The Case of the Missing Pictures

I had forgotten that if I upload a photo to Blogger (which is the platform this blog is on), and then delete it from my phone or from Google photos, it disappears from the blog. Sorry guys! I will load them back up tonight or tomorrow night. They're good pics. You should see them.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Mark! (2017 Edition)

The Two Puppies

Suzanne finished a short story today and just started another, about her dogs Woof-Woof and Fluffy, who are brothers.

She's a good writer!

posted from Bloggeroid

We Made a Movie!

It's not the longer movie we've been working on for weeks, but it was a lot of fun and took about an hour.

Errol Heights Park

Aaron and Wendy's son, Kai, discovered this little pocket park when he was out on an adventure with his grandparents. He told his parents about it, and we all went there last weekend. It's thirteen acres of wilderness, surrounded by civilization. Formerly a privately-owned property, it was bequeathed to the city in 1999. It has one very short trail, a beaver pond (!), and some ... ruins, for lack of a better word.

It was really fun to explore a previously unknown nook of SE Portland, and to see beavers, nutria (aka swamp rats, for you easterners), wood ducks and  mallards.

Errol Heights reminded me that it's often the small things that matter.

Wendy, with Suzanne in the background. They are looking at what might be a beaver or might be a nutria. If you can't see the tail, they're hard to tell apart.

Beaver chew!

The girls hanging out in what Kai referred to as 'The Contraption.' None of the adults could figure out what it was. Best guess was some sort of spillway. There was a destroyed smartphone in a hundred pieces all around where the kids are standing.

posted from Bloggeroid

Gaming with Grandma

It's been a while since we've played Scrabble with Mom. Tonight, we broke the dry spell and had a good time doing it. I took first place, Elizabeth second, Sherry third, and the dream team of Suzanne & Barb came in last, maybe partially because Barb spent a lot of time during the game making dinner. Suzanne is a bright first grader, but still....

Looking forward to many game nights to come!

posted from Bloggeroid

Halloween 20-Seventeen

Such lovely weather on Halloween. So unusual. I, for one, really appreciated it. The jack-o-lanterns here are (L-R) Elizabeth's, mine, Suzanne's.

Suzanne as a dog named Muddy and her bff Anika as Esme Squalor from the Series of Unfortunate Events books.

Sorting through the loot. Note that two of our intrepid trick-or-treaters are wearing roller skates. 

Greedily surveying her haul.

For what I swear is the first time since Elizabeth was born, it was not pouring rain on Halloween. Huzzah! It was, in fact, a gorgeous, cool, clear evening, with yellow leaves rattling on the ground, and a generous moon glowing in the cerulean sky.

Everyone had a great time!

posted from Bloggeroid