First Sign of Spring? Or First Sign That We Live Too Close to the Paper Mill?

It's a terrible photo, but you get the idea.  It's a three-headed daffodil, and it's growing in our yard.

THIS IS SUCH A DOWNER

No, not my trip to Boise.  That was a ridiculous amount of fun, and I will tell you all about it once the photos are all squared away.

No, the sad news for me can be found in this article summarizing a study by The International Agency for Research on Cancer, published in the British Medical Journal.  And it fully warrants my all-caps title.

Basically, a group of cancer researchers wanted to figure out why a small area in northern Iran had one of the world's highest incidences of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.   Folks in the Golestan province don't use a lot of alcohol or tobacco, which causes most of these cancers in the U.S. and Europe. They drink tea.  LOTS OF VERY HOT TEA.  

Yes, tea is still supposedly good for us.  It's the temperature that's the problem. The recommendation is to let one's tea sit for 4 minutes before drinking it.  I always do that.  Then I add milk and (don't read this, tea purists) heat it back up in the microwave until it's as hot as I can stand it.

According to the study, drinking tea above 158 degrees (which seems very, very hot) yielded an eightfold risk of esophageal cancer.  I haven't gone so far as to take my tea's temperature yet, but I guess I'd better.  Right after I go warm it up.

It Can't Come Soon Enough

How much am I looking forward to getting away to Boise for three nights without the kids?

Well, this afternoon Willem tasted his own earwax and let me know I had "a little bit hair" on my chin.

That right there should pretty much tell you.

2 Years, 200 Posts

It's hard to believe; two years ago, Willem had only two tic-tac sized teeth. Nels was wearing the clothes that now make up Willem's wardrobe. We were settling into our house in Boise. And I started this blog.

Yep, the boys have grown since then... (Feb 07)

But Nels is still a total goofball: (Apr 07)

And Willem still prefers not to wear pants: (Mar 07)

As for the blog, it has its dry spells, but I'm still enjoying it. I'm hoping some day I'll stumble into some passion and inspiration for writing something else. If that day never comes, well...this'll do.

Thanks for Going With the Adverb

Nels is usually very reluctant to help pick up toys, but the other day he decided it would be fun to clean up downstairs all by himself.

"Just wait until you see it when I'm all done!  You're going to expl...  you're going to be EXPLODINGLY surprised!"

Astoria: the Finale

We spent the second half of our Sunday in the Warrenton area, driving around Fort Stevens State Park. It was probably the strangest day for weather I've ever experienced. In the morning snow, rain, hail, and sun cycled through every half hour or so. By the late afternoon it had settled into alternating sun and clouds, the one constant being wind. Brrrr. Fortunately the weather was good for picture-taking.

Well, here is our glamorous vehicle parked on the sand as we briefly check out the wreck of the Peter Iredale. Overly empathetic people such as myself can enjoy it with no twinge of sadness--the wreck resulted in no casualties.

And here I am...ahem...enjoying my day on the beach. Little sleep + raging headache + glaring sun + virtuous McDonald's salad for lunch + cold wind + "I wonder how many hours it will be until we come across an open public restroom?"= this face. Now I can laugh about it. Not then.

The sunlight sparkling along the water was remarkably lovely, though...

At this point I said something like "Ooooh, it's so pretty, the sun on the water! Take a picture!" And Shaun complied, probably to keep me from making that face again.

After the novel "drive right onto the beach" beach, we explored a little more and came upon this practically deserted beach.  It couldn't have been more beautiful, and having it to ourselves was a definite bonus.  The scale of it was most impressive. If you click on the picture below, you may see our boys as two tiny specks next to the water.

Our poor deprived kids have only been to the beach a handful of times in their short lives.  They were soon playing chicken with the waves.  I haven't heard them laugh so much in a long, long time.

After that, there was nothing left to do but change the boys out of their wet, sandy clothes into cozy sweatpants and dry socks, grab a treat at Dairy Queen, and head for home.  

I definitely am looking forward to some more trips to the coast. Maybe once it's warmer, and we're no longer required to bring a potty chair in the van for use en route.  Maybe this summer.

Astoria Part 2

On Sunday morning we had breakfast at Pig 'N Pancake. You might try elsewhere if you want something really special, but if you're looking for a kid-friendly restaurant with standard breakfast fare served up by a grandmotherly waitress named Orchid, it will do nicely.

We spent the first part of the day at the Columbia River Maritime Museum. With admission to the museum, you get to tour the Lightship Columbia. I think Shaun and I actually found that more interesting than the boys did.

Weapons! Now we're talkin'.

MY favorite thing at the museum was a film on the history of navigation on the Columbia River. I had no idea that super-elite pilots have to come aboard to guide ships through the treacherous bar where the river meets the ocean. According to Wikipedia, "Approximately 16 bar pilots, earning about $180,000/year, guide ships across the bar, often approaching the ships by helicopter."  

This exhibit plays a video about Coast Guard rescue operations.  

Shaun and I both could have used some more time at the museum to read all the interesting history about the artifacts, but the boys got pretty antsy once they were dragged away from a life-sized boat cabin with numerous buttons and sound effects. Besides, there was still the shore to visit!  Astoria Part 3!