BFFs

Audrey and Kate were discussing with each other who their "BFFs" (Best Friends Forever) were. Mama and Dada weren't sure where they picked up the term, but they've decided Kate's BFF is Finley and Audrey's is Hannah.

Back to School Night

Mama and Dada got to see Audrey's classroom, sit at her desk, meet her teacher, and see some of the classwork and art she's worked on so far at Back to School night this evening.

Outing with Hannah and Noah

Audrey and Kate went to dinner in Sellwood with their friends Hannah and Noah. Afterwards, they checked out some metal sculptures that were for sale in an outdoor gallery.

Spuds

Audrey and Kate dug up the potatoes they had planted back in March this afternoon. They had help from several friends, Stella, Olivia, and "big" Kate, a neighbor girl up the street. Audrey and the friends got started after coming home from school and cooling off with popsicles (Audrey also got to show them her LEGO Friends sets and journal). They kept a few potatoes in the ground for Kate to find after coming home from preschool later.

Pretty posing

While on a ride through the neighborhood this evening, Audrey and Kate discovered a yard with a couple of benches that were perfect for picture-posing.

Audrey's first soccer game

Today's was Audrey's first official soccer game, complete with uniform and opponents, the Cubs of the Holy Redeemer Soccer Club. At her level, the girls play three-on-three with no goalie, parents volunteer as the refs, and they don't keep score. Audrey got lots of playing time, and seemed to have a good time.

Back on the bus

With her teacher and classroom now figured out, Audrey was ready to resume riding the bus to school this morning. It's a different driver than last year, and this one seems more relaxed about where the kids sit (and more relaxed in general), so Audrey got to sit with her friend Stella.

Pedal power

Audrey and Kate wound down their summer vacations with one last trip to swim at Grant Pool. On their way there, they stopped at the food-cart pod on Sandy Blvd. near their house for lunch. Audrey helped make part of their lunch by pedaling a bike-powered blender to make a smoothie.

Jackson's superhero birthday party

Audrey and Kate went to help their friend Jackson celebrate his sixth birthday with a superhero-themed party at his house. Audrey wore her Batgirl Halloween costume and Kate went as "Awesome Girl" using an improvised outfit of one of Audrey's leotards and a cape Audrey made with the letter "A" on the back. They got to eat a lot of Doritos, run through a sprinkler, do a water-ballon toss, and try on an Incredible Hulk set Jackson got as a gift. They also had a chance to take a few whacks at a dragon piñata, which Audrey did but Kate didn't want to.

The girls stayed for a barbecue, after which they and the other kids came up with the idea of making "hot tubs" using some 5-gallon buckets and water from an outdoor hot-water tap. The fun continued into the evening with a movie, "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," in Jackson's back yard.

Back-to-school haircuts

In preparation for school starting next week, Audrey and Kate got haircuts today at The Barbers on Sandy Blvd. near their house. Afterwards, they went to get lunch at the Hollywood Farmers Market.

Soccer start

Audrey's playing soccer this fall, and today was her first practice. She's taken lessons a couple of times before, but this will be her first experience with an organized team playing other teams from across Portland. Her team is the Unicorns, part of the Northeast United Soccer Club. Practices are held at her school, and she knows several kids from Alameda on her team (including her friend Hannah) and on another first-grade girls team that practices with them at the same time.

Children's Gym camp

Audrey and Kate both spent some time at the Children's Gym this week. Although officially a "summer camp," the girls just attended on Monday and today. They had done a camp together at the East Portland Community Center awhile back, but this time they were separated into different groups based on their age and didn't see each other most of the day (so was perhaps Kate's first real "camp" experience). The girls got to do crafts and use gymnastics equipment, as well as play outside at the Buckman School playground and do some climbing and bouldering at an indoor rock gym, both of which were nearby. Today, they both had open gym at the same time, and were very excited to see each other and play together.

Eugene-Florence vacation

Audrey and Kate took a five-day, end-of-summer vacation to Eugene and Florence, OR this week. Mama and Dada wanted to explore a part of the Oregon Coast the family hadn't been to before, and they both happened to need to be in Eugene for work on different days this week, so the trip was a combination of work travel and family vacation.

