This cutie is 5 years old. We celebrated his birthday with some new and old traditions. Sloane has been getting a scavenger hunt on her birthday morning for the past two years. Soren wanted one this year and he followed the 5 clues to open a present that morning- a stuffie of Gecko from PJ masks. Soren got to pick his birthday dinner, which he requested cucumbers. I pried out some more ideas and we ended up having shrimp and noodles as well. He picked out his cake and then he and Adam baked it- chocolate cake with blue and orange frosting. A new tradition was to tell a story from each year of his life while having cake. He loved it, but then he requested we go around again but each story had to be him in the snow for that year!

Soren got lots of fun presents, but he was most excited to open the one that Sloane bought him with her own money. It was a Lego kit and he tackled her after opening it because he was so excited.

Soren is very chatty. He is also a slow eater, but Adam speculated that he might eat slow to get time alone at the table without Sloane for uninterrupted focus from us while he talks. He likes to make up jokes that are nonsensical especially the knock knock variety.

He started tumbling last week and he loves it. The first day he was so excited he kept telling Sloane and I about how he couldn’t wear zippers to tumbling. After class, he would do a move and then say ‘my tumbling teacher taught me that!” It is fun for him to have an activity that is just his own. Sloane started ballet and he insisted on wearing his leotard and tights as well on the first day.

This is Soren’s last year in pre-school. The summer was less structured at school but over the year he did daily journal entries. They were sent home in a binder in July and there were some definite highlights.

Now that Sloane is back at school, the kids have been missing each other. This is not only cute, but makes them play better together. One of my favorite games they play is long clawed gecko. Soren puts on long black dress-up gloves. Sloane pretends to be a presenter on TV and explains about long tail geckos traits and care needs. The doctor kit is in high rotation for check ups for humans, dolls, and animals. Soren pretended to trim Sloane’s toenails the other night and it was hilarious.

Over the summer, I wore a few jumpsuits. Soren really liked them and kept asking for a ‘jumping suit’ like mine. We found out he also really wanted overalls. I found some overalls and a coverall set for him. When they came, they looked SO huge. But when he put them on, they fit with just a little cuff.

Soren can fill up my bucket- like the other day he told me I looked beautiful like a gem. And then he can dump it out- like when he told me I should go do the eyelash thing because my eye didn’t look so good. Truth from the mouth of littles.

Soren still pronounces ‘c’ as ‘t’ most of the time. We are looking into speech therapy to make sure he is ready for kindergarten. But it is still super cute saying “I am trazy for tocholate!”

I love his snuggles and the way he makes up facts about animals. I love his big smile with all the space between his teeth. I love his dance moves and poses he strikes. He just the best little stinker around.

We had three nights at camp this summer, which is one of my special places in the world. The first day was breezy and chilly, but it felt nice after the heat and humidity.

Time at camp was filled with puzzles, cribbage, camp fires, fishing, swimming, motor boat rides, kayaking, and paddle boarding. Sloane and Soren developed a technique called “being the rudder” where one of us would tow them behind a kayak. Jesse and Lida were super stars- paddle boarding with a kid on board, having them jump off, and hauling them back onto the paddle board- all with out crashing.

There was a metor shower while we were up at camp. The kids didn’t get to see any, but Jesse, Lida, Adam, and I stayed up to watch. We saw a few an hour and they would trace across the whole sky. And leaning back to watch them we only broke one small table and had one person tip their chair back (looking at you Jesse with yellow crocs up in the air).

Sloane and Soren both fished and were successful. Sloane caught 10 in one day! Soren is killer at casting and caught 5 fish (mostly less because we clipped the barb off his hook for safety).

Uncle Cam made it up for one night because of his work schedule. Sloane was very happy to see him and to sing around the camp fire. She has been talking about it for three years. After a few rounds of Down by the Bay, we sang some Willie Nelson, Jojo Siwa, and John Denver.

We said goodbye to camp until next year (fingers crossed). We had another day in Wilton before our flight home. Sloane wanted to pack Lida in our suitcase to bring home to Vancouver, planning for her to go to school here and live with us. It was a hard good bye, but we’ll be back in December.

