June 14, 2008 Afternoon Fun

Afternoon Fun!

Ellie and Lainey played in the pool in the backyard 

for a few hours today.  

Somehow they don't seem to mind the cold hose water?!

Today was the first time I had really let Lainey "discover" the hose.  This water is soooo refreshing!!

Time for a popsicle break!

Sisters love to share!  Although, I didn't see Ellie offering any bites of hers!

June 7, 2008 Visit to Grandma Dean's House

Today we went to visit Grandma Dean.  Ellie and Lainey got to go for a 4 wheeler ride (Lainey's first) to see a new baby fawn in the field.

They also got to go for a ride on PopPop Machir's International tractor!

Ellie got to drive (steer) all over the field all by herself while PopPop pushed the pedals.  Way to go Ellie!!

Grandma Dean and Ellie

May 29 & 31, 2008-Summer Fun

Summertime is Here!!!

Here are a few of my favorites from the last couple of days of the girls playing in the sprinkler and pool in our backyard.

May 27, 2008 Never a Dull Moment

Lainey learned that she could climb up on Ellie's desk chair and stick her feet out the back this morning.  Problem was she kept trying to get down by going out through the back.  She kept tipping the thing over and getting stuck.  I thought this was so cute I had to pass it along!

Later on this afternoon Ellie was playing in her room while I was doing a little cleaning.  She walked through my bedroom door looking like this and I had to grab the camera!

May 26, 2008--Memorial Day

This morning we went to the Memorial Day Parade in Blue Ash.  Both the girls had a great time!  Ellie came home with quite a stash of candy!

PopPop Henke, Namaw Skeet, Ellie and Lainey

Grandma Freda and Ellie

PopPop Skeet and Lainey

Oregon Trip May 9th-19th, 2008 Part III--The Wedding

Shane and Maria picked a beautiful spot for the wedding--The Rose Test Garden overlooking downtown Portland.  The weather, although a little warm, couldn't have been much more perfect.  Maria's Uncle Silvio performed the ceremony in English and Portuguese so everyone could understand.  It was really neat!  Here is a photo of Maria and her father walking down the aisle.

The exchange of rings!

Impromptu photo shoot after the wedding.

The happy couple at the reception.

Oregon Trip May 9th-19th, 2008 Part II

Uncle Shane and Aunt Maria had a park near their house.  While the boys installed new windows in their sun room (a project conveniently saved for our arrival) the girls hung out on the swings!

Portland has a lot of really neat places to eat.  One night we went out for sushi.  Much to Ellie's delight they had ramen noodles on the menu...and she got to eat them with chop sticks!! She did great for her first time and even tried some of the other grown up food and liked it too!

One morning Matt and I woke up early and made the drive up Mt. Hood.  It was pretty impressive.  Here us a picture from about 10 miles away.

Here is a picture of Ellie and Lainey with Uncle Shane at Jameson Square in downtown Portland.  They have a fountain there that is a big draw for kids when the weather is hot.

One night after dinner we went to see the adidas offices where Shane and Maria work.  They were pretty cool.  Lots of fun things to do to keep you from working...like a full size b-ball court, soccer fields, ping pong tables...the list goes on and on!  Ellie and Lainey stopped running long enough to pose for a shot in front of the soccer goal.

Oregon Trip May 9th-19th, 2008 Part I

Here we are.  On the plane in Columbus waiting for takeoff.  Can you tell we've been up since 3:30am?  Ellie and Lainey are pretty excited for their first airplane ride.  For a one and a three year old they handled the long flight across country pretty well.  PopPop Machir and Namaw Jenny booked themselves on our flight too.  It was a huge help to have a couple extra hands to help entertain!

Thank goodness for technology.  The video ipod kept Ellie busy for a couple hours of the trip.

We saw quite a bit of Oregon while we were there.  One of our favorite spots was the Northern Oregon coast.  Here is one of my favorites of Matt and the girls from Cannon Beach.

This is a picture of Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach.  You might recognize it from the movie Goonies!

May 8, 2008--Butterfly Show

Today we went to the Butterfly Show at Krohn Conservatory.  

It was Ellie's second trip, but a first for Lainey and cousin Garrett who was in town for the weekend. Grandma, Aunt Kristen, and Aunt Katie came along too.

Ellie knew just what to do...stick your Gatorade covered finger out and eventually a thirsty butterfly will land on it!  Lainey was a little overwhelmed at first, but as you can see it didn't take her long to figure out what to do either!

The winning picture of the day--Grandma with the grandkids!  What a great early birthday present!

We'll definitely be back next year!