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Mom picked up some beer to celebrate this year’s Halloween costume:

This ill-tempered gnome had Halloween day at school on Tuesday:

Why Tuesday? Because we had parent-teacher conferences this week, so no school Wednesday-Friday. That meant I had to entertain the Bigs, while making sure they did very little work. Here I am helping rake the leaves in the back yard:

I carved two jack-o-lanterns. Posing with pumpkin #1 before heading to my swim lesson:

Prepping pumpkin #2 for carving:

It was not all hard work. We also made time for some fun and games. Tiddlywinks is AWESOME!

It was a pretty big mail week. Along with the Tiddlywinks and cookies from Nana, there was a FUNNY card from G. Auntie Cheryl, and Cars, Trucks, and Things That Go PJs from Nan. I am one lucky dude. Thank you!

I took the Bigs for a hike up Tumalo Mountain on Saturday:

It was cold and foggy:

Snowballs!

On Halloween, I led the Bigs in some crafts:

I prepped craft kits to make things easy for them:

They are not the most artistic, but I was able to guide them in the creation of pumpkins:

spooky caves:

and, of course, garden gnomes:

Heading out to trick-or-treat:

Food from the week. Sunshine bowl:

Banh mi noodle bowl (bun chay):

Lentil salad with winter squash:

Roasted squash with brown butter and roasted hazelnuts:

Chimichurri cauliflower bowl:

Kimchi:

Pumpkin spice cookies with hazelnuts and chocolate chips:

Caribbean island bowl:

The Halloween season is upon us, and we are busy preparing. Spooky yard ghosts:

A cloud of bats:

Festive table arrangement:

And, most importantly, my Halloween costume (Any guesses?):

I made some very tasty Chex mix:

Sunday was cold and rainy, so we went for a hike:

Some food we made this week. Ramen:

Palak dal (spinach-lentil dal with cumin and mustard seeds):

Pumpkin oat power muffins:

What is even better than a breakfast smoothie? Smoothie bowls:

Leaving school on Thursday we discovered a screw in our tire! By the time we had a new tire there was no time to make dinner, so we headed to the Yacht Club for dinner. Thanks, Nan & Pop!

As you can see from the fires at the Yacht Club, it’s getting cool here. That means it’s pumpkin recipe time! Check out these pumpkin streusel muffins dad made!

Due to much complaining by The Mother about our tent being too small, we bought a new one. So we had to try it out of course. We went to Christmas Valley and Dad took us on the Crack in the Ground hike…

Whoa! This is a crack in the ground.

In some places, it was pretty tight, but not too tight to monkey around.

Here’s our new tent. Spacious. Or so it seems.

Here is the view from the Green Mountain Campground. We had it to ourselves.

It got dark pretty early so I checked out some planets and stars with my telescope.

In the morning it was quite obvious to The Mother that no tent would be big enough if said tent was infested with a snuggle bug.

After breakfast we headed to the sand dunes. It was very cool but so windy that we all are now partly blind.

We stopped at Fort Rock State Park for lunch on the way home.

It was a pretty cool rock formation. I climbed up lots of it, with little regard as to how I would get down.

We had picture day at school this week. I dressed appropriately:

I make my own lunch everyday for school now:

On Saturday, we went to Maston for a desert mountain bike ride:

On the way home, we stopped at DD Ranch to pick a pumpkin. The Bigs said ‘no way’ to this one:

Though this one was not too bad either:

I also went for a pony ride at the ranch. I have to say, I was pretty disappointed. Not nearly as exciting as I had imagined. I thought I’d feel a bit more cowboy.

Sunday, we went for a hike along Tumalo Creek.

A bit of bouldering along the way:

Starry Night (Thanks, Great Uncle Jim!):

Pumpkin blueberry waffles. Who is this Pac Man guy the Bigs keep talking about?

This week’s bread creation: Pane di Lino, golden flaxseed bread. Great for toast:

And, finally, my latest plum creation, plum and strawberry crisp:

Monday was my last day of quarantine. We made the most of it.

Nan and Pop bought me a kite for my birthday, but I haven’t been able to fly it until now. Why? Who knows. The Bigs and their excuses…not enough wind, too much wind. It was worth the wait!

We also picked all the plums from the plum tree in our front yard. We harvested 25 pounds of fruit. Mom and I used some of the plums to make an Austrian plum cake.

I’ve taken to dressing like the karate kid and doing strange moves in the living room.

On Saturday we went biking. The Bigs rode on a trail called Duodenum. Strange name. I guess because it curved around over and over again like the eponymous small intestine.

On Sunday we hiked the very popular Tam McArthur Rim trail. The views were terrific. From the ‘End of Trail’:

we saw: North and Middle Sister,

Broken Top,

and Mt. Bachelor. (Not to mention Mt. Washington, Mt. Jefferson, Three-Fingered Jack, Mt. Hood, and even Mt. Adams all the way up in Washington.)