The four of us made the pilgrimage to NH in August- our first family trip there in 3 years. Flying with big kids was MUCH easier than flying with an almost 2 year old and a 4.5 year old. Everything was smooth until the hour we had to sit on the tarmac waiting for a gate in Boston. G and Pa had a long wait inside but were so excited to pick us up.

We arrived in Wilton late that night, so Jesse and Lida came over the next day. Even though he hadn’t seen them in 3 years, Soren ran to them and immediately gave them both big hugs. It was very sweet. The heat and humidity was intense. One of my goals for the trip was to swim as much as possible. The first swim trip was Greenfield State Park where Jesse and I use to swim as kids. Sloane and Soren were impressed and had a great time.

Saturday was the Christmas in August party for the Straw Family and it was with all 28 Straws! It was about 95 degrees and 95% humidity- refreshing. Jeff and Becky were hosting and rented a water slide bouncy house which Sloane spent the entire party in playing and sliding.

We also visited with Erin, Ian, Paloma, and Sabine. It was another swimming opportunity! Paloma and Sabine were so kind and sweet with my kids. They shared their goggles and floaties, showed them around, and gave them a stuffy each to take home.

We also met up with Robin and Fritha for a picnic and play in a stream. Sloane liked to pretend she was a mermaid on the rock and Soren liked to pretend to be a lizard sunning on the rocks. They enjoyed asking Robin and Fritha questions about their pets and their bees, and we grown ups got some catch up time.

In June, the kids asked to go to a petting zoo on a random Saturday. We couldn’t make it happen that day, but I remembered there was one close to Wilton. We made it to The Friendly Farm on our way back from visiting Fritha and Robin. Soren loved holding the baby chicks. Sloane and Soren both got to give bottles to baby goats and a baby cow. It was super fun.

My childhood dance instructor lives in Wilton again and it was wonderful to get to visit with her as well. We went over a couple of times- I chatted with Jayne, while the kids got to swim in the pool at her house! I did go jump in to escape the heat.

In between all this visiting and swimming, we had good times at G and Pa’s house. We picked blueberries, played grocery store, had nightly fires, and made s’mores (or as they were pronounced in my house growing up samoas!)

Plus LOBSTER! Soren was a big fan. He also found tree frogs everywhere. And then tried to chase Sloane, Lida, and I with them.

We got a family photo with the Ouellette/MacMaster/Bramble crew

Plus these two twin goofballs!

And one of the best part is going to Camp Echo Rock, which will be its own post next!

We had an epic trip to the coast this year for the 4th of July. We spent three nights in a house on the beach in Lincoln City and then three nights camping at Nahalem Bay State park.

We lucked out with the coast! The weather was warm and I even thought the water felt nice. It also happened to be an extra low tide at Lincoln City. The house was very close to the tide pools. We saw huge mussels, sea stars, sculpins, and hermit crabs. The twins found a bigger fish that was stuck in a pool, caught it, and released it back to the ocean. Soren really wanted to hold it but with positioning and the rocks, it didn’t work. Soren was quiet sad about it but he will likely be catching them also soon.

We saw a group of people harvesting mussels from the tide pool rocks. This led to a stealth investigation with the cousins and Papa2. A neighbor had noticed and call the police. They all followed at a distance as the group walked back to their car. No big fall out with police but a little excitement for the day. Sloane enjoyed it and loved to say “we followed the culprits down the beach” as she told the story.

The water was warm enough to boogie board. There were a couple at the house, but they were cracked. Papa2 went out and bought some new ones. The kids had a blast and Sloane was a champion. Soren mostly loved a little boat on a string some other kids like him use for a while.

Though the original Brambles had been there before, but it was the first time our crew had been to Nehalem State Park. We had a row of spots with a nice wooded area behind it. There was some good trees to climb. Soren had a few close calls when Ellie, Max, or Zander had to rush over to help him.

We managed to not pack our tent, so Adam had to run out to Tillamock Sporting Goods to buy us a new one. As gas prices are so high, the drive home to get it would have cost almost as much as a new tent. The new one is red and had a nice glow for reading at bedtime.

