Four Part Harmony

I’ve probably jinxed us just by writing these words, but it’s been a really nice fall here in Oregon so far. We’ve had a bit of rain, but lately we’ve had a run of clear, sunny, blue sky days and clear cold nights. We’re still pulling in red tomatoes if you can believe that. We’ve been enjoying it lazily, (as lazily as is possible with a 4 month old and a 3 year old) and as such I haven’t had a lot of reason to update the blog. Still, we’ve got a few photos, and I’ll put them up here while I’ve got a chance.

Last week we went out to the Hood River/Parkdale area to go apple picking with Anna’s school. It was a lot of fun. We picked a handful of apples, and ate our share too, but mostly the kids just ran around. The weather was great.

Here’s Anna eating a ‘Winter banana’ variety (it actually did taste a bit like banana). The ‘honeycrisp’ were the big hit. We also picked a few ‘Hidden Rose’, which have a dark purplish-red flesh, and were really sweet…I’ve never seen anything like it.

Nicki and Milo with Mt Adams in the background.

We’ve been getting in some afternoon hikes too. Nicki has designated Monday “hiking day”, to go along with “painting day”, “bread day”, and “soup day” at school. This photo is of the lake down in Reed Canyon, just down the street from our house. Nicki and I used to walk back there quite a bit when we lived at our old house on 32nd Pl.

Today instead of hiking day, Nicki and Anna and a couple of the kids from school went to the park down the street from the school.

Milo enjoyed his first ride in a park swing.

After the busy afternoon at the park, the kids took a (short) nap in the backyard while Nicki got some time in the garden.

Anna and Milo waking up from their nap.

We’ve been working on some inside projects too. This weekend I made our first big batch of sauerkraut in the crock we got from my parents last year. We missed out on the big cabbage harvest of ’07, and never got around to making any. This weekend we called Dawn at the market, and she brought us home two gigantic cabbages (4-5 pounds each). At first I thought we wouldn’t even get all of them to fit in the crock, but by the time I had it all salted and compressed in there, we really only got it about to 1/2 capacity. Still, it should make a large quantity of sauerkraut.

Also, I got my basement “workshop” cleaned up a week or so ago, and I’ve begun to slowly work on my next project(s). More info on that to come. Nicki’s also been sewing quite a bit and Anna’s almost always got a project of some sort going on in the living room. Anna’s projects tend to involve scotch tape and/or stickers and/or cutting or tearing of construction paper. There’s been a bit of a premium on “project time” lately, but it’s been good.

So long for now.

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Hey, take a look at our brand spanking new site name and web address!

That’s right, we’re Four Part Harmony now, and you can find us at www.fourpartharmony.us.

Several people commented when Milo was born that we couldn’t just be three part harmony anymore…we would have to change the name. Well, unbeknownst to us our friend Gabe had already set up the new domain name right when Milo was born. I should have switched it over ages ago, but I thought I needed to do it with some fanfare.

So, I don’t know if you can call this fanfare (maybe I need some trumpets playing or something) but we’re now officially making the switch. Hopefully it won’t confuse anyone. I think the old address will still redirect here, at least for a while. Still, update your bookmarks or whatnot, and don’t forget to stop by once in a while. So long for now.

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We just got back from a week in Bemidji , MN (my old hometown) to visit my family.

A big part of the reason we went back was to celebrate my Grandpa’s 85th birthday, and to introduce Milo to his extended family.

We got lots of family photos, here’s my grandpa with his kids (my aunts and uncles).

And here’s my grandpa with all his grandkids and great-grandkids.

And here’s the Gunderson family.

Milo with his uncle Mark.

A nice family photo.

We didn’t really just stand around in the backyard taking family pictures all day though. The first few days we were there the weather was great and we drove to Itasca State Park. We stopped and had a picnic at the edge of the lake.

At the north end of Lake Itasca, the Mississippi River has its headwaters. Here’s Anna and I getting ready to cross the mighty river.

Nicki and Milo at the headwaters.

Anna went wading in the river at one point, and also crossed the river several times by herself on a little log bridge that can just be seen in the background of this picture.

We also dug in the garden a bit. Northern MN was just about to get its first frost, so we were out harvesting the last of the tomatoes and peppers. Here, Anna is helping Grandma Jackie dig up a hill of sweet potatoes.

We also played in the leaves. We raked up a big pile in the backyard and it seems like everyone had a turn to jump in at some point. Here’s Anna and her cousin Nick in the leaf pile.

Anna in the leaf pile.

Milo in the leaf pile. I think he liked it more than the picture conveys. He had a fun time on the trip, and had plenty of smiles for everyone.

We went on a hike in the State Park, though it took two tries to pull it off. We got a flat tire on the way in to the park, and the spare tire was so crusted onto the car that it took over an hour for my dad and I to get it changed. In the meantime, Nicki, Grandma Jackie, Anna and Milo went for some short walks.

By the time we got the tire changed, it was closing in on lunchtime and we had to abandon the hike for the moment. Hardest tire change of my life (as far as I can remember). Then, when we got the tire changed and everyone back into the car, the battery had died and the car wouldn’t start. We had to call the ranger for a jump, but soon enough we were on our way.

After lunch we came back to the park and managed to finish our hike. We went out a long a trail through a peat bog out to a lake (Bog Lake).

Nicki and Milo on the bog walk trail.

Anna on the bog walk trail. Anna must have learned the tune “London Bridge” at school because all weekend she was singing it, except she sang “Unden bridge is falling down”. On the hike we made up lots of verses.

It was a fun trip. Great to see lots of family, and great to be back in Minnesota at a beautiful time of year.

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