So, where were we….

In addition to the non-stop fun and cavalcade of relatives, the computer hard drive crashed, again. Computer tech on the side Mommy diagnosed it and replaced it. Dad is almost officially banned from touching the computer. He’s got some bad laptop juju. He’s going to have to get his own if he keeps breaking this one.

That notwithstanding…

We’ve had an exciting couple of weeks. We went down to Sun River for a cousin reunion of sorts. It was my uncle’s 75th birthday. I’m very fortunate that a few years ago they settled on Sun River as a great place to spend a week in the summer, and their children, my cousins head out there too. Otherwise, I would never see them, and certainly not keep in touch with them, except maybe the occasional Facebook status update or wall posting.

For this momentous birthday, my cousin who is an editor on a very successful reality show or two, spent the last year travelling around and contacting her father’s family, friends and co-workers, shooting footage of them sharing memories about her father. She spent nearly 1000 hours, over the past 3-4 months to whittle it all down into a 45 minute amazing video of his life story; the world premiere of which was in Sun River! To top it off, my sister was the chef for the weekend, cooking fabulous meals for everyone every night, including salmon that was better than restaurant quality.

The house the family was staying at was near a great park. Little S and I wandered down there a couple of days. The first day, she crawls up the landings to the arch and proceeds to climb the darn thing without any fear!

Climbing over my head, until she got to the point where she had to crawl down the other side, and that didn’t quite compute.

She crawled all the way up to the big slide and went down it like a 4 year old. It was tall and fast, but that didn’t bother her.

She also started something new over the weekend down there. Perhaps inspired by 6 year old cousin once-removed (or something like that), she chose that weekend to start standing by herself.

As if that weren’t enough, since she was summarily dismissed from the premier of the movie for not turning off her cell phone, or something like that, she decided she would prove she didn’t need us anyway and took her first unaided steps for Dad!

Of course none of this was captured on the camera, other than the cell phone camera, so, you’ll just have to take our word for it for now.

We got back from our getaway and the next morning Nana and Bim (Grandma and Grandpa) were here for a few days visit. She showed off how big she’s getting with the assisted walking down stairs maneuver

And, she’s developed a complete OBSESSION with her bike!  Once we discovered how fearless she was, she now has to wear her helmet when she rides it, which means much of the day is spent pointing to the closet door where her helmet is and signing the word for “hat”. And signing and saying bike. (which sounds like Bee)

 

She will ride that thing down small hills and pick up her feet to go faster. She will cross the street (with us as crossing guards) and ride down a whole block and back. Unfortunately, she discovered that it’s really fun to push it up a hill and then pick up her feet to roll back fast. At least she likes her helmet!

The neighbors have a little bit older kids and told us we could borrow their bike, which just sits there most of the time. Turns out, that wasn’t such a great idea.

 

Because she is in LOVE with it. She doesn’t have to do anything but steer while Mom or Dad pushes on the (broken) handle on the back (that makes us have to bend over the whole time). But, she can go much faster! So today, she ditched her bike, crawled up the driveway and told dad she wanted to ride that bike. He obliged, and now she wants nothing to do with her bike outside. She’ll still use it inside to do zooming laps around the living room, but she has MOVED ON outside. She can’t touch the pedals, so she doesn’t get any exercise with it, but it’s still her preferred mode of transport now.

There’s some great video of all of this. I’ll work on getting that up for the next installment of the Lorpi files!

(maybe this will work…)

We now pause summer for a brief blog break

It’s just been a non-stop ferris wheel o’fun here in Lorpi land. No time to stop for blogging.

So, eventually it stopped being so darn hot. And has done a complete 360 to being rainy and low 70’s here. A welcome respite from all the watering I’ve had to do this summer.

Aunt Aimee came to town for a nice long visit.

She watched Little S while Mom went away for three days/two nights of camping and music at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington. (no really, that’s the name of the town).

Mommy was very happy to get to go and see her all time favorite band, Phish. Thanks to a great co-worker, I went with a group of about 25 people for a great weekend.

We had a great camp for everyone to get some shade during the day, eat communal meals together, meet new friends, and have a little home away from home.

