A Visit to Sauvie's Island
We went to Sauvie's Island on a weekend morning in search of strawberries and blueberries and a little vitamin D via the sunshine. We forgot our camera but managed to get some photos with our cell phones. Here's Kennedy walking in a blueberry patch.
And here she is in the strawberry patch. It was the last weekend for strawberry picking and they were few and far between. We managed to get $1.50 worth of ripe ones. Kennedy loves strawberries.
Labels: Bean
Grandpa Joe's Art Visit
Grandpa Joe came by Saturday and did some art work with Kennedy and to spend some time with Oliver too.
The kids were excited to see him and we had a nice summer no-cook dinner (fruit, hummus, bread,...) before he left.
Labels: Beans; Anderson Family
Bike Riding
I took Oliver on a bike ride Saturday through the neighborhood and up towards Mt. Tabor but only got to about Harrison and 43rd before having a flat! For the first time in a long time, I was without a repair kit on me. Thankfully, Susan and Kennedy came to our rescue and picked us up.
Normally, Oliver rides in the trailer. This was his first experience in the upright seat and he liked it a lot.
Labels: Oliver Del
Zoo Tunes - part 2
This past Wed. Sheryl and I packed up the family for the zoo concert. It was nice to kick back in unusually nice weather and enjoy a small window of relaxation. This week's concert was by a Jamaican band (Sly & Robbie and the Taxi Gang) which to me seemed like a fusion of Raggae and trip hop. Interesting groove and, to be honest, I loved it! They had the volume up pretty loud so here is Oliver sporting his earplugs.
This week we were lucky enough to be joined by a good friend who is working on a local project. Here's a great shot of Beth and Oliver before the music started.
Labels: Oliver Del
Late Sleeping and a Climber Among Us
Since Kennedy is on summer break, she actually gets up later in the morning than Oliver. She'll come downstairs at 9ish or so and ask "Where's Mommy Susan"? "At work" I'll say and Kennedy will look all confused for a minute.
Oliver continues his climb-on-everything approach to life right now. You can see him in action here. He pulls out the toy drawer to climb onto the couch. He also pulls out the chairs to climb on the table, pulls over whatever he can find to climb on the bed...
This particular time, though, he was climbing on the couch to give his sister a big hug.
They still play great together.
Here's a cute shot of them both at their toy room door.
Watering Fun
A favorite part of the day for Kennedy and Oliver is watering time. We put the sprayer on mist and they have a blast. Oliver likes to muscle his way in on Kennedy to get to the water. It's pretty fun to watch them play but we eventually have to take the hose back and make sure the plants are watered.
Labels: Beans
Round and Round We Go and Pig Tails
Kennedy and Oliver are fond of running the circle from the dining room into the hallway into the kitchen and back to the dining room. This time, they used a shoe string to keep up with each other.
Kennedy has been asking us to put her hair up in pig tails lately. This is a nice shift from her hands-off-the-hair stage!
Labels: Beans
Chicken Fried Steak and a Spiderman Gift
C.K. came over for a special "Uncle's day" chicken fried steak dinner on Sunday night. He also got this Spiderman t-shirt from the kids for being the great Uncle C.K. that he is and the only Uncle in Portland too. Kennedy has taken to calling him simply "Uncle" recently. They went to see
Up in 3D earlier in the day and had a great time.
Labels: Bean; C.K.
Father's Day
We spent much of Saturday at Susan's father's home to celebrate father's day. Renee, Susan and I fixed a brunch and the kids enjoyed hanging out with the Grandpa. It was raining off and on outside so art activities took center stage. Here are Kennedy and Grandpa Joe painting together.
Oliver snuck onto Grandpa's lap to get in on the art action too.
Labels: Anderson Family
Zoo Concerts Begin
The weather was great for the first zoo concert of the season. There were a lot of people out enjoying the great day.
We were glad to have zoo companions with us--Joe, Jan, Zoe, Mo and Luci. Here's Kennedy hugging Luci.
What a difference a year makes for Oliver. Last year he was barely turning over at the concerts. This year he was busy busy busy and enjoyed taking in the craziness and fun of the zoo concert scene.
Of course, Joe was a big hit with back rides. Here are Zoe and Kennedy riding around our little plot.
Labels: Beans
A Little Urban Gardening
We didn't think we'd be able to do much gardening this year but we couldn't resist doing something. So, we picked up a few plants and flowers, cleaned out our old pots and picked up some new smart pots in lieu of building a raised bed. On planting day we pulled out the sand tools and got after it.
Kennedy and Oliver had a great time playing and getting dirt all over the place.
Here's Kennedy watering the plants (summer squash, peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins) and flowers.
Labels: Beans
Pride Parade
We met our friends and family Laural, Max, Andrea, Katrina and Kelly and watched the Pride parade this past Sunday. There were a lot of bikes in the parade this year and it was good to see our Mayor Sam Adams riding with his crew.
We also saw Congressman Earl Blumenauer with his crew who wore Are You Bike-Curious t-shirts.
Of course we had our own favorite celebrity shots. Here's Oliver eating a snack.
Both Oliver and Kennedy smile with their eyes and it's so lovely to be on the receiving end of such a smile. Here's Kennedy.
And here's our dear beautiful friend Laural.
Labels: Beans
Ballooooooons
The best thing about the end of a birthday party celebration is the next day when the balloons start falling down.
Labels: Beans
Uncle C.K. in the House
C.K. stayed over after the birthday party and watched the kids so that Susan and Sheryl could go out to celebrate Susan's birthday by playing pool.
