First Day of School

It is official! Hannah has started school. Here she is on the first day of school sporting her new uniform. They require navy pants with a light blue, or white collared shirt. She looks so cute. Her backpack is slightly large for her, but she loves it just the same.

Nara Visit

FINALLY!!!! We have seen the cute pictures and heard the cute stories, but we hadn't met Nara. Well, we finally met her. Joy and Nara came home to visit for about a week. We were able to get the girls together and play a couple times, or should I say scoot and roll!!! Elayna just stared most of the time, Hannah wasn't too sure about two little ones underfoot, and Nara was intrigued by all the new "mouth" toys she could get her hands on. It was fun watching the babies interact. It doesn't seem like they are doing much, but they seemed to coo, or squawk in unison. Next year it is our turn to visit them in Texas!!! That should be enjoyable, two toddlers on an airplane!

West Coast Trip 2

While on our trip, our friends determined our destinations. In Portland, we were lucky enough to meet up with our college roommate and his wife. We don't see Chris and Libby near as much as we should, but it was fun enjoying a meal with them. Next year we will have to plan a longer trip to the Oregon coast.

In Aberdeen, we met up with my relatives. In the top center are the cousins, Amy, Carrie, Jennifer, Justin and myself. I had never met Jennifer. Her and Justin married only five years ago! She is a fabulous addition to the family. I hadn't seen Justin and Carrie for over ten years!!!! Glad we were able to spend some time with each other. In the upper right is my dad's only sister, Aunt Becky. Again, it has been a while since I have seen her. Finally, in the bottom left is the Aberdeen family, Amy, Elayna, Carrie, dad, Aunt Becky, Justin, and Uncle Gene. The visit was short, but enjoyable.

After we left Aberdeen we headed toward Seattle. We weren't about to drive around Seattle, being so close and all. So, we stopped at Pike Street Market and met up with another great college buddy, Orrin. We had a delicious seafood dinner then went to the Asian market the next morning. Wish we had things like that in Idaho Falls. Again, we will have to take a longer trip next year.

All-in-all it was a good trip. It was tiring by the end and I was glad to be back home with Ed, but it was also fun to get away. We can cross a couple more states off of Hannah's and Elayna's travel book. Hannah has now been in 15 states (only two were due to airports) and Elayna is up to 6. Not bad if you ask me.

West Coast Trip

The girls and I were lucky enough to go to the west coast for a small summer vacation. We made it to five towns in seven days. Not bad considering we were traveling with a 3 year old and a three month old. We started out spending a night in Boise, then moved along to Portland for a night, worked our way north to Aberdeen for two nights. We crossed a ferry into Seattle for a night, then started back east towards Missoula for a night and finally back home. Here are some cute pics of things we did. We stopped at a hatchery in Oregon where Hannah saw her first fish ladder. There was also a massive stergeon there. His name is Herman and he seems to be the mascot of the place. He is in the upper right corner. Hard to see, but he is almost twice as long as the man taking the picture. We ended up taking Hannah back to the Pacific. It has been almost two years since she has been there. She thoroughly enjoyed it. At one point a wave completely wiped her and me flat. Fear set in as she was scrambling to stay above the water....granted it was only six inches deep, but retreating waves move fast!!! Hind sight it was hysterical!!! I was completely soaked to boot. Also, we were able to stop in Astoria and see the Goonies house!!!! They say they get as many as 100 tourists a day to take a picture of the house. Amazing, especially considering how old the movie is. The small bat on the bottom of the frame was about one foot out of our hotel room door. It stayed there for a couple days then was gone. Finally, Hannah enjoyed taking a ride on the luggage cart at the Hilton. It was a nice stay (we were in the executive suite), but I think I'm not cut out for the high and mighty life style. I didn't know what to do, or how to act "appropriately"! I guess it was fun pretending though.