VANcation 2008: Oregon Country Fair

One of the ultimate highlights of our year is the Oregon Country Fair. On the surface, it looks like 3 days of crowds, music, food and vendors, but on the inside it is so so much more. The fair embodies a spirit that I strive to carry with me in my daily life. It is a posture of acceptance, love, and goodwill, and it is blatant and contagious. This year's Fair was no exception. We got to share it with 3 of our closest friends: Danielle and her daughter Eleanor, and Saamanta.

On Our WayKylin
Kaden, Danielle, and Eleanor
Glow Sticks

Playing in the vanOn the way to the bonfire
Danielle knows the way to Kaden's heart... Bubbles!!
So sexy... a man with a baby in a sling :)
Even sexier!! A (naked) man with his sweet babies.
Water-Dog
Entering The Fair!
Kylin had to have a picture with each stilt person she saw
Sleepy guy
Learning to gorilla juggle

Kiran loved playing by the lake
The Tiny Person and The Huge Flower
This 3-Headed Alien had Kaden so freaked out that he talked about it for days: "Alien scuuuuured Kaden", over and over and over
Kylin and her new magic wand and broomstick

Kylin grinding the ice for our snow cones
My new hula hoop, and my signature boob-lift move (so they don't get run over by the hula hoop!)
Our camping group: Saamanta, Breana, Rich, and Danielle
The crazies: Ryan & Steve-O
Love-Birds (look at the hottie in the UtiliKilt!!)
Crashed Out
Marlene & Kylin
The Mad Juggler
On the Road Again... Look at the little Chocolate-Face

Adoption

From the time Kylin was born, I knew that when I found the person I wanted to spend my life with and got married, I wanted that person to adopt her.

It is not that I want to take anything away from Jamie. He has been and continues to be an amazing father--his world revolves around Kylin, and they really adore each other. Rich and I both respect him fully and completely as her dad, and we would never do anything to harm that relationship. I also would not ever prevent Kylin from having a relationship with her biological father when she wants to initiate that--I have a scrapbook of all the information and pictures I have about him, and would probably be able to locate him fairly easily.

I have looked forward to this adoption only for legal reasons. I want to know that if anything should happen to me, Kylin will not be separated from the family who has loved and cared for her, and that she will grow up with her brothers. I married Rich for many reasons, one of which is that I trust him to make the decisions I would want made. So, making him the legal 2nd parent of my daughter was a natural thing to do.

With relief, and much happiness, our step-parent adoption was made final on July 3rd!!!



We celebrated with a party in Kylin's honor

Poppy and Kaden
Brian, Breana, and our second cousin, Jason, who was visiting from Fort Lewis
Mom and Jason
Breana, Shawna, who was visiting from Connecticut by way of Central America, and Mom
Shawna, having a yummy Kiran-snack
"Uh Bubby" and Kaden
Long Island Maker
Poppy carving the barbecued turkey
Kiran in his standard attire
Kiran and Saamanta
Rich, Kylin, and Breana
Great-Grandma and Kylin
Kaden and "Maanta"

We Interrupt This Silence

Just wanted to throw a little tidbit your way... In the midst of preparing for our trip to the Country Fair and California I have not been able to find a moment to blog. Luckily, my friend Saamanta has, and she put up pictures of us and our cute goats. Check it out!!

Don't Look, Leah...

If you don't want to see pictures of my new ink!

Before
Getting Started... Had to tolerate it awhile until the endorphins really kicked in
Starting to enjoy it
Saamanta getting creative with the black and white photography

Enjoying the buzz
It's Done!!

Support Guatemalan Artists

This is a letter I recieved from my friend Ben.


Friends and Family,

From mid June to the end of July 2008 I’ll be going on a solo backpacking trip to Guatemala. I traveled to Guatemala 2 years ago and have been waiting to go back ever since. To support my trip, I’ll be bringing back handmade items from the many markets in the Mayan villages throughout the country. On this trip I’ll be practicing my Spanish, staying with local families, donating school supplies to a small school near Antigua, learning how to grow and harvest avocados, and collecting information about setting up an eco-friendly hostel/farm in Central America. The pictures below show some of the people I’ll be supporting and some of the items I’ll be bringing back. Keep in mind that I could haul a lot of smaller items like jade jewelry, wallets, machetes, etc. The following websites have many items that I can purchase at the Mayan markets:
mayan-treasures.com
happymangoimports.com

Please let me know which items are of interest to you. With all purchases, I will provide an 8 x 10 photo of the artisan who made it. That is, if they let me. Some traditional Mayans believe photographs steal your soul. So I’ll be asking permission before clicking away. I’ll be delivering orders the first weekend in August. Please email orders to:

Woggy18@aim.com

Thanks! J
-Ben Polly

I'm Giving Up My Craft Room

For a Housemate!!!

