Cassious' House
This past Sunday we went to brunch at the home of Heidi and Ted. Cassious, their son, and Kennedy are seen in this photo.
Ted made a very good breakfast and I think it might have been Kennedy's first time to eat french toast. She loved it! Spring is such a great time in Portland; not only do flowers start appearing, but people also make their way out of their winter hibernations. Flowers and friends - good stuff.
Labels: Bean
Go Fish
Today was a beautiful day in Portland. Like yesterday, the sun came out and we warmed up to the mid-60s. It’s amazing how much a small amount of sunshine can make a difference!
This evening, after a fantastic dinner of chicken and couscous, Sheryl, Kennedy and I played a game of Go-Fish. This was a first for Kennedy (she’s learned Slap Jack in the past) and she did a great job of getting the idea. Of course, to make it easier for her, we played with our cards facing up. Really, it was an exercise of finding matching cards and recognizing letters and numbers.
Sheryl and I were amazed at how quickly Kennedy caught on – and she was cracking us up with her observations. For example, when we were trying to determine if she had a matching Four her witty reply was ‘Maybe Not’.
Here’s a photo of Kennedy considering her options. Next stop, the Blackjack tables!
Mud Pie Face
This must be why "mud" is part of the Mississippi Mud Pie dessert.
Carousels and Sleep Overs
Kennedy likes carousels! We found this one at the livestock show and she finally got to ride a white horse. She's been looking for a white horse to ride on a carousel ever since we rode the one in San Diego. The Houston Zoo carousel featured wild animals, but had no white horses.
Here's a picture of Anunt Shelly and Kennedy with her stuffed cow, Houston.
We had a mini sleep-over at Shelly's house later with Robin and Stacey. Here they are with Kennedy on the sleeping pallets. Kennedy stayed up much later than normal.
We had to leave the next evening and Kennedy slept nearly 3 of the 4 hours it took to fly home.
In an unrelated note, we were in the car yesterday when Kennedy laughed to herself. Susan asked her what she was laughing about and she replied "Silly Toby. All muddy. Silly Toby." We haven't had a chance to ask Grandma and Grandpa Anderson if Toby had a mud accident at their house (Kennedy spent the night there on Saturday night). If so, this is the first time we've heard Kennedy spontaneously laugh from something that is a memory. Very cool.
Boot Shine
Stacey and Kennedy got their boots shined at the livestock show and rodeo. Check them out in this boot shining chair.
The petting zoo was a big hit too.
Labels: Bean
Cowgirl at Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo
The vest was a gift from Grandpa and Grandma Anderson. A skirt also came with it but it is still about 4 sizes too big. It's so Texas Longhorn which is cool because 50% of the adults in our little group graduated from the University of Texas. We picked up Kennedy's boots at our local resale shop in Portland.
At the fair grounds there were all kind of food vendors, and a lot of bbq taking place. Just look at this pit of turkey legs; crazy!
Here Aunt Shelly and Kennedy are watching some cow judging.
Labels: Bean
More Mema Birthday Photos
Here's a photo of some of the Sanford clan after Mema's birthday lunch.
I looked around for a photo of Susan and Kennedy but all I could find is this photo with Susan's eyes closed. To be honest it's hard to get Kennedy time when the family is around. They all want to hold her. Susan and I become the people who take Kennedy to the bathroom, give her a bath and put her to bed!
On Sunday we were able to get to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. More about that later. For now here's a photo of Sheryl, Stacey and Kennedy in her cowgirl vest.
Labels: Bean
Bears, Flowers and Mema's Birthday
Shelly took Kennedy to her first Build a Bear store in Houston. Kennedy picked this black bear, Dimples, to put together.
The tulips are up in Houston. This photo was taken on our walk from the zoo in Hermann Park.
It was nice to be in Texas to celebrate Sheryl's mom's (Mema's) birthday. Kennedy is still singing the Happy Birthday song to Mema.
And it was great to see Stacey and the rest of the family too. Here are Stacey, Kennedy and Patty.
Labels: Bean
Houston Trip
We just returned from a quick and too short trip to Houston. Here's a shot of Sheryl and Kennedy.
This one, is a shot of Sheryl's twin, Shelly, and Kennedy.
Kennedy is showing off her new carrot shoes, gifts from Aunt Shelly.
We visited the zoo and went straight to the carousel. This carousel had wild animals. Kennedy chose to ride the koala bear.
Labels: Bean
Chocolate passions
In the category of contentment... this is in San Diego after we spent obcene amounts of money on Ben and Jerry's at the waterfront. I'm happy to report that the chocolate came out of the shirt after two (two!?!) treatements with laundry pre-wash. Ahh... the sacrifices we make for chocolate! By the way - this is also Kennedy's first ice cream cone - now she has the licking of ice cream off the cone down to a science (is this a good thing?!?)...
