Bedtime Stories

The other day Gray surprised us by starting to read the stories by himself when we sat down to read books before bed. It's amazing how much a 2 1/2 year old can memorize. This may only interest the grandparents but for those of you who can understand toddler speach we think it's pretty cute.

There's an alligator under my bed


Goodnight Moon

First Day of School

Our little boy started at Betty Rowland Nursery School today. I surprised myself by being a little bit sad but he had no trouble giving me a kiss and going off to play with the new toys. I let him pick one stuffed animal to take with him for nap time, he chose the kangaroo that Robert brought back from Australia last month. When I picked him up in the afternoon he immediately told me that it had been GREAT! So I guess we don't have to worry.

Goodbye and Thank you

We have now lost our two summer helpers to college. While they are both off to bigger and better things this is VERY sad for Laura, Robert, and Gray. Luke our "manny" is off to Pomona (welcome to the Claremont fraternity) and Rachel to Stanford. Gray had a fantastic summer and he is already missing you both!




P.S. Thanks Rachel, for all of the great pictures!

One fish, two fish

Gray decided he was tired of waiting the other night and started reading without me.

Vacation in Seattle

Two days after I got back from Portugal we headed off to Seattle for a vacation. We stayed with our friends Tom and Yaya where we were very well fed (Thank you Yaya!). We visited our favorite parks, saw lots of friends, and made a trip to a local farm. While Robert and his Dad watched the Sounders get whipped by Barcelona FC the girls spent the evening at Pike Place Market and having dinner overlooking Seattle Harbor.

Gray feeding Tilly the pygmy goat.

Gray and Molly after picking their squashes.

After I expressed a craving for real Ramen, Yaya made us a noodle feast.

Swinging at our our old favorite park.

Climbing with Will at PEPs.

Yaya and I, Cecelia and Bonnie (the MILs) at the Pink Door.

My Little Adventure

One of the things I wanted to do while in Braga was visit a linen factory that I had read about so yesterday afternoon I hopped in a taxi (keep in mind that I speak about 3 words of Portugese and the driver spoke no English). I gave him what I thought was the address but it turns out was not a complete address. We headed out of town and up a hill (he was talking to his dispatcher trying to figure out where we were going). He stopped 3 times to ask for directions, including ringing a woman's doorbell and telling me this was it but it was really just somone's house. We finally found the place and I convinced the driver to stay while I bought some beautiful hand woven linens and watched a woman do some weaving.

Still in Portugal

After two days of sitting listening to talks we went on a field trip yesterday to the Duoro (the port wine making area of Portugal). The stripes on the hills are terraces and grape vines.

A boat ride on the Duoro river.

Then a stop to do some wine tasting.

And we finally arrived at dinner. After dinner we watched a performance of Capoeira (a Brazilian martial art/dance).

And just to prove that I have actually been attending the conference...