Exploring Hood River and the Farm

 Outside Adventures!

Folks, I'm struggling to make my Wednesday posting goal. Mainly because we spend so much time outside and unless I stay up after everyone, I don't even see my computer. I was so excited last week for this post and I may be even more excited this week. It worked out even better that it took an extra week because we found even more places to explore! 

One of my goals of Tiny House Living was to do a lot of daily activities outside. Things like cooking, school work, playing and hanging out. I have not branched off into cooking outside or school work. But we have really taken advantage of living in Hood River and gotten out to explore! I may be rethinking the goal of cooking and outdoor general living because this setup has worked well for us. Here are the details of what we have been up to. I'm hoping the links may help you to find your own adventure here! 

5 Acre Farm - Gotta love Nana and Poppy!

• The excitement of being able to run free is wearing off for Autzen. Well, let me rephrase that, he is still really enjoying his time, but he is not spending quite as much time out as he had been. There was a solid week where he would wake up around 6:30am and go outside! He's now sleeping in until I wake him at 7:30 to do farm chores and get ready for school.

• Barrett is getting more confident with being outside and is now trying his hand at exploring without me. Which is a major no-go. We all keep a close eye on him. He is really loving the extra space!
  

• Autzen is in charge of feeding the chickens, cats and goats. He also collects the eggs!! We collect all of our kitchen scraps for the animals and taking it to them has become a fun part of the day. 

• Although Barrett is still in love with "Poppy's Tractor", the riding lawn mower, he has also branched out. He is set up with quiet the playground.

• Part of the cleanup of this barnyard playground has been thinning out the dead branches of an awesome tree. Marcus and Autzen have done the bulk of this. It is Barrett's job to feed the live branches that are cut to the goats. 

• Two weeks ago we were excited to go explore the goat hill and we're STILL excited to go explore it! I have not had the coordination to have everyone in jeans and tennis shoes yet. You have to be dressed the right way for the pasture and shorts or and sandals is just not it. 

• The no-go go cart is a favorite to pretend play and climbing structure. Autzen worked hard, with Marcus' help, to pull it out a bit further and clean it up for playing on. He had a short lived dream of getting it running again. It would be beyond amazing if he did it! 

• It has been incredible to watch Barrett hone his riding skills. The kid has several riding toys and is really putting them to the test. Yesterday he finally nailed pedaling his tricycle. He's been zooming around on his strider bike for awhile now, but it was mainly confined to our kitchen at the old house. Now he has a huge driveway and even a bike park we've gone to! 

• Elijah and the boys have a crawdad trap in the Indian Creek that goes through my parents property. The other day they caught a little trout! I had no idea these guys were even in here. All their catches are put back in the water to continue their journey. 
  
  

The Indian Creek Trail 

• The trail has been a staple for exercise. Elijah has been taking daily fast paced walks on his lunch break through here. My mom and I have been doing close to a two mile walk on the trail frequently. 

• My parents, Autzen, Barrett, Grayson and I have taken the trail to get to the bike park. It was quite the workout with pushing the Burley Bee stroller up and then down two of the hills. I was pretty impressed with us!

• Autzen uses it to get the free school district lunch. Having access to this lunch option has been incredible. Huge shout out to the Hood River County School District for all they are providing to the children here. 

• Alongside the trail is a huge field that enticed us with its huge mole hills. Autzen and Barrett really got into "summer snowballs" during a rainy day we had. Barrett was not too sure about touching the dirt but soon figured out that it was way more fun to play in it than to watch Autzen play in it. They were so muddy and then washed in the creek. It was a priceless memory made! 

• Most recently Autzen has discovered the model plane area and spent quite a bit of time watching the show. I can't wait to share this with Barrett and to see it myself! 

Golden Eagle Park and Pump Track

• If you have not been here then it is time to GO! My gosh we have spent so much time here and plan to spend even more time! 

• I took a turn around the track and my 40 year old tailbone had quite a bit to say about that. And continued to say it for a few days afterwards....

• What I love about the park is that it has a very family friendly feel. Every time we have gone there have been other families with littles on balance bikes too. 

• I want to continue to feed this new hobby of Autzent's and encourage Barrett to keep at it. 

