Sourdough Adventures

Who is surprised I never got into sourdough? Me! I have no excuses. I honestly don’t even remember what inspired me to try. Perhaps it was a random Facebook suggested group post that said something like whole wheat flour is better for sourdough starter than all purpose or bread flour. Maybe it was because I read through the Little House on the Prairie books again where they lived off ground whole wheat during The Long Winter.

We all know that I have plenty of whole wheat. All I had to do was grind it into flour, get a starter going, and get to baking! Which is what I did with all my extra summer vacation time.

Once upon a time I tried making a starter using my Betty Crocker Cookbook for instructions.  I obviously didn’t understand the instructions because my starter was yuck.  This time, I fed and discarded according to instructions I found online and I created a beautiful set of starter jars. The hardest part of establishing a good starter was all the discarded starter. So of course I started baking up a bunch of snacks that used discard and a little bit of leavening. 

I made crackers, pancakes, waffles, pizza crust, and whole wheat bread. I have not made an artisan loaf that has risen with just the power of my naturally occurring yeast beasts. I did however use my Nana’s vintage Bosch mixer because my Kitchen Aid bread hook is missing! A vintage mixer in a vintage kitchen. 

What I learned about myself is this: I am not at all interested in making true sourdough bread that rises without added yeast. To get those crunchy farmers market loaves, one must have a two day timeline of mixing, stretching, folding, and rising, but watching carefully so it doesn’t over rise and stretch the gluten too much. They are baked at high temperatures in Dutch ovens or on baking stones with added steam to get that crunchy thin flexible crust. I’ve seen too many pictures of broken stoneware from people following instructions and adding ice cubes to create the steam and little bubbles. And too many pictures of failed loaves.

Turns out I love discard baking! I love using my whole wheat flour and my old yeast and things that are done in a few hours. There’s no guarantee that a project I start today will be interesting tomorrow! I could be wanting to sew…

School's End 2022-2023

I never did get around to posting our curriculum choices at the beginning of the school year.  I guess it might be a good idea to post not what we plan to do, but what we actually did.  

This year was our transition year back into what our life resembled before the shut down.  With three of the eight kids basically adults and doing their own things, I had an easier time getting things done.

Jason is a July birthday and is young for second grade.  He finished up his first grade work from Memoria Press and started the second grade level. He sped through Math U See Beta (he's really good at math). He took PE, Lego Club, Arts and Crafts, and Chess at co-op (he's really good at chess). He also started Taekwondo with Mark at his school's new location at Gig Harbor Strength and Fitness (he's really good at taekwondo).  His favorite part of the school year was reading and math. His least favorites are cursive and spelling.

Heidi joined orchestra and plays cello. She also joined Taekwondo! She is a quick-witted girl and had no trouble with the third grade level of Memoria Press and MUS Gamma.  She took the same classes as Jason at co-op. Heidi's favorites are reading, spelling, and cursive.  I thought she hated cursive because she certainly complained about it enough. Her least favorite was grammar.  She is so incredibly smart but is also very active and has all the classic demand avoidance and hyperfocus issues kids with ADHD have.  I am so glad I can homeschool her and help guild her through her difficulties (like needing to finish playing the Jaws theme at orchestra when she was supposed to be playing with her class). Gentle gentle parenting. 

Lula is in her second year of violin and loves her group.  She hand sews or crochets birthday presents for everyone who has a birthday.  She earned her senior green belt in Taekwondo! And she took Recorder, Cooking, and Chess at co-op along with Memoria Press 5th grade and MUS Epsilon.  She struggles with remembering things and may have inattentive ADHD to balance out Heidi's insane level of activity with hers. Funny how ADHD can be completely opposite in two different people.  She has the biggest heart I have ever known. Lula's favorite subjects are reading and science.  She doesn't like Latin or composition.

Daniel and Fiona stayed together for one more year in their curriculum, using Memoria Press 7th grade.  Daniel finally caught up to Fiona in math at the end of this year, which has inspired Fiona to want to start Algebra 1 this summer.  They both continued their orchestra journeys, but are in two different groups with Fiona promoting to the high school group.  Daniel took cooking and a strategic games class.  Fiona took cooking, painting, and a class about the constitution. 

