Forest Park

 Tuesdays are normally one of my favorite days of the week.  There's no preschool for Oliver, so the mornings start slowly and we usually make something bigger for breakfast, like pancakes.  For Elliot it's a lighter school day since it's hard for us to delve deep into things when Oliver just wants to be right in the middle of it all.  But today was bumpy - oh so bumpy right from the start.   The solution was to get out for a hike, so we all loaded up and went to Forest Park to check out the Old Stone House.  Of course this got us into a discussion about the history of the place and the tragedy that befell the Balch Family, one of the first pioneering families in Oregon.  I certainly wasn't expecting our little outing to lead to a discussion about capital punishment, but that's one of the things I love most about homeschooling.  There really is learning to be had just about everywhere you go.

The highlight for Elliot was spotting this hairy woodpecker.  He's been wanting a picture of one of these birds for his book.

It was beautiful and tranquil - all of the trees are covered in moss and the creek is full from all the rain.