weekend in port angeles

We took a trip with Vic & Kim to Port Angeles to visit our old friend Pat & his girlfriend Jamie.

Here is Xavier waiting for the ferry. It took us almost 10 hours to get from Portland to Port Angeles. I do not recommend going through Seattle & attempting to catch the Edmond-Kingston ferry at rush hour on a Friday (dug!). Xavier was a champion traveler, however, and did not complain one iota until we were 5 minutes from Pat's house when he started signing & saying "all done!" rather frantically.

Enjoying the view of Lake Sutherland from Pat's deck.

The lovely Lake Crescent

1st canoe ride!

As per usual, I took a zillion photos. You can check out a ton of them here!

golf pro

It was a little big at first, but Xavier is finally fitting into the super styllish golf outfit that Grandma Katz sent him a while back. Now we've just got to get him some clubs. Anyone want to play caddy? -I can't vouch for his skills with the 9 iron (FORE!)...

bounty

Okay, so this has nothing to do with how amazing Xavier is, but I could not resist sharing with you this pic of the amazing produce we've been getting from our awesome new CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). I am so glad we joined & we will definitely be regular CSA people from now on. It has been a delight to challenge ourselves in the kitchen by having to cook with new & unusual vegetables. Each week's menu is a surprise. But what I was not expecting was how economic it is -for a mere $23/week we get all the organic produce you see here (plus some that got squeezed out of the frame). I wind up spending about the same again on bread & dairy products at Limbo & Trader Joe's (& the same amount again on beer....) & all told am spending far less per week than I was previous to joining. As an added bonus I think we are going out less since we've got all this amazing food in the fridge that we don't dare waste. All around it has been a great move for our family.

work party

Before...

Matt loves his new impact driver

The dormers are up, as are all the rafters! -Thanks for all the hard work, Vic, Tom & Brian!!

Window holes!

children's museum

Matt had a work party for the tiny house today, and so we decided to make ourselves scarce & visit the Portland Children's Museum with Beth & Maddie. Xavier had a blast playing with the clay & exploring all the strange, magical little nooks & crannies of that amazing place. We had so much fun, in fact, that we decided to share a membership with the Wineland family. So now we can take guests for free! -Who wants to join us for a fun playdate?

behind the wheel

Look who discovered how much fun it can be to pretend to drive a truck! -and from what I can tell, it is even more fun if you are also naked:

summer fun

Matt had to go out of town on a work trip for the night, so we went to Emily's for an evening of backyard relaxation & amazing grilled pizzas. Xavier had so much fun playing in Siena's sandbox & in her baby pool. For more pics, please see my picassa site.

playing in the new fort

Xavier takes his new-found sweeping skills out to the tiny house to get it all tidied up.

Checking out the headroom in the loft

Taking time to smell the Jasmine

little helper

Xavier has discovered that he really loves to sweep the floor. It's time to find him a Xavier-sized broom so he can start helping out around the house...

accomplishments

I was on hand to capture Maddie's very first successful bubble-blowing effort. What luck!

For more pics from our fun family sleepover at the Wineland's, please see my site.

happy birthday to me

While 36 is certainly nothing to write home about, I enjoyed my day immensely (the night was another story -damn molars!). Beth & Maddie came over & brought some fun water toys for us to play with, then when Matt got home, we hit Lauro for happy hour. Xavier says: "happy happy, mama!"

summer in minnesota

Xavier & I were lucky enough to get to spend a long weekend in Minnesota with my family. I have uploaded a ton of pictures here, so please forgive the brevity of this post.


Xavier had so much fun playing with his awesome 3-year-old cousin, Aria. My parents house is fully outfitted for maximum toddler fun, including a baby pool, a play structure, and a huge sandbox. While he seemed to enjoy hanging out with Aria, Trevor was a little scarier for him, but that's probably just because he's 6 foot 2 & plays a little rough (except when he's hobbled as "little kid Trevor" as in the photo above).

Xavier & I were ultimately in town for my cousin Kim's wedding. I was so happy to be able to share their big day with them & it was wonderful to surprise the rest of my family, most of whom did not know we were coming.

We took the rare opportunity to take a few photos of our family while we were all together -if only the kids would smile and look at the camera...

...whatever it takes to get a smile...

4th of july

We celebrated the 4th of July in the hood in a low-key style with our favorite neighbors, Brett, Nick & O-dawg. And of course, Uncle Victor was there being as creepy as ever.

This is as close as Xavier got to the fireworks, poor sleepy baby. Maybe next year?