Trip to Portland

Despite being only 20 minutes away from Portland, we hardly ever go.  Mostly because we generally avoid eating in restaurants with a baby, because Gabriel takes a nap in the middle of the day, etc, etc.

We decided to make a 1/2 day trip into Portland and thought the girls would enjoy riding the MAX, which is the "above ground subway" in Portland.  So we drove south across the river and parked our car at an outlying MAX station.

After buying our tickets we waited for the train to come.  The train in the opposite direction came by and the girls were very disappointed that we were not getting onto that one.

And we waited even more, for what seemed like an eternity (to the girls).  Actually, it was only about 8 minutes.

 This was their first time on mass transit and Eliana was amazed at how fast we were going.

Gabriel just wanted to get down and not be held.  After about 4 minutes of sitting on our laps, he was done and had to be distracted in various ways.

Once we arrived in Portland, we walked to our destination, which was a few blocks away.  We made a pit stop at a store because the girls suddenly got the urge to go potty.

Along the way, we passed by a trendy cupcake store.  They display the various kinds and the girls took a few moments to view them and salivate.

 At last, we reached Jamison Park.   It's basically a large water feature, with water that fills up to about knee height, then recedes again.  There were lots of other kids there.

As you can see, the water flows in from hidden pipes.

All of our kids enjoyed it.  Gabriel enjoyed exploring and feeling the different textures of the rocks.

 Karina enjoyed sloshing around in the water.

Eliana is our little amphibian.  She was rolling in the water, laying in the water, sitting in the water.  She never got tired of it and played in the water for more than 2 hours.

We went to some surrounding restaurants to grab slices of pizza and had a picnic.  Gabriel enjoyed walking around while munching on his granola bar.

Afterwards, we had dessert at an ice cream shop close by.  Although the girls opted for the traditional vanilla, the shop has interesting flavors like Saigon cinnamon and kulfi (a flavor common in India of pistachio ice cream with a hint of cardamon).  Those two flavors are what Elvin tried.

And here we are waiting again for the street car.  This time, with ice cream in hand, the kids were more patient.

And finally, we head home!

First day of school!

School has started!  We are homeschooling Eliana this year, so no bus pictures or anything like that.  Eliana did enjoy holding up her "official" sign, though...

Part of Ellie's school work is actually done at night, since she is often up after her little sister and brother go to bed.  She is a bit resistant on one or two subjects, but having undivided attention (as well as the knowledge "you can always go to bed!") seems to help her be very motivated.  So, each evening Emily spends 15 or 20 minutes doing schoolwork with Eliana.  Here, they are playing a math version of Go Fish!, and Eliana is using her "abacus" to remember the addition facts she needs.

Eliana is actually pretty competitive, and she takes these games VERY seriously, in that, she MUST win.  Here she is counting her scooping up another pair (that adds up to 10).

Most of our school time is in the morning, preferably when Gabriel is napping.  So far, it is going pretty well!

Karina always wants to "do school" as well, and has actually had a significant leap in her fine motor skills lately.  So, she does mazes, and cut and paste puzzles, and the like.

Here Eliana is busily working on her handwriting...she also does math, science, geography/map skills, critical thinking, and we do lots of read alouds for history, social studies, and literature.

Another VERY important first day of school -- Karina gets to go to preschool this year!  She has been waiting and waiting for this day, and it is finally here!  Here she is, ready to go!

And, here all three kids are, since we all actually have to go to drop off Karina at school!

The "official" first day of school picture on the bench.  The 3 year old class.

And, all three of them again...

Eliana has gone to school here for the past two years, and thus is quite the expert on the school routine. She really enjoyed showing Karina the ropes.  Karina has the same backpack/coat hook as Eliana did (they are alphabetically assigned by last name...good chance Gabriel will be #12 as well!).

Then into the classroom to put a sticker on the daily folder.  After a few minutes of Gabriel admiring the fish and frogs in the aquarium, we were off, and Karina was very happy to stay at school.  Finally, it is her turn!

And here is a blast from the past.  Almost exactly 2 years ago, Eliana had her first day of pre-school.  She wore the same exact outfit that Karina did two years later.  They are even wearing the same pair of shoes and the same backpack.

