Summer Trip Part 1: Our First Taste of Oregon

We started our summer trip by heading out to Oregon to visit our very close friends Lisa & Scott.  They have 2 girls who got along wonderfully with our girls.  And it was a week of fun!  This was the first time I've been to Oregon and it was really wonderful.  We hope & plan to be back!



We played at the park:




We played on the front porch:




We played in Portland:








I was amazed by how beautiful and clean the streets & sidewalks were!


We visited the Oregon coast and had absolutely gorgeous weather (although a little chillier than we'd been used to this summer).














We played in more fountains:




And we enjoyed the amazingly beautiful drive through the state:



What a handsome driver!  Especially with that goatee he's growing...

Our Sojourn as Pet Owners

Meet Angel & Aurora!  We won them at a street fair in Grandma's neighborhood on Ella's birthday.  One of them lived for a month (don't ask me which was which).  The other was around for 2 months, but died when we left him/her with some friends while we went away.  Doesn't that figure.  We loved them while we had them and hope they had a good life.

Summer 2010

This summer was a hot one here in the big apple.  We hit record temperatures and had lots and lots of humidity.  Most of the summer was spent at the local (free) pool where cameras are strictly forbidden, so I have no photos to share.  Alexis finally overcame her fear of putting her face in the water and over the course of the summer learned to go under water, not hold her nose, jump in all the way, sort of attempt a swim, jump off a diving board, and paddle to the edge of the pool.  She loves the water.  Next year I will have to wait in the long line to get her enrolled in the free swimming lessons to solidify her new found skills.  Ella loved the pool as well, especially the enormous (read: Olympic size) wading pool.

We also took some adventure trips around the city-a few $1 movies, some trips to the zoo and various other playgrounds throughout the city with water features.  I would say the theme of our summer was to stay cool outside of our apartment (where it cost us $150 to cool 500 square feet of space).






This is the view of the George Washington Bridge from our roof on Independence Day.  And the Macy's fireworks that we were able to see, also from our rooftop.

Summer Camp

Alexis was able to spend a week all by herself at Nanny and Pop-pop's house upstate.  She had a grand time!  I drove her half way to their home and they came half way where we exchanged the little passenger.  She was so excited to get in their car and go home with them that she barely even said goodbye to me!  She spent the week and then Grandma Susan, Ella & I went up the following weekend to visit and bring Alexis home with us.  I'll post the reports I got from Nanny to record here all of the fun adventures she had. 

Monday Night:  All is well. When we got home Lexi unpacked and put her clothing in the chest of drawers in the blue room.  Then she busied herself with the things in the closet.  I found some Barbie paper dolls and lots of construction paper, etc. and added that to the supplies in there.  Then she watched "Pocohantas". After dinner Lexi had her bath :) Next, FHE...prayer, story time and game time.  Lexi is working on a game right now. We tried "The Cat and Mouse" board game but didn't like it so she is making one up.  We may try the C&M another time.  

Tuesday: Lexi and I went to the library this morning.  Got lots of books(some for her to read, some for me to read to her) and some DVDs.  She really liked our kids section.    We are planning to leave for the Park shortly.   Lexi has been riding her bicycle around the circle and is doing really well.  She is even speeding up some. Lexi seems quite content.  She is eating well and slept like a log. :)   I love her!!!  and of course so does pop-pop.  (she helps him pick the cucumbers and zucchini when ready)  

Thursday:  All is going well. :)   Perhaps a little more videos than you would approve of but I didn't realize all the Pokemon DVDs had several chapters on them!!!  But I figure it's a vacation trip........:)
The trip to the pageant (on Wednesday) went very well.  Barbara drove us up and back which was very nice for us.  She also came prepared with several fun activity books for Lexi to use up the long wait until pageant begins.  By chance, a primary girl and her parents from our Ward sat in our row so that was a nice thing for both girls.  I am impressed with Lexi's familiarity with the Book of Mormon.   She really knew what was going on.  It is a really dramatic presentation....lots of great effects.....storms, battles, mists, etc.  Quite different from when you went with us.  New and improved version.   