Loof Carousel
Here's Kennedy at the conference table in our hotel room in San Diego.
We stayed in the Seaport Village area and found this carousel with Portland roots.
The Loof carousel's hometown is Fair Park, TX, with its debut in 1895. In the 1950s it moved to Santa Monica California and then to Spanaway, Washington in the 1970s. In the late 70s it was moved to Portland and was at the City Downtown Dedication in 1982. It was put on the National Registration of Historic Places in the late '80s. It was restored in 1991 for the '92 International Fair. It moved to Burbank CA in 1997 and finally to Seaport Village in San Diego in 2004 where we found it! I talked about the carousel with Carla, a friend of mine and native Portlander, and she remembered the carousel. She worked in downtown Portland when it was here and she and her friends used to walk to it at lunch and sometimes rode it.
Labels: Bean
C.K. and Kennedy
C.K. came and stayed with Kennedy on Valentine's evening while Susan and I went out. They were watching Robin Hood when I took this picture.
Labels: Bean
The times, they are a changin'
Those of you that are close to us know that I've been traveling for work the last year and a half. My typical schedule had me out of town Mondays through Thursdays. Well, I'm happy to say that today was Day 4 of being home for good and it is a super feeling. Now that I'm back in Portland I'll be able to do lots of things I've had on the back burner including getting involved in the business community here as well as start contributing back to the local community.
We're all having to adjust to the change - Kennedy is a bit confused by the 'no more airplane trips for mommy' discussions we've been having with her and Sheryl and I are having to adapt to new routines too. All in all we're very excited about the change.
An update on the family planning front... we've met with and discussed timing with the docs since losing the last baby and it looks like we'll have to wait about 3 more months before we start trying for another Little Bean. Sheryl and I are focusing on silver linings which includes my ability to join rafting trips early this summer and the option to gobble up sushi and soft cheeses with abandon.
Below are a couple of the photos we tried so hard to get posted from San Diego. The first is Kennedy smelling the flowers near our hotel and the second is Kennedy and me getting ready to ride the aerial tram at the San Diego zoo.
In this next photo I'm trying my hardest not to reveal the terror running through my head. I've been scared of heights since a friend pushed me off the high dive when I was in grade school. Here I am trying not to let Kennedy know I was scared so she could enjoy the ride (which she did). Needless to say, we didn't ride the aerial tram on the return trip - opting instead to walk and ride the bus as my stomach struggled to recover from the initial ride. oy-vey...
Seattle Visit
Last month we all spent the weekend in Seattle on a little getaway trip. I took this picture of Kennedy and Susan walking on the street.
Kennedy had her little dvd player and sat on the couch in the hotel room to watch one movie or another, likely one of the following: Baby Einstein, Finding Nemo, Monster's Inc. or Thomas the Train.
Labels: Bean
C.K.'s Birthday
Colder weather returns .to Portland tomorrow so I thought it fitting to post a pic of Kennedy from C.K.'s birthday in late January wearing her winter coat (a gift from Aunt Shelly)
C.K. and Kennedy spent some time at her table drawing.
Then we all went to eat birthday sushi at Takahashi. Kennedy really liked the edamame.
Labels: Bean
Mt. Hood Excursion
Poor Stacey, she came for a visit just as everyone in the house got sick with stomach viruses and later wicked colds. It sure was nice to see her though.
We were able to take advantage of one day when at least Stacey and Kennedy and Sheryl felt well enough to trek up to the mountain. It was very snowy that day in mid February and we ended up leaving Timberline Lodge early and heading back down the mountain to safer ground at a tubing place. The chains I bought for the car a few years back are too small--we found this out when we tried to put them on at Timberline. It was scary driving down without any chains!
Stacey and Kennedy built what I think might be the smallest snowman ever! If you look close you can see it in this picture.
They also did some tubing and snow ball throwing.
Labels: Bean
Late Pics of Super Bowl Sunday
Look out - we just developed six rolls of film. There's a lot to catch up on. Here's a shot of Kennedy from Super Bowl Sunday.
We had a small gatherging at our house. Here's Kennedy playing with Martha. That's Wes's profile on the couch.
Labels: Bean
Kennedy Finds Toe Jam
Kennedy could be heard this morning asking "What's that?" over and over. Seems she found some toe jam and didn't have a clue what it was. She was genuinely disturbed by the little sock threads stuck in between her toes. Ha!
Labels: Bean
