alexs' entourage

Throughout the summer Alex has been building her entourage. It started with carrying around one baby. Then it grew to the baby and a monkey (I think she was excited about monkeys after the zoo). Then another baby was added to the mix. In addition, baby bottles have made the entourage cut. They are not just accessories to her babies but full on members. Occasionally, she adds a singing dog and bear (but at some point we just had to cut her off). The babies' names are Sophie and Rachel and the monkey's name is Ashley. The bottles (all of them) go by Ian. We get to bring them EVERYWHERE we go. At night she falls asleep with one baby under one arm and the other baby and monkey under the other arm. Below are pictures of how the entourage grew this summer.

 

lake roosevelt 2012

Our yearly visit to Lake Roosevelt was wonderful. We stayed with Papa Jake (of course) as did the Larson's, Busch's, and Herrel's. We had amazing weather. Skiing, surfing (behind the boat), and tubing were a blast. Alex enjoyed stomping on the sand castles that the other kids made for her. At one point, Colton made over 100 mini-sand castles for her to stomp through. She also liked going "deep" in the river. In the spirit of the Olympics just ending, we had our own "mini-Olympics". The biggest event this trip was Alex turned 2 years old!

two!

Alex turned two while we were in Lake Roosevelt (August 18th). She put on her own outfit that morning (as seen below). Ryan made her special birthday cookies...she wasn't too sure about the candles but loved eating the cookie. We couldn't be more proud of her. Alex has brought so much love and joy to our lives.

Fun Alex Facts:
1. She carries her babies and monkey with her everywhere she goes
2. She is good at playing independently
3. She loves coloring
4. She can speak in 6 word sentences on her own and tries to repeat everything we say
5. She takes a long while to "warm-up" to people
6. She loves babies and everything to do with them (including spending up to 30 minutes by herself reading baby catalogs)
7. She knows her colors
8. She loves going to the park
9. Favorite foods are bananas, avocado, blueberries, and salmon
10. Favorite books, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," "Good Dog Carl," "Moo, Ba, La La La"
11. Can put on her own shorts/pants and shoes (and take them off)
12. Is organized and likes to organize our things. Likes to put things where they belong (e.g. pushing in all the chairs at daycare).
13. Likes to help. Even her daycare teacher has commented on how she helps her (without asking) take out and put away everyone's nap tubs.

grandonna

Sadly, on our way home from the San Juan Islands, my grandmother (my dad's mom)--Grandonna--passed away. She was living in Tacoma and we happened to be staying there overnight as a stopping point for our drive home. Needless to say, our stay was extended. Uncle Dan and cousins Danielle and Devin came into town for the service. I will always remember her for her lively spirit, fun adventures, spoiling her grandkids, being a hardworker, and extrememtly loving and devoted to her family.

san juan islands

Every year (almost every year for us) Ryan's close high school friends and their families go to the San Juan Islands together. The Crain's generously host us and it is always a lot of fun and a lot of great food. This year's highlights include building forts on the beach, going crabbing, going hiking, walking to the lighthouse, Alex learning to do the splits on the beach, late night mustaches and Alex and Baby John chasing each other around the house.

zoo visit

We have visited the Portland Zoo a couple of times this summer--one of which was with Nana and Papa. Alexs' favorite thing at the zoo seemed to be the benches :) But she also got pretty excited about the monkeys and watching an eagle fly at a bird show.

4th of july neighborhood parade

We found out this year that our neighborhood has a Fourth of July parade (the parade takes place on the opposite side of the neighborhood that we live on) so we had never seen it (plus we are often out of town for the 4th). Ryan and Alex decked out her bike in red, white, and blue. A lot of neighbors showed up as well as the firetruck. We had a great time. Later that day we had dinner with Mel and watched the fireworks from her condo (well Mel and I did anyways).

who doesn't love strawberries

Mel invited us to go strawberry picking--so we found a farm on Sauvie Island and headed off. I think Mel picked just as much as Ryan and I combined...but I'll blame that on a strawberry lover who couldn't resist eating the strawberries (I think she ate one for every two I picked). Ryan and Mel created a speedy way of washing and drying the strawberries before we froze them (involving all of our baking sheets, pyrex, and legos). We definitely had a lot of fun and now we have strawberries in the freezer for smoothies this winter.

 

 

father's day 2012

We had a great father's day--the Hillsdale Farmers Market, a little soccer, and then Ryan decided he wanted to build Alex a deck slide in the backyard. Alex has the best dad ever!