Various Triumphs of the Summer

Ida's been really working on her bike ride. This one was about 5-6 miles? She had a camera attached to her, too, and perhaps we'll add some of that footage in the near future...

Been out to the beach at Hood River.  Girls are really working on their swimming.

Blueberry picking, non-stop.  Actually, this is a stop.  Post-blueberry picking.

Our friend Lindsay took these two:

That's Glissa the guinea pig, visiting the front yard.

4th / Cape Lookout

After a failed, flawed attack upon the Eastmoreland 4th of July Parade, we got in the moving van and started to travel.

Driven by Foxy Joanie.

In what has become a yearly ritual, we gathered with the Bradford and Cass family.  Ate a bunch of half-cooked dough coiled around sticks.

Most of our time was spent at the beach; we've learned not to take cameras to the beach.  Able to report that Ida has seemingly no sense of cold; she spent much time in the ocean and her skin turned purple.

Back at the campsite, we engaged in some fairly ferocious "Spot It" games.

The Bradford Girls were forced to wear bandanas at all times.

I don't know who had this idea.

Ida vs. Sleep-Away Camp!

Craziness! Ida and Elsie went to overnight camp for two nights last week. Here they are getting ready to go:

This was down in Fossil, as part of an OMSI camp.  It was 99 degrees, a fact the girls were quite proud of.  Ida took a camera along and didn't lose it; she said the batteries ran out, but she did manage to take about a hundred photos, mostly close-ups of fire and many different angles on the same skeletons.  She also likes to "zoom up" on her subject in a way that leaves smeary, out of focus images that are impossible to understand.  That said, here are a few impressions.  This, she says, is "the landscape."

This is the camp.  That may be "Coyote Cabin" where the girls slept.

One of the aforementioned skeletons:

A snake!

Fire!

Here's Elsie in her bunk in Coyote Cabin!  Every single girl got an upper bunk!

They went on a hike and saw moss where if you poured water on it it turned bright green.

Excellent.  The girls would like to go again, and longer.  Despite persistent prodding on my part about whether they got really homesick and cried, they professed real confusion at the concept.  This, my mother-in-law said, is a sign of successful parenting.

Farewell, Tumbleweeds! And thanks.

Miki's last day of pre-school.  Been driving to Tumbleweeds for the last six years, myself...

Summer is ON

The family

The other day Shaena Mallett, a real photographer, passed through town with her sister, and took this photo.

A Hike, A Day

Went out toward Mt. Hood. Met this old sage, or he caught up to us after his novel writing class. A real Ham.

Unstoppable (though a wolf almost claimed Miki).

Crazy wildflower meadows.

A very complicated game in which no grown-ups were allowed.

In this "panorama" shot, Maggie quickly leapt and chased Miki across the frame, turning into a sinister black ghost smudge.

It's hard to photograph Hood, as it tends to blend into the sky via camera.  But there it is.  Grand.

You would not be able to plumb the depths of this conversation.

Arthur made me take about forty of these to reenact a shot from many years ago ("Okay, bro, wait, how does my butt look?  Okay?  Elsie! No!  Now, Theo, you point.)  Beautiful and completely fake.

He was punished by God!  HIs leg, it turned into a

tree!

(Don't worry, his hands are still small, soft, child-like.)

Down in the town of Hood River, the Vining sisters caused quite a stir!

Talking Hot Joanie, talking Birkenstock Onassis glasses, yes.

Huge proponents of the new HR waterfront area, especially because there's that brew pub right there!

Something's up with Theo.

Some of the beer is very strong.

Five! (+ Mother's Day!)

There's a lot to catch up on.  But let's just limit this post to today, when Miki finally turned 5 and Ella continued to be a serious mother.

Been really into getting serious braids, then taking them out after a few days.

We had to kill some time, waiting for the Bradfords to show up.

What a beautiful mother, indeed.

Finally we just set off without them.

Too marshy, in there.

Another mother:

The Bradfords finally showed up.

Returned through the mature oaks.

A sweet day.