Heat, 2008

Summer hit Portland like a hundred degrees. Ida responded by turning to a samurai look. And pointing at the ceiling fan.



Language skills demo:



You might think her approximation of what Ichi says doesn't sound like a cat; however, this morning Ichi was speaking to/battling a neighbor cat through the screen door and they were growling like that. Ida, next to Ichi, started growling, too, and shortly thereafter Ichi scratched and bit Ida. Imagine that.

Ida vs. Rody

Just like her Dad needs three bikes, Ida likes to keep a couple horses in her stable.



This new mount, Rody, comes from Utah. Now Ida has one just like her cousins Bonnie Kate and Margo.



You may wonder if there is competition or hard feelings between Rody and Budgie--fear not, they are friends. They are actually adapted to different terrains. Where Budgie rolls, Rody bounces.



Also, Rody is Italian.

Cougar!

Yesterday our little family crossed the mighty Columbia and visited the Landers family at an opulent cabin near Cougar, Washington. Cool.



Also cool, kind of: Max and Mimi.



Make no mistake about it. It was a hot day, but we weren't grilling. We had a firepit at our disposal. Here LeRoy teaches Max some of the Manly Arts.




True, LeRoy dropped both a dog and a brat into the flames, but he did fish them out and eat them.



Here's Maeran. The whole Landers family! For now.



Ida likes chips.



Ella led us on a very short and extremely steep hike.




Later Ida swam in a very cold lake where high school boys were shooting water balloons at each other with a huge slingshot while girls in bikinis watched. This world!

Ida Loves to Swim

Chick dominates the Sellwood Pool!



She's taking swimming lessons, soon!



And she won't share the cool toys with older, envious bullies, either.

Ida vs. Soccer and Teeth

Back in the 70s, Ida's Dad, with the help of Pele, brought "soccer" to the USA.



During his prime (1976-81), Ida's Dad was known as the most devious goal scorer on the Wasatch Front. Her Uncle Jim was perhaps the fastest Rock, Aunt Jen the most photogenic, and Sara was by all accounts the best. Relatively-speaking. I mean, she played in college. Notice, Ida said "ball." The creaking noise is my knee.

Meanwhile, she is growing hella teeth, which makes a person cranky as getting too much unusable food from a hippy farm share.

Father's Day, 2008

What could be finer? The sun, the avocado (note the crutches, in the background)...



The ice cream truck circles our streets!



I have a really funny picture of Aunt Maggie from this ice cream eating session, but I'm not going to post it because I'm afraid of her.



Look at Ida with the cool eared mug given to her by Todd and Sander, so long ago.



And, for kicks, here's a nice photo of Ida's cousins Lillian and Sylvia LeBlanc, who are not afraid of a scary, gigantic Canadian clown:

The Vent vs. The Summer vs. The End of an Era

The girls have been spending a lot of time on this air vent at Reed College; Chandler (who took these photos--thanks, as ever, ECJ) reports that it is "a very serious business" to find the leaves and put them on the vent.



Today, Friday, is the last day Elsie will hang out with Ida and Chandler--after almost a year!--as she's going to daycare on Monday..



...sometimes Elsie can be a little "aggressive," but we know it's out of love.



We love you, EAB, and will miss you, and will still see a lot of you whenever we can!

Ida vs. Bipedalism

Some of you may have heard that Ida can now walk. This video is not the best example, but will give you some idea.



Fortunately she still does fall down from time to time; otherwise, her recovering-from-knee-surgery Dad would have no chance at all. Still, she is out-walking me.

Ida and Elsie vs. the speed of SOUND

Okay. The Canon PowerShot is in the house. Not a moment too quick:



One might think these girls do nothing but bathe...



Get ready, DKV. This is what the nieces sound like:



*Here is some roughousing*



*Earlier today we were at a special event to witness some dogs leaping around, and a stranger said to me (as I walked with Maggie/Elsie and Ida/Ella), "Hey, brother, how many wives and kids do you have?"

I said, "Oh, these are just a couple of them."

Ida vs. Olympus in its last days vs. Budgie

Ida got a new blue horse named Budgie that she likes to ride around. I tried to take a picture of her riding him, but the ten second delay of our shutter was too much. Like a crow, Ida loves all shiny things like ipods, cell phones, and the camera. She was off Budgie in a flash and reaching for the camera:



Subsequent attempts looked like this



and this



and, cheesily, like this



Finally her Mom distracted her with the phone. Here's Ida riding Budgie:



This may be the last post from the old camera.