Ida vs. Cooking/Preparing for Cousin Deluge

We're in mad preparations for the arrival of Grace, Jim, Phoebe, Bonnie Kate, Margo and Matthew Rock . . . Ida has taken it upon herself to sniff every spice they have to eat:



Uncle Jim's coming to run the Portland Marathon, and will need to carb up . . .



... so these ladies are working on a serious meat sauce for Saturday night.



Ida says, "Power to the carnivores."



For those aficionados among you, or those who like to travel back in time, here's a couple photos of these ladies cooking almost exactly one year ago:

Get Well, Alea!

Ida is quite disturbed that a motorist ran into her friend Alea Adigweme and Alea's bicycle; she's going to be fine, but we wish her well. And Ida is not so disturbed to not take a bath in Alea's honor.

"Gooking"

You may have been wondering just what Ida is up to, in this long silence. Believe us, she needs little entertainment. She is extremely busy. (So are her parents, which is part of the problem.)



One of her favorite activities these days is "gooking"; rhymes with booking, and involves getting all of the bowls out and putting potatoes and onions in them, talking the whole time.

Arthur vs. Elsie

Ida looked on as wonder as these Bradfords came to our house, ate steak and chocolate ice cream, and then battled like two mastodons:



This whole family, even Baby Theo, are heading to Italy.

Travel safe, as they say.

Ida vs. Spoons, Sandpaper, Colorblindness

For those who said "it's called a spoon" after the last post...



Ida eats "gogurt."


Here she is helping her mom with a sanding project:




IN a serious note, some worry that Ida is colorblind and will have to go to colorblind school and get a guide dog. But Chandler says Ida is not colorblind.

yogurt, Old Dad, etc.

For his birthday, Ida peed in the toilet for her Dad. Unfortunately, or fortunately, we did not capture this on film. Instead, here's some yogurt eating:

Old Friends vs. Ida

It'd been a long time since Ida saw her old pals Alina (pictured) and Anya (who took this photo and countless others); boy, nothing like playing with big girls.

Ida vs. Strange Behavior

Ida has very grabby hands; despite this, probably due to the fact that she has to carry her babies and sunglasses and phones everywhere, she has the odd marsupial-like habit of carrying things--crayons, pens, leaves--under her chin/in her neck. Here she is with a crayon.



Photo by the indomitable Chandler.

More summer looks

Just because Elsie and co. are so busy dumping in the toilet they can't update the beach trip from their perspective doesn't mean we can't share some more summer looks:





Ida loves all gloves--whether they're rubber gloves or oven mitts or socks. The bigger the better.

The Beach

Yes, since it's summer we decided to make a quick jaunt to the Oregon Coast, much to Ida's delight:





Can you find Elsie in this picture?



Yes, she was there! And on her best behavior:



As were Aunt Maggie and Uncle Arthur, who (it's hard to see in this picture) has recently changed his appearance in an homage to Mark Spitz.



And where was Baby Theo? On the scene?



Absolutely, and wearing a bonnet:



Bye-bye.

Ida vs. Triple Digit Heat Wave

Yes, it's gotten hot in PDX!



Fortunately, Uncle Arthur (captured here in a very flattering picture) brought us some popsicles.



Popsicles!



Ida likes them all, all flavors...



...she doesn't even know who Heath Ledger is/was.



Elsie's hair is looking kinda cool, these days.



More wild poolside/inside pool action, soon.

Ida vs. Summer Looks

Ida is joining the Bad News Bears!



She got a wicked shiner from "falling down."



She loves to eat frozen peas, because it is hot and they are delicious.



Finally, Chandler reports that Ida, like Chandler, can (man)handle two babies at once:

Long Weekend on Anderson Island

As 8/8/08 was Ida's parents' tenth anniversary, we headed out on a mini-vacation to Anderson Island. Ida was ready to get out of the city for a while:



Seeing as Ida's parents would never have met without Maggie (even if, in another story, Maggie tried to keep them apart), we thought it would be best to celebrate the event by traveling with Elsie, Baby Theo, and their mother. (Their father, Arthur Bradford, was in NYC working for MTV and hanging out with Olsen twins, no doubt.)



Here are these three enjoying the ferry ride:



And the next morning we went to a strange playground



with a slide so high that descending it made some people cry:


The weather kind of cooperated. Not so warm that anyone else braved the beach...


Which gave us plenty of room.


A huge bathtub with jets was necessary, shortly after swimming, to warm everyone up. It got a little crazy once Maggie got in here, too; Theo and I turned down their warm invitation.


What was the biggest hit of the trip? Maybe these stairs.


Theo and I just watched. Again.


How cute is this?



On our last day we went on a tremendous hike, past banana slugs, to this forbidden coast line.


We saw a few dog-uhs, and Maggie was beset by something poisonous that made her face kind of swell up for a little while.


Ida likes to throw rocks.


We returned in time for all the Vining/Bradford/Rock women to set out on the water.


Bon voyage!


Finally--check out this ramen destruction: