Wilson's 2nd Birthday Party

Here is a whole bunch of posts below. Make sure you go to the 2nd page as there is a whole 2nd page of new posts. This pretty much summing up our entire summer. What a wonderful summer. But so busy. Wilson has really grown up over the summer, from barely being able to step up onto the bricks around our flower beds in the backyard in the beginning, to now climbing up and jumping off with a countdown, over and over and over again.



We had a big party for Wilson's birthday. We rented an inflatable jumping room with slide. It was officially a co-birthday party for Riley Flynn also, as he is only 2 weeks older. We had to put the inflatable jumper in the Flynn's yard as ours is way to small. The adults were able to jump to and everyone had a blast. Gabby and her husband Juan brought tamales and chile relleno and their two kids Juan and Gloria came to jump too. Juan is feeding cupcakes to Wilson. I don't think anyone had as much fun as Wilson in the jumper. He was the last one itn it until the time the guys came to take it away.

Mirror Lake, Mt. Hood, OR

My brother Brian and friend Shawn Clark went for a day hike with Wilson to Mirror Lake and then up to Tom Dick and Harry mountain. It wasn't a real warm day that day, the water was probably warmer than the air, about 70-75. But I knew as soon as Wilson saw the water it would first be throwing rocks into the lake, and then just wading and sitting in it. So we brought a change of clothes and of course he loved it. He also really liked hiking in the backpack. He would time his breathing with my steps because he was bouncing. He would yell and sing in time with my steps. He will be a little hiker soon enough, although I look forward to not carrying him. He is a solid little boy!

Jon climbing in the North Cascades National Park

Thought I'd throw in a few photos of me climbing too. Wilson was definitely not in my backpack for this one. But someday I hope he'll come up with me.

Wilson in the bath, with Linda the cat

Portland Bridge Pedal

Every summer on a Sunday the city blocks off all bridges crossing the Willamette River in downtown Portland for a huge bike ride that crosses back and forth over the bridges, this includes the two interstate bridges. It is really cool to stop on the 5 lane interstate bridges and take in the view, where normally only cars and semis fly by at 60 mph. There is live music and refreshments. Wilson loved the bike ride and now regularly asks to go on more bike rides, although it took him a little bit to get used to the helmet. Now he loves that too.

Peaches!

We have two peach trees in our backyard that fruit every other year. They all come ripe in a two week period, so there are A LOT of delicious peaches. The boys loved to eat them as they fell.

Alissa and Barnaby Wedding

At the end of the week in Bemidji we all drove down to Minneapolis for our cousin Alissa Thompson's wedding, Neil's sister Joanne's daughter. We had a great time seeing all the family.

Bemidji

We had a wonderful week up at the lake with Grandma Liz and Grandpa Neil. Also there was Uncle Brett, Daynia, Grandpa Jeff, and cousin Madison. Wilson loved taking rides on the boat with Grandpa and Grandma. He still regularly talks about the boat and his "jacket" (lifejacket). We saw many loons and Wilson became pretty good at making the loon call. He still does it when asked. Can't wait til next summer when we can get there again. Unfortunately Shana was on business that week and couldn't make it.

Seattle Urban Weekend

We made it up to Seattle for a fun weekend with our friends the Goodmansons: Matt, Sarah, Lily, and Ryder. Matt, Wilson, Lily, and I visited the Experience Music Project (EMP) and the Science Fiction Museum where there was a traveling exhibit of Jim Henson's creations such as the Muppets and Fraggel Rock among others. Wilson loved the tower of guitars in the EMP. These buildings are right next to the Space Needle. We stayed in a condo nearby and had a great urban weekend at Shana's request.

Camping again

We went camping the weekend following the 4th of July also. Two weekends in a row. The following weekend Shana and I went to the String Summit music festival, where we camped again. That weekend Wilson and Riley stayed at home with their "Nana" Gabby at their second home. They spoke Spanish and ate tacos while their parents grooved in the grass for an adult weekend. Shana put on her own techno/house music dance party the weekend of camping in Washington. You can see pictures of the boys dancing and eating blueberries.

4th of July at Oregon Coast

The Portland crew all headed to the Oregon coast for the 4th of July. It was in the 90's and sunny in Portland, but at the coast barely 70 and overcast. No ocean swimming that weekend, but lots of fun.