Daniel is a very good student.  He is self motivated to get his schoolwork done every morning so he can move on and do other things he enjoys more (video games). I'm impressed with his ability to get through things.  His favorite subject is history. And he is my only kid to go as far as he has in Latin. Now that he is 13 years old, he is no longer the terror he was as a preschooler. He uses his incredible mind to try to use logic against me, forcing me to use the old "Because I said so!" and lose the argument in his mind.  But I want him as my ally in this crazy world we are in.

A special mention here about Fiona's education: She earned her black belt! And she is an incredible artist.  Her drawings of people are amazing.  I wish there was someone local that could mentor her, but there isn't, so we will have to wait until college to see how far she can take her talents.  Until then, YouTube!  She is the most "socialized" of all my homeschoolers with a big friend group and plenty of drama to go around.  I love it.

Genna, oh Genna.  She is so amazing and has such a unique high school experience.  At the end of the school year last year, I told Mark I would no longer homeschool her.  It was up to him to come up with curriculum and enforce it or put her in public school.  She is not an angry defiant teenager.  She is just focused on vaulting or working to make money for vaulting and doesn't do her schoolwork.  She is 100% within the legal definition of homeschooling still, but really only did one semester of chemistry this year.  She had an almost perfect score too.  But does she have the equivalent of a public high school education? No.  Could she walk into a testing office and get a GED or get placed into college level classes at community college? Yes. The opportunity to represent the USA as an athlete doesn't come around very often, so we must embrace this journey and let happen what will happen.  And I have been much happier about her education putting it in her hands.

Shane will be done with his Associate's degree at the end of summer quarter.  Ian got a later start due to covid, and then he changed his focus from business to biology, so he is going to graduate fall or winter depending on what summer courses he takes.  

All that is left is our annual standardized tests!

2022: What Did We Do? Part 3

 And just like the real 2022, I'm starting to burn out on looking at all my pictures, especially once I reach the end of November! 

And just like the last part, we start Part 3 with a trip to Canada.  This would be trip #5!  I get the details of this trip mixed up with the details from trip #4 because both were super stressful but in different ways.  Trip #4 was with Lori as the coach instead of Julie and the big stress was the car breaking down.  Trip #5 was also with Lori, only this time we almost didn't get into Canada.  August 1, 2022 was British Colombia Day and is a national holiday for Canadians.  We had no idea.  And the ferries were ultra super duper strict about following covid rules. We had met all the requirements to legally enter Canada, but because scrutiny was so high that weekend, the ferry decided we didn't actually meet requirements to enter and prevented us from getting on the ferry.  They said if I could get a badge number of a customs officer that would guarantee our entry, we could get on the ferry.  But their offices were closed.  Out of the kindness of their hearts and with a promise that we wouldn't get mad if we got stranded in customs on the other side with no ferry return back until the next day, we finally got on. They also flagged our profiles in the system for a mandatory quarantine for eight days with a daily check in. When we got to actual customs, the officer asked how long we would be in Canada and we said 48 hours.  He sighed impatiently (with the system we are assuming) and let us in without question.  We didn't get to our place of stay until 2:00 am. That same day at vaulting, unbeknownst to us at the time, Genna suffered an injury that would effect the rest of the year.  But we were there to clinic with Mary McCormick, a hero of Genna's since she first started vaulting. We had a great time and had no problems.

The next major hiking adventure ended with Mark glissading down an ice field (controlled, on purpose) and not realizing his gators had slipped and exposed his bare skin.  He burned the skin off the back of both legs, which required medical treatment and a few rounds of antibiotics.  He still has some scarring from this trip.  I am super thankful that our worst injuries have been sunburns and iceburns.

Before he even healed from that trip, Julie, Genna, and I headed down to California for some special training on really nice horses that she was going to borrow for West Coast Championships.  We had an amazing time staying with this family that has been involved with vaulting for decades.  Their daughter had just returned from Senoir World's Championships the day before.

