Mt Rainier

There are some things that are awesome about living in the Pacific Northwest. It's crazy to say that I lived for 18 years in Portland and have lived in Seattle for 14 months and haven't visited Mt Rainer yet. It was amazing. We drove with Jan and Dean and the kids this morning and spent the day exploring and doing little hikes and then headed home in time for dinner. Why haven't we done this before?

It started off a little reminiscent of our last outdoor adventure with cool, cloudy weather. 

Erin loved exploring the trees and the lush, damp forest. Her favorite part was the circa 1870 log cabin in the woods.

Up at Paradise, the sun was out and it was considerably warmer and we took another short hike. Matt got to wear Nora to keep her from pulling my hair. She's brutal.

Grandpa and Erin discussing the vistas and the altimeter. 

Erin checking out the flora (Matt taught her flora vs fauna).

 Matt, Nora and Mt Rainer

The Myrtle Falls.

 Silly Erin and silly Grandma

Silly Erin and Jan and Dean

Nora in the pack, "cold." She also now says Grandpa, sit, Erin, truck, si, agua, bye-bye and banana. The girl is still full of personality. 

Matt on his throne. Too bad we still don't feel the need to worship him. 

Our day was great. We did have a little scare with Erin when she tripped and fell head first into a boulder and split her scalp open. LOTS of blood, but the cut was small and didn't need anything to keep it closed. The trauma was mostly solved with ice cream and but she did ask me later why I made her trip into the rock. What? I have a feeling I'm going to come out the villain in this story as she tells everyone what happened. Ah four year olds and magical thinking. What is truth really?

First Day of School

Last year was such a whirlwind that we just started preschool without much fan fair. This year, we've talked about it for weeks and actually got a first day of school picture. Wow. We'll see how long I can keep up this "good mommy" charade. 

Erin is starting at Zoom, a Spanish immersion preschool  (or "Spanish emergency preschool" according to Erin) near our house. She did a camp there this summer and had a great time. Her Spanish skills are really taking off and soon will be way more advanced than me, although for now I still win because I understand the concept of conjugating a verb and sentence structure, however, my days are limited. 

We're trying out afternoon preschool this year because that's what was available. I'm still bracing for disaster with no naps.

Erin is very into the Little House on the Prairie books. We've read several, listened to them in the car, cut out the paper dolls and played "Laura and Mary" at home. Interestingly, Erin always chooses to be Mary and then other characters are assigned (Nora is usually Pa) but often times Laura is forgotten. Today I made her a prairie skirt and apron. They turned out pretty cute considering I had not patterns and have only a very basic understanding of how to put in an elastic waist (turns out I did it wrong, better luck next time). 

Nora is getting bigger and bigger. At some point recently she stopped being a baby and is now very much an independent little girl. She loves to do things for herself. She can feed herself her whole bowl of oatmeal with a spoon. She does great with a real cup or water bottle. She loves shoes and will bring a pair to one of us to put on first thing in the morning. Her vocabulary is expanding (including a few Spanish words) and she's picked up a few new signs (please and thank you). She is still quick to get frustrated, but is doing less biting these days. She is much friendlier with everyone and likes to wave at everyone regardless of whether they are paying attention. She likes to pretend to be a kitty and crawl around meowing. All in all, she's a very funny little girl who gives us lots of laughs.