I made Julie stop for this tribute to Pudge. Hi dad!
Pushing it fair, ovah the Monstah.
If you don’t get the historical reference, don’t despair — you’re in for a treat. Go watch the drama. There’s a lot of goose-bump inducing setup, but basically: Red Sox v. Reds, 1975 World Series on the line, Game 6, tied in the bottom of the 12th inning. If you’re impatient, you can fast-forward to 1:10 and watch the rest.
Behold, Sylvan and his friend Olivia, hanging out after devouring the best pizza in Eugene at Hideaway Bakery’s weekly pizza night. Olivia just happened to have brought two books. Usually at this time of the evening, Sylvan is running around whacking things with sticks and mixing up dirt/mud/ice/flower/snake/snail/puppy-dog-tail concoctions in the alley behind the bakery. Olivia proved to be a civilizing influence, at least for fifteen or twenty minutes.
That's Sylvan's music teacher from kindergarten in the background. She plays the accordion, changes flat tires on cars by herself, runs trail ultramarathons, and knows Finnish folk songs. And teaches music to elementary school students.
“Are you having a good Fair?” is a common question when you attend the Oregon Country Fair. This question sounds like such an odd construction to me, but it really captures the spirit of the Fair, which is that it is its own entity, a strange and vague collection of experiences and images.
The Brazilian percussion ensemble Samba Ja played just outside the Fair gates while stilt dancers did their thing – a great introduction to the Fair for my offspring.
I swore off the Fair a few years ago, after trying twice to enjoy it. The first time, I felt like the Fair was a hotter and dustier Saturday Market; and all I remember is sitting in a queue for the bus trying desperately to quell my raging headache. Then, I brought Sylvan when he was just mobile enough to be frustrated being in a backpack all day. That made me frustrated all day.
But, at 3 and 6, my kids are now the perfect ages to check out the Fair, marvel at the costumes while wearing their own, and enjoy the shows aimed at kids.
It was shows like Fae Diddle Diddle that made our first four hours at the Fair close to perfect. These faeries were hilarious and adorable.
By three days before the Fair, both kids had chosen their costumes and laid them out in their bedrooms.
Balloon caterpillar from the faeries. Kids dodging photos with Mom – does that really start this young?
While we listened to Laura Kemp, one of my favorite singers, period, the woman behind me asked to use my camera to take our photo. She said Elena's face was so beautiful as she looked up at me while I painted.
Silly pirates made my kids giggle
Miss E spent 45 minutes glittering the paper that, with help, she made into a windsock. After 20 minutes, I took Mr. S and a friend to get sno-cones. Elena had plenty of glittering left in her, unbeknownst to me. The man who ran the booth told me how much he'd enjoyed her focus.
Just makin' some ice for my sno-cone, Ma!
Dancing her way to the car, the little barefoot princess
There was some poor behavior thrown in there, too; but it didn’t overshadow a super day spent at the Fair. Thank you, Fair!
Because this starts on July 4th, like clockwork, and doesn’t let up until October 1.
90-day forecast
The Sightline Institute’s Daily Score blog posts thoughtful research about transportation, land use, economics, climate change and other environmental topics, with a focus on the Pacific Northwest.
Today’s post is about transportation. And cute kids. You may recognize a couple of them.
The kids and I have created a tradition, the Creswell 4th of July parade. This year, we brought friends.
Mr. A joins the siblings for some T. Rex riding at Holt Park before the parade. Closely followed by morning sno-cones!
Please excuse the quality of the photos. I was trying to get the mules in the photo, but between dodging water balloons and kids standing in front of me, these photos are more of a dynamic process than a tidy result. But read the carriage; I think it's worth it.
Can I please drink this water balloon puddle? Never mind; it won't make me look any tougher, and that's really all I want these days.
If you head to the Creswell Parade, my suggestion is to leave early. We left town at about 9:20 this year, getting us into Creswell before 10 a.m. We easily parked north of the parade route and placed our chairs near the parade route’s end before heading to Holt Park for some playground action and brunch sno-cones (the kids’ll think you’ve lost your marbles, but it’s worth it; there are no lines before the parade). A fighter jet flew over at 10:30, followed by lots of local small planes right before the parade’s 11 a.m. start.
We made it to the beach, it's sunny, and we even got a campsite (even though the sign said "Campground Full"). I told Mom I wanted to come to the beach to tidepool because the first graders usually do that in the spring.
We're out of the car, we crossed a stream, crazy Oregon kids are boogie-boarding when it's only 60 degrees!
This morning, we found the best beach in the world! Mommy and Daddy are going to retire to Otter Rock, Oregon – at least for a year.
Did YOU see one of these today?
Look at our tunnel – and there's another one out to the ocean (see it?). This is the Devil's Punchbowl; it's a little punchier at high tide.
I'm ignoring you people. Tide, please come in and save me.
I'm sorry, Mr. S. You're going to have to stay here if the anemone decides he wants to digest you.
Gives new meaning to the term "star party."
No, you guys go ahead. We'll hang out here.
Not only did this beach have tidepools with sea stars, anemones, and mussels; caves; and a smiley pirate flag; but it also had agates! And beach glass. Fourteen years in Oregon, and the place never ceases to impress me.
Good thing this one's so handsome, because it looks like he's going to have his Mommy's beaver teeth for a few years.
Yup, we parents felt like this at the end of Saturday.