• Mr. B got his first real bruise (he's had little-kid leg bruises forever and bonked head bruises from learning to walk) when he fell on the handle bar of his bike. He's a little more hesitant now but still seems willing to try!

The Hook

• On a day that Bear refused a nap we jumped in the van and drove down to the waterfront. I thought I might find a spot where Autzen could explore the water or rocks while Barrett slept. Not only did B not sleep but I didn't find anywhere that Autz could be that I could see from the road. I kept driving and found myself at The Hook.

• We stopped here and had an impromptu swim!

• We had to hike down a pretty steep incline of boulders to get to the water and it was totally worth it!

• Grayson slept in the carrier while Autzen and Bear played in the ankle deep water. The Columbia River is so low right now that they could enjoy their time without me worrying about them being washed away. 

• In addition to playing in the water we all got a kick out of seeing all the dogs tagging along on the paddle boards! The view was just incredible. I never fail to feel blessed to be in this area. 

• Now to get Marcus to join us!! (This is always the challenge when you're 19 and have your own things you want to do.)

Hood River Organics 

• This little treasure of a place is literally just around the corner from us! I had never been here until now. Nana, Autzen, Barrett, Grayson and I all went and spent some time exploring. 

• We didn't realize at the time that having the place totally to ourselves is not normal. On a second trip out there it was totally packed! 

• Autzen and I are suckers for Honeycrisp apples. This place is packed full of trees just gushing apples! 

• It was a real treat to find that there were farm animals that we could pet. Barrett was REALLY unsure of the pigs, but he was brave and pet one of the piglets. There were goats and chickens too!

• The property is set up for relaxing and enjoying your time. Hammocks, chairs and picnic tables can be found scattered throughout the trees. 

• Barrett found his little slice of heaven with a huge tractor that he could climb on! He would have stayed here forever if I had let him! Needless to say we had some tears when it was time to go.

• One goal is to return and let Bear climb his little heart out while I snuggle up with Gray in a hammock. 

Mt. View Orchards 

• OH MY GOSH! This was the best! The views, the trees, the people.....I loved it all!

• They had an incredible variety of apple and pear trees, ripe for the picking. The trees were dripping with them!

• There is a play area for younger kids, picnic tables and a little shop. 

• If you don't feel up to picking your own fruit they have bins with them in their shop. 

• We had a blast here! Nana pulled Barrett in the wagon for most of the time. He ate an apple and enjoyed his free ride. 

• Autzen loved using a tool for grabbing the fruit from the top of trees. He was really good at finding the best apples high up. Though, he may have liked it too much. We had to stop him from collecting too many!

Hood River Waterfront Park

a.k.a. The Port

• Growing up in Hood River we spent a lot of time in rivers. Some of my favorite memories are of jumping off the port into the Columbia! My brothers did all kinds of fancy jumps. Being younger I did what I could, but mainly just some jumps here and there. My memories though, they are grand! Now days you cannot jump from it. Instead, we found mud to squish in! 

• The waterfront does not look anything like it did when I was a kid. There are beaches that are well kept, walkways, lawns, playground, picnic areas and restaurants. This last week we spent a lot of time down on an exposed sandbar. It feels really secluded, our own little place!

• I try not to load us down too much, but traveling with a toddler and a baby sometimes requires more items to make it worthwhile. We recently brought our pop up shade tent and it was a game changer! 

• The water happens to be very low right now. The spot that we've been playing at is really shallow unless you go about 15 feet out. Barrett does a really great job staying close to the shore and enjoying the ankle deep water or playing in the sand. 

• Autzen loves to go further out until he can swim around!

As I was creating this post I had to stop myself from adding every picture and every detail of all the fun! We have spent more time outside since living here than we have in the last year. It takes energy and direction on my part to make sure we do it, but it has been worth it! I keep this thought at the forefront so that on the days that I just feel like staying in I get out, even if it's just to the barnyard. We did need to take a break from leaving the property and spent the day just relaxing in the backyard.....the backyard!! I forgot to mention the trampoline, swings and sandbox! See! We could stay busy outside here for a very long time.

My next goal is to figure out how to continue our outside living when it gets rainy, cold and dark really early. Wish me luck!