We also did some sight seeing and went down to Santa Cruz and to Half Moon Bay. We were there for four days.

The family we stayed with was so generous and open and welcoming and shared everything with us.... including their germs.  The first two days we were there we didn't know their daughter brought special European covid home from the vaulting competition.  

We had headed over to Rancho Murietta for the championships when we found out that our lunger and horse combo had come down with covid and would not be able to attend.  Lucky for Genna, she had her team horses.  But unlucky for Genna, she started coughing at 2:00am and had to scratch the competition.  We drove home and had to isolate in Lori's spare room until no one tested positive.  These were tough days I tell you.  I never tested positive the whole year, even with covid coming through four times and some of my kids getting it more than one time.  By the time I got home, I had been away from my kids for ten or more days and I missed them so much I cried.

But September was quickly approaching and I had to get ready for school.  I already had everything I needed (did I? I can't remember when I bought it all).  And I was just getting everything organized and wrapping my mind around focusing less on Genna and vaulting and more on the younger five kids and homeschoolings when....

...we found out that injury from the beginning of August was a broken spine.  This picture was taken after these two (Genna and her pairs partner) tried to do a few moves after Genna mounted funny and felt a snap in her back.  Up until this point, she figured her pain that she had been feeling was muscular and was something she could work through.  I had already put a call into a chiropractor because I figured with as many falls as she has, she could use a good straightening.  But after this practice, which was a Sunday, followed by a trip to Target (see Part 1 where Fiona and Genna make me take them shopping), Genna said she didn't want to go to work feeling as bad as she did.  And I drove straight to the ER for Xrays. Because that is what you do with a Downen that doesn't feel pain like a normal person.  She had a broken spine; Lumbar Spondylolysis to be exact.  No more working, no more vaulting, lots of physical therapy until it healed.

Around this time, my generous bosses that gave me beach access to Taylor Bay decided to sell their oil business and their house and move to Italy.  Working for them pays my vaulting travel bills, so I was very sad.  Luckily for me, the business buyer changed his mind and I still get to work for them.

We went back to school and I tried to get back into finishing craft ideas that I bought supplies for, but never did because toddlers.

We made mosaic stepping stones for the garden that we don't grow anything in.  LingLing has inserted herself into our lives and has insisted she be inside with us now that Jack isn't fast enough to catch her.  She is always in our business now.

When we went back to co-op, I got super busy again.  Almost 2020 level, but not quite.  Six kids that need rides is still less than eight kids, but in 2020 Jason and Heidi weren't doing anything but riding along.  I'm teaching kindergarten science and kindergarten enrichments, which is just story and craft time.  The kids in my class have zero skills, so all the lesson plans I made over the summer (while in Canada haha) got tossed. And then as soon as co-op is over, we do a quick Costco run and then go straight to orchestra for a few hours.  It's a long day, but its only one long day. I'm not sure we will be going back next year.

Before the first parent meeting of the year for orchestra, Mark said that I should invest some time in the activities that the larger number of kids are participating in instead of one activity that one older teen is participating in.  I mean, he has a point.  So I approached the director and asked if there was anything I could do this year to support orchestra.  And the next thing I know, I'm in training to replace her as the Executive Director of Peninsula Youth Orchestra.  It's a paid position. I'm not sure I have the energy and disposition at almost 46 year old. I might be better behind the scenes and let a younger, more enthusiastic parent take the lead.

Earlier in 2022, Jack came home munched up by a coyote. It's not the first time.  He knows when he comes home injured and I pull out the flashlight to get a better look at his owies, the hydrogen peroxide is next and he does not like that.  This time, I heard a racoon killing a chicken in the middle of the night.  Normally I let the dogs bark at the door so the racoon can get a head start and get up a tree because I hate vet bills.  But this time, the racoon decided to hide in the chicken yard under a blackberry bush because I had left the gate open.  Jack went in the yard and cornered the racoon, who jumped on his face and started biting, scratching, and fighting like hell.  I was in my nightgown and barefoot, but I got a kick of adrenaline and ran in to the fight, picking up the only weapon in the whole chicken yard: an empty plastic bucket.  I hit that racoon as hard as I could, over and over, until it let go of Jack and ran away.  I'm also screaming for Mark to get his gun.  No neighbors called the cops over my screams for help, so I'm feeling pretty helpless out here now.  Mark eventually heard me.  We cleaned Jack up and took him to the vet the next day for antibiotics and a rabies shot.  He was going to be due soon anyway; the racoon just moved him up in line. I pulled blackberry thorns out of my feet for days. 