On Wednesday, the girls drove to Eugene and checked out the Fifth Street Public Market and the RiverPlay Discovery Village Playground while Mama attended a work conference in the afternoon. The Playground featured lots of fun play structures and opportunities to play with sand and water. They went down to the riverbank to try to find a place to wade in and stay cool, but there were no good beach options and the river was too fast, so they payed a bit more in the playground then headed out to get Slurpees and pick up Mama. They then drove from Eugene to their hotel in Florence, stopping for dinner at Mo's.

The girls' hotel room was on the bottom floor with easy access to the beach. There were two queen beds in the room, and the original plan was for Audrey and Kate to share a bed. But when silliness ensued, the plan was changed and they took turns sharing a bed with Mama and Dada. They also got to watch a lot of TV, especially the Disney Channel.

On Thursday, the family went exploring, taking in the Sea Lion Caves (unfortunately there were no sea lions to be seen that day), having lunch in Yachats, and touring the lighthouse and lighthouse keeper's house at the Heceta Head Lighthouse State Scenic Viewpoint.

On Friday, Dada had to travel back into Eugene for his own work conference. While he was gone, Audrey and Kate went to the beach with Mama to fly kites and play in the sand. Later they swam in the hotel pool, which featured a hot tub, a shallow kiddie pool, and a splashpad.

On Saturday, the girls drove south to Coos Bay for the annual Blackberry Festival, although there were not many blackberries to be found (it seemed more like an excuse to hold a street fair). On the way back to Florence, they stopped to explore the dunes and beach at the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.

On Sunday, the girls played at the pool one more time, then headed north to Newport to take in the Newport Aquarium before driving back home. They were supposed to end the day with a birthday party for Porter Koch at Pump It Up Junior in Beaverton, but a late start out of Newport and traffic delays meant they only had a few minutes to bounce and slide. They did get to have pizza and birthday cake, though.

(If the slide show below doesn't appear or doesn't work, click here.)

Jamison Square fountain

Audrey and Kate cooled off at the fountain in Jamison Square in the Pearl with their friends Hannah and Noah. They also ate kettle corn and saw a film truck escorted by police cars filming a Mercedes driving around the Square (maybe for TV or a movie, or maybe for a car commercial).

Seeing friends off to kindergarten

Audrey and Kate attended the Heartwood graduation picnic at Normandale Park this evening to say goodbye to Kate's older classmates and see them off to kindergarten.

Magic Camp

This week was Audrey's fourth and final camp for this summer. It was a "magic camp" put on by Trackers, a local outdoor-education company, which she did with her friend Hannah. The camp had a Harry Potter-esque theme to it, and each day the girls were taken to explore a different park across Portland and learn and practice "magic skills." She also got to whittle a stick with a knife.

As it was different from her previous camps, it took Audrey awhile to get used to it, especially some of the fantasy elements, which included a tales of "the Faceless Ones," learning to cast a protection spell ("Aegis!"), a battle between competing "headmasters" (one of whom could throw fire), and an impending threat of destruction of Portland (which had Audrey and Hannah quite concerned). In the end, Audrey seemed to come around to it, and even said she'd do it again.

Audrey and Hannah carpooled to and from the camp, so they had a lot of time together, including hanging out at each other's houses and going to Honey and Honey Grandpa's house in Milwaukie, where Kate had gone for a day.

Wienermobile

On the way to swim lessons this evening, Audrey and Kate saw the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile, which was pulling out of the Grant High School parking lot.

Diving for Dada

What a difference a couple of months -- and lots of pool time at Camp Sherman and Sunriver -- made for Kate's swimming skills. At the end of her lessons in June, Kate was still very tentative about putting her face and head in the water. Now she is quite comfortable with it, as she demonstrated for Dada.

Bridge Pedal

Audrey and Kate did the Bridge Pedal with Honey Grandpa today. As with last year, they did the 6-bridge ride again, with Kate riding in the bike trailer pulled by Mama and Audrey riding on her trail-a-bike with Dada. It was overcast most of the ride. They got a late start due to a bike "traffic jam" at the start of the ride at the Hawthorne bridge and had to hurry along a couple of times on the Marquam and Fremont Bridges as the police started clearing bike riders off of the bridges to re-open them to auto traffic. After the ride, they got free popsicles as a treat. They had lunch near the Saturday Market, then wandered around to look at the wares. Seeing other kids with balloon animals, they sought out the artist, who made Kate a mermaid and Audrey a bunny. Kate really liked hers; Audrey, not so much (she expected it to look different).