This was among 10,000 or so of our closest friends ALSO camped there

But none of that mattered once the music started at arguably one of the most beautiful places in the world to see a concert

So, after that exhausting weekend, Mommy’s got a little cold, but Aunt Aimee is still here to baby entertain. Next stop, more relatives, then more relatives. First, we have to survive what seems to be some horrendous teething pains. Teething baby + sick Mommy= Thankgoodnessforauntaimeehowsooncanyoumovehere.

*photo credits of venue to K8 A. & Girl Jamie

Portland, Arizona

Yep. It’s been hot.

 

And hot some more.

Most of the week over 100 degrees, 105 and 106 paid us a visit. So, it’s been a good week to stay in the A/C.

Little S entertained herself like a regular teenager

When Big S told her to hang up the phone and clean her room, I think he got the eyeroll

 

She’s not walking yet, but she’s climbing anything and everything.  

I guess that’s her way of telling us it’s dinner time.

We’re not only supposed to get back to some real weather, but there’s a lot of exciting family events coming up in the next three weeks. It should be more inspiring photography and blog-worthy.

Sunday Ride

Summer! Great time for a bike ride.

I know. I told him to wear a helmet.

Big S was at an industry show last week and was able to finally get a bike seat for Little S. We took it’s out on it’s inaugural ride today.

Big S did the work of pedaling our little Cleopatra. Which is great because he has a bell on his bike that entertained Little S. Necessary to distract her from trying to tear off her helmet, which happened a few times. By the end of our jaunt, she decided it wasn’t bad.

Of course what’s a bike ride without a fun destination, like a park. Little S is all about climbing up anything she can find, so we went to a playground with a few kiddie climbing structures. Mostly, they were too hot, so she went to climb things in the shade

Where we rested up before our bike ride home.

The next three days are forecast to be 100+, so I envision lots of staying inside for a while. Probably not much blogging so you aren’t subjected to “Hot, blah, blah, blah, hot, blah, awful, miserable, hot, blah, blah, blah.”

Hopefully this will hold you for the next few days.

Life’s a beach

In anticipation of what was supposed to be a hot day, a couple of friends, the dogs, Little S and myself planned an outing to the beach at Sauvie Island.

As luck would have it, the heat wave they are calling for got pushed back to a few days from now (oh joy of joys), and the morning started cloudy and cool. The clouds burned off about the time Little S got up from her nap, and away we went!

Last week at Sunday Parkways, Little S discovered sand. She seemed to think it was pretty neat stuff. However, hours later upon removing her diaper, there was half a sandbox in there with her. (I know, experienced Moms know this. It was a new one for me). So this week, I figured the best way to avoid sand in the diaper was

no diaper.

Technically the “clothing optional” beach is about a mile up the road, but I felt pretty safe we weren’t going to get a ticket for this little naturist. (they aren’t called nudists anymore, they’re called naturists)

A good time was spent by Little S watching the doggies play in the water

and getting some cross training in with her push-ups

and lots of climbing onto driftwood logs. Driftwood is pretty smooth, so don’t worry about splinters, people.

After a few hours, the girls were all tired, but declared it a great day at the beach!

General awesomeness

It’s been a heck of a weekend, and it’s not even over yet.

Friday had us visiting our friend Sunny at her friends pool, attempting to donate blood (me, not Little S) and some delicious food and child entertainment at Laurelwood. Delicious cold microbrews and cheap food along with a children’s play area was a great way to spend a HOT Happy Hour in A/C. 

Saturday morning started with a long run along the waterfront with my friend Jacki and cuteness in the form of Little S entertaining us the entire way. After a dip in the pool that afternoon and some errands, it was a great night to go to bed early!

Sunday started with our normal trek to the park, this time without Furry S who was with Big S at training. So we had time to play at the playground. After naptime, we met up with our friend Deb and her daughter E for a trek through Sunday Parkways. Another awesome Portland event. They close down the roads for 7 miles and loop everyone through three different parks. You can ride (almost everyone did) walk, run, skateboard, rollerblade, scooter, you name it, as long as it’s human powered. It started off with a few obstacles; Little S having her morning all out of whack so we started later than we had wanted, my friend Deb left her bike at work, got all the way there and forgot her keys, the camera didn’t end up taking any pictures… All was not lost. We met up at Wilshire park with our jogging strollers, the girls played in the sand and then we headed out.

