Monday, July 31, 2006

Today a kitchen remodel has started in our home. The open and empty cabinets are a bonus for both Kennedy and Elle. They chased eachother in and out of the cabinets all evening yesterday and are still at it today. Here's Kennedy crawling through the empty hutch Papa Sanford made.



And here's Elle in the base cabinets.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

We went to the Butterfly Emporium in Victoria. There were so many things to see in Victoria! Here's Kennedy pointing out a butterfly.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Besides Bears on the street in Victoria, Canada, there was a Canadian Mounty. Here's Robin with her serious face posing with the statue.



The formal bear was very cute. Kennedy was carried around quite a bit in our new carrier--it's awesome.



Robin taught Kennedy a few new words on the trip. One of them was "bagpipe." She also learned "flamingo."

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

There were lots of big animal displays in storefronts in Victoria, Canada. This moose caught Kennedy's attention. She gave it a big hug and kept making her way back to it as we tried to get down the street.



She kept telling us she wanted to go back to the moose by giving us the "moose" sign.



A little further down the road we ran into this bear. Kennedy entertained everyone with her "Arrrrrrrr" sounds and paws up in the air.



Aunt Shelly and Robin bought Kennedy a moose. She would stop in the middle of the street just to give it a hug.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Kennedy's fever "broke" twice last night. Once about 11:00 p.m. and then again at 4 a.m. a few hours after getting tylenol for a fever spike. Her temperature has been pretty mild today though she's been a super hyper child--presumably a medication side effect. All in all though we're on the down side of whatever this was. Her shortness of breath has substantially decreased.

Here's a picture from this past weekend of Kennedy wearing the skirt and blouse Granny Kay brought her from Greece.



It's such a cute outfit.

Monday, July 24, 2006

Little Miss Kennedy had her first ever chest x-ray today. She has some chunky sounds in her chest and has been running a persistent fever. The Doctor doesn't think it's pneumonia but there is some stuff in her lungs that may be remnants from a virus or allergies. She said she didn't want to raise the "asthma" line but thought we should look at this in the future if Kennedy has more of these kinds of episodes. For the time being she suggested taking Albuterol and managing the fever.

So many pictures to process. I'm skipping ahead a bit. Kennedy and Shelly and I went to the Chinese Gardens.



Kennedy directed us through the garden and did a great job pointing us in the right direction.



Later we had some fun at Washington Park. Kennedy is a pretty good balance beam walker.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Afternoon tea at the Empress in Victoria was yummy. Kennedy started out with blueberries (her favorite) and cucumber sandwhiches.



The blue jean jacket she was wearing in this (and the picture with the bird in our previous post) was a gift from Aunt Shelly and Robin. We took it off when things started getting messy--jams and chocolate treats and such...



Kennedy had a taste of just about everything offered at the tea, except the tea.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Robin, Sheryl, Kennedy and Shelly hopped a sea plane from Lake Union in Seattle for a two day one night stay in Victoria, Canada.



This was Kennedy's first sea plane trip and her first trip out of the United States. She didn't care much for the ear plugs but tolerated them.



She sat with all of us at one time or another. Here she is with Aunt Shelly.



And here she is with cousin Robin.



In Victoria we stayed at the Fairmont Empress Hotel. The view out of our window was very Harry Potterish. We had a frequent visitor too-- this sea gull who perched outside our window. Kennedy enjoyed these visits very much.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Kennedy and Sheryl came up to Seattle to visit me while I was there on business this week. We had a fantastic time hanging out and being together. On Wednesday I took a long lunch and we headed to the Seattle Aquarium. Here is Kennedy in her new pack for the walk along the waterfront to the aquarium.




One of the coolest things I saw was this exhibit of very young salmon swimming against the current which swirled around and around (thus the fish don’t really move). They must be thinking to themselves ‘I swim and I swim, yet I stay in the same place…’ How frustrating that must feel to work and work and get no where.



Later we saw the octopus (actually there were many – is that octopi?)! Here’s Kennedy posing for a shot as an octopus… (See back to March 20, 2005 for our older daughter posing in the same way…)



Later, after I had to drag myself back to work, Sheryl and Kennedy went to Pike’s Place Market to explore. In addition to getting some fantastic food (Rainier Cherries, fresh crab with drawn butter) Kennedy and Sheryl brought me some gorgeous flowers to show off in our hotel room. Here is Kennedy with a young calf.



Later that night we met up with Robin and Shelly who were in town for a conference. We’ve had a great time playing with them in Seattle. This is all of us at dinner the other night. Mexican food – yum.



Here’s Kennedy helping Shelly check her email.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

On Sunday night we all went out for sushi for dinner (yum!). For those of us doing a low-carb diet it was a special occasion worthy of eating white sushi rice and drinking some sake. We also took the opportunity to expose Kennedy to some new flavors – here she is enjoying some squid salad, tofu from the miso soup, and cucumbers (which she loves!).



For the main course Kennedy enjoyed some acutal sushi rolls along with rice. In this photo, Kennedy is wearing one of her new cool outfits we purchased from the Portland Saturday Market; this dress/outfit is reversible and very high on Kennedy’s favorite list at this point.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

This past weekend Stacey and Robin picked a load of Marion berries and Huckle berries at a farm on Sauvie's Island – yum.