Here is Eliana plus Karina next to her.  Karina was only 13 months back then.

And here is Eliana sitting in front of the sign for the preschool.  It's true when they say that time flies!

Boo!

The girls know about ghosts, at least how ghosts appear in their children's books.  Every once in a while, they will walk around with a towel or blanket over their heads while saying "Wooooooooh!"

Elvin was upstairs and came into the master bedroom to this sight.  The girls were whispering something to each other underneath the sheets.

Then suddenly...

"Boo!" the girls yelled.

After Elvin looked sufficiently spooked, Eliana asked: "Did you know we were here on the bed under the sheet?"

Visit from family...

This past July, Elvin's family flew up from California for a little reunion.  They spent about 4 days in Vancouver the weekend after the 4th of July.

On the first day we had together, we hired a photographer to take a family portrait.  Since the photos come out better when it's not super sunny outside, the photographer asked to meet at the end of the day when the sun was not so strong.  Being so far north, it means that the sun was setting at 9pm so we met up at 7pm.  Unfortunately, this is getting close to bedtime for our girls.  Also unfortunately, Elliot, the kids' cousin, took an unusually short nap that day...

Oh well, the show must go on!  After we met up with the photographer, we walked over to a grassy field carrying some props.

We took group photos, photos with just each family, and other combinations.  The group photos turned out well.  However, as the night wore on, the kids started to get very squirrely.  Gabriel was starting to melt down.  Also we could tell that Karina was getting antsy because she said she didn't want any grass touching her legs.  Kinds of hard to avoid that when you're standing in a field full of it.

At some point, we ran out of treats that we were using to bribe Gabriel.  No amount of coaxing was enough...

So here are the professional photos... this photo was taken early on.

 Elvin's brother's family photo turned out good.

 Our family photo, however, was harder to get, because of our little bundle of energy.

 We got one family photo that was semi-decent.  Elvin likes it, Emily...not so much...

 As you probably surmised, there was no picture with just the cousins that turned out.

After a good night's rest for the kids, the next day we went blueberry picking at a local farm.  Although Eliana doesn't like blueberries, she enjoys picking them.

 In fact, all three kids enjoyed picking the berries.

 Karina spent some quality time with Yeh-yeh.  Elvin forgot to bring hats for the girls, so Karina is sporting her cousin Elliott's Lawrence of Arabia hat.

 And here we are paying $1.25 per pound for our 11 pounds of blueberries.

 That evening, we had a mini-birthday party for the kids.  This is because the girls' birthdays were coming up soon, and Gabriel had just had his.

 Karina shows off some of their loot--new silverware!

We also got Elliott a present so that he could partake in the festivities.  A new basketball!

Eliana got some new Fancy Nancy books.  In the background, Elliott is already trying out his new present.

 Eliana is giving (or getting) a big hug from Nai-nai to thank her for the gifts.

And Karina got a brand new bike!  It is pink, her favorite color.  This is a treat for her because most of the other toys she gets are hand-me-downs but this is a brand new bike!

After presents, it was time for cake, and the obligatory singing.

 It didn't take long for our little book worm to start digging into her books.

We tried to take a picture of all the kids together, given our failure from the night before.  This one actually turned out decent!

 Until Gabriel loses interest...

 ...and says, "I'm out of here!!!"

 The next day, we mostly hung out.  Elliott is outside shooting hoops.

 He is SUPER impressive with his aim.  The next Jeremy Lin?

 Karina tries out her new bike.  With a little help from Yeh-yeh, she gets going.

We head to the park before Elvin's brother's family needs to head off for the airport.  The two cousins enjoy the swings...

 Elliott had fun climbing around.

 Eliana rode her bike up and down the sidewalk while doing a little wave at us.  One of the gifts she got was a bell for her bike and she really enjoyed ringing it.

 That afternoon, we decided to go out for a hike. Here the girls are checking out the map.

 It was a nice leisurely stroll around a lake.  Thankfully, most of the path was shaded by trees.

The lake has resident turtles, which you can sometimes spot sunning themselves on a log.  But not that day.

 Gabriel seemed to enjoy the ride.

It was a full and fun weekend.  Gabriel at first was hesitant about hanging out with Elvin's parents but he quickly warmed up to them...

It seemed like everyone had a good time.