we lose our house, we don't have to worry because we have lots of family and neighbors to help us.

J: Do you have any worries?
M: I think my great grandma's going to die when she's 100. I got a book that says humans only live to about 75 and she's 87.

J: Are you scared to die?
M: Yes, because I'll miss my cousins. I have a little baby cousin named Evan and I know I'm going to die before him 'cause he's younger.

J: Do you ever look in the mirror?
M: Yes, when I'm putting on my eyeshadow.

J: Do you like what you see?
M: Yes.

J: If you could change anything about yourself, what would you change?
M: My clothes.

J: So you like who you are?
M: Yes. Lots!

Surf's Up

Got these from my cousin, Rob, this morning. Too exciting not to share ~ photography by Clark Little. Absolutely amazing work (by both God and Clark Little)

The Sauna

"Mama, isn't it amazing how many fun things you can see on a nature hike? I bet Daddy wishes he was here instead of laying on the bed watching football."
"Oh, never mind. That's probably not right at all."

Well, despite being daddyless ~ the kids, dog and I had a great little hike up at Powell Butte. We saw Ki dive into the deep grass for snakes and such about 1,000 times. We even got to see her have a beauty of a sneezing fit when she got something up her snout BUT GOOD! We debated if we should collect the "golden mushrooms" off the fallen tree to take home for soup (uh NO!) and the kids found their favorite fallen tree with it's massive root system.

We head home and then I head back out...to the gym:

The pool is full when I get there. Not full of actual swimmers but one lane of a guy doing very wierd movements that might have been swimming, but I could never really figure it out. Regardless, he was taking up a whole lane. Middle lane had two guys that would swim one length and then stop and talk for 5 minutes until realizing I was still glaring at them and then they would swim another length before stopping for a talk break again. Third lane had two women bouncing on their toes. Just bouncing...and bouncing and talking and bouncing, oh...and twirling sometimes. I finally decided to stop fuming and plopped into the suana.

People are so weird in the sauna. You see people who don't own toenail clippers, people who practice Lamaze breathing (even though they are men), people who probably don't use any other part of the gym other than this small hot room. Tonight was no different. Now, I admit that I read these books by their covers, however when approached in conversation by them, I usually realize they are people just like you and me ~ they just are not afraid to let their craziness show.

I sat there with such a horridly stuffed nose, wondering if anyone could smell how much hummus I devoured at lunch. As I tried to breath (gasping quick, even breaths through my mouth as my nose would not work) I took in my friends around me. Two Russian women were rubbing sea salt and baking soda ALL over their bodies. It made me feel a little dirty sitting there watching. The guy next to me had a shark tooth necklace (bold statement at his age) and was "sharing" his ipod music with us. He had flip flops on and he shared a dripping wet thwop thwopping to the tune. As he beat out the song, the wet hair of his legs slapping against his palms make a slorp slorp sound. I don't think he even knew, but the sounds were thunderous to me. As I saw a "normal" person heading through the door, I tilted my head to them with a big smile only to have him catch my face and then whip his head away from me. Weirdo. I decided it might be time to lift a finger to my nose to make sure it wasn't running, only to find a stream of thick snot running from nostril to lip.

I wonder if I am the weird mouth breathing woman who sits in the corner grinning with a big snot slug sitting on her upper lip.

Weekend Stuff

Mai had a great and muddy soccer game on Friday. That girl ROCKS the field! I'm so proud of her! She made 6 or so goals - some of them sliding in on her back to get the job done :-)

Ki and I got in a good 6.5 mile hike up at Wildwood yesterday. Stopped by my in-laws to have a cup of Joe and make sure the guys were getting along ok. My FIL is less than two weeks out of the hospital (he was in ICU for a week after the stroke and then in rehab at a second hospital for another 3 weeks) and my MIL is in Egypt for the next two weeks. A bunch of friends and family are taking shifts being with him while she's gone - this weekend his brother is with him and I picture them not running the dishwasher or doing laundry, so I stopped by and everything seemed to be going good. We headed back over there to watch the game and keep them company- Our Ducks are ON A ROLL!!!!!! - FANTASTIC GAME!
They (the men) called me an hour after we left to indicate they needed dinner and couldn't find a phone book to order pizza delivery. Oh brother :o)

