Another milestone

Recently, Vienne wrote her name, and the name of her entire family on her mini white board. She was so proud. Sometimes it surprises me how advanced she is for her age and how whip smart she is. It shouldn't, but it does. She also wrote "BACG" which is Yiddish for "Word that Vienne made up that doesn't exist"

It's big sister time!

Stella Matisse, all 8 lbs 1 ounces of sweetness, arrived on July 27th, 2015. Vienne met her tiny little sister the following day on July 28th. This is an account of that meeting. Smiles, hugs, and wonderment were the norm that day.

Such a beauty

Thanks to grammy for snapping this beautiful photo of Vienne. She makes my heart melt.

Belly painting and kisses

About a month before Stella was due to arrive, Vienne painted her momma's belly with some non-toxic paints. Since she's all about rainbows at the moment, stemming from her love of Rainbow Dash My Little Pony, she was steadfast in her desire to paint a rainbow on her momma's tummy. V's papa added a special touch at the end: 4 little painted stick figures, a preview of our new family dynamic.

Also, later in the week we took a few nice family photos at Grandpa and Grandma's house. Vienne was so excited about being a big sister a few weeks after this photo was taken.

Auntie Arianne comes to town

In July, we hosted Auntie Arianne, visiting from back east. We had a great, but short, visit....spending most of our time lounging around in the backyard and swimming.

However, we did visit the state hospital museum where they filmed One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Vienne was a little creeped out by the place) and the state capitol building (and statues), and here are a few pics of that, plus some backyard shenanigans.

Evolution of bike riding part 1

See Vienne ride a bike. Sort of. It took her a while to get warmed up, which she can't be faulted for since she's get a later start in life with bike riding. Same as potty training. And learning her ABCs. But one thing about Vienne, even though she may arrive late to the party, she's eventually the life of that same party. See the other bike riding videos below to see her evolution of bike riding skill.

Evolution of bike riding part 2

Ok, Vienne is starting to get the hang of it. It may be hard to see with the grainy quality of the video, but she's at the park and you can barely see her in the distance at the start of the video, but just keep watching for the payoff.

Evolution of bike riding part 3

Now, Vienne is a freakin' bike ridin' pro!

Bowling, bowling, bowling...rawhide!

We took Vienne bowling for the first time this past Saturday and she bowled a 67! Granted, we had the bumpers up, but the lady running the front counter said that was still a pretty good score for a 4 year old's very first game. Poppa almost broke a hundred. With bumpers. Shame on me.

Mother's Day 2015 Iris Festival

For mother's day, we had a picnic lunch at the Schriner's Iris Gardens. Vienne got to wear Pepe's Go Pro camera on her head as seen below. The small size of this video doesn't do it justice.

Wild and woolly

The weekend before Pepe headed home to Boston, we all spent the afternoon at the old mill in Salem, for the wool festival. Of course they had more activities than just wool related ones, so Vienne colored a picture, hammered a design onto a piece of leather, made a homemade jump rope, toured the oldest homestead in the Pacific NW (former home of Jason Lee), and cleaned and dyed a piece of wool!  It was very fun. 

Oregon Coast with Pepe!

Vienne's Pepe (and Danielle's dad, Dick) visited for a few weeks recently. During the visit we had to make our regular trek to the Oregon Coast. We started in Depoe Bay, ate at the famous Sea Hag restaurant, then moved onto Lincoln City, where we played on the beach. On our way home, we made the traditional stop for cheese and ice cream at the Tillamook cheese factory. 

Vienne visits Reed College

Vienne finally got to visit her poppa's work, Reed College, and she even met a few of his co-workers.