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.