Pacific Northwest Trip 2026- part 9

For our Utah County Birders newsletter, I wrote a "Bird of the Month" article about the Green Heron. I wrote it while we were in Oregon and spent so much time trying to find photos on our external hard drive that would work.

Since we were in Oregon, Nichole and I decided to go out and see if we could find a Green Heron to photograph since we always see a Green Heron or several when we go to the nature park near where my parents live.

The forecast was for rain and we had plenty during the night. My dad sent us out with a couple umbrellas that stayed in our bags. We didn't get a lot of new rain while we were out but got great pictures of nature after a storm.

If you look very carefully you can see a spider web with rain drops on it. 

 

Unfortunately we didn't see any Green Herons but we did see something I didn't expect- a spotted sandpiper in a wooded area. 

Nichole's picture of the spotted sandpiper

 

I had to send my article in with a good picture of a juvenile Green Heron Nichole took years ago and a not so good picture I (or Jeremy) took of an adult Green Heron years ago. Sigh.

 

I was able to console myself with brownies (even though June 26 was Chocolate Pudding Day. It's still chocolate, right? I'm not going to complain) and playing another game with Todd that night. 

The next day, Nichole and I went to the nature park again and this time we didn't bother with umbrellas.

Guess what. There was a light rain while we were there. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Enough that we didn't stay out long after seeing... a Green Heron. This one was closer to adulthood (more the coloring I wanted) so when we got back I asked if we could use the picture Nichole got that morning instead of the not so great one we had sent in previously for the newsletter. No problem. Yay.  

That day, June 27, was National Sunglasses Day, which we did not wear. One, it wasn't bright enough. Two, they would have gotten wet. 

That evening, instead of playing a game, we introduced my mom and my brother to Seeking Persephone. I needed to watch it in June and introduce someone new. This monthly tradition has been going since December. 

I still love that movie. 

I was wearing my Gentlemen's Gamble shirt earlier that day. "That's a romance shirt." I needed to do laundry, though, so I changed to a different "romance" shirt: my Jurassic Park shirt. C'mon, it's my date shirt.

Screen Free Week 2026

Last week was Screen Free Week. Let's talk about highlights from the week.

Monday through Friday, I went for daily walks to Bridal Veil Falls, including on a day when it was raining. I just took an umbrella.

 

I listened through several audiobooks.

One day I walked beyond Bridal Veil Falls and walked along the Provo River Parkway for a bit. I kept having to dodge little inchworms hanging from their silken threads. I tried to get some pictures using my hand as a backdrop (without touching them) but I couldn't get it to focus on the creatures.

Finally I gave up and started walking back. After a bit I looked down at my sleeve and saw a little inchworm sitting there. I was able to get pictures and a video of it (because my sleeve was a good backdrop) before I picked up a stick to encourage it off of me.

I found another one that I also got off. When I got back to the van, I took off my vest and brushed myself off but I didn't have any more of those little caterpillars on me. That was fun. 

 

May the Fourth, I took a couple kids to the library with me. We said Hi to Libby the Librantula (twice) and picked up some books.

There was a display in the children's section for Star Wars Day, so I picked up a book to read with Jet later.

We ate "sand"wich people at home. 

I wished my friend a Happy Star Wars Day and she let me know they were watching one of the movies.

We didn't watch a movie because it was Screen Free Week but we played a card game that night for Family Home Evening.

May the Sixth was No Diet Day so I told everyone to "Fend For Yourself" for dinner. 

 

May the Seventh was National Tourism Day so we ate Greek Pitas.

I wore my slug shirt I wore on our Pacific Northwest trip a couple years ago. Jet carried around Timothy, the banana slug we got from Mount Rainier on that trip. Jet and I both wore brown shirts and black pants that day.

May the Eighth was No Sock Day. I wore my socks some of the time but took them off other times.

It was also Fintastic Friday. We had Sharkleberry Fin Koolaid and Jeremy brought us home gummy sharks.

That night, I introduced another person to the movie, Seeking Persephone. It's a monthly tradition. This person, however, has read a lot of books by Sarah M. Eden so she is very familiar with the book this movie is based on as well as the series (and a related series).

I know it was Screen Free Week, but this movie watching was postponed from when we were going to watch it in April (I got to watch it with my in-laws). The kids were okay with it because they got to watch a movie during Screen Free Week and eat cucumber sandwiches and drink herbal tea.  

 

Other things from Screen Free Week:

Snuggles

Jet  showing that he learned "Skidamarink A Dink A Dink" at school

Jr. Jr. letting Jet play with the train he built at school (how cool is that)

 

Jeremy finally getting a haircut

Roses blooming 

I'll blog about Saturday and Sunday later. Those days were big deals. 

Thanks for the Visit, Grandma and Grandpa

Our last day with Jeremy's parents here, I introduced them to the movie, Seeking Persephone. I had to get my April viewing in and my mother-in-law has similar tastes. Nichole was too busy with finals so she wasn't able to watch with us. First time not watching it together (we've watched it and introduced it to new people every month since December). My mother-in-law liked it.

After we watched it, Jeremy's parents took us out for lunch at a restaurant we'd been wanting to try for years but hadn't yet. Milagros. It's in Orem by Winco so we pass it all the time. 

I enjoyed the experience. The food was yummy and the company was great. 

 

That night after we said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa, the kids and I opened up a bag of jellybeans to celebrate Jelly Bean Day, April 22.

It was also Earth Day so Lucky kept joking about there being earth flavored/dirt flavored jelly beans. I had to explain that these weren't Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. Starburst Jellybeans are our favorite kind of jellybean.

 

O.K. Here's something I dealt with that night. Looking at the packaging, Jellybeans is one word but Jelly Bean Day is two words (well three but the Jelly Bean in Jelly Bean Day is two words).

Can anyone explain that? It's been bothering me.

Seeking Persephone with Stephanie

Nichole and I introduced our friend, Stephanie, to the movie, Seeking Persephone, in February. We watched the movie and drank herbal tea.

In March for our Girls Gather (Girls' Night) activity, we had a green foods potluck (because St. Patrick's Day was earlier that week) and introduced Seeking Persephone to even more friends.

I brought alfredo pizza with artichoke hearts and bell peppers and spinach and Nichole made cucumber sandwiches (from the cookbook, Whisk Me Away). There were some other green foods and we laughed because nobody brought a salad which is the obvious choice for green. At our February Galentines potluck, so many people brought salads. They were good, of course. I like a variety of salads. 

Now I'm craving alfredo pizza. Thanks a lot, blogging. I'm too busy to make alfredo pizza right now.