Of course, it's hard not to eat a few along the way.

Monday, July 17, 2006

One of our favorite things to do is read about all the great things Kennedy gets to do at her daycare. Most days we get a written 'Today in Toddlers...' sheet. I have to share this one from last week:

Kennedy, cute as can be, danced the 'hula hoop' several times today... She played with the boys and made lots of car sounds. She also imitated them when they banged cars on the walk and created lots of crashes.

After nap she was the best mommy ever, feeding her baby dolls and the big stuffed bear. She loves to play with babies; when we are outside she is always saying hi to the wobblers.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Yay Robin's here too! We picked niece/cousin Robin up at the Amtrak station yesterday. Here's Kennedy putting her hands in the air in her "I don't know" pose when we asked "Where's Robin?" When Robin's train showed up Kennedy said "Yay, Robin."



We took Robin to Montage to eat dinner. Grandma and Grandpa Anderson came with and Kennedy had fun sitting with Grandma. Here she is playing peek-a-boo.



Here she is with Grandpa having some silly fun too.



Montage is famous for arranging take home food in fantastic foil creations. Here's Robin with a rabbit and a squirrel.



Kennedy had so much fun with everyone. Here she is playing some game or another with Stacey. By the time we got home Kennedy was worn out.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

We headed out to Portland's Saturday market this morning after breakfast at Stacey's favorite Cup and Saucer on Hawthorne. It's awesome having Stacey here. Kennedy is loving it. Here's a picture of Stacey, Kennedy and Susan.



Kennedy has learned how to smile for the camera. It comes across as more of a scowl but she'll get there!


Susan got a didgeridoo--something she has wanted for a long long time. Here Kennedy and Susan are listening to someone play a didge.



We also got a new baby wrap. This is the best one yet. The woman who made them suggested we visit wearyourbaby.com for further instructions on the million and one ways you can wear your wrap.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Stacey is in town and Robin comes in to join us tomorrow. We haven't had much time to take pictures believe it or not. We'll have to do better tomorrow! For now here's Miss Kennedy pushing her favorite toy, the popcorn popper, through the hallway.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

The temperature has been up and down this month. Sometimes it feels like July and sometimes it doesn't. A week ago Kennedy wore her warm hat at the zoo concert.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

We met Laural, Max and Andrea at Doug Fir for breakfast on Sunday morning. What a sweet place that is--just the right mix of cool and real with a diverse customer base. The food is darn good too. Here are Kennedy and Laural reading a book together in the booth.



Later we went to the park. Kennedy is really good at climbing the wooden structures.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

This is a regular morning view in the Anderson household – gotta love morning bed head hair-dos. While we are getting ready for work or otherwised occupied, Kennedy is happy to munch on honey-nut O's and rice milk for her pre-breakfast snack.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Yesterday we went to the zoo concert. We enjoyed hanging out as a family; Kennedy played with her new toy and we had a yummy picnic of leftover 4th of July BBQ fare. Kennedy really loves the elephants.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Our Fourth of July started out with a proverbial ‘bang’. We started our day with breakfast and a trip to the doctor to get inseminated. Here you see the anticipation on Sheryl and Kennedy’s face.



After the insemination I had to stay prone for several minutes to give the little swimmers a head start on their journey. Kennedy and Sheryl did their best to entertain me while we waited.



In the evening we had a few friends over for a BBQ and some low-risk, city-approved fireworks. Kennedy isn’t so sure she likes the fireworks.



At the end of the evening we had our share of spent cartridges from egg-laying hens, bobsleds, dragons, and killer bees. We had a great show.

Monday, July 03, 2006

Sorry for the silence on this end; excuses include busy schedules, home network outages, and (did I mention?) busy schedules. This last weekend we had a dinner out with the family on Friday at a local bistro. On Saturday Kennedy and I took a walk around the city while Sheryl went to her guitar lesson.

While Kennedy had a nap, Sheryl, CK and I moved the office into the basement and began the slow process of rearranging the house (former office will become a guest room). After Kennedy’s nap we met my folks for a hike at a local park – despite the 90 degree weather it was cool enough for a hike in the forest.



My folks brought along their dogs (Toby and Lucky) and they had a great time frolicking in the woods and running through the stream.



I got a chance to pack Kennedy around in the backpack too. We had a great time exploring the forest.



On Sunday, Megan came over for breakfast and then we headed to Home Depot to get ‘a few items’. Two hours later (and I don’t even want to mention how many dollars later) we headed out with new cabinets for the basement and garage, paint and dry-lock for the basement, electrical supplies and plumbing supplies.

When we got home Kennedy decided she didn’t want to take a nap. There was no changing her mind, so we gave up and went to a friend’s birthday party at a local park. There was a carnival-type bouncing mat. At first Kennedy was a bit apprehensive, but we convinced her to give it a try – she loved it!



There was lots of watermelon and caramel corn to feed the sugar-driven high that kept Kennedy energetic until the end of the party – we love this action shot.



Kennedy fell asleep in the car and barely woke up long enough to put on her PJs and crash for the night. So – that was our weekend – packed to the hilt busy.

Tomorrow morning we go in for our 3rd try on a sibling for Kennedy. We’re excited about the prospect of conceiving on the 4th of July!