Spooky

Here's me and Gus making the face of our pumpkins. We had a really bountiful Halloween with our friends Riley and Erin. I mean, our candy buckets were full to the brim!! I had to abandon my high heels early in the evening because I couldn't get from house to house fast enough.

We started the evening with a visit to Grandpa and Jeanne's house. They both dressed up just for us. Jeanne was Bob the Builder, and Grandpa was a scary pumpkin, or ghost, or something. Dad was a disco ape and mom was sort of cowgirlish.

I was a queen, by the way, and Gus was Spiderman.

Oh Brother

First day of school

Here I am with Gus on my first day of first grade at Moran Prairie. I was super nervous because I had to take the bus and find my classroom all by myself. But, as usual, I did it. Dad found me at my desk, working hard on a project, sitting next to my friend Addie. I think this year is going to be just fine. Phew.

Gus started his first day at Plum Tree and wasn't nervous at all.

Priest Lake

Just returned from a trip to Priest Lake where we camped with THIRTEEN families at a super-great campsite with tons of bike loops for kids and a beach for swimming. I've never been around so many kids. We just biked around and around and around until it got late and we had TWO desserts every night. We even went mountain biking on the same trails as my mom and dad. I am a really good bike rider and I swim just like a mermaid (mom said).

Lovin' summer

Whew. It has been a VERY busy summer indeed. After visiting Nannie at her farm, I was shuttled straight up to Spirit Lake for a birthday celebration for my uncle Tim. I got to go tubing with Claire and swam around the entire dock in my lifejacket without an adult for the first time!! Then we were home for about a day before turning around and driving south to the Grand Ronde river for a big float trip in the raft with Nannie and my family. I thought it was SO fun to go down the rapids in the inflatable kayak. We even took Jake with us and--get this--he had his own LIFEJACKET. We came back from this trip and BOOM, we left again for Canada and a fabulous boat trip with Mor Mor and Bacco. I practiced jumping from the boat and even from a salt-water hot tub on Mink Island. We had a treasure hunt at Squirrel Cove because my mom overheard a real pirate talking about the treasure he left for us at a pay phone at the store. SO COOL!!

Flying solo

You're not going to believe this, 'cause I'm only 6 1/2 years old, but I just experienced my first ride as an "unaccompanied minor" on a major airplane. It was scary and sad to say goodbye to my family, but I got to sit next to another little girl flying alone, and when I got off the plane, Nannie was right there at the gate waiting for me. I think I might wait a few more years before doing this again...my mom was kind of freaking out.

Not cheep

Here I am at my final end-of-year ballet recital. I was a beautiful chick and fluttered around on stage like a pro. My piece was part of a bigger ballet performance. Grandpa and Jeanne came and my whole family unit, and everyone gave me roses at the end. I wish I could have stayed for the whole thing, but everyone wanted to get outside in the beautiful sunshine and have ice cream. So we did.

Meet Jake!

I know you were thinking that we'd never get around to getting a puppy, but the stars must have been aligned this weekend. Our local springer breeder had a 11 week old puppy available for adoption, and it took us about five minutes to decide he would be a great dog for our family. It's taken us a good 48 hours to name him, and after thinking of some brilliant names, we finally settled on the one I came up with because it just seems to suit him best: Jake.

Jake is calm and already knows how to sit and sleep in his crate. He loves to play and wiggle, and he gets really nauseous in cars. Pika has pretty much steered clear of the puppy's playroom off the kitchen, but still snuggles with me at night.