It was so great to see hundreds  of people out, enjoying the perfect summer Sunday. Mostly biking and it seemed like at least 33% of them had kid/kids in tow. Trailer, bike seat, trail-a-bike, clever cycle, their own pedal power, you name it!! It felt like everyone in Portland who has a kid was out! Vendors and activities at all of the parks. In the end, we only went to two of the three because I’m a wuss and it was too hot to keep running. And, my legs were done! The whole time, I kept thinking that I can’t wait for Little S to be old enough to REALLY enjoy the absolute fun and joy that everyone was experiencing on their bikes today.

She’s getting ready though. She knows the sign for and can almost say “bike” and she’s mastered climbing on and off of her bike.

We want her to be exposed to a variety of things in her life. Here, she shows off her mad climbing skills

(too early for sponsorship?)

She also is honing her bird watching skills

And, she helped Dad build furniture this week

While I’m not looking forward to what will be a long and hot week, I know it’s just a matter of days until I get to spend some more fun time with this girl

Never a dull week

The big fourth of July holiday may be over, but we don’t let the fun end in the Lorpi house. Here’s our week in review.

I thought I was a pretty good cook, but evidently it’s not to Little S’ liking. She’s having to look elsewhere for sustenance.

Dad takes her to the Children’s Museum nearly every week. Endless adventures await them each week. Sometimes it’s peek-a-boo

sometimes it’s just lounging with a different book

Mom had a night out at the Night Ride. It’s a fun ride with thousands of Portlanders. All decked out in costumes, lights and glowsticks with several fun stops on the course with entertainment, snacks and doughnuts at the end! There were some fun costumes. Mine… well, at least it wasn’t spandex. (my garden in the background. Hooray for sunflowers)

Proper hydration is important on a long ride.

Hey, like mother, like daughter. Love of peebers runs in the family.

And, the most important development of the week. We finally got Little S to eat pizza! We had started to worry about her genetics and discussing the possibility of trading her in for a different baby that liked pizza. She's finally come around and saved us all the hassle of finding a new model.

This week, plain cheese. Next week supreme!

4th of July # 2

The last one-well, Mom held Little S up to the TV to watch the fireworks, and then back to eating & bed.

This one, Little S and the Lorpi family went to our friend Emma’s. She had a BBQ, a big lawn to crawl around in with ample shade, a swimming pool with a hole in it so we didn’t have to get too wet, lots of Lorpi family friends and most importantly STAIRS.

Dad got to show off his manly Daddy skills by lighting fireworks for Little S’ amusement.

 

She’s amused. I promise. So is the rest of the crowd.

At least those that weren’t too busy eating delicious food, including my red, white and blue poke cake. Even if it was sort of pink, purple, blue and greenish.

We played a little ball

 

We learned you really got to keep an eye on her. or as Daddy calls this:

Drink

Drank

Drunk

The kid’s got good taste AND is patriotic with her red, white and blue PBR.

Thanks to our hostest with mostest Emma for a great 4th of July!

A Long (Hot) holiday weekend

Our babysitter’s son has hand, foot and mouth disease (poor kid) and couldn’t be around Little S, so Mom took an extra day off on Thursday to have a four day weekend with her bestest daughter.

We are in the midst of the great Stand-athon. And Hold-my-hands-while-I-walk-up-and-down-and-up-and-down-stairs-athon. Here, we wistfully dream of life beyond the gate where there are practically hundreds of stairs just waiting!

In protest of her mean parents who won’t let her get to the stairs,  I think she tried to call the grandparents to see if they could get us to change our mind

 

No luck yet.

To try and beat the heat, we’ve been heading to the pool at lunch for parent-preschool swim. A time so the younger kids don’t get too sodden by the bigger kids and their bigger splashes. After swimming, we have a little picnic in the park and then head home VERY ready for our nap. Today, we felt rather flexible

Or maybe she was just showing off her cool shoes that Daddy got her

After afternoon nap, we went over to Jim and Lisa’s for a change of scenery for everyone (and some fruity adult beverages too!)

Lisa is great with Little S and plays with her the whole time. It’s a nice time for Mom to get to relax a little and enjoy Little S having fun with other grown-ups.

The warm weather has given some curl to Little S’ hair. I tried to get a picture of it, but that child does not consider holding still on her list of priorities

 

Still two more days left in the long weekend. These will be even better because DADDY has them off too! Hooray!