Christmas 2009: Portland family

Abe: Seems like lots of people visiting this time of year. Sometimes we even exchange gifts ...we like that part best.

Click here to see 18 pics of our family gift exchange ...well mostly it's me and Koh making noise with our new drilldrivers, hammers, cars and motorcycles.

Merry Christmas from Koh and Abe

Click here for our 60-sec Christmas card music video we made special for you.

I like to sing (LOUDLY mostly)

Abe: I like to sing and usually just bust out in song by myself at random times. My favorite songs include the "ABC Song" the school and mom taught me to sing during hand washing.

My other favorite is the "5 Monkees Jumpin'" song, which I will sing for you right now (Dad secretly recorded this). TURN UP the volume so you can enjoy it like my mom and dad do.

Wild Christmas Tree Day

Koh: Grandma and everyone went to the mountain to get our Christmas tree today from the wild forest.

We got to play in the snow and sled and throw snowballs at Grandma, then we climbed up to find the best tree of all.

Then Grandma used a saw and helped us KNOCK IT DOWN so we could bring it home on top of our car. We counted the 12 rings. Watch me and Abe PUSH THE TREE OVER!

Check out our Animoto music video here.

Sledding Day #1

Abe: We went sledding yesterday on Mt Hood to test our new gear, the new snow tires and to take a photo for our Christmas card. It was so fun that we passed out from laughter on the ride home. Click here to see 11 pics and 2 flicks of our day.

Turkey Time THANKS!

(Koh & Abe) Dear God,

We are THANKFUL for having the best Grandma and the best Mom and Dad. We like this dinner 'cause you let us eat at the table like big people - THANKS for that. We didn't eat anything, but THANK YOU for inviting us.

Then you gave us homemade garden pumpkin pie and homemade mincemeat pie with garden mincemeat- now we THANK YOU for that. Amen. EAT EAT EAT!

P.S. We like holding hands and saying grace, too. THANK YOU.

Here's our Mommy

...doing the Dirdy Birdy footrace today. She's a dirty girl and likes muddy races - this one on a motocross park they sprayed down to make as wet and nasty as possible.

So for 40+ minutes today she stomped thru deep mud, crawled and belly-slid with these other crazies, and PAID to do it and even was SMILING before, during and after this thing. Here's a 30-sec clip - listen to me and Koh cheer on this madness:

We got to watch up close, so close we even got muddy ourselves while we yelled ...GO Mommy GO!

Here's our Daddy

...at the Cyclocross race on Sunday. He had his tongue out a lot and was gasping and real muddy, too. Mom and Abe and me cheered him on from the stands but all it did was make the other guys go faster.

We don't know anyone like him. We like him, but we may not want to be like him when we get big.

He says he wants to be more like us, so maybe we can all just be little boys forever.

We love you Dad. GO Dad GO!

Aunt Gayle, cuz'n Jillian: Are you sure it's OK...

...that we stay at YOUR HOUSE for A WEEK LONG PARTY next month?

We can get pretty rowdy, especially during naked baby hour every day. What we mean is we're LOUD and CRAZY and WILD sometimes. We don't act ANYTHING like you saw 2 years ago when you made us sleep in the closet. We're almost 3 now, we talk loud and clear, we have certain needs, we romp, and we team up to get what we want.

Click here for a 77-sec Animoto music video - made just for you - after our photo shoot last night when Mom and Dad TURNED UP THE MUSIC and reminded us that we're coming over to YOUR HOUSE in a few weeks!!

WE CAN'T WAIT!

Cowboys ask "Trick or Treat?"

Abe - HAPPY HALLOWEEN, PARTNER! We like treats and parties, so we played along with this Halloween thing and got both!

Everyone dressed up at school, we did a Parkhill street parade, partied at Ronin/Torin's playhouse, tricked and treated the neighbors two nights in a row, and even went on a "Vampire-O" scavenger hunt in the woods. Check out 18 more photos here.

What a $575 egg looks like

Koh: Dad was sure excited today when he opened the nest box and found AN EGG! Where did this come from? So Dad was jumpin' up and down and Mom was even more excited so she brought us down to check it out.

Mom and Dad started this backyard science experiment back in July ...and we helped paint the coop, then got these little chickens that kept eating, then we got two more BIG chickens, then this egg showed up and we don't even know who the mom is?!

We like eggs so we can't wait to eat this.

Group Kisses, Hugs + a Puzzle

Abe: We love to kiss and hug and our favorite kind is a group kiss with 4 or 5 of our best friends. Isn't this a fun photo? Then we group hug, then we laugh.

PUZZLE: Guess who the 4 blonde heads are here? (Hint: Daddy's not one of them.)

We love apples

We grow our own apples and like to eat 'em right off the tree. Or in applesauce or cut up or cooked in tasty treats like pie. And since it's harvest time we eat some every day at home or on outings when dad gets one out of his pocket.

