Picnics are the best!

Our kids are pretty much convinced that picnics are the finest way to dine. They beg to have them daily. And when we do eat outside, they then beg to have them twice daily! 

 What could possibly be better than this?

 Even L agrees. Summers rock!

Down at the Waterfront

Could Portland be any more beautiful??? Nope, I don't think so. At least not on a perfect summer day! This guy was not too certain about this crazy fountain thing:

But then we loaded an even crazier number of people on these bicycle/clown car things and did our very best to mow down pedestrians. I mean avoid them. What did I say? However, if anything so unfortunate as that were to have actually happened, it would've been all them. I cannot tell you how many pedestrians were just begging for it, aka. refusing to get out of our way while they took their pretty time despite plenty of bell-ringing. 

 

They weren't the only hazard. We also rode across a high, narrow bridge (which might scare some people), and struggled to make it up inclines that were much harder than they first appeared and down inclines that threatened to make us lose control (while someone was holding a baby)! Oh and then we decided to do part of the loop again! Good times. No really. It was! And quite the workout I tell you what.

We look about as good as the view :) Sisters are the best!

Nanas are too!

 Eventually he got more okay with the fountains. 

 Naturally M was all about it! I so love her fun-loving, no-fear nature!

 J is more of a bathing beauty:

 

 

 Great camera work daddy!

 When we got back to the starting point to turn in our vehicles, the fountain was back to this exciting formation. M was the only one brave enough to venture into the center. I had to basically drag dude in with me for a picture! What an awesome day.

George Rogers Park

I wouldn't accurately be describing our trip without pictures from the river. We spent a lot of time there. And yet, I think Bopa thought we weren't there nearly enough :) Even Grandma and Grandpa were able to find a prime spot in the shade and join in the fun!

 Siblings. I look like such a dork. And I'm taller than my sister so I'm not sure what happened...

 Aunt Ninnie loves our kids so much. I keep telling her she can borrow G and send her back when she's potty trained. If only she lived closer.

 G wasn't too sure about this arrangement. Man, that thing brings back memories.

 LOVE how this girl always crosses her legs when she lays down. My dainty little lady. Ha!

 And this just looks "oh so sweet." What was actually happening was she was terrified and clinging to me for dear life. But it looks like she's just being all lovey. I'll take it.

 No fear from these girls. They are part fish. Or at least they wish they were. Isn't the idea of being a mermaid appealing to every girl at some age?

 Do you wanna build a sandcastle? Well, it's tricky with G around. She's not so much the building-up type. Demolition is more her style.

Grammy and Papa joined us too for a picnic in the park. Baby L looks so dang cute talking with her Grammy!

Ahhh...good times.

60th Anniversary party

So the main reason we made the trek to Oregon when we did was to celebrate my Grandma and Grandpa Smith's 60th Anniversary. A really impressive number of their descendants were able to gather from all over the states so it was a great reunion! Cousins we hadn't seen in years with all sorts of mini cousins we'd never met before. It was a little bit hotter than comfortable, but otherwise, the day was awesome! 

Ahhhh. Cousin kisses!

 For some reason, everyone kept saying this guy needed a haircut. Still not sure why.

 Way to go Spider-Woman!

 And look! Even mommy can climb too. Although admittedly, some of those spots don't seem to be made for humans as long as she is!

 We love Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa, King and Queen of the Ball!

We sure miss them and look back fondly on when we could jump in the car and be there to visit them five minutes later. Knowing it's not quite that easy anymore, Little Lu made friends with everybody she met, bestowing smiles graciously wherever she went. She's such a charmer.

Happy Anniversary! We love you guys!!

Happy 7/11 to me!

What a great day - free Slurpees! It's like 7-11 wants everyone to celebrate me! Was nice to be in a state that actually has a 7-11 so we could enjoy the yummy treat! We might have gone to more than one that day. How could we not have?!

 And being a beautiful, hot, summer day, we also went to have some water fun. The parks back home are just so dang gorgeous. And we had tons of fun!! Glad that Bopa, Ninnie, Grammy and Papa, and the Tibbets all came along!

 Timid no longer, here comes Super WaterMan!

 Cousins!! Too bad South Korea was so dang far away. These two would love to hang out more often. Texas is a little bit closer, right?

 Bopa was a major trooper and played this fun "game" for an impressive amount of time. I think they poured a whole pool's worth on top of their "sleeping" heads. Way to take it for the team Bopa (and Kendyl).

Summer livin'

I got oddly ambitious when I saw a yummy-looking recipe and so we made our own homemade fudgesicles. I wasn't really sure why since you can buy a box for a couple of bucks but the girls enjoyed making them in our sweaty, air-conditionless kitchen, and we all enjoyed eating them in our slightly-less-sweaty-because-of-the-breeze driveway. They were yummy! And ended up all over faces and strategically-placed aprons. By the way, anyone have any tips on getting homemade popsicles out of their containers without just pulling the stick out?
And here we have our themeless homemade water park. Who needs six flags? We have an $8 pool from Fred Meyers, a slide from a garage sale and our sprinkler!Ta Dah!And on one of those recent not-so-nice summer days in Portland, I took the girlies to Omsi. We pass Omsi everytime we roll into town and they've been begging me to bring them for forever. So here they are finally, in seventh-heaven:Future city-designing architects with distinctly different styles:They'd been quiet for awhile so I went to see what they were actually up to. Just having a princess tea-party complete with make-overs in their homemade salon:
Love the creativity they have all on their own!

Loving Vacation!

You know how some vacations are stressful, tiring, or feel like they're just not worth all the work? You know, the type where you need a vacation from your vacation? This vacation was SO not one of those! We just had the perfect time - I felt so rejuvenated that I wasn't even discouraged or overwhelmed to come home to a massive to-do list that meant a whole lot of work. We had such a great time!!! Here's a couple of pics. I didn't actually take all that many, I decided to just let the girls enjoy instead of harassing them all the time like usual :). And I was lazy. And plus I was busy enjoying the biking, rafting, viewing, playing, painting, bowling, swimming, mini-golfing, bouncing-place-obstacle-course racing, good eating, and sleeping!