The big city

Vienne took her first real trip to the "big city" back in July of 2014. Sure, she was born in Portland, and lived the first 18 months of her life there, but being so young she hadn't really experienced living in a "metropolis". (Notice all the quotes...Portland is "big", but not that big).

We had an action packed day, starting downtown and looking up at all the tall buildings - much taller than anything we have in Salem. We visited Portlandia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portlandia_%28statue%29), Pioneer Square, got some ice cream, rode on the Max, went to Papa's work at Caldera located in the Pearl District (which is where Mama used to live before she met Papa), went swimming in Jamison Fountain, rode the street car to the OHSU tram, took it to the top and looked out over the city at the observation deck, then headed home back to Salem. These pictures are only a fraction of what we did that day. I took more video than stills, which I may post at some point if I get a chance.

4th of July 2014

Hurray for America's independence! Hurray for fireworks! Hurray for Grandpa and Grandma! Hurray for a backyard fire pit!

A girl and her Kiki

Feast your eyes on Vienne being silly with her Kiki. For those that don't know, Kiki is her security "blanket". Blanket is in quotes because it's actually a purple pillow case (as you can tell by the video). Kiki arrived in V's life courtesy of Ya-Ya (Danielle's Mom, Sian) back in May of 2012 and Kiki has never left Vienne's side since then. Sure, she may forget about Kiki once in a while, but whenever she's sick, tired, scared, etc. she always wants her Kiki by her side so that she can feel Kiki's silkiness between her fingers. She also likes to tickle her lips by running a corner of Kiki gently across them. I often wonder when Vienne will stop wanting her Kiki, and I truly hope that day doesn't come soon. For when it does, it will be one sign that our little one is all grown up.

Family photos

Last year, we took advantage of a Groupon for JC Penny portraits. I think they came out pretty well. Vienne was able to sit still for a few minutes (always a miracle!) and I must say we are a darn good lookin' family. For comparisons sake, I've included two other professional family photos that we've taken in the past. Time flies!

Mother/daughter camping trip

Back in July of 2014 (yes, I'm that far behind with the blog!!), Vienne went camping with her Momma at Suttle Lake near Bend, while her Papa was at a work related camp, Caldera, just up the road. Momma and Daughter had a very good time, including swimming, eating hot dogs, mini hikes, playing board games, reading, smores by the fire and snuggling in the tent. It was also very warm, topping out in the 90s. Thankfully, they had plenty of sunscreen available.

Some of the antics:

New kitty cat!

Back in June of 2014 (yes, I'm that far...sigh....) we had a new addition to the Doucette-Hardy household: Sunny Doucette-Hardy, our new kitty that we adopted from Friends of the Felines here in Salem. Sunny has been a fine addition to our ever growing family (there will be 15 of us in August!) and he is a very fun and loving cat. We love him so much.