Weekend Hijynx

So, anyways, I've occasionally been accused of making up the phrase "Very Vining"; oh, no! A testament to Rut himself:

Recently I decided to do some work on my vintage 1983 Schwinn Le Tour, the bike that once had Leopardettes swooning; the bike came to PDX back in 2007, when it was revamped and entered Phase II. This is Phase III, with an emphasis on errand-running and ease of riding for guests beyond seventy years or age.

I asked Ida to take a photo of me with the bike, so I could show my Dad, and this is that:


She then commenced to very seriously set up a photo of all her bikes--dragging them to the front yard, arranging and rearranging them, putting leaves and sticks on them--and requested that I stand at the end (not in the front, and not on the other side) holding the pen that she saw in my pocket. Voila:


This may well be my new author photo.

a conversation

Pete: "Do you think maybe Cinderella's real name is 'Ella' and they call her Cinderella because she sits at the edge of the fireplace like that?"

Ida: "Come on, Dad. Her real name is Cinderella."

Punishments of the Sun

Anyways, 2011 is finding its own weird rhythm, round here. The sun came out, and we went to Sauvie Island, like old times!


Arthur was even in town. Miki got to ride him.


For a time, there, all the girls had to be carried. This here is Elsie on my back. It's like carrying a human being, or being a siamese twin where your twin doesn't have legs or something.

Ida got hold of the camera and documented some well-known chests:

She somehow got Theo's whole head, here:

Aww.

Here's what it looked like with action and sound, kind of the experience, with wolves.

Once we got home, Miki and Ida went all Abu Ghraib.

I don't really know what to say about this.

39

39!

ERV! The reason we're all here. No one is more amazing. Her girls rousted her out of bed this AM and forced her to make some cupcakes. But this picture is from the other day when she was rockin these tights. (You should have seen her donkey kicks, earlier in the evening, in these beauties!)


Meanwhile, these girls were rockin these matching dresses--thanks, Grace. It was for a party we went to where an adult woman fell down the stairs! She was all right.


Miki's into it all.

500

Ah, what could be more involved and self-congratulatory? But here we are on our 500th blog post; why not take this opportunity for a kind of arbitrary journey through time and space? A retrospective. Here's where and when it all began: April 17, 2007; Ida, barely out of Ella's body, breathing air.

By the next day, Cousin Elsie was on the scene!

This is Ida's first Christmas. Grambee was PUMPED.


These girls were so fortunate to have Chandler looking after them. Us, too.

Christmas #2. No one wilder than G-Toko.

Before long, Ida was living it up at Tumbleweeds ...

And noticing something new about Ella's stomach. There was something in there. Ida liked to talk to the baby, right through the skin!

Before we knew it, Miki was upon us!

Ferociously.

Somewhere before then, here in PDX, Theo showed up. You can tell that she and Miki are already getting along really well. (This is part of a very fine sequence in which Theo drinks cheap beer from a can.)

Remember when Miki couldn't even walk? All that knee-walking! This is just last summer; now she never walks. She runs.

Or struts.

Occasionally we even saw the outside cousins, like the energetic D. Hawk.

And Uncle Arthur was often on the scene. Rumor has it he's been giving plenty of mustache rides, but he has not been wearing this shirt very often. Perhaps such advertisement is unnecessary.

Before long we were kind of like a family, trying to have holiday cards and everything.

Is 500 enough? The action is nonstop, for certain.

This is some breast-pumping, yesterday morning. Miki gets milk out of her belly button! It's a miracle.

See ya.

The Actual Christmas

After a completely heinous flight from Newark (thank you, unfriendly airport employees!) that was fortunately not documented as I'd hate to share or re-live those long hours, we got back to PDX and our fine friends!

Was Maggie here? Yup. That's when things are best.

Also, she made hot chocolate and a hearty breakfast for our terrible travelers. Was it any good?

Yup.


Here's another Ida Akiko Rock self-portrait:

Here's a portrait she took of a tutu she got, while she was wearing it.

Here's a picture I took of the same tutu:


Ida was very happy to receive this drying rack/laundry line, and now handles all of our handwashing needs.


Was Arthur there? Yup. And playing this weird Christmas game where he crawled around on all fours, all day long. You should see what his knees look like! (Rooster comb injections: 2011).


Oh, man, what a great Christmas! We love it!


Bring on 2011!

The Robe

For a long time Ida has really envied Elsie's shark robe.

So she was delighted (

) to open her Christmas gift from GrandmaToko and find her very own robe with rainbow accents on the pockets!



She even let Miki touch it!


About a week later I was at the Mt. Scott Community Center pool with Arthur (he picked up some dude's banana hammock from the floor, then gave it to me the next morning when I was picking up the girls for school, obliviously or sincerely saying "Is this yours? I washed it for you" when he'd just been swimming with me and I'd clearly been wearing Trunks!) and ida and Theo and Elsie, and when the robes got all busted out, Elsie started saying "But I don't like my shark robe anymore! I want a robe with rainbow pockets!" and Arthur said "Maybe GrandmaToko will make you one when you grow out of your shark robe," a comment that was passed on to G-Toko by Ella.

G-Toko said, "Ahh, so much WORK! I don't know if I can make another robe."

Return to Haddons

After the splendors of Guilford, we returned to Euclid Ave, where our own ERV, DKV and the MAVVER did some early damage:

Some think the installation of this sign in front of the house was a coincidence; others have their doubts.

Anyway, moving right along, here at the end of 2010, we celebrated an early Christmas, and Ida hurried to get everyone's gifts delivered ASAP:


Miki was on the lookout for "tandy bars."




Some further documentation of G-Toko's "Project: Rabbit Cage":