More Anabelle sightings and a Party!

Sweet Stuff

Anabelle wearing an outfit from her Auntie Naomi. She is growing out of all her premie clothes and getting into newborn sizes. Gaining steadily and growing bigger and cuter every day!

Uncle Rylan holding her while she is summoning her mother.

Aunty Alyssa keeping her occupied while she waits for another meal. That little girl sure likes to eat!

Out-of-towners hit the Zoo

Rowan, Katie, Henry and Anabelle got to go to the zoo on Friday morning. It was really busy there. I think people are trying to see and do everything they can before school starts again.

Each of the kids was geared up and ready to go.

Rowan got a zoo key that he used when he got a chance.

We saw 3 bears on this visit and the mountain goats were moving around.

The mountain goats are the only animals that you can see without paying zoo admission. You can shop at the zoo store and even eat at the Cascade Grill without zoo admission as well. The Grill has nice patio seating and is a beautiful place to sit and read a book and have a glass of iced tea.

Henry with the Uncles and Aunty Coco.

Three lovely ladies.

Group photo. Rowan doesn't like photos taken for the most part and Henry just dropped his hat. There were 11 of us on this outing. It was a really pleasant day weather wise.

Rowan posing in the bushes wearing his new safari hat.

It was time to leave the zoo for today.

Happy Birthday Henry!

Dollar Tree balloons and party hats are pretty much what it takes to make a celebration.

Henry will be 2 years old on Wednesday. We wanted to have a little party for him before he headed home. Pizza, presents and party horns... fun stuff!

The grandchildren, EIGHT of them! And the grand-dog.

Not photographer quality but it is what it is.

Anabelle, Henry, Katie and Garrett in the back row.

Genevieve, Danika, Wyatt and Rowan in front.

Was AMAZING having them all together, even for a few hours.

We were missing Rylan, who was at work, and Krystle, who was at Family Camp with Nate (celebrating his own birthday that day)

Happy Belated Birthday Nathanael!

"Belle-belle", "Gar-bear" and Henry

More Anabelle Admirers

Happy little girl chilling with Aunty Coco.

Mad as a wet hen with Garrett.

Enjoying Danika's attention while getting dressed.

Henry calls her Sissy or "Belle-belle".

I call her precious!

Garrett at Doernbecher

Garrett had a series of specialists to see up on "pill hill" this week. I had never been beyond the Dental School, so I was very impressed with the staff I dealt with at Doernbecher.

Garrett met everyone with a smile and was a trooper during all of the evaluations. He came through with flying colors. He lags only a bit in speech development. He has caught up in every other way with his age level.

Metal sculptures adorn the lobby

I would like to grab a cup of coffee and sit and try to identify the birds on this gigantic tree sculpture.

There is a progression of evolution depicted in the metal work on the windows around the top of this pavillion.

Back home with the Spartan Warrior

Can you tell I have fun with this guy? He has been a great baby and is turning into a very busy toddler! He's still a snuggle bug though.

Henry is here!

The cousins got to spend a little bit of time in the pool. Wyatt's snorkel comes in handy in that 8 inches of water.

This little floaty device keeps Garrett from going under. He can walk around and sit down with the big kids.

Aunty Coco got Henry to blow bubbles and then she entertained the rest of the kids with her amazing skills!

Henry Owen. Sure am enjoying having him in Portland for a few days.

Night Life

I love my fish tank. It's kind of doubles as a room divider. I snapped this before heading to bed and before the timer for the lights shut off. It's a great night light for the kids to fall asleep to. Do fish sleep? If they do, it's dark enough for them and then in the morning the lights come back on for the day.

Crusin' the Lloyd District

Henry's seat was securely buckled into the back seat and he was fastened properly into his five point harness. His sister was rear facing and secured as well. That said we had a great time driving around with the top down on the convertible this morning!

Henry's First Haircut!

We borrowed cousin Genevieve's silk scarf to use as a cape and set to trimming up Henry's wispy hairs! He had a lot of long patches of hair and had a crazy absentminded professor look at times. It is now at a pretty uniform length and looks like a real hairstyle. I've been able to give all of our grandchildren (so far) their first haircuts. Thanks gals for letting me do this. It's been fun.

The cool dude went for a ride with the uncles and me this evening.

He's saying, "Cheese!" Doesn't resemble a smile too much but it shows of those chubby little almost 2 year old cheeks and cute teeth!

We are having an early birthday party for him before they head back home.

Can't wait to take pics of that!

Happy Day Cam!

Cameron turned 13 this weekend!

He started celebrating on Friday when he and Krystle spent the day at Oaks Amusement Park. These two, more than any other of our kids, love carnival rides. So it's right up their alley to have a day together with unlimited ride bracelets.

Birthday Breakfast at Burgerville!

Most drive thru lanes at fast food places will not allow non-motorized vehicles to use them. Burgerville makes an exception and has the sign posted to prove it. Burgerville is one of the more progressive among restaurants in their policies and practices. And they have good food.

Hungry men. Cam chose to eat breakfast here after tasting their yummy bagel breakfast sandwich on our way to Walla Walla. In The Dalles you can order breakfast all day. The Portland Burgervilles do not allow that, as we found out about a week ago. So we were up early with our new teenager in tow.

PG-13? Another milestone

Cam is a pretty great 13 year old. I don't think anyone can dispute that claim.

Jolly Good Fellow

We sang a couple of songs to mark Cam's entering the teen years.

"For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" and "Happy Birthday".

The first one had him almost smiling.

Anabelle meeting the masses

Anabelle is in Portland!!! She got to meet a couple more Aunties and a bunch of cousins. She wasn't too overwhelmed by it all. Here, Aunty Joylynn is introducing her to cousins Wyatt, Danika and Genevieve.

Aunty Krystle holds the dolly.

Our biggest grandkid and the littlest.

Our two youngest Grandchildren. Garrett didn't know quite what to make of her. He will have a few days to get used the idea of sharing the spotlight.

Our "baby" is thirteen!

He will still be a teenager when Wyatt reaches that age.

Oh the joys of having a big family!