The best of the rest.

Sept 24 - Wednesday.

Katie, ever the little girly-girl (figures, doesn't it?), had to wear her new dress today. We went swimming with Grammy and our friend Chari, then we went out for sushi. Katie loves sushi, especially inari (rice with a sweet tofu wrapper) and california rolls.

Then we did some shopping for the kid who has outgrown all the clothes she got for her birthday.

And we headed over to watch Aubrey's first volleyball game.

Then we went home, and Papa took pictures of the poor kid eating supper. This one cracks me up.
"Hey! I'm eating here!"

Sept 25 - Thursday

Katie got new sunglasses, since her other ones broke. She's such a cool dude. She started strutting as soon as we let her put them on.

Today we went to Safari Sam's. It's a big indoor jungle gym, well maintained and clean. Katie loved it. She went up this net the first time, hanging onto my neck like a little monkey. Then 3 or 4 times "Katie do it!".

"Hi Grammy!"

And we had to sit on Papa's motorcycle so we could neenor-neenor at Daddy. I hear it's for sale if anyone is interested.

Sept 26 - Friday

All the fun caught up with a little girl and she got sick in the night. Only lasted for 2 days (until Mommy found some good homeopathics), but it sure knocked her out, and it delayed our trip by a couple of days, but no worries.

She wanted to hear Daddy's voice, but she didn't have the energy to talk to him.

This one must've been Saturday, after she started feeling a bit better.

Sept 29 - Monday

Sunday Katie felt great, so we drove back to Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa's house.
Monday, Great-Uncle Gary and Great-Aunty Joy came for supper and to play a bit.

What's he got in that pillowcase?

A goofy little kid, that's what!
She must've spent about half an hour in that pillowcase, swinging and laughing. We think that Uncle Gary reminds her of Papa, because she latched right onto him. I have some good video of this, but I have to figure out how to edit it to a reasonable length on this computer before I can post it.

Sure looks like she's having a good time, doesn't she?

And that brings us back home, and I haven't taken any pictures since then. Too busy putting the house back together and having Thanksgiving dinner all over the countryside. As soon as I find my scanner though, I'll get up some before & after pictures of the house. It's incredible.

Sept 23 - OMSI

When I was a kid, there really wasn't anything that was really geared toward little kids at OMSI. But boy has that changed. There is a whole giant room just for preschoolers, and Katie loved it. We met our friends Korin & Ruby, and some of their friends as well, and we all played and chatted and it was a great morning. Katie did not want to leave.

There is a sand pit, with all sorts of colanders and funnels and buckets and shovels and trucks and animals. And a walkway that gathers the sand as you leave, of course. Can't have that everywhere else.

And a big tub in the middle that you could climb into and play. See those pant cuffs? Even when you think you've got all the sand out of them, you don't. And the pockets are worse. Next time, we wear leggings.

There's a little make-believe store with a cash register and baskets and play food.

There's a cool ball track where you can see what happens when you turn pipes and when you go to the other side. That little orange cone on the side has air coming out of it so that the ball will hover.

This air tube shoots balls out of the top of it and into a big funnel when you close the little flap. Katie figured that out real quick.

And Gak. Katie was all over cutting it with the cookie cutters and the scissors, but she did not like to touch it. Not so with Miss Ruby down at the end there.

But, of course, Katie's favorite will always be the water tables. She went back 3 times.

There are fun little turny things to see how water moves, boats and ducks and things to float down the current...

And they provide gumboots and waterproof smocks in a variety of sizes, so that you don't end up sopping wet.

Once we pried her away from there, we went to lunch with Papa and stopped by a grocery store on the way home. The man at the checkout counter let her pick a sticker, and she picked a butterfly. We got her in the car and she had peeled it off the paper and couldn't figure out where it went.

I don't know, Katie, maybe someone else can tell you.
"Where sticker go?"

Falling behind

I have more pictures to post, I promise.
We are home now and all the indoor renos are done and for the most part the house looks fantastic. The only job now is to move stuff back to the renoed areas and clean up. Oh right, and finish unpacking from our trip. Hoping to get to the pictures before Monday.

Sept 22.

Mommy prints. Katie prints.

Today we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium and had a great time. It was a beautiful day, and Katie loved all the animals.

The sea otters were rolling around, Katie thought it was so funny to watch them underwater.
The seals and sea lions were playing, swimming and sunning.
She loved all the fish.
Especially the ones in the touch pools, because she actually got to pet them. They have 2 touch pools and Katie thought that was the best part. She was very sad to leave.
These anchovies are pretty wild. Flashy little things.
Outside they have a nature trail and a play area for kids. The play area is a bunch of bronze and cement animals. And Katie wasn't too sure about playing on them. They sure don't look like anything she's been allowed to play on before. We finally managed to convince her to sit on the tortoise, but just barely long enough to get a picture.
After the aquarium, we headed up to Lincoln City to the Alder House. We've been going to watch Buzz blow glass since I was about 6, and I love it as much now as I did then. He's making an oil lamp here.