We were across the bay from Kelley’s Marina where we went to this spring with G and Pa. We went over and did some dock and boat crabbing. Adam was the boat pilot and did some passenger switch outs. Sloane and Soren were old enough to go on the boats at Kelley’s and they were super stocked. Sloane even got to help drive the boat. Unfortunately, it was not peak crab season and we ended up with only one crab.

The beach has sand dunes and the water was warmer than Lincoln City. I even went in past my knees. We jumped waves and chased them back to shore. Soren had to pee and we told him he could just go in the ocean. He thought this required pulling down his swim trunks down and Adam caught it on camera.

A week on the coast was a treat! And it was just our first family vacation of the summer.

There is a large children’s museum in Olympia WA that I had heard great things about. We’ve had a rainy June so one Saturday we decided to drive up and spend the night in Olympia.

The children’s museum was huge! Two floors and a large outdoor area. The kids explored and didn’t get lost once. Sloane’s favorite room was the pet hospital with many stuffed animals. I think Soren’s favorite was the vacuum tube wall. There is a hole to put scarfs and large pom-poms in. Then they get sucked around a maze of tubes and come flying out from exits.

We stayed in a hotel for the night. It was disappointing because they listed an indoor pool on the site, but they did not have an indoor pool. The exciting thing was they had Disney Junior! We had a take out dinner in the room and let the kids jump from bed to bed. Soren perfected his Spider-Man roll.

On Sunday morning after some breakfast sandwiches at a cute coffee shop, we walked around the capitol building. It was quiet and lovely. We explored the outside of buildings, monuments, and gardens. Sloane did slid off a tree branch while I was trying to get a cute picture of her. It was her 7th injury of the trip- 3 scratches from a fall running at the rest stop, walking into a parking meter, bashing her butt on the armrest of her booster seat, and hitting her nose on the back of the car.

This year has been pretty amazing for Sloane. The combination of full in person learning, her teacher, her classmates, and her school has lead to explosive growth for her.

Sloane’s reading skills are incredible. She’s reading road signs, instructions, packages, close captioning, and our texts messages! In the past month, she has read almost all of the DogMan series. She also knows how to search for and download Kindle books to her Kindle. At Christmas, I was surprised she read a book before I read it to her. Now she is reading a few books each week I haven’t read to her yet.

Over the year, her class has done different writing units- personal narratives, opinion writing, book reviews, and teaching books. They are encouraged to draw illustrations to add to the story and add speech bubbles. Below is an example from the beginning of the year and one from the end of the year.

There was a district art show at the library in May. Sloane’s polar bear was selected to represent the first grade from her school. She got a certificate and was very proud to see her art work up.

Sloane struggled a bit this year with interactions with some classmates and some nervousness. She was able to talk with the school councilor who helped her with strategies. It helped so much and gave Sloane some skills to move forward in the world of interacting with a wide range of people. Overall the school seems to emphasize social-emotional learning and it creates a great environment for Sloane.

Sloane’s class was able to take 2 field trips at the end of the year. I was able to chaperone both. First, we went to the high school to watch Act 1 of Cinderella. Sloane loved it- from the bus ride, to having me there, and of course watching the performance. She and I went back on the weekend to see the whole performance with our neighbor friends.

The second trip was to Lacamas Lake in the next town over. We went on a little hike and looked for native wild flowers and plants. It was part of her class’s plant anatomy unit. Then we had a picnic in the park and they were able to play at the playground. Both field trips and the performance made us feel like part of the community which was welcomed after these isolated pandemic years.

Sloane’s school does move up day where she found out her teacher for next year and spent some time in her new classroom. It has helped her to feel confident going into 2nd grade in the fall. Sloane has asked if she can go to school all summer, but I think once she gets into some fun summer activities, she’ll be happy.

We had family haircuts recent. I told this to some one who thought maybe we all gave each other haircuts in the round- like a shoulder massage circle. I am not sure who I would have picked to do my cut! In the picture above, I think the kids look like little Cali surfers. They had long flowing locks on our Mother’s day walk as well.

