HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Well..... we had a pretty successful fright night here in Portland. Between the parties and candy hunt on Mississippi Ave and late night (OK late for kiddos) trick or treating and imbibing (for the parents) in Irvington we all did pretty well. As you can see from the photos Kathe was a saucy witch and Ike was a furry pumpkin, although the pumpkin suit did not stay on too long.

Ike during his short stint in costume.

Kathe and Gillian (the twin witches of Monroe St). This was taken outside of Black Wagon (our friends store) just as the madness was beginning.

Working on their scary faces.

Showing off her pumpkins.

Calvin and Ramona

We hit every store and restaurant on Mississippi.

Asa the tiger!

Ike assessing his loot early on.

Ike and Caleb (the chicken) comparing their candy collection.

We don't know this kid, but he made a pretty cool Headless Horseman.

Kathe & Isabelle.

Monroe St Mafia seen here. From left to right: a black widow, a ladybug fairy, Prince Caspian, Peter Pan, Ike as himself, Asa the Tiger and Kathe the Witch!

After a couple hours trick of treating on Mississippi we stopped for pizza w/ our posse and then moved on to Irvington where we hooked up with Kathe's school chums. Irvington was madness! We traveled in a big group - lots of parents and kiddos. All the houses had candy (we even went to Kathe's teacher's house) and one house even had beer, wine and grillables.

Today the kids are counting and organizing their candy.

So, how was your Halloween?

Happy Fall

It's almost Halloween, but so much has happened since summer that we want to bring you up to speed! First off, Kathe started Kindergarten at Irvington School, her daddy's alma mater. It has been a great experience so far. She's making lots of friends and really enjoying herself. Here she is on the first day of school.

Here she is showing her school pride.

Ikey's getting in on the action too!

Ikey is 3!!!

Ikey turned 3 this summer and boy did we tear it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It would have been great if all of our friends and family could have been here, but it would have been a tight squeeze. One of the beauties of a summer baby is that you can always throw the bday party in your backyard.... except of course if there is a torrential downpour, which is what happened to us. So we had 40 or so people in the house, 1/2 of them kids, 1/2 of them found hiding in my closet. Chaos reigned, but we had a great time and Kathe taught Ike how to open presents.

That's our neighbor Scott holding court with the kiddos.

How cute are Jason and his little sister Beth? And tell me she's not working that party hat!

Ikey loved having his big cousing Jordan at the festivities!

Getting busy with some cupcakes!

Cute little birthday boy!

Summer 2009!

It's been way too long, we know, but we are back, hopefully for good. We have spent the summer very close to home barely venturing outside the city limits. We did have a nice hike on Oak Island just outside of Portland on Sauvie Island. We are hoping to make a new Sunday tradition out of it. If you come for a visit we promise to take you!

Exploring the marsh off the Oak Island trail

Looking for herons

Racing to the beach

Aryne has been toughing out the rough economy by working her tail off and trying to sell as many houses as possible. She's even started a real estate blog. Check it out at http://www.arynesblog.blogspot.com/. Kathe has been bouncing around the camp circuit since mid-June - zoo camp, theater camp, Spanish camp, soccer camp and just plain ole campy camp. She has taken a couple weeks off to spend some quality time hanging out with Aryne & Jason and be bored at home. There were a few adventures to the Chinese Garden, a hike at the Audobon Society and the Japanese Gardens, and some fun time spent swimming.

Kathe at Portland's Chinese Garden

Kathe and her friend Mavis hiking at the Audobon Society

Kathe workining on her kicks at swimming lessons

Jason teaching Ike to swim

We have spent a lot of time in the garden too. Jason has done a great job planting and harvesting our crops. We had delicious blueberries - you can see Kathe hiding behind the bushes above - peas, cukecumbers, lettuce, kale, herbs and we are just starting to get ripe tomatoes. Soon we'll have delicious sauce!
Impressive huh?