Aunt Anna!

Aunt Anna came west to visit us.  We took her to lovely Sun River, OR, the high desert!  Above you see a picture of her and the girls at Lava Lands.  This a a place where lava is.  We hiked around and skinned our knees there.

      

And we took pictures!

Back at our rented chalet, there was a hot tub.

Sun River is famous for having miles and miles of paved bike trails.  This was exciting because we live on a hill and thus Theo has never really ridden more than a few hundred feet.  This was her longest bike ride ever!

Sometimes she chose to just walk and take in the scenery.

Behold, a video:

Later we went the the High Desert Museum which was full of Mitt Romney supporters and also had a butterfly habitat.  Here you see the girls trying to stand very still in the hopes that a butterfly will land upon them.  Some less obedient children were seen chasing the butterflies and sticking their grubby fingers under their legs, hoisting them up, and then claiming the insects had landed there on their own volition.  Not our girls!

We drove back to Portland and Anna stayed another two days but the pictures from that time would look pale in comparison to what you have now seen.  Theo was very sad when Anna left.  She wore a hat Anna made to remember her by.  Anna taught Elsie to knit which was a mixed blessing because neither Maggie nor I know how to knit and Elsie, in truth, can't do it on her own.  So now she marches around the house with her knitting needles and complaining loudly that the yarn isn't behaving as it should.

After she saw us Anna went to visit this lil' guy.  Hi Braden!