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.

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.

 

Checking out a new park

Audrey and Kate and their friend and neighbor Olivia biked over to check out the new Khunamokwst Park today. They stopped for frozen yogurt on the way home.

Beanie Boo Rescue Team

Audrey and Kate and their cousins Lily and Cora are really into Beanie Boos. So when Lily reported that she had seen three Beanie Boos abandoned in the rain at the playground at the Archbishop Howard School a few days ago, the girls became concerned and wanted to rescue them. They decided to form the "Beanie Boo Rescue Team" to save them. While Kate stayed at the home base (recuperating from an illness), Audrey and Lily went to the playground and found one of the three Beanie Boos ("Peanut"). They took her home and cleaned her up and "fed" her. The plan is to take her back for her rightful owner to retrieve her, although they don't seem to be in a big rush to do so . . .

Westmoreland Nature Play Park visit

Audrey, Kate, Lily, and Cora played in the new nature-based playground at Westmoreland Park today. They climbed on rocks and logs, had a picnic, climbed on the low-hanging limbs of some cedar trees, and fished sticks out of the casting pond.

Athletic endeavors

Audrey and Kate show off some newly developed gymnastic skills: doorway-climbing for Kate (taking a cue from big sister), and some playground acrobatics for Audrey after school.

Winter Sunriver trip

Audrey and Kate spent the MLK holiday weekend in Sunriver with cousins Lily and Cora. They drove down on Friday night. On Saturday, the girls swam at the SHARC and ice skated in Sunriver Village. On Sunday, they drove up Mount Bachelor to find snow to sled in (there was no snow in Sunriver itself; it was rainy and in the 40s), and went on a bike ride to Fort Rock Park. They also watched a lot of cable television and splashed around in the hot tub.

Beach trip

After spending the night at Lily and Cora's house after Thanksgiving, Audrey and Kate headed to the "beach house" for the rest of the long weekend. As with previous trips to the beach house, highlights for the girls included swimming in the condo swimming pool (they didn't have the pool to themselves this time like they usually do, though: lots of other kids swimming there), eating at Mo's (twice), and visiting the Newport Aquarium. They also walked around the historic section of Newport, watching people catching crabs and sea lions resting on a dock.

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.)

A shocking experiment

Having learned a little about static electricity, Audrey went to the playground at Archbishop Howard this afternoon to run an experiment with it that she had selected for the school science fair. She had remembered that she sometimes gets zapped by static electricity after sliding down a slide, so she came up with the research question: Which kinds of clothes are best for making static electricity when going down a slide? Her hypothesis was that leggings would work best.

She brought several types of clothes to the playground, mostly cotton and polyester pants (including leggings). She put on each article of clothing (over shorts), slid down the slide, then touched Dada's arm to see if she felt no zap, a little zap, or a big zap, which she wrote down in her results sheet. 

She found that leggings did indeed make a big zap, but so did other clothes with legs (as opposed to shorts and socks). She concluded that it was because there's more clothing rubbing on the slide, which makes more static electricity.

Stumped

Audrey and Kate went to play at Rose City Park this afternoon. It turned out a prominent old tree had been cut down in the park. The stump was large enough for both girls to stand on with room to spare.

Today is Earth Day, and at school Audrey learned that trees give us air and paper. She got upset that the tree had been cut down, because now it couldn't provide anymore air and couldn't be used to make paper.

Seattle sojourn

After helping Honey Grandma celebrate her birthday on Saturday morning, Audrey and Kate headed north for a long Spring Break weekend in Seattle. On the way up, they stopped at Trader Joe's in Olympia for a bathroom break and provisions, then took advantage of the nice weather and had a picnic and playtime at Yauger Park.

After arriving in Seattle and settling into their hotel room, the girls went out to explore their environs. They were staying in the South Lake Union neighborhood, and walked along the lakeshore to see what they could find. They came across a play structure (which kept them occupied for a few minutes), some yachts for sale, and South Lake Union Park and the Center for Wooden Boats. They wandered a bit further to find dinner (at a very depressing Taco Del Mar), then headed back to the hotel for hot chocolate and bedtime. They shared a hide-a-bed, and the novelty of the sleeping arrangement kept them awake and giggling way past their bedtime.

The next morning, after breakfast at the hotel, the girls headed down to the waterfront to ride the Ferris wheel. Afterwards, they rode a carousel and played arcade games in the Miner's Landing building on Pier 57. Next, they headed to Pike Place Market, where they ogled the salmon and crabs and other sea life at the fishmonger, enjoyed looking at flowers and costume jewelry, and bought wraps to adorn their hair. They then went and got their car and drove to a sushi restaurant for lunch (a sister establishment of their favorite sushi place in Portland). After a short rest time back at the hotel, it was off to the pool for some aquatic recreation. The water was cold, unfortunately, so everyone spent most of the pool time in the hot tub. The girls had dinner in their hotel room and called it a night.

The next day (Monday) after breakfast, the girls checked out, loaded up the car, and headed to the Seattle Center. They spent a couple of hours at the Pacific Science Center, where the hands-on water installations were a hit and the butterfly room was not (both girls were afraid of the butterflies landing on them). They enjoyed some cute-but-overpriced sandwiches and cake pops for lunch, and then went to explore the Queen Anne neighborhood, where they found coffee for Mama and another great playground to enjoy the warm weather in.

On the way back home to Portland, the girls stopped to see Mama's friend Margaret and her family. They liked playing with a toddler roller coaster that was set up on the back deck, and got to have some Jello Jigglers with Cool Whip after dinner. They got back home around 9:30, and went straight to bed.

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

Seesaw sisters

While at the park this afternoon, Audrey and Kate see-sawed together for the first time. It was a little nerve-wracking to watch, with Audrey's bigger size and aggressive pushing-off from the ground threatening to catapult Kate off her seat, but Kate seemed to enjoy it (mostly).

Another visit from Chico

The Heartwood Preschool class mascot, Chico, has been staying with Kate again this week. It's been a low-key visit for Chico. He and Kate did go to meet Mama for lunch on Friday. Kate strapped him into Audrey's carseat so that he'd be safe. This afternoon, Chico accompanied Kate and Audrey on a trip to Irving Park.

Weekend with cousins Lily and Cora

Jill and Lily and Cora spent the night at Audrey and Kate's house after Audrey's family birthday party yesterday. Audrey and Kate were excited to hang out with their cousins. The main outing was a walk to Normandale Park for some fresh air and exercise.