Grandparent time

Emma enjoyed spending some good quality time with Grandpa and Grandma T, and Grampy and Grammy D.

The happy traveler

A bedtime flight home after all the festivities with our families. Emma was exhausted, but had a hard time containing her excitement when it came to riding on the airplane!

A visit with Snoopy

Emma had a date with Snoopy in Minneapolis. They met up during a layover for a quick playdate at the airport playground!

The infamous football helmet

The kids seem to always be drawn to this helmet during each of our visits to the midwest. Emma posed with her best tough face, but had to pull off the helmet to reveal her true delightful self!

Beating the heat

Emma had no problems cooling off in the backyard pool at Grammy and Grampy's house. She even had the pleasure of hosting a couple of friends from next door at an impromptu pool party!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Ken had a wonderful birthday celebration this year. We had a birthday lunch for him, including a yummy birthday cake (thanks for baking that Grammy). Lunch was followed by an afternoon out on the lake with friends. Emma definitely enjoyed her time with Grammy and Grampy and Tate and Carter too. They had an afternoon of water play with the neighborhood kids, followed by some card playing with Grammy. Cousin Carter taught us all how to play a new card game too..."Garbage". It's lots of fun to play!

'Take me out out to the ball game...'

We had a chance to catch a Milwaukie Brewer baseball game while in WI this year. Emma's favorite part was waiting for the Brewers to hit a home run so Bernie, the mascot, would slide down the big slide into a pool of water (I think we all secretly liked that part too!)

Mini Golf Madness

We went extreme (or at least it was pretty extreme compared to the mini golf course at the DQ where I went as a kid) mini golfing while in Madison this year. This was Emma's first experience with a golf club, and she much preferred playing on all the obstacles rather than trying to get the ball in the hole. Her two little cousins enjoyed the course as well, and also had some pretty impressive golf swings too.

Whoa horseeeee!

Emma got to finally ride her new pony that Grandpa made for her. Heidi (the pony) is being stabled at Grandma and Grandpa's house for riding fun during our visits!

The ABC girls...Live!

Haley and Emma rocking the outdoor stage at the Worthington amphitheater. Nobody sings the ABC's like these two!

Park girls

Haley and Emma did not seem to mind the extreme heat, if it meant they got to play at the park. Of course, they only got to slide half way down the slide, because the bottom half was too hot! That did not detour their excitement of getting to play together though.

Baby Chloe

Emma was so excited to see baby Chloe during our visit to MN this summer. She has been doing a lot of practicing with her own baby dolls in preparation for this visit. I think Emma was a little surprised by how big Chloe has gotten since she last saw her at Christmas. Emma had a blast playing with her baby cousin, even though she wasn't a tiny baby anymore!

Picnic in the park

We enjoyed a fun afternoon with some extended family during our trip to Minnesota. It was great catching up with some of my aunts, uncles and cousins!

Family

Our ever growing crew...with one more on the way in October!

Roller coasters big and small

A trip to Arnold's Park in Okoboji, IA proved to be an excellent way to spend a nice summer afternoon. The girls enjoyed (well, at least Haley and Emma did...Isabel, hmm, not so much) the mini roller coaster, which went surprisingly fast around it's hilly course. Tom and Ken also enjoyed their front seat view on what might be the worlds oldest roller coaster. Grandpa T informed us that Great Grandma and Grandpa T rode that same roller coaster when they were young. Nathan and I rode the coaster later with Tom and Ken, and got the treat of getting to go around twice without having to get off the ride...the perks of a small town amusement park!

Later in the day...the 3 "daredevil" girls wanted to ride the big water flume ("big, big water slide"). The girls got a little scared when we were way up at the top, and were floating in the river waiting for our turn down the slide. They got over those fears pretty quickly though, after the adrenaline rush from going down the flume for the first time. In fact, I believe we proceeded to go down another 5 times before we finally had to entice them away from the ride with a promise to go on the bumper cars next.

Sleepover!!!

The girls set up camp in Grandma and Grandpa's basement for a long awaited sleepover together. They did eventually fall asleep after reading stories (several), drinking water (gallons--okay, not really gallons, but for as many "one more sip" requests that we heard, it sure seemed that way), and many trips to the bathroom (I believe all three of them requested to go at different times, and girls being girls--they had to go to the bathroom in a group each time). But they sure did have a blast sleeping next to each other on their big bed of blankets!

Tired traveler

We decided to take the red eye flight for this summer's vacation. Emma was so excited, that she stayed up until midnight--when our flight left Portland. She did sleep the whole flight, and during our layover in Mpls too.

Our new house...or at least new paint!

We are delighted to finally have a house that is one color again. After pouring over color swatches for several days...I think we got the outcome we were looking for.

The Enchanted Playhouse

Emma enjoyed the new rock wall at the indoor play gym. This is in addition to the tall tunnel slide, and the bouncy house--which were already her favorites!

Cape Meares

On our way back to Portland, we made a quick stop to check out the lighthouse at Cape Meares, and came across this Octopus tree. Emma was gracious enough to pose for a picture to help us remember the wonderful short hike to the tree.

The perfect ending...

Nothing beats a stop in Tillamook for an ice cream cone, after a weekend of camping. Emma, being the ice cream connoisseur she is, was able to finish off her mountain of cookies and cream before it melted in the sun!

Sand Angels

Emma was covered from head to toe in sand most of the weekend. She could not get enough of the beach, and absolutely loved every minute of this camping trip!

Cape Lookout...Part 2

In addition to the awesome campsite, it was a mere one minute walk to the beach. We enjoyed some of the nicest weather we have seen at the beach...sunny, warm, and NOT windy. In fact, we tried to fly our kite on the beach, and the only time we could get it up in the air was when Ken was running at full speed.

Cape Lookout

The Meyer/Dyreson posse's headed to this awesome campsite for the weekend. We had a great campsite, which include an Emma size tree for climbing. Emma had a wonderful time playing with the Meyer dogs too...Marty and the "new puppy".

Happy July 4th!

We had a lovely trip to Silverton, OR to celebrate the 4th of July with friends. Silverton has a lovely city park that was enjoyed by all. Emma and Elias had lots of fun racing down the slide, checking out the river, eating roasted marshmellows, and of course running around with sparklers.