Working our lives around our children...

Jeff lives alone. His time is his own, and he can schedule things whenever and however he wishes. While at the Bates Motel, he is quickly learning what it is like to fit things in around Sarah and Emily's schedules. The last two days have borne that lesson out loud and clear. We've gotten out and done things, but it's all been carefully planned around my chauffeuring responsibilities: my voice lessons, taking the girls swimming, to Sarah's Book Club meeting and Driver's Ed classes... Whew!

Tuesday, Jeff decided to stay home while I took care of things and took the kids to swim. Larry was off that day, so they had a male bonding day. Larry regaled him with tales of things to do at the coast, and generally avoided working on the Camry's brakes.

We did manage to accompany the girls to OMSI, our Science Museum. It's a wonderful place to spend a day discovering, investigating, and exploring. We have a membership, so we go frequently. We had not yet visited the traveling exhibit, which took us there this week. This current interactive display is called CSI, and features a hands-on application of forensic of crime-solving techniques. We collected fiber, fingerprint, and other evidence for two crimes, analyzed it in the forensics labs and autopsy rooms, and presented our final case file to our "supervisor". Very cool! We did a pretty good job of keeping up with Jeff, despite his law enforcement background - or maybe he just didn't want to show us up!



The girls and I decided that we HAD to take Jeff to lunch at Burgerville, our regional hamburger chain. Burgerville is not your ordinary fast food restaurant. They pride themselves on using local organic produce, free-range and steroid-free eggs and meats, and in varying their menu to take advantage of seasonal availability. Right now, they are featuring Walla Walla onions, blackberries, and cherries. We tried the Walla Walla onion burger and onion rings; the salad featuring bing cherries, goat cheese, and walnuts; and the blackberry lemonade. We drooled over (but did not try) the cherry chipotle pulled pork sandwich. Other alternative foods on the menu year-round include a turkey burger, a black bean veggie burger, and a hazelnut and salmon salad. We love this place, and feel like it's our duty to introduce visitors to the whole experience!

Not yet having had enough local produce, Jeff and Emily went to the park in the neighborhood, and picked two buckets of blackberries. I think I see a cobbler in our future...