We may try the Park again this evening since we didn't realize the other day that the carousel and golf and boats were only operating from 5-9 pm.  
I think Lexi misses Ella.  She mentions her frequently and thinks about what Ella would think or do in certain situations.  :)  She bought Ella a gift with her spending money at Corning Museum.  That was a good trip too.  She says she is having a fun time so that is good to know.  She is sleeping like a log! :)
Today Barbara took a day off to continue moving in to their new house so Lexi and I will probably go over somtime for Lexi to see their house and maybe go in the lake.  (She did do a sprinkler thing in our back yard but we don't have a good sprinkler )

Friday: Lexi slept late this morning.  I guess she was worn out from her "swim" in the lake and our excursion to the Park in the evening.  We had a fun time.  The boats only operate on the weekends so that was a little disappointing  but she really enjoyed the miniature golf and so did we. :)  plus the carousel and train ride.

 

* I also want to add that there were 2 little neighbor boys who had liked to come out and chase her while she was riding her bike. Ha!  And she befriended the neighbor lady who let her come over and pick blueberries.


Lexi said her favorite part of the week was going to the Glass Museum.  "We got to eat pizza there!  And we bought a few things.  We saw some people make a glass bowl and then they broke it at the end of the show.  And we saw a glass breaking show.  And we could see how much stress was in a broken cd case.  And a kid got to break all the types of glass.  I liked that.  I even got to guess how many pots to make pies in were on this big round thing.  I guessed the wrong number.  I made it too high of a guess." 

Target Photo Booth

One afternoon while Matt, Ella & I were walking around the Upper West Side, we came across a Photo Booth sponsored by Target. So we took some free photos. Ella had just woken up from a nap in the stroller and was pretty grumpy. Can you tell?

(Any time we take photos in a photo booth, my head always ends up looker HUGE and Matt's looks so little. Grrrr.)

Sailing

Matt had a day out sailing with some of his buddies.  He had a great time- and the weather was gorgeous.  I'm a little jealous.

Lego Store

Lego recently opened a new flagship store in Rockefeller Center.  We went down to enjoy some of the celebrations.  We were able to assist in the construction of a huge red apple made entirely of lego bricks.  I totally love Legos and with the direction they gave us, I could have stayed for an hour making bricks for the apple.  We watched them build it up a bit, but didn't see it to completion- and it only lasted for the 3-day grand opening celebration.

Here we are building the large bricks out of smaller bricks:

And Alexis & Ella were happy to haul all the bricks over to the Big Apple.

There was also a separate building table where you were given a flat building sheet and could use all the green bricks you wanted to create whatever you wanted.  They then displayed the creations all along the promenade at Rockefeller Center.  Here are the girls pointing out their creations.  I don't really know what they are (and Ella's is not the one that says New York- I think it's the one behind that.)

End of an Era Videos

Here are the videos from Alexis' Stepping Up Ceremony:

The End of an Era

Alexis has finished Kindergarten. We are amazed at the academic and social progress she has made this year!  Thank you to Ms. L for her leadership and wonderful way with the children.  Alexis adores her to pieces and the night after the last day of school, she was crying in bed because she already missed Ms. L!

The children hosted a "Stepping Up Ceremony".  They did a little program, sang a few songs, said something that they learned this year, received their certificates, and then we had a nice potluck lunch and visited with the other families.  The class will be moving up together and they will all be in the same class again next year.  It is nice that they all get along well and are looking forward to next year.

Jada, Amaya, Alexis, Julinna & Aliana


Alexis & Ms. L


Alexis receiving her certificate

Yankee Stadium Expo

Grandpa Portlock took us to the Yankee Stadium Expo... the girls got their faces painted and some balloon animals and lots of free stuff from various vendors (including backpacks from Boar's Head).  We had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe Yankee Stadium, and then spent some time at home playing with Grandpa.  Fun day!

Alexis had another performance at the end of the school year- this time with the dance classes. It was called "Back to Oz" and Alexis' class were little munchkins. This performance was really well done. The kids were well prepared, the costumes were great, and it was very entertaining. Well done, kids!

Here are Karen, Amaya, Alexis & Jada just before getting the rest of their costumes on.