Babyup!

Frequent viewers may know that for the past 26 years I’ve been hosting a sport called Mondo Croquet. It’s croquet – only bigger, with bowling balls and sledgehammers! It’s so mighty fun it was voted Best of Portland. You can read more about it and see loads of photos here: http://mondocroquet.com

In a pleasant turn of affairs I was invited (and paid!) to host Mondo Croquet for three days at the Realms Unknown festival. This is a family-friendly event populated with fairies, pirates, vikings, ogres, time travelers, mermaids, dragons and all sorts of fun-seekers.

This mermaid swimming in her tank lit up at night was absolutely enchanting. I taking photos of the festival to others and just took photos of what we were doing. Here’s a few:

Here’s some foreshadowing…

Chloe intends to be a Cheeto for Halloween.

And we’ll finish off this post with a photo of some recent Chloe art. Yes, she painted that!

Hello from the Ferris wheel at the Washington County Fair!

Chloe, cows, Sophia.

Sophia prefers to look serious.

Aliens!

Check the height… yep, we’re good!

Safety bar down, let’s roll!

Chloe is a little uncertain about the next ride.

“The Zipper”

Let’s eat!

Sophia enters the duck races.

And away they go!

And she (and her duck) took first place!

A break from blood-pressure-raising rides with the Ferris wheel.

And in a carnival game they each won a “stuffy” turkey leg.
(A few more wins and they’ll have the whole turkey)

…and as we head for the exit gates, we see The Bears…

Chloe and I went back to Sellwood Riverfront Park, this time with the lobster floaty.

Here’s Chloe getting a light head from blowing up Carl, the lobster.

Into the river!

Step 3: Float!

We try some funny faces.

What to do after you’re done being hot and wet? ICE CREAM! Hand-made in a little food cart in Sellwood – Hurry Back! http://hurrybackicecream.com

And so, it’s birthday party time!

This is North Clackamas Aquatic Park. Wave pool! Waterslides!

Here’s a blurry, long-distance photos of the kids frolicking in the water.

Snack time!

Then the bunny ears came out…

Cupcake time!

Our new teen-ager, still a bit wet.

Obligatory Group Photo

Hello sailing fans! With Chloe’s birthday party the day after her actual birthday due to scheduling, I borrowed a Force 5 from a friend I took her sailing for her first time on her 13th birthday!

Here I am taking the boat out for a shake-down cruise.

The Willamette Sailing Club was out in force.

Here she is, the birthday girl!

Out on the water.

That’s it for photos as I declined to risk my phone going in the drink.
Perhaps more next time!

Someone is just about to turn Thirteen…

First we stopped by one of the giant Asian markets to pick up some lunch.

Chloe shows off excellence in sign design.

About half of the snacks we bought…

Sellwood Riverfront Park!

I swear she used to be shorter.

Big crowd of seal lions lounging on the floating dock.

Bigfoot sighting

Aqua-wig?

Then we went back into town. That first step is a doozy!

“It’s life Dad, but not as we know it.”

Bigfoot found us again

Chupacabra! “Now with pants!”

The night before, the Author performs a selection from his on-going work:
The Curiously Banal Adventures of Banana Man.

Chloe and I went to downtown to cavort in the city on a rainy June day.

First stop was the Portland Art Museum to take in the exhibit Crafting Pinnochio. All about bringing Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio to life.

Here’s the trailer for the film, if you’re not familiar with it.

…and the making of…

The sets are pretty amazing.

This set is so big, can’t really see any detail from back here.

The detail is astounding. Much of the film was created here in Portland.

Here’s an example of all the crazy, tiny parts that go into each puppet to allow them to move.

Here’s Chloe sitting on the Totoro bench in the shop will all the keen stuff from Japan.

Afterwards we walked down to Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Umbrella guy!

Here we are seeing if I can capture the echo with my camera. Oops, it didn’t work.

Rocket Fizz! The shop with all the candy!

Chloe wanted to try real ramen, so we did. Dang, it was good.

Yum!

Afterwards, Chloe says the ramen was the best part of our ramble.

Lunchtime doodles

Chloe doing the skybridge dance.

We visit an art gallery

Love Monster

“Fish Fingers”

A short tour of Chinatown

…and we ended up in Waterfront Park. All in all we walked a bit over five miles.

Back home with the bunnies.

Chloe and I took the kayaks to Hagg Lake.

Here’s Chloe making with the pump action.

My people call it “lunch.”

Must snack before paddling.

Off she goes!

Live action! I didn’t want to drop my phone in the lake,
so there’s no photographic evidence of us out in the middle of the big lake.
Yes, Chloe had her life preserver on for that.

Back home with the bunnies.

Chloe’s looking forward to summer vacation. Just five days left of school!

Chloe decided she wanted to make manicotti. Here’s the cheese.

She wants you to know how shocked she is by the sheer size of the pasta.

Who’s that bald old guy?

Came out good!

Yesterday we went to Fern Hill and took a long meandering walk…

Still life of Pre-Teen With Peach Twizzlers

Unrelated photo by Lisa. Snooze time.

Every spring Chloe’s school holds a Mayfaire at their farm (kind of a mini-farm). This includes a maypole, snacks and general running-around.

Maypole!

Chloe volunteered to make about 100 shortbread cakes.

And here she is helping serve them up!