Chellie, Saamanta, Me & Kiran, Mom, Camille

We are beside ourselves with excitement... We just finalized plans today to have a friend of ours move in with us to help out with the kids and the house! I met Camille at Western, and she is a very good friend of Ben & Saamanta's. She is very sweet, easygoing, and wonderful with our kids. We are thrilled to have some help, for the kids to be around ASL everyday, and to get to know Camille better.

Welcome to the UrbanHippie Family, Camille!!!

Kimya Dawson

Saamanta and I went to see Kimya Dawson tonight at The Aladdin... what an amazing show. All I knew of her was 1) that she's an MDC mom, 2) that her music was in the awesome movie, Juno, and that 3) Saamanta loves her.

There were several opening bands, 2 of them were really entertaining: Kimya's husband, Angelo Spencer, and his friends, a French band, L'Orchidee D'Hawaii. Both were totally silly, very talented musicians, and super energetic. Backstage was their 1 1/2 year old daughter, Panda, and we caught little glimpses of her every once in awhile, toddling around. This was the end of a 2 month tour for them, and they are really looking forward to getting home to Olympia tomorrow.

Kimya came on with a chair and her guitar, and had Matty Pop Chart sitting on the floor next to her, playing a little xylophone and giggling with her between songs. She exuded such a sweet, genuine, mellow vibe, and had a lot of really great messages beween (and during!) her songs for the surprisingly young crowd at her feet.

She's SO cute


Juno with Kimya Dawson singing "Loose Lips"


L'Orchidee D'Hawaii--bad sound, but you can get a sense of what their energy is like

Angelo Spencer--He sings, plays guitar, pounds the bass drum with one foot, and the high hat with the other, all at the same time...amazing.


Kimya, "Giants"

Pregnant and so silly

Mail-Order Wife!

Well... not quite, but it will have to be the next best thing. I just found out that my birthday-twin Shawna will be coming to visit in June, and is going to stay with us for 3 weeks!!! We had such a wonderful time, and the kids got so attached to her, when she came to visit last December--we are thrilled to have her come stay again!

I have to say, I know I will be very a little jealous, because she will be fresh off an amazing trip through Central America, but I am also just as eager to hear all of the wonderful details, love on her yummy brown skin, and look at all of her pictures.

Now I just have to wait 2 months...

Behind...

Ok, so I'm 2 days behind on my blog365...at this point I'm hoping that the project at least compels me to post a couple of times a week. ;) 

I just got back from a wonderful, relaxing evening knitting and talking with friends. I am not able to expand on this much more, because as I type Kaden is climbing onto the table showing me his "panty" that he's wearing (the same pair of training pants for a full 24 hours!), Kylin is yelling for me to come lay down with her, and Kiran is foraging for snacks off of the floor...

Tomorrow night Rich and I have a date planned...I am beside myself with excitement!!

Good night, and Happy Hump Day!

Andy The Astrological Detective

In response to the popularity of the last post and the proposition that was made, here is a post solely dedicated to dispensing Andy's contact information:

astrologicaldetective.com

503-404-5068

andy@astrologicaldetective.com

There is more great info on her website, so I would recommend checking it out, but for a quick glimpse at the info you are looking for, a standard 1 hour natal chart reading it is $100 ($90 for my friends!!), and you leave with the chart and an audio tape of the reading (or you could probably get a videotape, Lee--she's an interpreter, also). There is also an option to have a parent and child's chart read at the same time, for $150, which is a good deal. Initially this may seem like a lot of money to spend on a non-essential service...but when you take into account how much you may spend on a haircut or an outfit, and weigh that against how much insight into your child (or yourself, or your spouse) that this can give you, it really is worth it. If it just isn't affordable, but it's something you'd really like to do, it also could be a gift to your child for a birthday or holiday and relatives may even pitch in for it.