Someone was too tired to appreciate it, so we snuggled up and watched the little weasel who had snuck in to visit earlier.
One last stop before we went home. (Okay we had supper after too.)
You can't go to the coast and not go down to the beach.

Katie and Grammy took off to go see the ocean.
A little closer.
Oh no! Not that close!
I think Grammy's legs got a bit wetter than she was hoping for, and she nearly lost her shoes. But Papa and I had a good laugh.
But Katie was very upset that her feet got dirty.
So we cleaned our feet, got some amazing Thai food for supper, got back in the car and headed back to Grammy and Papa's house to rest up for our OMSI adventure the next day.

Sept 19-20

Grammy and Papa have a new kitty. They rescued her from the farm where Grammy works after her mom disappeared. Her name is Taffy and Katie LOVES her. Taffy's not so sure she loves Katie, but Katie is very gentle.

First you have to find her. She likes to hide under Papa's chair.

Then you hold her, ever so gentle.

And take her for a ride in the stroller! We were all (except Katie) shocked that the poor cat actually stayed in the stroller and went for a ride around the house.

Saturday, Grammy & Mommy went for massages and pedicures. Then Papa brought Katie and she got her toes painted too. With sparkly purple polish. She was so very excited to sit in the big chair and let the lady paint her toes. Too funny.

September 16-17

Visiting with Katie's Great-Grandparents. Two of my favorite people. Since they live more or less halfway between our house and my parents' house, it gives us a good stopping point to have a break from all the driving, and we love to visit with them.

Katie made sure that Grandpa got down to business with the sidewalk chalk.
Oooh! A bug, Grampa!
Then the lawn needed watered and the chalk got washed away, so she made sure Grandma helped too.
"Oh, Honey"
This kid hates getting her feet dirty.

Finally

14 September

You've seen this one, but I love it, so here it is again. I think the shirt is highly appropriate.
"I do all my own stunts."
We had to stop for supper anyway, and I decided that since Katie had been doing so well in the car for such a long time, we needed to find a park as well. And we did. Rotary Park in Fernie, B.C. It's a fantastic little park, with plenty of options for play.

You can drive...
Like a mad woman.

Crawl through numerous tunnels.
and you can "fwing!"
Of course, after all this fun, a person hardly wants to get back in the car. So we only made it a little farther that day, to the closest town with less expensive lodging.

Don't mind the chili remnants on her face, we forgot the napkins in the car and couldn't be bothered to go back just for that.

Weary travellers.

No new pictures today, but hopefully more tomorrow. I'm back in a place with wireless internet (oh how I've missed you!) and I can upload pictures from my computer again.

Katie and I had a fantastic few days with Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa in Idaho and made our way to Oregon today. We ended up taking a couple of wrong turns but we made it here in one piece, and in good time. And I just realized we forgot to call the Greats and tell them. Sorry! I'll call first thing in the morning!

Now we're both exhausted. Katie's crashed out in her bed, Mom has crashed (because she never can sleep the day before she sees us) and I'm nearly asleep sitting in this chair.

So pictures will come later.

Up too late with a teaser of things to come.

As we crested a hill this evening, I noticed a woman standing next to her car on the side of the road. A bit odd for the location. But I looked in my mirror and saw this. So we had to stop too. This picture doesn't do it justice at all, but it's the best of 20 shots with my point & shoot camera. A rich indigo sky, a reflection on the mountains of the vibrant pink sunset, and trees in the foreground just starting to show their autumn color. Absolutely beautiful. I love the Rocky Mountains.

Katie and I are traveling for a bit, and we're stopped for the night in a little town about 4 hours from our first destination. We are both too tired and too tired of being cooped up in the car to continue tonight. We'll start again in the morning.
I should be sleeping. But I just can't pass up the opportunity for this.
It's not often that I'm allowed to watch her sleep anymore, especially since she decided to be a big kid who sleeps by herself in her own room.
She's still just as precious as ever.

And here's the teaser.
Katie was so good in the car for hours on end (nearly 12 hours on the road today, including stops.), so we picked up some sandwiches and chili for supper and found a park to have a picnic. She had a blast, and I've got loads of cute pictures.
I'd have had this picture centered better if I wasn't holding her over my head with my other hand. Still, I like the way it turned out.