Today we went hiking with Uncle Jeff and then to this party where we tasted 40 different apples and got to paint a pumpkin. WOW!

Click here for 15 more shots of today's adventure.

Love Letter from Dad #9

Dearest Koh - This funny camping scene last week was too precious and you're just too funny and you're too young to remember it, so I'm capturing the story here. We will laugh together again about this one for many years.

Important context here is that you and Abe are in potty training, and it's been a year-long road we are still on to get you off the diaper habit into big boy underwear. For the moment, Abe is better at peeing on demand, and you feel the pressure. You both really like stand-up urinals we find only when you go with me to public restrooms, MEN version.

In our state park campground restroom last week at the end of a fun and active day, there you and Abe were, side by side pants down at the dual tall urinals doing your thing before bedtime stories. Nothing was coming out for you as Abe sprayed his down with little effort. You spoke no words while concentrating, standing firm, head down, squeezing your gut ...but not even a drip. Abe finished, backed up and you kept trying. And trying.

Eventually the epiphany struck you, your head lifted, you shuffled to the right toward Abe's urinal ...and said quietly "Try other one."

That one had me laughing loud and long.

I love you, Koh. -Dad

Tumble Bus

Abe: Every week at school the Tumble Bus comes and we love it cause it's a padded gym on wheels and we get to jump and climb and dangle like monkeys.

Click here to see our 1-minute Animoto video.

We're really yurting

Koh: We love to yurt, and we did it again at Ft Stevens State park on the Pacific ocean this week.

We ate donuts and s'mores, ran in the ocean and a lake, got very sandy, dune surfed, played with cannons, got cold at night, bought new sleeping bags, slept with mom and dad, watched sunset on the water, hiked, triked around the camp, rode the bike trailer, touched a shipwreck. walked up/down 170 steps at Astoria Column and threw airplanes off the top, made sand castles, ate sand...

We love this ...MORE MORE! Watch us in 5 seconds of film action below.

See 38 more pics here.

Daddy, I'm scared

Abe: Today we took daddy out for his 54th birthday to Oaks Park, this fun and historic amusement ride park that was having its annual Octoberfest. We know dad likes beer and we like rides plus it was a warm sunny day along the river.

We liked the train and every other ride except this really scary Rolly Coaster one that Sally and my mom took us on.

Dear Mommy: please don't make us do things that make our faces as frightened as this ever again, OK?

click here for more pics like ice cream faces and chicken dancing

Am I on Fire?

Koh: Thru my blog I met the people from a secret gaming society with code name Fire. I can't really say much, but they want me to join, and I'm a little nervous. It's all online stuff until you get in, then I couldn't say any more.

"Fire" is always around, in chat words, on the game walls, lots of gunfire, just everywhere ...including the hot fire brand I would have to get on my body.

Please help me by "comment" below. Do you think I should do it? I'll be 3 in January, and I can officially get in then. My parents don't know about this.

We miss our Grandma

Koh: We took Grandma to the train station yesterday and she gave us BIG hugs and said she was going to her 50th high school reunion in Wisconsin and would be gone almost 3 weeks! But what about Mondays with Grandma? What about trips to her house? Orange treats? Weekend adventures like this one to Maryhill Museum?

Come home Grandma! Grandma come home!

Corndogs, Cows, 4H Clubs - guess where we went today?

...to the Oregon State Fair, of course! World biggest petting zoo, lots of greasy food even grandma and mom and dad ate, fun acrobats on stage, free stickers and pencils, these really big scary animals everywhere, milking the goat, ribbons on rabbits, "don't step in the poop," loud chickens not like ours, sky-high rides ...when do we get to go back?

Thanks, Taz! Thanks, Margie!

Koh:
Dear Margie and Taz,

Abe and me made this singing video to THANK YOU for the nice books from Amazon.com.

Stinky Cheese

Abe: Just because I'm a kid doesn't mean I have to like just plain ol' American cheese or Velveeta. I have sophisticated tastes. I like gorgonzola. A lot. I mean I will eat fistfuls of it. Oh, and feta too. Koh likes gorgonzola too, especially as a sandwich between two Triscuit crackers.

Ohio Fowlers come to visit

Abe: I like Taz and Margie! My Dad's Vermilion friends came to visit for a week and said SHOW IT ALL TO US 'cause they'd never been to the northwest before. We like that request ...so off we went to all these places like the ocean beach, the ice cream store, the cheese factory, the zoo, the river, big trees, playgrounds and more.

We got to ride more trains, touch giant slugs, and they let us eat A LOT of blackberries and we even had pizza at a place so far away we zonked out on the drive home. I guess. Plus they played with us and read to us and I showed them our chickens.

Taz and Margie ...when will you please come back?

