Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Baby Squirrels

Today in the car Ginny said "Mama, I am holding baby squirrels."
"How many Ginny" I said
"five" she replied
"How can you hold five Squirrels Ginny?" I asked
"they're tiny mama" she replied

Later when showing them to Dad

"There's a pink one Ginny!" Ben said
"Yes, Daddy pink ballerina squirrels."

Saturday, July 26, 2008

On Top of Oregon

This is Mount Hood. It's the tallest mountain in Oregon, towering more than 11,000 feet over Portland and the Columbia Gorge. Why not climb it?

This picture is from Trillium Lake, where we camped the night before. This spot is so scenic I was able to snap this picture while talking to Bri on my cell phone. We (myself, Brandon, our friend Chris, Ashley's dad Dave, and his friends Matt and Ben) started up the mountain at 6:30am. The first two-and-a-half hours were spent walking up through Timberline Ski Area, which is open year-round. Here I am at the top of the ski area next to the last out-of-bounds markers. In case you haven't noticed, one of my hobbies is attempting to make myself look cooler than I am using photography.

The going was pretty slow. We finally reached the crater. I wasn't aware Mount Hood had a crater because from most angles it looks like a sharp point. However, it does indeed have a crater that is blown out on one side, like Saint Helens, only much smaller. Here's a tour...


After ascending above the fumaroles and up what's called "the Old Chute," we made it to the summit. There was almost no wind and the views were spectacular! Here I am looking out across the Columbia river at Mount Adams in Washington. In addition to Adams, we had great views of Saint Helens, Rainier, the Goat Rocks, Mount Jefferson, all Three Sisters, Broken Top, and Diamond Peak.

After a while on the summit it was down the chute, out of the crater, a glissade (sliding on one's butt) to the ski area, and a quick stroll down to the parking lot: Eight hours up, three hours down. This is Brandon descending down the chute into the crater. There's Crater Rock and some very stinky fumaroles (vents spewing out sulfurous gases).

All-in-all this was an epic climb. Except for the chute at the end, there was nothing too challenging. It was mostly just endurance. However, even endurance isn't really necessary to climb Mount Hood. Most climbers we passed took the chairlift. Cheaters!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Family Update



We thought you would enjoy so fun pictures and videos of what we have been up to in July. Violet has been getting bigger and more playful. Ginny has become extra attached to her Daddy. She calls for him during the day and asks to see him at work. They have a great time together.



Violet learned to roll over (this is a month earlier than Virginia). The problem is that she doesnt know how to roll back yet. She doesnt like being on her tummy even though she loves rolling.



Violet also got together with her buddy Emerald, who was born a few weeks after her. Emerald belongs to my best bud Tawona. Note how huge my babies are.



Ginny and Vi have started to play together. Ginny takes good care of Violet for me. Reading to her, changing her, giving her a binki, etc.



And lastly we (the Wilson girls) have been spending time in the sun at the many parks Seattle has to offer. The ladies at church have started a playgroup on wednesdays its been a lot of fun. Here is Ginny with James.



And here she is playing catch with Ethan on another day.



I'll leave you with a video of Ginny and the birds. Its pretty funny.





Thursday, July 10, 2008

4th of July Camping

On the 4th of July we set out for an extreme camping adventure. "Why was it so extreme?" you might ask. Well, when you're taking a two-year-old and a three-month-old out into the middle of the woods it's going to get extreme. Extremely little sleep to be exact.
Actually, the girls slept just about as well in the woods as at home, meaning Ginny slept well and Violet didn't sleep. We were joined by the Grismore clan in its entirety. Activities included making smores, foraging for fire wood (we burned some seriously wet and mossy stuff), playing by the stream, hiking in the high mountains, and general laziness and tom-foolery. You can check it all out in the montage.
For those of you keeping score at home, this was North Fork campground 20 mintues outside of Randle, WA and we were there three days and two nights.
p.s. theres a funny video at the end of the montage, if you can make it there.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Giraffia turns 3!


On Monday Virginia came up to me, tilted her head eyes wide, and said "Tomorrow's Giraffia's birthday mama!" She finished the sentance while nodding with an open mouth smile on her face. Its very convincing everytime she delivers it like that because you know she believes it.
Well who knows Giraffia better than Virginia? No one. So she and I got to work the morning of the first to throw a party for the little "giaff" (another nickname). We got busy making party hats out of paper and yarn. I printed out giraffes with letters on the to color for a banner and taped them to some yarn. And we even blew up some leftover balloons. Lastly a cake was to be made. Ginny asked Giraffia what she wanted and she said "a pink frog cake." I said that I could do a pink cake but not a pink frog. So a light pink cake from the box was prepared in no time. I am glad to say we didnt watch any TV that day and Ginny seemed really engaged in the work. And her face when we sang, priceless. Maybe will do it again next year.


The whole party: Virginia, Giraffia, Beary, Little Giraffee (aka yudder giraffee), Big frog, Froglet (Violets version of Giraffia), Grama Frog, Baby Frog and Baby Seal and Malcom (the final two are Ashley's animals, Ginny made sure to invite them having played with them at Ashley's. Ashley and Brandon joined in the fun, sorry no imbarassing photos)

Below is the banner. It was a lot of fun.