Exploring Oregon Through Little Passports

We had a wonderful family reunion in Oregon this past summer, so it's no surprise that Trevor and I had a lot of fun doing the activities in the Oregon kit from Little Passports!

After building the covered wagon model and reading about the Oregon Trail, we jumped right in with the science experiment. It is inspired by The Old Man of the Lake, a large stump that has been floating in Crater Lake for more than 100 years and seems to defy the laws of physics. Through the experiment, Trevor now understands that the Old Man of the Lake has air trapped in the top of its trunk and is thus less dense than water. Therefore, it doesn't sink.   

Next, Trevor did a maze about the beaches of the Oregon coast. (Yea mazes!) We learned about the attractions in Portland through a map activity, then did some measurement to identify fossils from the John Day Fossil Beds that date back to the Cenozoic Era. We read about the most important events in Oregon history, then matched famous Oregonians with their accomplishments. One of my favorite childhood authors, Beverly Cleary, is from Oregon. 

Trevor and I learned how to make origami trees, inspired by the World Forestry Center in Portland. We have plans to transform our origami into Christmas trees. I'll share a tutorial as we get closer to Christmas.

There were two art activities in the Oregon kit. Yea! Trevor and I had a lot of fun following the steps to make swallowtail butterflies. 

Getting the symmetry right is really difficult! We both did our best, but fell a bit short. No matter. We're still really happy with how they turned out. 

On to our favorite part of each Little Passports adventure - the recipe! The cooking project combined Oregon's state beverage, state nut, and state fruit. Any guesses what they might be?

The state beverage is milk. Oregon's state nut is the hazelnut and the fruit is the pear. Trevor followed the directions to make vanilla ice cream, topped with grilled pears and toasted hazelnuts. Delicious!

Trevor and I learned so much about the Beaver State. Thanks to Little Passports for another entertaining and educational kit!

Displaying Perler Bead Creations

This post contains affiliate links. 

Trevor has loved Perler Beads since we were first introduced to them when he was 2. He has made a huge number of items over the past nine years and kept all but the very few he's given away. Storage is getting to be a problem. It was not easy, but I convinced him to go through them all and separate out his favorites and get rid of any that were broken, poorly melted, or simply not special. 

Then we used straight pins to arrange those favorites on a corkboard frame. 

We hung the frame right next to the shelves of games and toys. 

The plan is that as he makes new creations, he'll display them on the corkboard and get rid of one of his previous pieces that is not as special. Or, we'll eventually end up with a second corkboard hung above the first, as he's really going to struggle replacing an old favorite. 

Do your kids have a lot of Perler Bead creations? How do you store / display them?

Homemade Pizza

Every once in a while, I get a hankering for homemade pizza. Actually, I get a hankering for homemade pizza frequently, but every once in awhile I do something about it. I really should make it more often. It is delicious, inexpensive, and is on the table faster than some pizza deliveries. 

I've been making my own pizza since around age 10 and I have always used the same recipe. It is tattered and grease-stained now from 3.5 decades of use. I don't remember where it came from, so unfortunately I can't credit the source. Mom, do you remember?

I follow the recipe exactly EXCEPT that I don't divide the crust. I love thick crust pizza, so I just use all the dough. I've tried it as written and it's wonderful, so if you prefer thin crust, follow the recipe. It only takes about 15 minutes to assemble the pizza...

... then it bakes for 25 minutes. Piping hot and delicious in 40 minutes. 

I really should make it more often. 

'Sorry for Your Loss' Cards

I've had to make quite a few sympathy cards recently. They're always a struggle for me, as I'm sure they are for most people. I almost always put butterflies on sympathy cards, as you can see here and here.

For my first card, I used cream and black, a few punches, and a simple sentiment. I like it.

Sympathy Card (affiliate link)

I ended up repeating that design to make an identical card, then used a butterfly stamp set to create the vertical card. 

I hope those are the last sympathy cards I'll need to make for a long, long time. 

Trevor at Eleven

As promised, here is Trevor at 11. As usual, I made my list of adjectives before looking back at previous layouts so that I wouldn't be influenced by how I'd described him before. Of course, the list is pretty similar year by year.

Trevor at Eleven (affiliate link)

Trevor mentioned the other day that we need to have Grandpa make us more numbers. (He originally made 1-9, then made us a 0 and an extra 1 a few years ago.) I love that Trevor thinks we'll still be taking his birthday portraits at 22, 33, 44, etc. I'll count myself lucky if he cooperates through age 18!