The next exciting addition to our family is Rigel, the bearded dragon.  Someone was giving him away for free because they were tired of him.  He is at least five years old.  He is a fun pet.

October arrived and so did all the pumpkins...

...and harvest festivals....

...and Halloween traditions...

We attended the Candy Carnival for the first time in years.  I can't remember when all the masking ended.  It just seemed to disappear in my memory.  Most of 2020-2022 I avoided anything that had to be masked, unless it was something amazing that my kids couldn't miss.  And we live in such a beautiful place with such open spaces, we were able to live closer to normal than most people.  I don't know. It looks like it all is starting up again.

Sometime in this month, Genna finally got her driver's license. She could drive herself to her physical therapy appointments and her chemistry class.  She was allowed to slowly add vaulting moves on the barrel or at walk.  And then one day in November, she was cleared to vault again.  And we went to Canada (trip #6!) for another clinic with the French vaulter/coach.  He really is amazing. And when you've studied his methods and movements, you can see his influence in other vaulters.  Sometimes they have the exact same moves that he put into other people's freestyles!

We took her car so she could do most of the driving.  I did the driving on the ferry part and crossing through customs part.  This was the first normal trip across the border with no covid regulations.  Just show your enhanced driver's license and you are in! No more proofs of anything!

My lemon had to be towed back to the place that keeps "fixing" it.  It is "fixed" again under warranty for now, but I'm not holding my breath.  Sadly, I do love driving this car and since Shane has been car shopping, I can see that replacing this car for myself with another small around town type car will cost way more than fixing it again!

The end of November approached and we had our annual birthdays and Thanksgiving marathon.

Heidi turned 9 the day after Thanksgiving this year, but our plans for actually celebrating Thanksgiving got all messed up due to various viruses.  We decided we had RSV since I am so over having covid here. The cold acted like RSV more than covid, so that is what we went with. Ami didn't want to get our lingering cough, so she came down and handed pies off to Genevieve at the same parking spot that people deal drugs at at the gas station in Home.  We were sad we didn't get to see her, but we understand.   

We had Ian come out even though we knew he had had a fever.  He said his fever broke, but he still had those glassy eyes that hang around with fever.  And sure enough, we were all down with influenza a few days later. Mark was the last to get the RSV cold and one of the first to get the flu, so he was sick for weeks and barely lived to see Christmas. 

This ice cream sandwich cake was the best we could do for Genevieve's birthday this year with all the sickness and stuff.  But that brings us to December, which was just a normal, relaxed, typical December where we had to cancel our plans due to fevers.

Jason lost his two front teeth, just in time for Christmas.

And I think I'm done writing for the year.  I may or may not come back and add Christmas details.  I might write a post after the new year detailing my curriculum choices. We will see.  But for now, I want to go enjoy my favorite winter view:

Because I love being home by a cozy fire with my knitting and my cat and my dogs and my kids, and yes, even Mark on a chilly winter evening in the doldrums between Christmas and New Years.

2022: What did We Do? Part 2

The first weekend of May, Fiona and I headed to eastern Washington to attend my uncle's funeral.  It was a sad and confusing couple of days, but we eventually ended up in Spokane at.... can you guess? A vaulting competition!  Yes, we had three competitions in three weekends.  We were pretty wrecked by Sunday. 

This past year, Genna has been working very hard to get high scores to qualify for a spot on the Junior World's Team going to Sweden next summer.  She is required to compete in the Silver category, which is what she grew out of two years ago.  So for this competition, which wasn't a competition that her scores would count for world's selection, she went back up to Young Gold for fun.  Too bad it didn't count because she scored really well.

