Mommy, can we have a dog?

Koh: Mom, Aunt Angela has this really nice hound dog that she says we can have. We all went for a hike and see how well he likes us? I mean, come on, all we have are these old indoor cats. We promise to take good care of it ...PLEASE?????

All 30 dog walk pics here.

We just LOVE berries!

Abe: ...so we'll go far and wide to find 'em. Today we hiked above the treeline on Mt Hood until we found some wild huckleberries. Boy were they good! 15 adventure pics.

Slot Canyon + Nude Beach day

Koh: We love the Columbia River gorge 'cause we can do so many fun outdoors things in one day. Today we did this hike into the Oneonta slot canyon where the trail IS THE CREEK ..there is no trail. Which means we walk in cold water up to 3 feet deep over these BIG ROCKS and LOGJAMs until we get to the WATERFALL and yummy lunchtime. We faked like we were tired so Mom and Dad carried us in the cold deep parts.

Then we went to the BIG NUDE BEACH at Rooster Rock state park, where people are naked but nobody cares. We just like the BIG SANDBOX and water, water, water and Mom chasing us around. Here are 17 pics of our day.

Summer Beach Vacation 2008

Abe: We love sandboxes and water, so Mom & Dad took us to the BIGGEST SAND and WATER PLACE we've EVER SEEN: Atlantic Beach, NC. It was a great 'cause we got to stay for a whole week just playing in the pool, the ocean and this really big sandbox every day. Uncle Greg was getting really old - 50 years - and we wanted to visit before he gets stuck in the wheelchair or falls down like a tree. Plus we visited Jillian and our cousins and got to sleep in a real bed instead of those crib jails. We learned to jump into the pool (click), play with hoses and got to run around naked in the courtyard.

Then we road tripped over bridges and tunnels and ferries to visit Nana Jo and Susan in this fun place Ocean City, MD. We saw things we never saw before like wild horses on the beach, scary cicadas and these crazy arcade rides that scared me but Koh liked. We want to go back.

Look at all our fun photos here (click).

Dirt

Abraham: Me and Koh love dirt. Mommy takes us to the park by our house a lot. Whether we're walking or driving past, we always point and make noises so she knows we want to go play. Here are some pictures to show you how much we like dirt, especially the gopher mounds.

We like sticks and rocks and flowers and pine cones too.

Koh's Fearless adventures on the spiral slide

Abe: My brother is nuts ...look here to see a 2-min video of his antics doing laps on the slide last weekend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJFgo9H6zNo

Knock Knock. Who's There?

Abraham: Sometimes Mommy lets us out of the gated areas and into other parts of the house. Koh and me have fun running into the other rooms we don't usually get to go into. I'm getting tall and have figured out how to turn doorknobs. One of my favorite things to do is run into a room and slam the door shut. This has made my parents nervous because our old house didn't come with keys to the interior doors. So tonight, when Mommy was catching Koh as he was launching himself down the stairs, I ran into the guest room, closed the door and locked it. This isn't the first time I've done it. But this was the first time I wouldn't unlock the door. It was fun at first cuz I could run around the bed and touch the things I'm not allowed. It was fun when Koh stuck his hands and feet under the door to entertain me. But after awhile I got a bit scared and got tired of listening to Mommy and Daddy telling me to open the door and all their knocking.

Good thing Daddy is handy and was able to get the door opened without too much damage. Good thing I did this when Daddy was home because Mommy wouldn't have known what to do and I'd probably still be in there.

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Addendum by Mom: Mark took the door knob off and I took it to the locksmith, only to discover the knobs don't need keys... any ol' screwdriver will work.

Steam training with Grandma

Grandma: "Hey Abraham.... Koh.... wanna go for a real steam train ride?" We didn't even know she was a train nut when we replied by nodding "EY!" and off we went to a special weekend run of this old fashioned train we could see and hear right from our windows at home. It was real smooth and we got to hang over the railing with no seat belt or silly boosters and see the sights speeding by just like all the big people. And wow was that steam whistle loud! "Oooooh" says Koh. Then we go to walk around the Oaks Park and dance at the live band stand. Here are more pics like these.

Love letter from Dad #5

Dear Abe and Koh,

It's been some time now that you smile when you see me near the end of your day, and that's really nice ...I like coming home to those baby whites. Those open mouth kisses are pretty fun, too - are you being selective as you hand those out? I mean eventually you have to stop makin' out with at least each other.

