Xmas Treeing

We carefully selected our tree from our traditional hunting grounds...

Pete and Co. were on hand as well.  Pete did all the work...

Back at home the girls hopped to it with the decorations...

Oh come all ye faithful!

Skamania Lodge

Over Veteran's Day weekend Daddy took the girls on a one night sojourn to lovely Skamania Lodge, in Washington State.  Above you see the girls trying out their pouty teenager poses.  Elsie was actually kind of bummed out because she had just re-sprained her ankle for like the fifth time.  That's why she's holding her leg like that.  At least she didn't break her femur like their little friend Lucia, whom we just saw yesterday and she has a purple cast up to her chest!  Below you see Elsie and Theo roasting s'mores over the big fire outside the lodge at night, a task which they enjoy.  That fire pit was surrounded by drunken teachers and school administrators, loudly enjoying their long weekend, by the way.  

Beach Video

My friend Adam wrote and recorded this song under the name Ajax and we decided to make a video to it when we went out to the coast last month:

Coastal Weekend

Aunt Anna came to visit in October and we rented a place in the quaint town of Meskowin, on the Oregon coast.  It was supposed to rain all weekend, but it didn't!

The four cousins even went in the water, which ended poorly for Elsie, who got tumbled by a wave despite the warnings of her parents.

 We spent a lot of time strolling along the uncrowded beach.  Ah Oregon!

Maggie and Anna sipped Oregon wine on the deck at sunset until Maggie got sick and puked upon her lap.  Ah Oregon!

Costumes!

We had many opportunities to don costumes this fall.  Above we see the girls with their father at the "Monster March" in our neighborhood.  Below we see the girls outside Mommy's office party where apparently Theo won a raffle.  Theo is a fox, by the way, and Elsie is a cat.  Elsie finger-knitted her tail.  Maggie made Theo's tail and fur coat.  What does the fox say?

And here we see Elsie in a fairy costume with cousin Ida and Theo at the halloween party at the juvenile detention center where Daddy works.  

And these were the matching outfits Elsie and Theo chose when we went on a weekend walk the other day.

Happy Halloween!

Shellrock Lake Camping Trip

This trip happened last month.  It was a big deal because it was our first real hike in backpack type camping trip with the girls.  They even carried their own packs.  Above you see them at the trailhead, ready to go!

After a short uphill climb we reached Shellrock lake and set up camp.  We camped with our neighbors from Martins street.  It was nice and sunny and the water was just right.  Several hikers had warned us of aggressive and abundant bees, including one tearful woman carrying out her little stung up poodle, but we saw none of that.

We did find lots of large "rough skinned newts".  The kids spent hours catching them and over the course of two days captured about 25.  All were released only slightly more rough skinned than before.

breakfast club:

Some of us scaled this long scree pile:

And we were rewarded by nice views:

The Art Lecture

While in Maine we went to see GrandKathy give a talk about her show at The Bowdoin Museum.  The place was packed and the art was sublime.

The girls found it fascinating:

Maine 2013 (better late than never!)

Back in August, which seems oh so long ago, we traveled to Daddy's homeland of Brunswick, Maine to see our beloved GrandKathy.  The first thing we did was gather vegetables...

...and look at sheep.

and then, once we got home, GrandKathy measured everyone.

One of our favorite places is GrandKathy's studio, where great art is made:

A video!

If you made it through that whole video, I have two comments:  1) shortly after that Elsie lost that tooth. 2) even less shortly after that GrandKathy scalded Elsie's finger with a dab of hot glue.

And then we had a visit from cousins from Vermont!  Look at "Little Arthur" in Big Creston's lap:

The Vermont cousins brought us a stomp rocket, which was a big hit.

Elsie took this picture of cousin Cora:

And she took this one too:

but not this one:

Later we went to good old Popham beach!

Each one of us composed an "ode to the sea"...

We also went to the Topsham fair where Theo was reunited with "loveyboy" Grady.  

Yes, we had a fine time in Maine...