November 2008

November was a family-filled month. We celebrated Baby Athen's first birthday (he is a Halloween baby but the party was November 1st), Uncle Ivan and Aunt Jasmine's wedding, and Thanksgiving. Little Squirrel is really enjoying all of her cousin's much more now that they are a little older and more interactive. It was a fun month and it was nice to be able to spend so much time with family.

Halloween Happenings

The last week has been filled with Halloween activities. Little Squirrel made a haunted house, decorated her pirate pumpkin, had a Halloween "Carnivore" at school (every time she called it that I pictured a smallish T-Rex chasing children in costumes), went on the annual pumpkin patch outing with Tea and Crackers, and (finally) trick-or-treated with Papa. It was an exhausting week for the adults but everyone had a lot of fun.

Little Squirrel's September

September was another full month for Little Squirrel. She got to move up from the "pink" class in balled (a.k.a. Intro to Dance) to the "blue" class (Primary 1 Ballet). This was fortunate as somehow since class ended in June both her shoes and her leotard had shrunk somehow…

Swimming lessons started up again. This time Cracker got to be in the same class as Tea and LS. They all had a great time but unfortunately, LS got sick the last week so she missed the final two classes. I had to explain to her that when she has a 105°F fever and has been vomiting, they don't want her in the pool.

LS also got to spend some more quality grandparent time in September. She had a fun brunch with Gram E (where she got to show her pictures and tell Gram E about her trip to Oregon).

Grandma Rita's birthday and related party were mid-month and held at Uncle Ivan's house. LS had fun and is getting more interactive with her cousin, baby Athen, who was showing off his new walking skills at the party. I think she found his new mobility more fun than him just laying there as countless relatives pass him around.

The most exciting event of the month had to be the celebration of International "Talk Like a Pirate Day". This event occurs every September 21st and is eagerly anticipated by Papa each year. As this year's date fell on a Friday, he had been planning a huge surprise event for his office for months. Little Squirrel loved helping him hunt for pirate "treasure" and props on the Oregon Coast and even helped assemble some of the goodies he was distributing among his co-workers. The morning of the great day, they both dressed appropriately for the occasion.

~KK

Road Trip!

We took a few extra days off in conjunction with the Labor Day holiday in order to embark on a Little Squirrel's first long road trip. Our ultimate destination was Wilsonville, Oregon for a family reunion. However, as neither Little Squirrel nor Papa had ever been to the Redwoods or the Oregon Coast, we thought we would add a few stops to our itinerary.

We met up with Grandma Rita and Grandpa Ben in the Redwoods at the "Tour Thru Tree" (they were traveling via Harley Davidson) and then journeyed with them to Crescent City for the night and then to the Sea Lion Caves and Lincoln City on the following day.

On Saturday, they headed inland to the reunion and we stayed an extra day on the coast so that we could take Little Squirrel to the Newport Aquarium and, of course, to the beach. She had a fantastic time. She loved playing in the sand (and burying Papa's feet and legs) but did not get even close to the water. At one point she stepped onto the wet sand and declared it "too cold" and did not go any further towards the surf.

On Sunday we drove up the coast to the Tillamook Cheese Factory and then to the reunion. It rained on and off at the reunion during the day so much to Little Squirrel's dismay (and my relief) she didn't get to go up and down the Willamette River, either in the boat or being drug behind it on the inner tube like the other kids. We did get to spend time with my Grandma (Little Squirrel's Great-Grandma Florence) both at the reunion and the next day. I wish we could go visit more often. It is a good thing we send her a lot of pictures of Little Squirrel, otherwise she wouldn't recognize her because she grows so much in between visits!

We headed south after breakfast on Monday with Grandma Rita/Grandpa Ben, Great-Aunt BJ/Uncle Loren, and Great-Grandma Florence. We took I-5 down the center of the state and went to Wildlife Safari (another first for Little Squirrel and Papa). It is similar to a zoo but the animals are able to roam around as you drive through. Some of the animals, such as the tigers and cheetahs are in enclosures, but most of the rest of them (including rhinos) are out and about. You are allowed to have your windows down, except in the bear areas, but Papa vetoed that idea. As a result, we did get to see a lot of animals really close (but not too close) but didn't get a lot of great pictures.

The following day we took a brief side trip to the Oregon Vortex/House of Mystery which Papa enjoyed more than Little Squirrel. She had a good time but was a little young for the discussion of magnetic terra lines and why the golf ball roll uphill instead of downhill. We pushed on for home and arrived just in time for bed. It was a journey of 1,600 miles and yielded 940 pictures (not all winners). It was definitely an experience, but once again Little Squirrel traveled like a champ.

~KK

August Antics

August has been another busy month for us. We had Little Squirrel’s cousins Sophia & Olivia's first birthday party, Tea's birthday party (we missed Cracker's because we were in London), the Greek Festival, one last trip each to the water park and the sprinkler park, and my 20th high school reunion.

The reunion turned out to be a lot of fun and the best part was getting to see old friends and meet their children/families. On Friday night we had our own mini grade school reunion with Raina, Jane, Dina and I (and families). It was so great to be able to see everyone and catch-up. Saturday night Raina, Jane, and I braved our 20th, ended up having a good time, and stayed out way, way too late.


We are now getting ready to go to through the Redwoods and up the Oregon coast on the way to Grandpa Ben's family reunion. We leave on Thursday and will have logged about 24 hours of driving time by our return on Tuesday evening. Little Squirrel is very excited because she spent the month of August learning about the ocean and sea creatures in school. She is also can't wait to see her Great-Grandma Florence (whom she hasn't seen since she was eight months old).

~KK

London Baby!

We just returned from our vacation to London and it was wonderful! Little Squirrel did a great job traveling and was quite upset that we had to come home. She skipped and danced her way though the entire trip.

Mama & LS at Legoland ................ LS on the Tube ............ Papa & LS on the London Eye

Her favorite things were seeing Big Ben, riding on the “dicker decker double bus” (especially on the top), Legoland, Yo Sushi, riding the tube (and all the escalators in the various tube stations), the Science Museum, and the zoo. Her least favorite things were going to bed at night (even though it was never even close to her bedtime at home), some of the food (there weren’t a lot of kid’s selections at most restaurants), and having to leave London.

LS at the Science Museum .........Papa & LS at the Zoo and at the Natural History Museum

Little Squirrel is definitely excited to go back in 2010 (and really wanted to know why we couldn’t go back next year). She is a little young to grasp the whole problem with the exchange rate (~$2 per £1 = ouch!). The good news is that we took 699 pictures so she has a little something to remember it by until we can return.

LS at Paddington Station....LS & Papa at our flat

~KK