More Storage Space

Kitchen Pantry that is bigger than my current pantry.

Future bookshelves
The boys dresser before...
and after!

The boys dresser was made with kitchen cupboards from Kevin, Matt and Nathan's kitchen remodels. The handles are from the re-building center that I've had for a couple of years - thought I'd use them in my stick house kitchen. They've been coming in handy for the bus instead. The pantry is made with some shelves given to us by some neighbors, some tear off roof material and some leftover chicken coop materials from Pierre's family. Seriously, Steve is a master at putting this stuff together with minimal supplies. It has taken some creativity on his part and a lot of painting on my part.

Family Trip in Gorge/Mt. Hood

We took a small trip in the Gorge this past week to do a little off grid camping with the bus. We had no hook-ups, no water or sewer or stores around. It was time to really see what this bus could do. It turns out, the bus does quite well off grid. We had a great time with Steve's parents that joined us in their RV for a couple of days too. We went fishing, biking, hiking, reading and even brought legos for the kids. Steve managed to fix a few things with his drill and even made me a cutting board using his generator to power his skillsaw. The second half of the trip we headed up Mt. Hood and camped on the backside. It was freezing in the morning. Our little propane heater wasn't up to muster. We will need to figure something else out for future cold weather trips. All in all though, it's working pretty fantastic thus far!
Our free campsite in the Gorge - Cliffs Park. Fantastic location.
The view of the Columbia River from my bedroom window.
Little John Snow Park on the east side of Mt. Hood - free campsite. We were the only ones there. Phelan is drawing a pinecone in his nature journal.

Carpet Squares

Our friend Tom gave us a bunch of carpet squares from his firm this summer. They're mostly industrial carpet examples to show clients (he's an architect). Tom gave us the idea and now we have finally gotten to a place to make some rugs out of them for the bus. We put a bunch together and then duct taped them on the backside to keep the pattern. Then Steve cut the edges to make them a rectangle. Although I seriously dig the brown groovy one, the reddish one out as our living room carpet because of it's coloring with the front of the bus. We took it with us and simply sweeped over it to clean. For anyone interested in Portland, they have these SUPER cheap at SCRAP or you could simply call your local carpet dealer and see if they have any example books for you to have.

Oil Lamp Making

Ryder made these for the bus. They turned out perfectly and were very simple to make. Super cheap too. You can use used oil for them as well! We're planning to use them in the evenings to save on electricity when we're camping off the grid.

Work Crew

It's been nine years next month that our South Tabor Work Crew started with Connie's guidance. Since that time, all of these kids (except for Zane in the back) have been born plus two more babies not shown. We've worked on eachother's houses, listened to eachother's stories and laughed a lot. We've had camping trips, coming of age ceremonies and well, it's just Friday parties. Steve and I would never ever have had this much fun in our lives if it wasn't for this crew of people. So we thank you guys, each and every one of you - Connie, Tom, Lisa, Tom, Jennifer, Mark, Leslie, Rachel, Nathan and the nine boys and now one little girl! Much love to all.

Columbia Gorge Hike in early Autumn

The boys and I went for a little camping trip this week in the Gorge not far from Portland. Papa was working long days and so I started up the big old bus and headed out 32 miles to a little tiny state park near all the beautiful waterfalls in the Gorge. We took many bike trips to visit Horsetail and Multnomah Falls and Steve's parents even joined us for a couple of days. The boys took these photos on a hiking trip...


Why yes, they're always this sweet to eachother.
Grass with a little bit of finger.
Oh you luscious rosehip. How yummy and juicy you look. Too bad you aren't.
I think I'm in love with this gal. I want to name her something like Countess Mycorrhizae and pair her with Colin Firth in a Jane Austen movie.

It's starting

We are very slowly moving into the bus. As of right now, we are sleeping and brushing our teeth in it. Cooking in it full time requires a table and chairs, which we don't have yet.

Not Back to School Camp 2009 at Oxbow

What an awesome retreat this year. Perfect weather, good people, great kids!



Learning to start a fire with magnesium strips - yes, he eventually was successful!

Have you ever seen this many different weiners at one time?
Joy being a very organized Mom.
Unsuccessful knot tying with Casey.
Pet rock decorating!


Group Photo with our hiking guide.

Linda Hessel's New Baby

Congrats to Linda and family! They've made the leap. They bought a school bus that could almost be related to ours. Details to come. Yeah for our twin buses!

Update

So, the bus is almost complete! Well, complete enough to move into. There will probably always be improvements. Steve needs to build a pantry, clothing cupboards for the boys and a desk over the water tank - then baby, we're on our way! I've been cooking in it and using the fridge for "cold drinks". We have yet to use the toilet and water storage tank but are going camping next week to specifically test the water system. Once the building is done, then I need to gather alllll of the stuff we'll need like folding chairs and tables, tarps, hoses, small kitchen stuff cooking thingies. That part sounds fun. I cannot wait to go camping in it next week at the Not Back To School Camping trip (2nd Annual). It's starting to get cold here so eventually we'll have to deal with a propane heater and wood stove but for now - we're good. Oh yeah, and I need to learn to drive it, yikes.

Building a Box

Box cover for the engine. Now we have more seating. I love the Tom Byrne carpet square covers. It is quite a perfect spot to stretch and hang out as I found out at the Margarita/Fajita night.

Fajitas and Margaritas