Revolve Tour

Abby and I spent the weekend of October 13th in Anaheim for what is called the Revolve Tour. We stayed the night at "Grammie's" house, aka, Chris Ostendorf. We drove over with Kym and her daughter Chelcie. Check out their website, called The White's Blog, which is in the links to the right to see more details of the Revolve Tour. Yes, I "borrowed" the picture she took of Abby and I, but she has more details written in her blog. As a side note, she is one of the reasons I started my blog. So check out her bog to find out more information on what Abby and I experienced. It was very bonding between the two of us. Next year, we will take Emily and their Grammie.

Summer Trip to Brookings, Oregon

Ok, so I'm going back in time, but I just got started and going back in time is a good thing. We had a family trip to Oregon to visit my parents and sister's family. I saw my best friend from High School and we had fun feeding the Seagulls. Yes, I said it, "Feeding the Seagulls". It's one of my favorite things to do when we go home. I wouldn't recommend it in Southern California, but on the beaches of Oregon, it's exciting. I love how the seagulls attack you. They all come swarming at you and if you throw the bread up in the air, they will dive and catch it. I made about 6 tosses in a row and the seagulls were lined up waiting their turn to catch them. It's fun, but a little scary because sometimes the seagulls hover over you.


Even my friend Becky, who experienced this for the FIRST time in her life, enjoyed feeding the seagulls. Perhaps it was because Isaac, her son, was so excited. It was funny because we gave him bread to throw to the seagulls and he ate two pieces of the bread before he was willing to feed the seagulls. It was very cute to watch. Becky came to visit because her mom and dad who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. It was nice to catch up and spend time with her husband, Greg and their son Isaac.


Craig, Abby, Emily and I also had fun making a bon fire and roasting marshmallows on the beach. We had a good time. I used my experience from Firefighter school to show the girls how to really put out a fire and how to know the fire is completely out. It was fun. We went down to Lone Ranch Beach and was greeted by the sound of a bag pipe playing Amazing Grace. Unfortunately, the bag piper was leaving just as we got there. At least we heard him play. Then we made a bon fire using the driftwood on the beach.



The other exciting thing we did was going on an adventure. We found the trails along the coast and hiked them. Yes, I have proof that my mother went along. She trucked through the woods with the rest of us. We found the natural bridge, which is a beautiful site. When I was in my 20's, I actually went with some friends and we hiked down to the natural bridge and cross it. I remember it being very scary, but amazing. However on this trip, we stuck to the main trail.


Then, there was Sasha and my dad. My dad "dog sat" Sasha, the Chihuahua while my sister was on her trip. They were quite the pair. She likes to snuggle up with my dad. In fact, Sasha enjoyed sleeping in my dad's shirt. Yes, picture a 6'6" man with a tiny dog. It's quite the sight.


After my sister came back from her trip, she joined us as we hiked down to the secret beach. That was fun, but a rigorous hike to the beach. The kids enjoyed exploring the nooks and crannies. Of course, they wanted to play on the rock and the tide was high, making it a little dangerous. The hike back up the hill was invigorating as it literally took away our breath.

Cats

We adopted two full grown cats recently. We love them. Although they are not pure bred, one is part Siamese and other is part Tabby. They are beautiful cats and both have their unique personalities. We call the Siamese Cheyanne and the Tabby Alley.

Alley is not affectionate, but enjoys being with people and often will follow me around the house and sleep next to where ever I happen to be working. Alley could care less about what she eats and will eat whatever is given to her.

Cheyanne, on the other hand is very particular to what she eats and prefers "wet" food to dry food. Normally, when I raise my cats from the kitten stage, they start on dry food and I am very careful to feeding them wet food. Unfortunately, she was already trained to enjoy wet food and is very vocal when she is hungry. She likes to eat many small meals throughout the day. The problem occurs when Craig gets up and leaves by 4:30 in he morning to go to work. Cheyanne wakes up when Craig does and decides she is ready for breakfast and then wakes me up at 4:30 when I still have another hour to sleep. I have fed her late at night in hopes she will not be hungry so early in the morning, but it doesn't seem to help. Sometimes she will want to eat at 3:00 in the morning. I don't know what to do to keep her from meowing in the middle of the night.

Between the two of them, Cheyanne is the most affectionate and has proven herself to be the dominate cat between the two of them. It's funny because physically, Alley is stronger. However, Alley is a scardy cat and is afraid of her own shadow. So there you have have it. Any thoughts on how to deal with Cheyanne's desire to be fed in the middle of the night would be helpful. We have dry food out for her, but she wants her wet food.

Have a nice day.
Michelle

Welcome to Our Blog

Hello friends and family. The picture of myself and my husband is taken in Brookings, Oregon, where I grew up. We enjoyed the beach and spending time with my girls roasting marshmellows.

You may wonder why I choose smalleeasternvillage as the name of our blogsite. I not the most creative person in the world, so I went to the meaning of our last name, which is Ostendorf. The name is German and used to be written with the two dots above the O, making the name ooostendorf. Now, it is pronounced Austindorf. However, it is spelled Ostendorf. Ostendorf means small eastern village in German. So, there you have it.