Eight Days A Week

That's how often she'd love to have swimming lessons. She asked about them yesterday, but all the water we had to offer was that at the fountain with her cousin. Today we satisfied her with a fun family day at a very crowded Wilson Pool. She was excited to "play" swim lessons and teach us all her tricks.

Watch Out Boys

At one point during his visit, CJ's cousin said "Hey, Dude" to CJ.

Her response was "Girls aren't dudes. You can call me woman!"

Wow...

The Fountain

After enjoying a popsicle in their newly-crafted crowns...

we took the prince and princess to Jamison Fountain for a bit of splashing (and some SOAT, of course) before Cousin O and Grandma headed home on the train.

Thanks for visiting. It was fun.

Penguin Prize

CJ woke up at 6:30 this morning to remind Mama that she hadn't gotten her prize for completing her penguin swimming lessons in stellar form. A new set of pink pots and pans for her pink kitchen.

Cousin O Goes to the Zoo

CJ was so excited that Grandma and Cousin O came down on the train yesterday. After a trip to the burrito store and a good night's sleep, we hit the zoo. There was much fun riding MAX there, posing on animal statues, petting a cockroach (sorry Aunt A!), a long ride on the zoo train, seeing Grandma feed the birds, viewing the monkeys while they wrestled with each other, watching the bats eat their fruit, petting the baby goats and taking MAX back home. Luckily we caught a glimpse of the baby elephant from the train because he was hiding when we got to that exhibit. We followed all that excitement with some swim lessons and pizza and ice cream at CJ's favorite restaurant.

The Faerie House

Here's CJ showing off the faerie house she made during summer camp at her preschool. She was so proud of it and happy to show it to Mama and Daddy when we picked her up.

Here's The New Suit

We've got a warm week forecasted here and shortly after we finally got dressed for the day we went outside to water the plants. It didn't last long before CJ went inside and changed into her suit for some elephant sprinkler fun.

Lucky #13

Thirteen years ago Mama and Daddy were enjoying similar hot weather. The difference is that we had beautiful warm water within walking distance and people waiting on us. Lots of Conch Pearls, blackened grouper and creme brulee made to order at your table. Yum.

http://www.abacoinn.com/gallery.shtml

Free Swim

CJ's vote today was for Sellwood Pool. It was a good one. Lots of sun and fun and she showed Mama and Daddy her new swimming skills. We were also able to use our free tickets from last year.

Eek - A Mouse

Nope. It's just the squeaky mouse girl. She's been playing the summer reading game at the libary and this was the prize she picked today for reading lots of books.

Coffee Lovers

We've talked about Stumptown before. Event the plants like the coffee. The Isis Candy tomato was so yellow and not growing at all compared to the yellow pear. We gave it some coffee grounds and eggshells and it appears to be on the rebound. Now we are looking for flowers and tomatoes.

Double Party Day

This happens every year. Two friends have parties on the same day.

We started the morning at a nature party on the west side of town with a bug hunt.

And finished on the east side with a backyard bbq, complete with bubbles and swimming pools.

Raspberries!

CJ loves them and will eat them by the bucketful. When not using them as thimbles of course...

Homework

A long overdue farewell to the kitchen. We'll post updates to that project here.

What A Difference A Day Makes

Or maybe a teacher. CJ started Penguin class, round two tonight and it was impressive. It was a little short because it takes a while to get all the kids assigned to their respective classes, but she did so many skills. And this time it was 6 kids to one teacher, whereas last class was about 5 kids to 2 teachers. The teacher started by asking who could bob and CJ did it right off the bat. Repeatedly. They also did belly floats and back floats and the hokey pokey. We hope the rest of the session is as much fun and as successful for her.

Where's the Flubber?

Per CJ's request, we hit OMSI after our Sunday run. It wasn't a bad idea since the weather felt more like fall than summer. She enjoyed the ball room, the sand, the water and making a lunch bag puppet. She would have played with the flubber, but it wasn't there again. The last few times we've been it has been play dough instead. I wonder when we'll see the flubber come back.

Mystery Girl

CJ has a lot of friends with summer birthdays and for the past few years we have had back to back birthday parties on the day of the Mississippi Street Fair. Not so this year, so we headed over. It was packed! She made some wood art at a furniture store, got an elephant magnet, enjoyed her first snow cone while Mama enjoyed a salted ice cream sandwich - yum!, made a flag out of scrap, attempted to hula hoop with a custom made model, heard tons of music and saw some really huge bubbles being made. We also stopped at our favorite mexican restaurant for lunch. CJ will eat a quesadilla, but she really loves the fresh squeezed juices and that they have a container of dum dum lollipops for after your meal. Somehow she ALWAYS chooses the mystery flavor.

The Blue and Gold

CJ heard a plane flying over our house and said "Mama, did you hear that?" Yes. What was it. "A jet." What color? "Silver and blue. I bet it was going to IKEA, all the planes go to IKEA."

In her defense, the local IKEA store is right next to the airport.

The Breakthrough?

What made her say "I love it, I love it, I love it"? The dreaded slide.

Tonight CJ started swimming class in kind of a mood, but it was short-lived. Halfway through class, we watched as she followed her group over to the slide and she got in line and went down. The teacher caught her, but not before her whole head went under. There was a moment where we couldn't see her face, but when she turned around we saw a smile. When class was over, she got out saying "I love it, I love it, I love it" about the slide. Yes!

If At First You Don't Succeed...

bribe, bribe again?

After a great first week at swimming, we have experienced some rough going this week. The sun wasn't out Monday or Tuesday and CJ had lots of complaints about being cold and many tears. On Monday she freaked out while waiting in line for the slide. Tuesday wasn't much better. What had made this more successful last year? Well, there was the sunny weather. There also was a doll and a medical kit on the line. So we refreshed her understanding of the rules (stay with your class, no tears, listen to the teachers) and reminded her of the prize at the end of the week (a paper from the teachers and possibly a pink purse with a princess crown on it that she has in her mind) and we had a much more successful night at swim lessons. Go figure.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Thanks to a flyer in the cable bill, the family had a nice afternoon at the ballpark watching the local Triple A team, the Portland Beavers. We took Max to the game, where CJ enjoyed face painting, high-fiving the Beaver, a soft pretzel, some 80's music and pretty much having a section of seats to ourselves. Not a bad day.

Happy Fourth of July

With temps still in the 90's and lots of sun, we decided to spend most of the day at Wilson Pool. CJ had a great time going down the frog tot slide over and over and over again. All on her own. That made going to the pool a bit more relaxing for Mama and Daddy this year.

And as in one of last year's visits to the pool, we had to clear out of the fun area for a bit this time for some poopie cleaning. But this year they went to extremes and kept us all out of the area for some serious vacuuming and detoxing of the scene. CJ didn't mind. She kept herself busy jumping into Daddy's arms in the deeper section over and over again.

A Warm One

It was a warm day in Portland, so we ended up taking a nice walk over to the fountain, but CJ fell asleep (passed out?) before we got there, so we walked a bit further to take care of some errands and then tested out a new bathing suit at the fountain on our way home. CJ really loves the fountain, but she never complains when we pull her away to hit the ice cream store across the street! How convenient...