Babyup!

Chloe has been very excited about Halloween. We made some great Jack O’ Lanterns!

Chloe is very excited about Halloween coming up. Here’s some photos of how we’re preparing!

School photos — they are still a thing! 3rd grade, here we go!

Chloe’s felting skills include making bees!

Here’s some Chloe cousins

Waiting for the rain

RARRRR!

felted sushi

A felt unicorn eating felt pizza…

dying yarn at the school farm

Shutting down the streets for a massive amounts of bike riders is kind of a Portland thing it seems. A few weeks ago Choe was a spectator on the back of Dad’s Big Bike. A week later, the magic happened and she figured out how to ride on her own. Now she’s a total bike powerhouse.

She took a tumble while trying to ride down the Broadway Bridge no-hands (Dad was trying to get her to not do that! Oh good golly.) . Otherwise, she did a good five miles which is pretty dang impressive IMHO.

While you weren’t looking, we went off to do the tour at Creo Chocolate, which was well worth it. All three of us had a good time, and I think you would too. Here we are customizing chocolate bars. We couldn’t get a photo with all three of us looking at the camera and smiling at the same time, DERP!

Here’s a good shot of Mom and Chloe at the park.

Here we are at Multnomah Falls, with Special Guest Star, Saskia Petersen.

Here’s Saskia doing pretty much what I spent my teen years doing, reading voraciously, every spare moment when I wasn’t being intellectually engaged.

We had a pretty epic time at Latourell Falls, lead by Saskia. 30 or 40 years ago I’d be that person climbing all that, but in truth, someone does have to stand back and be prepared to call for emergency services. Chloe did take a tumble, wet clothes, no permanent damage. Saved by Dad, yay me.

Here’s Chloe showing us how much of a better artist she is at 9 than the rest of us.

Here’s a bit of video of Chloe painting with mom.

This is out of order but still funny. An introduction to the riot of ground squirrels at Rooster Rock State Park where we stopped for lunch. Yes, they are cute.

There’s a reason why these little buggers are so fat. They know how to play the tourists. Honest, we were not trying to feed the wildlife. As you can see Saskia was more concerned with Fan Fiction than her sandwich.

Meanwhile… we went and visited some waterfalls.

Last time I was out in Forest Grove and took Chloe on bike riding practice she was pretty frustrated that it wasn’t working. Yet tonight, it all seemed to click and now she’s riding on her own!

Ok, she needs more practice but she’s got the basics. How exciting!

Here’s Chloe and The Saddest Tree In the World — it was relying on the vast network of brambles for support, the brambles I removed when I cleaned out the side yard. Now it’s growing downward!

Chloe is quite the little sculptor. Here’s her rendition of a s’more, a watermelon and a turtle.

Speaking of s’mores, here she is roasting marshmallows.

Parrot!