Charlie

A Day at the Beach

Last year, when we moved to Portland, on the night before my mom arrived here with Emily, Ken and I drove out to the coast and saw the ocean by moonlight. To commemorate our first year here, we decided to go to the beach again, and this time we made a day trip of it. We went to Seaside and let Emily play on the beach.

It started as a beautiful, sunshiny day. We flew our kite and looked for seashells, and kicked Emily's Princess Ball around a bit. Emily built a sand castle, and we all put our feet in the ocean. The water was COLD! And after a while the air started getting a little cool as well, but that was ok because we were getting tired and ready to eat lunch. On the way back up the beach, Emily decided she was ready for a turn on the swing set, and she played for a while with some other kids who were swinging as well.

We found a sand dollar to take home, ate fish and chips and the most delicious clam chowder, and then got a big bag of saltwater taffy (a necessary part of any trip to the beach.)

Odds & Ends

At the PSU Campus, headed to the Farmer's Market

The Carousel at Jantzen Beach

(Ken took this!)

At the Portland Children's Museum

after a little face-painting.

Emily in her new yellow swimsuit

After church
18 April 2010

Easter Dress

Easter 2010

We had a big Easter weekend. We went to the Zoo on Saturday for their "Rabbit Romp." Emily got to hunt for Easter eggs with a bunch of other kids, and we got to see some animals too.

Here is a photo of Emily with her Easter basket, just before we left the house. It was raining of course, so we had to cover all her cute little spring clothes with a hoodie and jacket. Luckily, this is Oregon - and they know around here how to make rainy-weather clothing that's also cute and spring-y.

When we got to the Zoo, they had the little pavillion divided into sections for each age group, and they had LOTS of helpers. Emily has never hunted Easter eggs with a large group of kids before, so it took her a minute to get the system down. She would find something, "ooh" and "ahh" over it for a minute, then drop it to go look for something else! The helpers kept encouraging her and making sure there was lots of stuff for her to find, and eventually she got some treats in her basket. She got some candy and little toys, and two Easter duckies to join her bathtub collection.

The Easter bunny was there too, and Emily spotted him right away and ran to him and gave him a big hug! We got him to stick around for a minute and pose for a picture before the Easter egg hunt began.

We took the car this time instead of the train, and the drive back was a long one. Ken took us home via Germantown Road, to skip all the traffic on the main road back through downtown. It was a beautiful drive through the West Hills and over the St. John's Bridge. I think Emily crashed before we even got out of the Zoo parking lot!

Before & After

Practicing my Photoshop skills with a photo of Emily by the fountain
at the Peninsula Park Rose Garden.

Water Fountain 0310

Planting

We just moved to an apartment almost identical to the one we were in, only with a balcony. So when we had finished moving everything we went and got some plants and potting soil, and we all went outside and got our hands good and dirty. Emily had gotten a package for Easter with some jiffy pots and tomato seeds, and garden tools with Elmo on them, and she was very excited about being able to dig with her new scoops!

Ok, so Ken and I ended up doing most of the actual planting - but Emily was right there watching and asking questions, and patting and poking, and pouring potting soil from one container into another.

The strawberry plants had some little flowers on them already, and Emily was fascinated when I told her that the flowers were going to turn into strawberries!

When we had finished planting everything - one container of strawberries and mint, and one of herbs and vegetables, plus the little tomato pots - we gave all the plants a drink of water. That was where Emily really got to help. She kept saying "Mama, the plants are going to live and grow!"

She can see them from her bedroom window; this morning she was somewhat concerned because "the wind was getting on them" and she was afraid they were going to blow away. We went out and checked on them, and gave them a little more water, and made sure that all was well in the plant kingdom.

One Little Monkey

...jumping on the couch. Ken was making dinner, and heard a thud followed by a wail. I was out taking a class, and when I got home they were in the bathtub. Of course it was a Friday night, and when we got to the Emergency Room at about 8:30pm, it was packed. We finally got to see a doctor at about 2:00am.

The doctors and nurses were great - the nurse made a "big hand balloon" for Emily to play with. She was a trouper, even though it was so late and her head was still bleeding. She charmed everyone (of course) and wanted to know everybody's name, asked all the doctors and nurses how they were doing.

It was a long, long night though. By the time we got into a room with a bed Emily was ready to crash. Luckily, after that we weren't there for very long. They put some topical anesthetic on her head and then used three staples to close up the cut. She cried then, but not for long - I think at that point she was more worn out than hurt.