For Ellen

This week has been a little crazy with some sadness thrown in.  I write with a heavy heart because one of Erik's first cousins once removed (his dad's cousin Betty) lost her battle with Parkinson's this week. We were so blessed to know this brave woman who had a smile and a hug for everyone.  We were able to see her this past spring as part of our trip to visit the Young Adult BSF class in San Gabriel, CA.  We shared pictures of the boys and laughed hard together over their antics.  It was a good day.  We miss you, Betty.  We love you.  We are so comforted to know that your suffering is over and you are safe in the arms of Jesus Christ.

In honor of Betty's sister, Ellen, my most faithful blog reader, I will now share the odd, quirky bits that were our lives this week.  I know they make her smile.  And I want to make her smile today.

First I need to share the apple orchard trip from last weekend.  We all piled into the car on Saturday after Erik got home from his BSF Leader's Meeting.  Then we drove through Starbucks. THEN we started the hour plus trip down the Columbia River Gorge.  That is such a beautiful drive.  Our whole family enjoys it.  Erik and I love looking out the windows at the river passing by and the amazing rock formations.  The boys are hugely entertained by the trains that travel both sides of the river and barges on the river itself, not to mention the semi trucks and cars with various state license plates on the road.

Our first stop was lunch at Taco del Mar in Hood River.  Yum.  Then it was on to our first apple orchard.  I really wanted to buy organic apples this year for our sauce, so I googled it and found Mt. Hood Organic Farms.  I was NOT disappointed.  The Apple House is stunning architecture and it has huge crates of organic apples.  I didn't take nearly enough pictures because I was so busy scooping up the school boy sized organic gala apples for $1/pound!  These are the perfect size for the boys and prevent the half eaten apple syndrome that has plagued us a bit since the boys began eating them directly off the core.

Then came the mega deal.  When the nice man who runs the place heard we were going to be saucing, he pointed us to the huge crate of seconds, apples with flaws and therefore priced at $0.75/pound.  ORGANIC, PEOPLE!!  I was super jazzed.  We loaded up our big pink bin and paid the man.  Happy!  Here's a picture of Paul helping load the bin.

Paul is distracted because there was a very sweet dog with whom he ended up spending the rest of the time on this farm.

 And then it was on to the next farm!  It's not a trip to the Hood River Fruit Loop without some time at Kiyokawa Family Orchards and Fruit Stand.  We didn't actually buy any fruit here, but my mom did.  We go for the play area behind the fruit stand.  It rocks.  The boys love it.  Erik and I sat at a picnic table and enjoyed some down time while the boys played.

Goofy Paul on a tractor.

Luke in the fort.

Shooting his pretend bow and arrow from the wall of the fort.

So happy!

 It was a pretty successful trip.  The best part was the way my house smelled the next morning when we made our first batch of applesauce.  Erik found the easiest recipe ever for applesauce online, and we have been enjoying that business all week.

BIG pot of yummy goodness

SO pretty!

And now for something COMPLETELY different.  Luke bought himself a mini fig this week with his very own money.  What's a mini fig?  It's a lego guy that has been extremely well marketed.  You buy them in these packages that are opaque and you don't know which one you are getting.  Very exciting in Seven Year Old Land.  I nearly burst out laughing when I saw Luke's mini fig.  First the scene he created around it:

A great battle is clearly taking place, but where is the trusty town pretzel eater?

HERE HE IS!!!

I promise you that Luke created this entirely on his own.  He told me that this guy was caught trying to steal the treasure chest.  Erik's comment:  That was very nice that they let him keep his baked goods when they caught him.  Mommy's opinion:  I love that this guy is dressed in traditional German attire, but he clearly came to this party unprepared.  Mini Figs sans weapons in the Bangsund Household are destined to be strung up, but at least they get to hold onto their snacks.

Speaking of baked goods, I made whole wheat banana bread sweetened with honey and molasses yesterday.  It was amazing and is gone today.  I'm going to try my hand at whole wheat pumpkin bread with the Bangsund Twist next.  Check my next post for that action.

Tasty!

 Lastly, Paul asked if he could clean windows yesterday.  Sure!  I worked on stuff for Roots.  Paul cleaned windows.  Amazing.

He mostly just likes to squirt, but the glass surfaces did look nicer when he was done.

Today is Saturday.  Dave, my fabulous father-in-law, is coming for football in about two hours.  The homemade hummus has been made.  It's going to be a good day.