Making the most of our sunny days

Its the end of Spetember, so we are making the most of whatever sunny days remain this fall!

Picnic lunch with Gramme, Dannelle, Josie and James

Sunny Saturday

After a trip to the biggest and busiest park in Vancouver, we headed down to the Columbia River waterfront to enjoy a walk along the water. Emerson saw three trains roll by, jets were flying into the airport across the river AND there were boats floating by - whoa, quite the heyday for him.

Josie's 2nd Birthday!

Little Josie's 2nd birthday - she was the star!

Farm Field Trip

A trip to a local farm

Innovative Services Grand Opening

Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma have been strong supporters of Innovative Services NW, a facility offering a continuum of services including therapy and childcare for children; employment training and job support for teens and adults; and intervention, education and support for families. After many years work, the group opened a beautiful new building, where each of these services are now housed. Its absolutely gorgeous - I was so proud of Grandpa and Grandma's generousity and support of such a worthy cause. We enjoyed celebrating the grand opening/ribbon cutting ceremony, as well as tours of the sparkly new building. Hanging out in waiting room, named in honor of G&G
Trying to sit quietly with gramps, through the ceremonies.
This is one fabulous Grandpa!

It's a Jeep!

One of Emerson's favorite phrases... "Its a Jeep!" We must hear that 50 times a day, as he searches wherever we go. Uncle Dave has a cool Jeep Rubicon which E loves - Dave was so kind as to take the sides off, pack the kids in and drive around in circles in his culd-a-sac. Happy, happy times for Emerson.

Happy Constitution Day!

Did you celebrate today?? :-) Our League of Women Voters - Clark County put on a great Consitution Day event! We had a Washington State supreme court justice as the main speaker and a professor from WSU facilitate the event, geared toward high school age students. The students were broken up into small groups along with an adult mentor (elected officials, attorneys, professors, etc.) then worked through a consitutional rights activity. It was a fabulous day!

Gymnastics

Norah loves her dance class so much, we decided to let her try out gymnastics as well. The first two weeks Emerson and I sat and watched her, but those were the worst 45 minutes ever for Emerson...and so for me as well. Watching his sister out there playing on all the fun toys was too much to bear. So now we've enrolled Emerson and I for a mommy and me class that runs concurrently to Norah's. This is much more fun for everyone - its a great workout for me and the kids love it!Norah is practicing on the far side~

The obstacle course is a huge hit for E - I think he could spend all day on this.

So - I wanted to try this - they practice on the balance beam, then do flying leaps into the foam pit. Someday I should just push the kids off, then try it myself.

This is a workout, too...

Baby Samudra - the Oregon Zoo's newest elephant

We had to see it - a baby that weighed more than Emerson at birth! The newest resident of the Oregon Zoo, Samudra the elephant, is pretty darn cute. We only waited in line for about 20 minutes to see Samudra. He kept close to his mom, munching on leaves, during our visit. Of course, Emerson can't go to the zoo with out a trip on the train, so we enjoyed that as well.

Year Two - Ballet and Tap fun!

Norah began her second year of ballet/tap today. She was excited to get back into the studio! Her teacher took me aside and remarked on how much Norah has excelled and how well she is doing. :-) I was a very proud mama.

Wearing blue, on the far left. Ballet above, tap below.

The man of many hats...

Great Grandpa is known for his many hats - the kids all try and snag one when we visit. Today was very sunny, so Gramps kitted the whole crew out before we headed outside for a walk. Emerson and Norah love riding on his walker - its quite the procession. :-)

Pi Phi Overkill

I don't know - while I was at HQ this last weekend I visited the giftshop. :-) N&E have been marked!

Alestair's blessing

On my way home from St Louis I flew through LA, for a day with my brother Robert's family and his son's birthday. Alestair Leimana Butler is a perfect little guy - absolutely adorable and very easygoing. Misty came, as well as my SIL Mindy's sister and mom. It was a great group, we had quite the time together. We even were able to meet many of their local friends who came to celebrate the very special event. Mindy's mom helped me finish up the closures on Alestairs blessing gown, so it was complete just in the nick of time!

Officers Workshop - Pi Beta Phi Headquarters

A weekend in St Louis, where I never see the light of day...yes, its fun! Every year the volunteer group I work with heads back to Pi Phi HQ for a weekend of training. The training is great, but the opportunity to reconnect with friends across the country is the best!

Oregon State Fair - 2008

As Norah and her cute Leikarringen (Norwegian children's dancing) friends were making the debute at the Oregon State Fair this year, we decided to meet up with Grandpa V and enjoy some of the other sites as well. Despite everyone's busy vacation schedules, several of the girls were able to make it to the performance. Norah's cousin's, Kimmie and Hadley, performed as well - they all were quite fabulous! Norah grins from ear-to-ear when she is on stage! After their official performance they asked audience members to come up and dance along with them. Norah was the last one onstage, after everyone else had tired out. I think she could have stayed there for the rest of the afternoon, but we piqued her interest with promises of lunch and a reptile display (yep, thats our girl). Emerson was SO happy to run in Smokey the Bear, as well as a giant Oregon State Beaver. He didn't want to leave the Beaver's side, just kept giving him hugs. Fun times had by all!