Surviving the heat

Oftentimes the girls get in such dramatic, emotionally charged battles that when I see them playing together like this video shows, having such fun, it makes me smile. This video was taken just before bed on day 3 of over-100 degree, humid days. The heat made all of us a little cranky (well, maybe a lot cranky at times!). Thank goodness for sprinklers!

Also, I had to share a new talent of Julia's discovered at the dinner table tonight. Who knows what her future holds now! We all had a good laugh.......

Biker babes

This morning we rode in the Portland Bridge Pedal. We did the 6 bridge ride which starts downtown and snakes its way across 6 bridges (there is also an 8 and 11 bridge ride). The fantastic things about the ride are that you are riding on some freeways and can stop on the top of some of the bridges and take pictures and admire the views. Julia rode her own bike and Emma rode on the tag-a-long behind Chris. We rode a total of 14 miles and the girls hung in there the whole time. Julia did proclaim at the end, "I am not getting on my bike at all anymore today!" Here are a few pictures from our ride.

Busy week

So quickly I have fallen behind in my blogging duties! Sorry for the delay in posting something new. This past week was busy and by evening I was too tired. Now I have some catching up to do. This past week we went to the zoo with some friends, went downtown and watched the Red Bull Flugtag (which was crazy - people create man-powered flying contraptions and launch them off the end of a runway into the Willamette River - very entertaining as you can imagine!), and spent a gorgeous day at the beach. The beach day trip was an attempt to console two very disappointed girls (and their parents were bummed too) when our trip to Seattle to visit Auntie M and family was postponed due to cousin Nate's 72 hour fever. After a trip to the doctor, it seems that it is just a bug he's dealing with but the weekend wouldn't have been very relaxing for Molly and Sous. We'll look forward to a visit in September.

As school is nearing, I am seeing more and more of a third grader and kindergartener in the girls. Last week we were going to take Lewis for a walk and Julia had the idea of Emma and her pushing their doll strollers along. I agreed and we set off. They were having a great time pretending they were out on an exciting trek with their babies. As we approached the park, Julia noticed a few of her friends from school playing there. She quickly came over to me and said, "Mom, can you push this for me? I really want to walk Lewis." I understood her true motive - "I can't let my friends see me pushing a baby stroller!" It was one of those times when I saw how grown up she is becoming. That along with the, "Mooommmmmmm's" and the gloomy glares.

Emma has been full of 5 -year- old lately. She is very animated and loves to talk with her imaginary prince and princess friends. One afternoon she spent over an hour in the backyard playing, by herself, what appeared to be a quite emotional meeting, parting, and rescuing with the prince and princess. All this while wearing her swimsuit, pink fuzzy dress up shoes, and one knee pad. She has an imagination, that one.......

The beginning of the hole

The end of the hole

The quiet car ride home

Enjoying the new dinosaur exhibit at the zoo -note the giant T-Rex in the background-the roar was loud!

Snow cone tongues

The girls enjoying the Flugtag with friend Simon