I’ve been putting my starter and biga to good use. My latest creation, a whole-wheat sourdough boule:

hi my name is emmett i am writing hippo’s great invention.

i am making the worst wrinkly bagels

this is where i taught mom to jump

i am not having fun on my quarantine

i am not having fun with webbs. Ut oh. Mom’s taking over now. Up until now I was selecting the photos and sounding out the things I wanted to say. She seemed pretty pleased until now. Sheesh. She said something about being too negative.

Other things I did during the time my kindergarten class was in quarantine:

I got to stay up late and look at the Harvest Moon with my new telescope. Thanks, Nana.

I also made lots of sidewalk art…

and watched Bob Ross, then tried to make my own happy trees.

I also made biscotti – it needs to be 12 inches long, so I busted out the tape measure to check.

Can you stop taking my picture?

No, OK.

I also, after many failed attempts, got a sourdough starter going and made some delicious bread.

And learned to tie my shoes.

The Bigs figured we should go backpacking since we were supposed to stay away from people, so we hit the trails.

We stayed near S. Matthieu lake

and had views of North Sister (Faith) Mountain. We tried and tried to get good pictures of her.

Quarantine’s not that bad…

It was The Bigs’ 14th wedding anniversary. WE celebrated at the Midtown Yacht Club with

Mezze platters (baba ganoush with pistachios and feta , olives with almonds and orange, Moroccan carrots with mint, fried cauliflower with tahine, pita and falafel)

and halvah for dessert. The Bigs were not entirely sure what this was, but it sure was tasty.

Pork and Beans Man. You may think this is a funny-looking getup, but wait…

It gets even better:

Practicing my chords:

We’ve had fall-like weather lately, and that means rainbows:

We also did some weekend mountain biking at Phil’s:

Moroccan lentil salad with apricots and almonds:

This week I made pretzels. Before:

After:

I also had my first and second days of kindergarten.

It made me tired.

I also made a solar powered car,

went for a bike ride and a hike,

and bought and planted some new houseplants. These are MINE. The Bigs refuse to take responsibility for cacti and other hard to grow plants. I am not afraid.

I also ate grilled figs with pomegranate molasses

and pasta with broccoli, preserved lemons, and chickpeas.

This is going to be a long one folks. We traveled 3750 miles. Mom may have taken 3750 pictures.

We hit the road on August 4th. The first night we camped near the Oregon/Idaho border and the second night we stayed near the Idaho/Wyoming border. On the third day we drove through the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area on the border of Wyoming and Utah.

We were on our way to see

dinosaurs! We went to Dinosaur National Monument. There are real fossils still in the rock to see. This picture does not do its amazingness justice!

We camped on the Green River and did some hiking while at the Monument.

There were a lot of petroglyphs to see.

Then we headed to Grand Mesa, Colorado for some mountain biking and then on to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We stayed at a campground that had restored narrow gauge trains.

Next up, the cabin!

Ryan, Nora, Aunt Michelle, and Uncle Chris met us there. I took everyone on a hike to the top of Pennsylvania Mountain the first day. Why not? Sea level to 13, 006 ft? No problem.

Almost there.

Here Ryan and I are at the summit!

Ryan and I built cool forts.

Nora and I made my birthday cake. Chocolate cake with blueberry frosting (my idea).

Uncle Chris made me work for my presents with a treasure hunt.

No problem, because I am six.

We also hiked to Limber Grove. Some of the trees there are around 1000 years old.

We also did some mountain biking in Frisco and Fairplay and a few more hikes around the cabin before we left.

We saw lots of beaver dams.

It wasn’t all fun and games. We did lots of work too, like sanding the deck.

But doesn’t it look great?

Next up, off to Vernal, Ut for some mountain biking.

We rode

AND

We were not done yet. Next stop? Eagle Cap Wilderness in the Wallowa Mountains of Oregon for a backpacking trip.

Here we go.

The map said 7 miles. My watch said we’ve been going 8. What’s up?

First night’s campsite.

Up over Ivan Carper pass on the second day. Come on Bigs!

I am the Lorax and I speak for the trees.

The third day was an easy hike out along the Lostine River.

Now we are home and stuck inside due to smoky air. So we are in the kitchen. I made banana cream pie,

banana oat pancakes,

pecan honey granola,

and honey oat bread.

I also helped The Bigs make Farmer’s Market Fried Rice

and kimichi noodles.

Big week this week. Wednesday was the Growing Tree graduation ceremony.

if I look a little upset in this picture, it is because someone cleaned up my shave ice (the Tree hired a shave ice truck to cater graduation – boy am I going to miss the tree) before I finished it.

On Saturday, I went to the Bend Rock Gym to climb with Hazel. It was awesome. I can’t wait to go back.

I made some mini heart-shaped cakes with green frosting and red, green, and white sprinkles this weekend. Happy Holidays(?):

Some other things we ate this week include watermelon and mango salad:

pasta with kale, capers, and anchovies:

falafel sandwiches with tahini sauce and pickled daikon and carrots:

tofu po’boys:

and, finally, Hawaiian shave ice (promised to me after the graduation incident) after our mountain bike ride on Sunday: