Alsea Beach House

We were blessed to find a place to stay for an early birthday weekend. We went with my mom and some friends to Alsea Bay in Oregon. We told Blueberry the night before that we were going to the Ocean the next day. I'm not sure what she knew about the ocean since she has only a recollection from books, but she became very excited and didn't want to go to sleep. It was a long drive for a little girl, but we timed it so she slept most of the way. We drove into Newport first to find some local seafood to cook up at the beach house. We stopped at a local bakery and window shopped for a bit. Then she saw it. She exclaimed and pointed "Look, Mommy! Ocean! Come on!" and took my hand and started running towards the shore. She continued running screaming "Ocean!", "Sand", "Look! Beach", "Waves!" Running through every word she knew to express her excitement. 

When we got to the beach house she immediately wanted to go outside. Friday evening was windy and cold but she just wanted to be out there and experience it. Seeing it through her eyes is such an amazing blessing. My husband knows I LOVE the ocean, but to see it through HER eyes was very special. 

Blueberry loved the giant sandbox in the back!

Sitting on the sand dunes with Mommy

Saturday was a gorgeous, warm and sunny day with just enough wind to make it pleasant. We spent all day at the beach house cooking in the kitchen with the ocean view, digging in the sand and taking walks on the beach. We even managed some minor beach cleanup, grabbing only what we could carry and wishing we had brought a large garbage bag. (There was even a wreckage from a house.) I took a long bath in the Jacuzzi tub. I was SO relaxed!

View from the kitchen window.

 I couldn't even make it to take a full shot of the 280 degree view.

Sunday we took Blueberry to the Aquarium. Another very anticipated experience. She loved watching the trainers feed the sea lions. She loved the fish, the jellyfish and the sharks but she did not want to touch the sea stars or anemones in the touch tank. We topped the weekend off with seafood at Mo's in Newport before heading back home because David likes to try all of the clam chowder, everywhere. 

The Touch Tank with Mommy and Nonna

Sharks!

Sea Lions

It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend and we could not have asked for better weather. We hope to make it back to the coast and Alsea Beach House again soon!

Planting "Tuna" Seeds

This morning Blueberry and I planted "Tuna" (Petunia) seeds into soil pellets. She had fun hydrating the pellets, watching them expand and carefully placed three seeds in each one. Later in the day, when Nonna came to visit, and after Blueberry's nap, she showed her the cups we planted them in and told her they are going to "grow flowers". I was impressed at her retention of what I explained to her.

Silicone Baking Cups

I wasn't the only one excited about my new silicone baking cups. The lovely colors were perfect for sorting colors and Blueberry loved playing with them.

I did not tell her what to do with them. She just started putting the same colored ones together.

I have been looking for these and was about to order them on Amazon, but I found them on clearance locally. The festive colors make these reusable cups very versatile.

Continuing on in my goal to limit kitchen paper waste as my daughter goes "please cup-capes!"

First Day at the Park This Year

Blueberry and I met Nonna at the park with the cousins, Shortcake and Butterfly (nicknames).  I didn't get a good picture of Butterfly because she was climbing and running around so much (hence her nickname.)

Blueberry and Shortcake

WYSIWYG of Life

[ photo removed to avoid copyright infringement ]

In HTML code a WYSIWYG editor, or "What You See Is What You Get" is one where instead of typing out the code, you have a program that lets you click and drag elements to create a web page as it would be seen in a browser. Years ago I learned HTML code and I used to enjoy coding out pages, but lately I have used WYSIWYG editors more. It saves time but the code gets really messy because the WYSIWYG programs are not designed to clean up unnecessary coding from editing you might clean up if you were coding it directly. You don't see the messy code, but I know it's there. When talking to other web designers I mention reluctantly that I use WYSIWYG because it saves time, but I get embarrassed by how messy the coding is. I want to yell "Don't look at my source!!"

I was thinking about how as mothers we feel guilty whenever we take shortcuts or stash all our laundry in the bedroom when someone is dropping by on short notice. You know what I'm talking about! Today I encountered two articles on this topic. The first, called "Your Children Want YOU" is regarding how we get all these ideas of the kind of mom we want to be from seeing parenting magazines or the latest Pinterest fad. We feel like we are not enough when we see all of these overachieving housewives. Then another article called "I'm Never Inviting You to My House" is an older article but it talks about how we fix up our house for company and give them the impression that we keep the perfect house and it alienates them because they don't feel like they can measure up. I have fallen into both of these traps. Honestly, I have also not invited people over because I didn't think I could tidy up in time or just didn't have the energy to.

I don't want to do this any more. Yes, I use a WYSIWIG editor. Yes, I store my unfolded clean laundry in the bedroom when people come over. I settle for "good enough"on the housework on most days because that is what I can do. Sometimes it doesn't feel like enough but I know my priority is spending time with my daughter.

I hope we can all admit we take shortcuts and that is OK, but acknowledging that we do and not being ashamed that our house is "clean but not perfect". We live in our houses and don't hire a maid, but our children are happy and healthy.

Easter 2012

Working on Easter Eggs

Blueberry with her Easter Basket

Earth Day Resolution

We have been reducing paper waste at my house by using washcloths exclusively for cleaning up my daughter in the kitchen. I use a new one every time. She is two years old and makes lots of lovely messes, but she is also learning to be a good cleaner. For small messes I use the ones that are made for babies. I was given hundreds of them at my baby shower and they are finally finding a use. I also have some washcloths that I made out of leftover material from making receiving blankets and burp cloths. They were originally intended to be reusable wipes. I was very discouraged with my cloth diaper experience, but I don't want to digress. They were never used as diaper wipes, but we use them as washcloths.

For Earth Day this year I am going to work towards a paper-waste free kitchen. The flannel burp cloths from my daughter's infancy are very absorbent. They are made from cotton flannel and after a few washes they are the best thing to use for wet clean-up in place of paper towels. They are slightly larger than traditional cloth napkins and in a way it makes them better. I will make more of these for regular use in our kitchen.

I use this mediocre picture to show that they don't have to be pretty to be useful.

This post was inspired by Glad Rags.