A happy sight out my kitchen window

Nora is now tall enough to take down the laundry.

 Hooray!

Eating plums

So delicious and juicy.

Solid food

Camilla's first foods were egg yolk, avocado, and pumpkin. After some initial bewilderment, she embraced this new experience.

We're adopting a more casual method of introducing foods to her, focusing more on the texture than on ingredients.

She likes scrambled eggs and salmon and most things she's tried.

Last visit to the pool

Mimmu and I took the kids to the pool for one last hurrah before it closed for the season. One of the local day camps had the same idea, so it was crowded for a while, but they left about halfway through the session.

This was our fourth visit of the summer and we've figured out our routine.

 We'll be back next summer!

Fair entries

Nora and Henry each drew a picture to enter in the fair this year.

Nora's cheerful party scene.

Henry's river scene was inspired by a vintage LL Bean catalog cover.

Nora received a second place ribbon and Henry got a first. It was fun to see them hanging up at the fair and to look for pictures drawn by friends.

Oregon Zoo

 While in Portland we visited the Oregon Zoo with Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Maryann.

 The weather was perfect, a little cool in the morning but pleasant for walking around. 

We checked our wingspans.

The zoo has a lot of fun animal sculptures around.

Riding the zoo train was a highlight for everyone. It was a nice chance to sit down and rest tired feet.

Penny was a trooper and walked cheerfully almost the whole five hours.

She did get carried occasionally by Grandpa or her dad.

Nora's and Henry's favorite animal was the giraffe, Helena preferred the alligator.

A wedding

Mark's cousin got married in Portland. We headed over on Friday afternoon and joined them for the rehearsal dinner. We were a little late getting there because of an accident on the highway on our way into town. It was fun to see relatives and meet a few that I hadn't before. Many of us stayed in the same hotel and it was fun to see each other at breakfast and other times. On Saturday we went swimming and then got cleaned up to go to the wedding.

Camilla stares at her great-great Aunt Veta.

Laurie was a beautiful bride, but I don't seem to have any pictures of her. They had disposable cameras at the reception an our kids took the job of documenting everything very seriously.

The car the couple left in was very cool.

The bubbles were also thoroughly enjoyed.

It was fun to celebrate with them and have an impromptu mini family reunion!

A visit from Grandma and Grandpa

Mark's parents stopped to visit with us for a day on their way to see Maryann.

We're so glad they came!

Summer dessert

We found red currants at the farmers' market.

They were delicious in our mixed berry pavlova.

At the pool

Anja came to visit and we took her to the pool.

We got there at the beginning of the session and had the whole place almost to ourselves.

 It was very relaxing.

We all had a fun time.

Mimmu came too.

Happy baby

Camilla is happy to hang out and play with her feet.

Oregon Coast

We had a great vacation in Cannon Beach.

Most days we made morning and afternoon excursions to the beach. The kids played in the sand and water and had a fantastic time.

The house we rented with friends was very close to Haystack Rock. The beach was just a short walk and a long flight of stairs away.

We made the traditional trip to Tillamook. We love cheese!

For lunch most of us had grilled cheese sandwiches and they were excellent. Nora and Henry had chocolate ice cream, just like they did four years ago. Helena chose blackberry. What flavor would you pick?

Nora found a tiny perfect sand dollar.

The big kids and I walked toward town one afternoon while the little girls napped.

 We tried to visit the history center but it was closed. The cannon they are standing next to is a replica of the cannon that washed ashore from the Shark and inspired the city's name.