And this is also when gas prices really painfully started to peak.  Mark insisted he do all the errand running in his gas efficient car and who am I to argue? I really enjoy being home with my kids and pets when the sun is shining and the grass is green and the sky is blue and my crocs are yellow. And its when covid came through our house for the third time.  For the record, covid was not hard on us. We seemed to have the light weight Omicron each of these three times and it was only kids who caught it. And it wasn't even all the kids each time.  Just two or three at a time.

My photos show the rest of May was just hanging out at home.  Now, to be fair, Mark took the kids hiking at every chance.  I don't have those stories or pictures.  One of the things he likes to do when I'm gone is take the kids on an adventure.  Gas prices don't matter for hiking trips.

Gas prices don't matter for vaulting trips either!  First weekend of June, Mark and I had a double header.  Genevieve and I headed to Canada (trip #3) and Fiona and Daniel played in an orchestra quartet at the Maritime Festival in Gig Harbor.

The warmer weather in June after a long drizzly late spring found us back to the beach! We visited all our favorite beaches for the historic low tides, of course. The great thing about kids growing up is that I can pack a lounge chair and blanket and just watch everyone play.  We spent so many days at the beach in 2022.

Taylor Bay

Joemma State Park

Penrose State Park

Near the end of June, Mark realized a long-held dream.  Taking Ami (and Genna, Fiona, and Daniel) up Mount Saint Helens.  Ami loves hiking but doesn't get to go on all the wild adventures Mark takes the younger kids on. This time however, she got to bring her boys down to stay with their Grandma (ME) for the weekend! I had a great time.  The hikers, however, forgot their sunscreen and ended up with very bad burns.  Fiona and Ami ended up in urgent care for blisters and swelling.  We used a lot of pain killers and aquaphor that week. 

But the show must go on and Genevieve had her Regional competition, which was very important.  And even with her sunburn, which had lightened immensely, she came in first in every round.  We got home very late Sunday night from that trip and turned right around in the morning....

....to go to.... Canada (Surprise! Trip #4) This weekend was one of those special mention weekends....

One might ask, why is Genna doing handstands on the side of the freeway? Well, the story starts with me purchasing a lemony Volvo station wagon in August of 2021.  It needed work, which is why it was only $1000.  I did some work, but it wasn't enough.  My poor Volvo broke down on the side of the freeway only 10 kilometers (hey, we were in Canada) from where we needed to be.  Our hosts came and rescued us, lent us a truck, and recommended a place to send my car to be looked at.  And this is just the beginning....

...this trip was significant in the vaulting sense because Genevieve was meeting with one of the world's top judges (from the Netherlands) and one of the world's top vaulter-turned-coaches (from France).  We couldn't pass up this opportunity.  The team coaches she has been meeting with in Canada believe fully that Genna can qualify for the Junior World's team, so they have been very generous in providing opportunities for her to become the best version of herself.  The picture shows a moment where the Canadian coach says to French coach that Genna likes what he is saying, that's just her thinking face.  Because she really does have a serious face! It made everyone laugh and now we all say, "It's just her face!"

So back to the car... we ended up having to stay an extra day and change our airbnb reservations and ferry tickets because my car got towed to a repo station instead of a car fixing place, so we had to find the car and have it looked at.  Many months later we are assuming that when my fuel pump was replaced, they toggled the fuel level indicator and now I'm paranoid I'll run out of gas on the side of the road before I'm in the red.

I was never so happy to see my driveway.  I had been gone for a week by then and I desperately missed my kids.  Which is a foreshadow to another story, but that will be in Part 3.

July! We love the 4th of July.  Ian brought his girlfriend over and all the teenagers jumped on my unsafe, now closed until further notice, trampoline.  We did all our regular things with food and fire.

And then it was Lula's 10th birthday and we went to the zoo!

And then it was...

...beaches...

...bear hunts....

...beaches....

...bonfires (ah, the illusive Fiona!)

...bugs...

...beesnests (we had three large ones this summer)....

...and Jason's 7th birthday!  And then a ton more beach days as we went through the heat of summer....