Here he is with Kennedy telling her how he used to wrap her up burrito style when she was just a wee baby and bounce her on the exercise ball. She loved the stories.
Labels: C.K.
Happy Birthday Mommy Susan!
We celebrated Susan's birthday over the weekend with a small gathering of local family on Saturday. Katrina and her friend, Kelly were here as well as C.K., Granny Kay, and Joe and Renee. Here's Susan opening one of her gifts (from Mema Sanford). Of course, the kids are right there in the middle of the action. They love gift opening!
Susan and Kennedy decided to paint their fingernails with the nail polish that was included in the gift from Mema.
Sheryl, Kennedy and Oliver presented a little birthday puppet show for Mommy Susan which included singing Happy Birthday to You as loud as possible.
Kennedy picked out the cake and had a very specific cake from Costco in mind for the party. She added a "Mom" in red icing. Here's Kennedy with her Grandpa Joe.
And the big candle blowing out moment...
Labels: Beans
Food Project 2: Grover
Kennedy found a funny face food project in her C is for Cooking book.
Since we keep blueberries, raisins, eggs, and tomatoes on hand the project was pretty easy to pull together. We hard boiled some eggs and Kennedy put it all together!
We promptly ate most of the final product. Oliver and Kennedy weren't so fond of the hard boiled eggs but they are avid fruit eaters.
Labels: Food
Food Project 1: Pizza
Since Kennedy is out of school for the summer we've selected a few food projects to undertake. The first one was pizza and halfway through the process Kennedy exclaimed "I like this messy job!"
Here she is completing her smiley face no sauce pizza. Kennedy doesn't like the red pizza sauce.
She made 3 individual pizzas--one for her, one for Oliver and one for C.K. Good stuff.
Labels: Food
Juice Box Squeezer
Here's Oliver with his occasional juice box which he is drinking outside because he likes to squeeze the box until the juice squirts out everywhere.
Labels: Oliver Del
Our Gapped Tooth Oliver and Kennedy
It's very likely that Oliver's two top front teeth will grow wider and the gap will close, but as it is now it is so darned cute! Cuter still is how much fun these two have together.
And here's another photo.
Labels: Beans
Bowl and Spoon
We've been using the same bowl and spoon method on Oliver that we used for Kennedy. All that means is we put a bowl down with food and give him a spoon and let him go at it. He's so independent that this works well for him.
Labels: Oliver Del
Dragon Boat Races
We made it to the finals day of the dragon boat races at the waterfront Sunday. Here's one of the boats C.K and I saw win its heat as we were riding up on our bikes.
It turned out to be a good day for spectators. Not too sunny not too hot not too humid...just right. Here's Uncle C.K. carrying Oliver and walking on the hill with Kennedy.
Both of the kids liked being outside. Kennedy was a girl on the move going back and forth from our blanket to the waterfront to see the boats. The blue tailed dragon boats were her favorite ones.
Oliver spent his time climbing all around the blanket and eating. You can see him just beginning to form the "more" sign in this photo for more food.
Here's a picture of the whole crew from the left Sheryl, Kennedy, Susan, C.K. and Oliver.
It was fleet week in Portland. On the bike ride home C.K. and I rode along the waterfront on the west and east sides to get close up views of the ships.
Labels: Beans, C.K.
Fishing with Grandpa Anderson
Grandpa Anderson picked Kennedy up on Saturday for a fishing day at the Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery. In this picture they are just getting on the way.
There were plenty of fish, but they weren't biting. On the way home they stopped at Multnomah Falls for some waterfall fun.
Labels: Anderson Family, Bean
Celebration and Belt Test
Kennedy had her second celebration and belt test this past weekend. The Grandparents Anderson and Uncle C.K. were there to watch with us. She was particularly pleased to get the academic excellence award, seen here.
Here she is being presented her blue belt from Sensei. Go Kennedy!
Labels: Bean
Paint the Walls
Another art piece crafted with the instruction of Taro Gomi (see previous post) to "Paint the Walls".
Labels: Bean
Scribbles and Doodles
We picked up 2
Taro Gomi books, Scribbles and Doodles--a drawing and coloring book and a coloring and doodling book respectively--and they are in a word, brilliant. Here are Uncle C.K. and Kennedy using their imaginations to complete the robots.
Labels: Bean; C.K.
A Windmill, Aunts and Uncles, a Tractor and a Random Photo all in Kansas
At Grandma Leota's home there stands a windmill that is a favorite of the kids. Here's Oliver at the windmill.
And here's Kennedy at the windmill.
Aunt Becky also came to visit and meet the kids. We don't get near Elkhart as much as we should so Aunt Becky took the time to drive in and meet us all. It was very nice to see her there.
Uncle Dave and Aunt Annie drove in for the weekend from Colorado. They are a favorite with all of the kids as they are good at kid games/play and making them laugh out loud.
Uncle Ed and Aunt Melba hosted a Memorial Day barbeque at their place. In this photo are Grandpa Joe, Uncle Robert and Uncle Ed relaxing before grilling. Ed and Melba's place is very nice and the kids enjoyed the chickens and the 4 wheeler and the dogs and just running free outside. The garden is also nice to see, especially the rows of green onions, the asparagus and the horseradish.
We only managed to take this photo with Aunt Melba in it. She is on the far right in the red shirt.
The little John Deere tractor at Uncle Ed's was a favorite. Oliver and Kennedy took turns pushing the little tractor around the yard.
Oliver stayed right behind Kennedy waiting for his next turn.
And here's a random photo of me (Sheryl) and Oliver just before we left Uncle Ed's and Aunt Melba's place.
Labels: Anderson Family, Beans, Clark Family
