Mapping with Daddy

This morning, Dalia and I got the rare chance to go out in Mark's mobile mapping van for a trip to the old historic highway in the Columbia River Gorge. What a great way to be together on a work day and enjoy some waterfalls. Of course, the van can't be turned off, so someone had to stay with it at all times, but we managed to have a blast in the nearly deserted, rainy and beautiful Gorge. (Yes, that is a naked baby in her hand. She has finally discovered the joy of loving a baby.)

Uncle Tony!

Last week my dad had surgery to remove his prostate due to cancer. We're all hoping they got what they needed to give him a long life. Because of the surgery, Uncle Tony (my brother, Anthony) came to visit for a couple of days and while we missed Anders and Jen, we were so glad to spend a few days with him. It was so cool to see Dalia connect and be silly with him. He still uses some of the same tricks he used on me when we were little to get her going. As usual, he had his camera on hand. It's hard to pick which photo to use so I'll just put a couple up. Thanks for coming, dear wonderful brother. We love you so much!

princesses and ballerinas

Amelia and Dalia have discovered the joy of dress up together. Dalia says they were ballerinas. I think Amelia was a fairy princess. Whatever, they are girls and I love it. Poor Zeke was not thrilled about the antics, but it made for good pictures

Hiking for frogs

Dalia and I, our favorite neighbor friends, Nora and Emma (and their mommy, Nancy) went for a hike at Oaks Bottom the other day. We are so lucky that we can walk here. And, there's a frog habitat at the bottom of the "trail". We saw thousands of tadpoles! It was a beautiful day and the girls had so much fun exploring. Nature rocks. So do our friends.

Pops' birthday

I dare say Dalia loves her Pops. And what's more? She loves his birthday! She woke up on the day of his birthday and said, "Is it Pops' birthday?" This after two and a half weeks of celebrating it everyday with song, imaginary candles and cake. Happy Birthday, Pops! We love you.

bragging rights

Okay, I try not to brag too much about my daughter's abilities and charm. Well, I guess I don't try that hard. I thought I'd post a blog entry that showed the well-rounded activities of our blossoming little girl. One thing not documented is her ability to kick, dunk and hit with a bat a ball (much to Mark's family's delight she is quite the little athlete and is begging for her own basketball hoop - Archer has one).

She is a Hawaiian princess (Mommy's from when I was her age). This is her only dress up item so far - though she makes due with bathing suits, hats and Daddy's shoes. Here she is with her camera (you've seen her photography already...)

She can nurse her baby like the best of them.

She can raise one eyebrow. We've known she could wink for sometime now (like a year), but who knew she shared this hereditary trait with me, my brother and Pops? Something Dalia can do that Daddy cant...and now that she knows how, she loves to do it.

She can draw! Here is the latest installment of her faces.

Her new found love is mesmerizing enough to post a video - watercolors!


And finally, bilingual counting. She can now count to 13 in English (20 with a little help because for some reason she always jumps back to 7 after 13), identify and say her ABC's, and is learning some Spanish and French. I also notice that she signs still. Many of the signs she learned before she could talk stuck around. Last night we were talking about giraffes (which is about the cutest thing to hear her say) and she did the sign. If she can't get my attention or is really excited about food, she'll sign "more".


Whew, we got a smartie! We are so proud of her playing on her bikes and in the dirt; and hide-and-seek; and making stuff up; playing piano; and her loving empathy and interest in others; and being a total goofball; and her love of swimming; and her directional sensibility (she's better at directions than I am already, thanks to her Daddy's genes). Anyway, these are just a few of the things we are blessed to get to watch her do everyday so I thought I'd share them here.