Watching the Women's World Cup Final at OMSI

Audrey and Kate went to OMSI today to watch the US and Japan play in the final of the Women's World Cup, which the museum was showing in its IMAX theater for free. While they waited, they checked out the exhibits -- they hadn't been to OMSI in years, and probably hadn't ever seen the offerings in the main exhibit hall -- and met up with Mama's friend Rachelle and her boys and Kate's friend and classmate Nora and her mom, who also came to watch the game.

Kate's 6th birthday

Friends and family gathered today to help Kate celebrate her sixth birthday. She started off the day opening a few presents and blowing out a candle in her breakfast yogurt.

A bounce house arrived around noon, and about 10 of Kate's friends (and several siblings and friend and neighbor Olivia) came at 3 for a friends birthday party. It was a 95-degree day, so in addition to bouncing, the kids soaked in the hot tub (which had been turned down) and splashed each other with squirt guns. Her friends sang her happy birthday and enjoyed some ice cream pies Mama had made for the occasion.

After the friends had left, birthday party number 2 began with the arrival of Honey and GPa, GG and Micheal, Grandpa Dave and Judy, and Aunt Marie for dinner and more presents and ice cream pie.

Visting cousins and Canada

Audrey and Kate headed north this weekend to visit their cousins Liam and Elsa in Bellingham and attend a Women's World Cup soccer match in Vancouver, BC. They got an early start, driving up on Thursday night and arriving at Liam and Elsa's house a bit before midnight. Kate fell asleep in the car -- Mama and Dada's memories were hazy, but it may have been the first time she's ever fallen asleep on a car trip in her life -- and Audrey dozed a little. 

The next day was low-key and relaxing. Liam and Elsa showed the girls a lake in their neighborhood, and the kids splashed around awhile to stay cool. When they got back, a new pool had arrived, so the kids helped set it up and then enjoyed some more water time.

The next day everyone piled into Audrey and Kate's minivan for the trip to Vancouver. It was Audrey and Kate's first trip out of the country, and they were excited to get a stamp in their new passports at the border. They arrived early, and got some lunch and checked out a waterfront park while waiting for the game to start.

The stadium was packed with 54,000 people who came to watch Canada and England contest a quarterfinal match. The kids cheered on the home-town team, which played a good game but ultimately lost 2-1. Kate and Elsa were especially interested in the game, commenting on and asking questions about everything that was happening on the field. 

The next morning, Liam and Elsa showed their cousins a fun, historic part of Bellingham, after which the girls started the long drive home. On the way, they stopped at the American Girl Doll store in a suburb north of Seattle to spend the allowance and lemonade-stand money they had been saving on Josefina and Rebecca. Kate got Rebecca's ears pierced and bought two little kittens as pets, and Audrey got a "spa treatment" and hairstyle and a karate outfit for Josefina.

Entrepreneurs

Audrey and Kate, with some help from their neighbor and babysitter Emma, made lemonade this afternoon and set up a table at the corner of Siskiyou Street at the end of their block to sell it for $.25 a cup. They also sold some Keebler cookies Mama bought. They made $9.50(!). 

Father's Day bike ride

Audrey and Kate strapped on their helmets and headed out for a bike ride during the Sunday Parkways event in North Portland today. They met up with Honey and GPa and Grandpa Dave and Judy at Arbor Lodge Park for an informal Father's Day gathering. The girls played on the playground and with stilts from Circus Cascadia, listened to Celtic rock and Indian dance music, and ate snowcones, hot dogs, and Cheetos.

 

Alligator art

Kate and Audrey started the first of several summer camps this week. Audrey is doing a rock-climbing camp at the Circuit Gym, and Kate is in an art camp where she is making crafts out of recycled materials. Today she brought home a creation she's been working on most of the week, an alligator made out of a pair of pants, a binder, stuffing from a futon cushion, and other salvaged items.

Audrey runs a 5K

Audrey ran a 5K this morning with Mama. It was a Portland Parks "$5 5K," and was held at Lents Park in Southeast Portland. A 5K is about 3 miles, and Audrey completed it in 39 minutes and 44 seconds.

End-of-school parties

Audrey and Kate's teachers held end-of-school celebrations in their classrooms today. In Kate's class, the kids read poems they had written (unfortunately the footage in Dada's phone camera of Kate's reading was blurry) and received memory books their teachers had prepared. They also took home big packets of art and classwork they had worked on throughout the year. Audrey's class had an ice-cream party, to which Audrey had contributed two types of sprinkles.

Kindergarten concert/open house

It was Open House night for grades K-2 at Audrey and Kate's school this evening. GG, Honey, and GPA came for the event, which was kicked off with a concert by the kindergarten classes. Afterwards, Audrey and Kate showed off their classrooms and recent projects and artwork.

Have passports, will travel

Earlier this month Audrey and Kate applied for passports. They arrived in the mail this afternoon. The girls will get to use them June for a trip to Vancouver, BC to watch a quarterfinal of the FIFA Women's World Cup.

Audrey Oxbow Park class field trip

Audrey's class went with a couple of other second-grade classes on a field trip to Oxbow Park today. (Dada went along as a chaperone, but got there late, as he and three other dads that were driving together got lost on the way.) The kids looked at animal tracks, looked for insect larvae and nymphs under the rocks in the river, and took a hike through some old-growth forest. Audrey was happy her friend Kamea was in her group.

Memorial Day beach trip

Audrey and Kate took a trip to the "beach house" in Gleneden Beach for Memorial Day. In addition to their usual coast activities -- swimming in the swimming pool, dining at Mo's, and watching a lot of cable TV -- the girls also helped Dada celebrate his birthday and checked out a few beaches they hadn't been to before (the beach on the Salishan Spit, Nye Beach in Newport, and the beach at Fogarty Creek State Park).

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Audrey and Kate helped Dada celebrate his birthday today at the "beach house." They helped Mama make a cake, and helped Dada blow out the candles on his cake.

Kate dances with Ms. Kat

As with Audrey, Kate's kindergarten class got some dance lessons from Ms. Kat thanks to the money they raised with their Run for the Arts. Today was their final performance.

Kids lead the church service

To mark the end of Sunday School for the year, this morning Audrey and Kate and the other kids at Augustana helped out with the 8:30 church service. Kate was a greeter and helped bring up the gifts -- she carried the wine jug -- and Audrey read the First Reading. They also sang some songs they had been practicing.

Kate gets a library card

After watching Audrey's piano recital, Audrey and Kate had some time to kill before a play they were going to see ("The Little Mermaid" at the Northwest Children's Theater), so they stopped by the Northwest Portland branch of the library, where Kate applied for and received her own library card.

Audrey's first piano recital

Audrey had her first piano recital today. She played a song she had been practicing on a Steinway grand piano at Michelle's Piano Company.

Sweet Science

Inspired by the crystal-making kit Audrey got from the Easter Bunny, Audrey and Kate decided to do a project on crystals -- specifically, sugar crystals -- for their school's science fair. With help from their friend Hannah, they learned about crystals and how sugar is made, then did an experiment to see which type of sugar -- raw, table, brown, or powdered -- made the best sugar crystals (i.e., rock candy). With help from Dada, they set up the experiment and monitored it for a week, then wrote up their results and presented it at the science fair this evening.