Part of the trail yesterday was  leafy and part was bare, but the whole hike was fantastic. I had heard Sat would be the only dry day this weekend, so we headed out early and into the fog we went. It was also cold enough to pull out the gloves, but almost immediately after we started, the sun was out and filtering through the leaves and warming us up. I finally took Ki to the vet on Monday. She's been limping ever since she escaped two months ago. I figured she just pulled a muscle being on the run for 3 straight hours, but it's not gotten better, even with our lack of activity lately. They put her on an anti-inflamm/pain med for 10 days and she did just great yesterday. I'm waiting for her to wake up to see how her limp is today.

My ankles did "ok". Not much trouble with my left. It was either feeling fine or had a dull ache. My right, however, was talking to me with every step. Not so much that I couldn't go on, but it was a sharp pain throughout the whole 6.5 miles. I would say much better than last week's hike, though - so I feel like I'm seeing some improvement. Also, they don't hurt any worse than usual this morning and aren't any more swollen than usual, so I just might try another hike today since it seems the weather man was wrong :o)

Paint Everywhere

Paint on the kids' hair...

Looks like she drank some, too. That's ok...her Daddy was giving her a Crystal Lite weave. The back was SO pink! She was so happy to head to school to show all her li'l pink luv'n BFFs.
















Paint on the rocks...

The kids had so much fun picking out the perfect rocks down at the river. Mai found her "hamburger" rock. Lots of little bug rocks and some car rocks. Daddy started them with fish rocks found in our backyard. A whole weekend PLUS a couple of days of fun just from one library book Jack picked out on Friday - a children's book of rock painting.

The Fun Theory

Make life FUN!
http://www.wikio.co.uk/video/1786976

Kiara Tackles the Trails #16 Clackamas River Trail

I can't wait anymore. I must hike. I must run. I must move. Pain be damned. Even too much wine last night and the threat of torrential rains could not dampen my enthusiasm for today's plan of hiking the Clackamas River Trail. Ki and I, both limping just to get into the truck, but in high spirits, traveled the highway that was resplendent with fall colors that combine orange and purple in a way that takes your breath away. We missed a phone call warning us of thunder and major showers and so started our trek into the mossy woods completely unaware of what was heading our way and happy to be moving along.

The trail does not let us down. It is so beautiful and peaceful. Almost too peaceful. I love a good dose of solitude but we did not see a single soul there. The whole time. Absolute privacy. After some nice wooded trail we traveled down to the river for Ki to quench her thirst. It was such a different feeling being down in the open with the fall leaves surrounding us. Not as scary.

Back into the forest we come upon a creek. I've left my map of this trail in the truck, but this has to be Pup Creek that we were headed to. Seems too early to be there, but we must be stronger, faster, incredible day hikers because we have arrived! Our plan was to head up a 200 yd side trail to see Pup Falls before turning back around. Although there was absolutely no trail, I was convinced that I could forge through the foliage and make my own trail. Welcome to the Jungle. There is NOW a trail 200yds up that hill. Unfortunately, there were no falls to see. As we returned to the real trail and headed back to where we came from, I saw the sign: "Cat Creek". Whoops. Pup Creek has yet to be reached. It will have to wait for another day as our limps have increased.

I know we have about 50 minutes before we reach the car and I'm feeling rather spooked. For the last 45 seconds or so we have been tracked by a wild animal. I can hear it. I can feel it. My heart races. We turn a corner...and... it's a waterfall. I teeny tiny waterfall ready to pounce on us. Lordy.
It was even worse than the time last Fall when Jason from Friday the 13th almost sawed us to death out at the Banks-Vernonia trail.

Surprisingly (or not), yet another little waterfall caught me off guard only minutes later and I almost fell down the hill.

Be still, my beating heart. I love trails.

The Motions

The Motions

Matthew West