NAKED CAR WASH $5

Floor urinals - we love this!

Koh - We took Grandma to her first nude beach today, which she really liked - even though we all kept our clothes on.

It was a fun afternoon of Columbia River splashing and staying cool when the temps were almost 100 again today.

But the most fun was getting to pee in the state park bathroom after Dad showed us how to use these TALL URINALS. We now want one of these for the house... really Mom pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaase can we get one? Think of how much more clean and tidy all those toilet areas will be when all us boys can just go here!

Love letter from Dad #8

Dear Abe - Thanks for that 10 minutes of joy yesterday afternoon after you had that boy-I'm-pooped-after-the-day-of-summer-outings-including-the-big-city-pool-can-I-please-just-lie-down zoned out look. We put down the paddles, I sprawled out, and you came over to lie on me. Plop, perfect stillness, no sounds but the ocean, no movement except two heartbeats. Oh now that was 10 minutes of joy. Wispy clouds in the blue sky above, refreshing breeze through the backyard, cool comfy grass in the shade of a 90 degree day, summer's first gin & tonic half full on the patio.

That was a really nice zone we were in. I love you, you know. -Dad

Renee caught us love lounging and captured these pixels in a camera from the deck above.

Sorry Bugs

Koh: Mommy is making me and Abey blog an apology to bugs. To all those we've already squished and all those she said we have yet to squish. So, sorry bugs.

Photo is unrelated to this post. I'm just cute with my new haircut and having my first-ever lollipop.

Skinny Dippin' is the best

Abe: I remember 2 yrs ago this campground where Dad taught us about naked swimming in a river. We love our daily "naked baby hour" at home and it's even better outdoors ...so we went back to that same spot by these big clear rivers now that we're big and can do whatever we want.

Camping with Mom and Dad in a tent is the best. Hikes, river fun, sand, rock throwing, fish and birds and bug chasing ...wow.

The only fireworks this weekend were in my tummy that first night ...i think i was just hot and excited about my life.

More photos here.

Fruit bats on the loose

Abe: We love fruit and especially berries and especially when we pick our own. Let us loose in our raspberry garden this month and we clear the bushes of everything red. OH MY, SOOO GOOD. Dad, what do you mean we have to go now?

High Times at Low Tide

Koh: Our nice neighbors let us use their BEACH HOUSE this week and boy did we like that... we flew kites, ate salmonberries, played every day in this REALLY REALLY BIG SANDBOX, hiked, picked up starfish, touched anemones and crabs, threw rocks, got wet in the surf, ate ice cream or s'mores every day, slept in the same BIG BED, drank beer, fine dined at the pizzeria, saw lots of big trucks, collected shells and rocks for our museum, and filled up the car with sand.

We don't know why we had to leave and whined "BEACH HOUSE" all the way home in the car. Click here to see our photos (34).

Boys Beer Run by Bicycle

Koh: Dad took us today on our first BEER RUN and it was fun 'cause we went by bicycle with me and Abe in the trailer. The tour included a snack break at Starbucks and a playground which made us thirsty and we decided we liked beer, even though Dad dint know. You see he bought so much we had to prop our feet up on it, so we just tested one little drink.

Summer camping - more like that!

Abe: We love camping 'cause we get to sleep in strange places so we're gonna camp more than ever this summer. We started with two days Memorial weekend in the tent ...in our backyard. Then we got this upgrade to a cabin last weekend - look at me and Koh sleeping in this big bed. We partied late with our pals Ethan and Aiden. And those s'mores cooked over the campfire...

Photo tour (37) here.

Hiking with Uncle Jeff

Koh: Today Jeff and Dad took us on a boys-only adventure ...a hike with crabapples, mosquitos and howling coyotes ...then a nudist beach party with swimming, sand eating, fun with balls and a frisbee, a picnic and even "naked baby hour" only it was big pe
ople that were naked this time. Surf here to see all 40 pics of this crazy boys-only outing.

Chugga chugga POO POO (Phase II)

Abe: Me and Koh rejected the potty training months ago, but Mom's now coaching us again and Dad's doing all these demonstrations and they are bribing us with this new basket of "poopy prizes."

We'll see about all this BIG BOY UNDERWEAR business....

Gates no mo ...we're free at last!

Koh: It took us about 2 years, but we've found the keys to the gates locking us out of the kitchen. Snacks forever! Milk....ice cream! Cleaning supplies to drink then spill! A few weeks ago Abe and me worked together to both jump up and down until the gate swung open. Since I weigh more, I was able to do it on my own a week ago or so. Now even li'l Abey figured it out. Watch him here goin' in to fetch some cookies for us both!

Monkeys

Abraham:  I love to climb things.  And I'm pretty good for 2-year old.  Me and Koh climb up this tree in our backyard whenever we can, even during naked baby hour.