If you are skeptical, I'll let you know a full report after we have our kids' done. Hopefully it will be soon... I feel like I really need some help understanding them lately!!

Date

I got to put on make-up, dress cute, and go out to a bar tonight... and it wasn't with my husband.

My friend, Andy, and I met at Crush--a hip, gay bar in SE Portland that I had never been to, let alone heard of. I am so out of the nighttime social scene, and although I wouldn't trade in my burp rags and little humans for a crowded clubbing calendar, I did thoroughly enjoy getting out and having a drink and great conversation with a friend.

While we were talking about kids, partners, interpreting, life, and astrology, Andy brought up a proposition. It was a little less exciting than I initially thought when she told me she had a proposition for me, but, it's a good one, nonetheless. I have told you before that Andy is a kick-ass astrologer. Well, she is really getting into babies' charts. I think it might have something to do with the fact that she just had one of her own, and knowing her daughter's chart has proven infinitely valuable to her...she told me she wasn't sure how someone would parent without knowing their child's chart..as in, she just can't imagine what that would be like, because it is such an important tool to her as a mother.

She also knows that I am surrounded by hip and conscious parents who may be interested in having their children's charts read, and that I don't mind shamelessly promoting things that I care deeply about. Her proposition (if I remember it correctly...it lives in a dusty haze of gin & gingerale) is that I get one of my children's charts done, I report about it, and then if you are interested and you have your child's chart done and tell her you heard about her from me, she will give you $10 off.

I must admit, I am a bit embarrassed and bummed that I haven't had my kids' charts done before now. My individual chart reading and Rich & my couple's reading were both such life-changing experiences for me, that I have no doubt these will live up to those... I just have been, you know, busy. This is just the impetus I need to make an appointment, and I will tell you all about it.

You can see an interview with Andy here, talking about Astrology in her own cute and quirky, endearing way.

Have I Mentioned I Hate The Zoo?

But I went anyway (and braved rush hour traffic on the 26 home) for these lovely ladies (and men)... of COURSE they were worth it!!

My pregnant lovah
My 6 1/2 year old who rode in the stroller all day
Eleanor enjoying her corn dog way too much (and her kick-ass parents, Jimi & Danielle)
Kaden in "I-haven't-had-a-nap-and-it's-almost-5-pm" Land
The Elephants Doing Tricks
Danielle & Eleanor, and Joi & Grey in the background, watching the performing elephants
Grey is such a little Flirt
And now, the 6 1/2 year old being worn in the Ergo
And me wearing snuggly Isadore
Crazy, tired, boys on the way home

Dress-Up

I love how Kiran always manages to sneak into pictures.

I found my camera cord, so be prepared. I will have a major photo catch-up to do soon.

Pictures

In lieu of my usual weekly winners, since I have barely snapped a single picture during this whole moving adventure, I will direct you kindly to my wonderful, helpful, picture-happy friend Lee who took lots and lots of great photos of moving day.

I also want to say that I am totally overwhelmed by all of the love showered on us yesterday. Bill, Tyler, Joi, Brian, Brittanie, Leah, Lee, Mike, Mom, & Dad: It meant SO much to us that you were all here, for whatever length of time you were able to stay, and for each of your contributions to our move... It was truly amazing and Rich and I were totally blown away by you all. Words can't even express how grateful we are...but thank you all so very very much.

Lack of Variety

My apologies for having a one-track blog. :) Today is another of the post and run variety... Rich just told me he is about to disconnect the internet, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to get on here again. We don't have internet in our new house yet, although I know I can get on Leah's network so I still should be able to post--but it might not be anything too interesting for the next few days.

We have a group of the most wonderful thoughtful friends who are going to be arriving this morning to help us load the uhaul and move our stuff to our new house.

Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday!!!

CLOSED!

"Look here, son.. this is how you sign 10,000 closing documents."
We had awesome friends playing stand-in soccer-mom (aka: driving Kylin from class to class) and entertaining Kaden while we were away.
This is the "path" through the "hot lava" which is the living room carpet
Ooh, that was a close one... Camille almost fell in
"Here, let me help you."
So...it's official... we own the house!!! This is the worst part of buying a house, though...waiting to get the KEYS!!