Something really important just happened, though, and it made me recognize that what's going on between us is getting more serious ...for me anyway.

What's new and different is that you're paying attention to what I do and occasionally even what I say, and I have a feeling that this is a watershed I can't cross back over ever again; On the old side it just didn't matter too much what I was doing when you were around, but now I'm thinking maybe it really does.

You mock me. You listen closely to new words, even though you don't say any. You pay too close attention to what I do, then sometimes follow along. You signal certain bodily functions; Well, Abe, you think farts are funny. You know "no" or "no touch" by my tone; you've even cried after stern talk before. You like to tumble with me, body language at its best. You want to eat what I eat, drink what I drink. You still like banging your head on the window long after I showed you that move one day. You like face mashing with me. You pump-fake me with offers to share food.

Fading fast are the days I can do whatever and nobody notices. You notice, you copy, you might even be recording what I'm saying. Oh my, I have to be careful. I don't think we'll ever go back to the old days. I love you guys. -Dad

I wanna be an indoorsy kid some day

Abe: It doesn't look good for us being hip kids with favorite TV programs and video games ...at least until we can get away from our mom and dad. They keep taking us outdoors where we get dirty, cold, wet, hungry and real tired sometimes. I even heard them bragging that we know how to drink from a camelback... so? We get thirsty, too! But they told me I wasn't supposed to drink from those other people's tubes like I did at the Mt Hood Scramble last weekend. How come they left it there on the ground then?

Yurt Yurping

Koh: I warned them that I wasn't feeling well, but Mom and Dad decided the family yurt camping trip to S Oregon to attend Ben & Tonya's wedding reception was a GO anyway. ..and off we drove with Grandma for almost 5 hours to set up for two nights in this swell heated YURT on a lake in the woods. Click here to see our fav pics.

It was a nice weekend, with lots of people around I didn't know and then some nice quiet time around the campfire, throwing rocks into the lake, and hiking around - Abe and Dad those nuts even went swimming in the cool water. It was one of those really quiet times when me and Abe were sleeping in the yurt that I decided to yurp up that wedding cake and ice cream into the PaknPlay and all over Mom's clothes when she came to rescue me. I warned 'em!

What's that noise?

Koh: So I'm quietly finishing my dinner last night when I hear this loud explosion. "What is that?" I convey to Mommy with my big blue eyes. Her blue eyes get big too and she starts saying "What do I do now?" and "What do I do first?". That noise was Abraham. Actually it was Abe's dinner leaving quickly out the backdoor. And since he was sitting in his highchair too, there weren't a lot of places for it to go, so it went down his leg and onto the floor. Monday Abe showed me how to quickly explode food out his mouth too, while in the car. Mommy keeps telling me to stop bugging him because he doesn't feel well and that in a few days I'll probably understand just how he feels. Does that mean I get to do explosions too?  I think I'm going to wait to do them until we get halfway through our 4+ hour drive to our camping trip and cousin Ben's wedding reception this weekend.  

Walkin Runnin Fallin

Koh:  Abe and me are good walkers now.  We are good runners too.  I seem to be a good faller.  You'd expect Abe to fall all the time since he is so bold and fearless but I am better at it.  We went to our park this weekend and Mommy and Daddy let us walk on the trail.  I wanted to walk beside the steps, instead of on the steps.  Somehow my legs didn't go fast enough or something because I did a bottom-over-tea-kettle move.  I got a face full of dirt, but I'm starting to like the taste of dirt.

Mother's Day

Abraham:  We got Daddy up early to take us to the store today so we could get Mommy a present for Mother's Day.  She was still in bed when we left so when we got home we rung the doorbell and greeted her like this:

We picked out a very fun card that sang a song.  Koh and me love music and dance any chance we get.  Watch.

Auntie Andy is the best

Koh: Auntie Andy and her mom Veronica took me and Abraham to OMSI. What a fun place to go. My favorite part was the water area where I got to get soaking wet by pouring water down the front of my shirt.

Abraham: Tell them about the fun balls and the

tubes we got to put the balls into. And how the one tube sucked the ball up and spit it back out at us.

Koh: Oh yeah, and I also really liked the sand area. Abe didn't want to put his bare feet down at first. He kept pulling them up to his stomach when Mommy would try to set him down.

Abraham: Hey, it felt weird.

Koh: And then Mom had to really embarrass us by dressing us in too-small outfits (but dry) that were stashed inside the diaper bag. Glad we got to go home after that.

Abe & Koh: Thanks Auntie Andy, we love you!