Every time we bring up haircuts, Sloane would say she wants long hair and doesn’t want a cut. When I made the appointment, I told her she could chose what length but her hair needed a trim. I bought hair cutting scissors to cut out knots we couldn’t untangle. Sloane decided on shoulder length and it is super cute.

Soren has been saying he wants a haircut like Adam’s. So that’s what we told our stylist. I couldn’t be in there. I would have been white knuckling the chair watching his soft blond baby curls be cut. We did get to keep two little ponytails of his hair. He came blasting out of the salon and is even cuter than before.

Adam and I got haircuts too, but not earth shattering when it is your 100th one.

We had a lovely mother’s day this year. Adam pointed out it was very nice he got to go for a run even though it was mother’s day. It made me realize how much easier it is to be home with the kids than it was 3+ years ago. They are just much more independent and easy going.

I asked for and received new clippers for the garden. Soren was more excited about them than I was. He loves using clippers to trim the grass and dead parts of plants. And he has only sliced his finger once!

Sloane made me a card at school. It was very sweet, but has made me rethink my eating habits. Though Adam pointed out she did say sometimes.

We went for a walk at a wildlife refuge that just reopened. Sloane brought along a sketch book to draw animals we saw and added smiles onto all the drawings of birds. We saw killdeer, egrets, ducks, and geese!

Mostly, I am happy because my kids think I am a great mom even though I have my short comings.

We woke up on 4/11 to about 3 inches of snow! The kids were vibrating with excitement. We gave them a piece of toast and threw on our snow stuff. We were outside by 7:45, though G and Pa decided to enjoy the snow out the window instead of actually outside.

We had to bash the snow off our plum trees and even with that, we still lost a few branches. Our tulips held up though with nice snow hats. Adam pulled the kids down to the park in the sled. We were the first ones there- pushing the snow off the slide, making a path, and sledding. We ended up with over 5 inches and it was wet! The entire time we were out we would hear ‘creek’ and ‘crack’ as big branches fell all around the neighborhood. It was sad to see many trees in the neighborhood destroyed due to the spring snow storm.

I ended up with a snow day and stayed home with the kids and my parents. It was a nice bonus- an extra day of spring break and spending the last day my parents were here together. The snow melted enough that we could go for a walk (my parents hadn’t packed gear for walking in the snow). Sloane and Soren only splashed them a few times while stomping on the slush piles. Soren managed to get the bottoms of his rain paints FILLED with snow. I had to turn the cuffs out a couple times because they got so heavy he struggled to walk. They built snow people in the backyard. The carrot noses kept getting shorted because they doubled as a snack.

At the end of spring break, we went to Rockaway Beach for three nights. We hustled to get there on Thursday because it was warm and sunny. The kids ended up running in the waves and digging in the sand for a few hours. We weren’t quite prepared and didn’t have sunscreen or swim wear. But we did get to have ice cream thanks to G and Pa. That night we had the quote of the trip- Pa got clams with is dinner. Soren asked to try one, then another, and more still. They did a trade- a clam for a few french fries. Pa wasn’t listening to Soren at one point when he asked for another. Soren finally asked in exacerbation “Can any one give me a clam?” And Pa was the only one with clams.

The next few days had a dreary forecast but we managed to catch dry chunks. On Friday, we went to Kelly’s Marina and rented crab pots to crab off the dock. It was so much fun- friendly marina cats, carnival cutouts, and a couple firepits. Adam was a champion pullers with the kids lending a hand getting the slack out. We caught 2 keepers! We also got some more clams and a couple dozen oysters. They boiled our crabs and when they cleaned them, they offered us the crab hearts to try. Sloane loved it! And Adam watched the technique for future crabs.

We had some pretty walks on the beach and a nice trail to a huge trees. We played some Yahtzee and only set off the smoke detector once trying to build a fire. Rockaway Beach was a funky little town- some old style gift shops on the main drag along with a crystal shop with a bubble blowing machine on the sidewalk. We also had fun relaxing at the house.

On the drive home, we saw some snow on the shoulder on the coastal mountain pass. I joked to my parents that we had showed them all the extremes of weather- a sunny 70, hailstorms, typical PNW snow, and then a little snow. But we were in for a surprise the next morning.