Like Father, Like Son

Its my (Paul's) turn to post again.

At the end of last week we got a visit from my sister Rachel, her husband Marco, son Damian and daughter Naomi. Damian is a year older than Asher, but Naomi and Madeleine are just a month apart in age. It was lots of fun to have them in town and we took them down to the Playground of Dreams. They had lots of fun playing first on the playground and then in the fountains. Asher's favorite toy was the digger. He got pretty good at working the controls.

He loved the digger so much that we had to drag him away to play in the fountains, but he got over that quickly and had tons of fun.Madeleine had a good time with the fountains, but didn't play with quite the same gusto that Asher did.
We traveled to Portland as the kids crashed that afternoon. The next day my dad and I took Asher on the downtown transit tour. My mom drove us to the bottom of the Oregon Health and Sciences University Tram. We took the tram up to the top of the hill. Asher (and I) loved soaring over Interstate 5 and the rooftops. He wanted to know if we were going to fly over Grandma's house. The views were spectacular. You have great views of downtown Portland and the brand new towers that are getting built around the tram's lower landing. We rode the tram to the hospital, where we got some snacks and then headed back down, because the tram was just the beginning of our adventure. Once down off the hill, we hopped on a waiting streetcar to head downtown to catch the MAX train for the Beaverton Transit Center where my mom would pick us up. Asher was so excited to ride on the streetcar. It made me happy to see that he shares one of my interests. It was also really nice to spend some quality time with my dad. Asher sat next to me at first, and then quickly ditched me for my dad, but I didn't mind since it was a rare 1-on-1 opportunity. Asher was glued to the window and loved every minute of it. All in all the weekend was a roaring success. We had lots of fun with family, but a real highlight for me was to share an afternoon with my son and dad, and sharing one of my real interests with Asher. I don't know if his interest will last until adulthood and in the end I want him to make a profession doing whatever he would like, but it sure was fun for me to share that with him.

lots of Blanchards

Last weekend, we had a Blanchard family reunion at my Grandma's house in Leavenworth, WA to celebrate her 90th birthday. She lives on a beautiful property surrounded by the cascade mountain range and much of her property is looped by the icicle river. Growing up, my cousins and I would start with rafts or inner tubes at one end of my granparents' property and loop around. It used to take us about 15 minutes. When I was about 12 there was a drought and I could walk almost the whole way around the river. This year the river was really high, fast and cold because of the large amount of snow that fell in the mountains.

I really enjoyed seeing my grandma, cousins, and aunts and uncles. My mom and 9 year old sister Emma were the only ones able to be there from my immediate family because of Girls camp and work schedules. There were 7 2-3 year old boys and 3 1 year old girls so my kids had a terrific time playing with their cousins. I slept at my aunt Lynn's house for two nights and then Paul joined me and we camped out on the property. Madeleine woke up as soon as the morning light hit at 4:30am. Paul, the Saint that he is, walked around with her for 2 hours while Asher and I slept. Paul even met his very first bear while walking around with Madeleine! Luckily he only heard grunting noises and the bear running away. Paul's favorite part was the sandy beach and making a warming pool for the kids using his engineering skills.

Me, my mom, Asher Maddie and my Grandma Blanchard. I know I look awful, but keep in mind I was camping. Do you see how curly Madeleine's hair is becoming?

This is the view of the back of Grandma's house from the sandy beach.

Madeleine, her second cousin Eliza, and Emma in the background

This is part of the front yard

I really think that it took Paul an hour to finish his pool. He used boulders and driftwood for the structure and then piled it with sand it make it water tight. The boys were fascinated with the construction. The water warmed up enough that they were able to splash around a bit. And then they were delighted when they got to help demolish Paul's creation.


This is my sister Emma

Snow

Look who I just caught playing with "snow". Asher found the salt in the food storage. At least salt is only 50 cents for a whole bottle.

Our very own water park

We've been enjoying the beautiful June weather! These pictures are from last weekend. Paul filled up the swimming pool and put our little slide over it. He even lined the top of it in plastic and filled that to the top. Asher's favorite thing to do was wait to go down until he thought he had a good chance of knocking down Maddie.






In other Smith news, our yard is finally fenced in Yay! Our raspberries are ripe and Madeleine heads right for the raspberry bush every time we go outside, she'll eat everything remotely pink and then goes right for the green ones if we don't catch her in time.
Both kids have also been sick this week. Aren't we supposed to be immune to illness during the summer? It seems like at least once a month our health fails us. This time it is just an unexplained high fever that seems to last about two days and then disappear. Asher had it Thursday afternoon and all day Friday. He just wanted to lay on the couch. I haven't been that productive since he was born. Is it terrible to enjoy your toddler's illness? Now Maddie is sick though and she just wants to be rocked and held. I am enjoying that a bit too since she isn't much for cuddling anymore.

Rice Monster

Yesterday, we took the kids to Nothing but Noodles to take advantage of their Kids eat free Monday. Maddie was eating her noodles with gusto, as if she had never tasted anything as exquisite as curly noodles with cheese and butter. Asher was just picking at his noodles because we were sitting outside and he was too distracted by passing trucks. In an effort to shove more food into him I offered him a forkful of rice off of my plate. Out of nowhere, he got this demonic look on his face and shouted "I'm Cookie Monster!" and started shoving fistfuls of rice into his mouth with rice flying all around him. He even grabbed the ceramic plate and started chomping on it complete with sound effects. I didn't get to finish my rice and I feel bad for the poor guy who had to clean up after us, but at the time Paul and I were both laughing too hard to stop him. It's so fun to watch his imagination develop.

Walking!

Madeleine took her first steps on May 5th, but in the last week or so she has officially chosen to walk as her form of transportation. She has yet to bend her knees while walking.


She has also started to talk! Her favorite thing to say/do is point and say "What's that" which sounds more like "Wazzat" Asher likes to say "Wazzat" now too. She also says "hi" and "mama"

Busy Busy Busy

We at the Smith house have been really busy lately. My two little angels are sure keeping me on my toes. Asher has given up his daily afternoon nap and Maddie is transitioning in to just taking one nap a day so basically I don't get anything done anymore. Asher will still take occasional naps on the couch which is really nice and a little strange because he hasn't really taken couch naps before now. Our dishwasher is now going on its third week of being out of order which is also keeping things lively. We are still alive and healthy though. Here are some recent pictures.