Where to begin? The girls have had another busy month as Jada winds down her school year, and the weather has started to really get nice (on occasion....it is still Oregon). This month brought us Mother's Day which didn't turn out the way that any of us had planned. Jada had wanted to do our usual Mother's day trip to the Oregon Zoo followed by a Zoo Train ride to the Rose Garden Test Beds and up to the Japanese Garden. However, Dave came down with some sort of unpleasant stomach flu (possibly obtained from the one that Ellen had the previous week. So we didn't end up going anywhere, and Dave spent most of my time trying unsuccessfully to feel better. He finally was over it by Wednesday, so we were going to give it another go the next weekend, but when the time came, Jada decided that it was just as pleasant to spend time at home. So that's what we did.
A large part of wanting to spend the day at home the following weekend had to do with our trip to the beach on Saturday. Dave participated in Reach the Beach to benefit the National Lung Association. I chose the 100 mile option (of course) which started from Conestoga Middle School (near the Conestoga Recreation Center where Ellen and Phoebe participate in music class ) and ended in Pacific City, OR. The ride went well. I was only really rained on for maybe 30 minutes of the whole 6.5 hours it took to ride the distance. I felt fine afterwards. The best part of the ride was coming through the Coast Range where the traffic heading to the beach was on the same route that we were riding, and Jada passed me with the girls. I got and gave a big smile as they slowly drove past. Then we all had dinner at the finish line tent. Ellen got to try her first Clif Bar (our little girl is growing up). Then we all drove home. It was nice that they were able to come and get me, but it certainly wasn't good for the nap schedules. It was early to bed for all that night, I can tell you.
The next weekend didn't offer much rest either. As Zoo members and contributors to the Zoo's most recent projects, we got an early morning invite to view the new Cascade Stream/Eagle Canyon exhibit. We got to get in at 8am instead of the normal opening time of 9am. It was raining as we were getting ready to go, but we decided to go anyway, and we warned Ellen ahead of time if it was raining too hard when we got there, we'd leave. But when we got there, it was only misting off and on, so we went in, and we were glad we did. It's a wonderful exhibit displaying the environment of the Cascade ecosystem and forest along with typical wildlife found there. Then it moves into the Eagle Canyon where they have 2 bald eagles in an open air aviary where they can swoop down to catch their own fish in the pond, or be fed by the zoo keepers. The eagles themselves are in some way disabled and unable to fly for great distances. It's the only way that the Zoo gets to keep them. It's a really well done exhibit.
After we left there, we made our way to the Beaverton Farmers Market for some fresh Oregon strawberries. It was still raining off and on, but we had our rain coats. The nice thing about Oregon is a little rain doesn't keep anyone away from doing what they want to do outside. We got some strawberries, pears, and cookies. Ellen and Phoebe both enjoyed the free samples and live music. We've frozen some of the strawberries we've been buying so that when Nana and Bapa come out, they'll still be able to have some. The season is a little early this year due to the great weather we've been having. We also had a fun dinner at the Casey house. Everyone enjoyed Susan's yummy lasagna and we brought brownies and strawberries for dessert. It seems that Ellen and Julia are ready for play dates with each other and Phoebe was excited about following everyone around.
On Sunday, we went to OMSI to see the new Titanic exhibit. It's a "who done it" style where they present the evidence and facts of what happened, and help you make determinations of how the accident occurred, how the boat sank, in what way is the hull breached to cause it to go down, how the rivets hold it together, how the wreck is decaying at different rates, the differences between the bow and stern sections. It's very interesting. They had a chunk of ice to simulate an iceberg that people could touch which Ellen really enjoyed. They also had a tank with a robot like the ones used to investigate the boat underwater that people could control. It had a camera mounted on it, and the kids really liked standing next to the tank watching it get driven around and seeing themselves on the monitors. After making a brief stop at Busy Town so Phoebe could run around a little bit, it was off to the Gravitram to eat lunch. That's where we always sit for lunch watching the little metal balls run through the metal tracks.
On Memorial Day we decided to take the tandem out for it's maiden voyage with both girls in the trailer. It was sort of a shake down run to see how well Phoebe did in the trailer, and to see how well the girls co-existed. Phoebe had some issues with her helmet and got it off a couple times. Though after we adjusted the helmet, and the towel she was sitting on (and distracted her with plenty of animal crackers and water) she was fine. We only rode down to a park close by where we met another family that was out for a ride all on single bikes and 1 bike seat on the back. We did 3.5 miles. The hardest part was getting Ellen to share enough of her animal crackers with Phoebe. We'll try a little longer ride next time and see how it goes. We've got several parks that we can use as waypoints. The goal is to eventually use the tandem to go to the farmers market (that is when we're no longer buying a flat of strawberries each time). We've got the Providence Bridge Pedal in August to get ready for, so hopefully we'll get out some more soon.
Here are some notes on some of the developmental areas we've seen from the girls this month.
Phoebe: She blew her first kiss using her hand on 5/3/04. She's able to "help" with laundry handing socks to Ellen to put away. Phoebe said her first word 5/8/04. "Duck". We were at a bench dedication for Ellen's little friend Dylan who died last year. One of his favorite things to do was feed the ducks, so we were feeding the ducks after the dedication, and Phoebe said "duck". (we aren't counting mom and dad) Phoebe really understands what we're saying now. She knows that socks go on her feet. Hats go on her head. Pants go on legs, and a shirt goes on her arms. She tries to do them to, but she isn't quite there yet. But we're not expecting her to get dressed all by herself yet. She can understand commands to bring us her bottle when she finishes. She starts to bring it towards us, and then takes it over to the kitchen counter instead and tries to reach to the top (thankfully she can't reach that yet). She's starting to enjoy looking at specific books now. For several weeks she would pull "Good night moon" specifically from the shelf, bring it over to me, sit in my lap, and look at it. To no one's surprise, she's becoming quite the daredevil. We had to take the house down temporarily (though we haven't put it back up yet) to keep Phoebe from hurting herself diving through windows. As of 5/19/04, Phoebe can climb onto the couch on her own. Unfortunately, she likes to stand on Ellen's bed, the couch, in the window. She's also trying to climb up the chairs in the kitchen. Phoebe has gotten very good at matching items like socks and shoes. She's still growing faster than Ellen did. She had to get new shoes too - size 5 feet. Finally, on May 31, she started scooping her food with a spoon instead of holding the spoon in one hand and scooping with the other.
Ellen: Dylan's bench dedication brought Jada to talk to Ellen about death and honoring the memory of those we loved. We think she kind of understands the concept of heaven a little bit, but there's only so much a 3 year can really get. She seemed to handle the ceremony well. Though she kept wanting to go over and look at the dove they were going to release. Then we went and fed ducks like Dylan used to do. There were a lot of them that came over including a bunch of ducklings. Ellen still loves to read. We've started reading her the Frog and Toad books which she really enjoys. She has added zipping up her own rain jacket and snapping to her abilities in getting dressed. Using the potty is still going well, and the tantrums are still happening. But there's not a lot we can do about that until she grows out of them....they do grow out of them, right?
Journal Entry: June5, 2004