Fast and Furious

The Rodriguez family stopped by for a visit after a 12 day fast for Leo and Lishu which means they did not eat any food for 12 days until they got to our house. They looked great and we're very serene jelly beans. It was wonderful to see them and play with Himal and Kailas who is super fun and crazy now, two qualities I really like in people.

When I Was A Puppy Dog

This is Michael Hurley, my favorite singer of my favorite album right now. He sings a song about a puppy dog who never had the blues and I love this song. He is wonderful and I met him and I gave him gum and he patted my head. Portland is a wonderful place because you can meet guys like this and see them in someone's backyard play the greatest saddest songs from their long life.

Spitz...Phelps...deWitt!

Another graduation for me - swim class. I'm still a penguin but I made it through 2 weeks of lessons. Next year I'll probably be an otter, if I keep up my swimming practicing. I can now hold my breath underwater for 6 seconds and float on my back for 8 seconds, and also I can jump by myself from the edge of the pool into the pool. I'm like a regular water bug!

Reading To Bobby

Grandpa came down for a much needed visit. He took me fishing, to the Elephant Deli and of course to the bookstore. I got a book on vehicles of speed. Love you Bob! Miss you already....

The Hummingbird Has Flown

My very last day of summer school, any kind of school, at Hummingbird. Good-bye teacher Kelly. Stay sweet!


Mom brought good-bye cupcakes and I passed them out to all my once-schoolmates. K.I.T you guys!


I'll miss you all. My elementary school is close by so I'll still see you guys around, at the park playground and in the neighborhood. Don't be strangers!


The lovely ladies of pre-pre-K. I think I may miss you most of all. Don't go changing!

the river wild

This stick led me straight to the Salmon River.


It was crystal clear cool. Great hike, even though I fell and cried three different times.


This is just another spot to go and hike at that's just a quick drive out of Portland. We have so many more hikes to get to before the summer ends that we're all feeling a little anxious that we will run out of time.


The city where we live is super fun but it is so nice to go sit on a log in the woods and just listen to the sound of the rushing water of mother nature. It really clears my mind.


And when I'm not sitting peacefully clearing my mind, I am throwing big rocks into the water and watching them plop.


Dad walked all the way out on a log that was way more narrow than it looked from the shore. It was a very shaky turn-around for him and we were nervous but he made it.


Three scabs and a cleared mind...decent!

I Love Orphans

Look at how cute little Greta and Emily look in their play costumes. They are in the play Oliver (pronounced O-lee-vah) and they've been doing a show a night plus two on Sundays for weeks now. They put dirt on their faces and march around on stage singing and dancing about food, glorious food. I think I have the type of personality that is good for the big stage. My mom says its called a ham.

Vacation Recap:

BAM!


Summer vacation '09 was all it could be. So much fun every minute of every day...


My uncles, so many of them, my aunties, our friends, and gambling...


Big winners and no sore losers...


Holding hands with my family, united as one...


Family dance party...


New friends...


Old friends...


Best of friends...


And my most special of all cousins. The baby Ondine...


Kimba and Patrick. If I talk about how I feel for my cousins and how much I miss them my eyes will get leaky. I really, really, really love all you guys, every one of you from every part of my vacation. See you next time!

my little brown hero

While in Mexico we went to the family favorite restaurant La Fonda where I saw dolphins swimming in the ocean below us and I had my first pina colada and mom and I danced the night away cheek to cheek.



This is the father and son singing team that made me realize what I want to do with my life when I am seven years old. I want to sing beautiful spanish loves songs with a beautiful spanish voice and play maracas and dance. This guy was SO excellente! He was just a kid like me but he was a full-blown super star.

Baja California

The beach! The beautiful Pacific Ocean. The water was so warm it didn't even take any time to get used to it. I put my feets right in.


Left to right: Cari, Ondine, Nana, Ed, Kimberly, Dad, me and Brad. The ocean was ours.


My uncle and cousins never got out of the sea. They body surfed and boogie boarded every day until they could surf and boogie no more. They are from Austin, Texas where they have no beach.


Kimberly got her hair all corn row fancy by a local mexican senora.


Me playing paddle ball with Aunt Marisa who is in very great shape.


Ondine and I buried Uncle Brad. They buried me next. I wish I could show you all the crazy deep places I got sand in me but we didn't take photos of that.


El Hefe. Baking in the hot sun. No place he would rather be.

Third Stop:

MEXICO!!!

My first trip out of the United States. We drove into Mexico, past a giant wall that is now supposedly impossible to climb over. We went down here to meet up with my mom's sisters and my Nana and Papa. This is the side of the family that I don't get to see as much and I was so happy to see them and especially to finally play with all my cousins.


We played game after game after game. Memory game, hide-n-go seek game, poker, building games, and this crazy game where you have to walk like a penguin.


Kimberly and Patrick. The coolest people! Patrick and I got to share a room, the boys' room. So great. He read me stories at night instead of my parents. He can read! Even the hard words in my dinosaur book!


Build a fort game. Wherever you are, build a fort!


Kimberly is the expert at the fort building. She kept saying, we need it taller, taller!


Patrick and Ondine in the fort. Parents keep out!


I'm going to try not to complain to everyone about how far away I live from these guys and how long I have to go in between seeing them. I feel like cousins should be part of your every day life always.

Second Stop:

DISNEYLAND !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


This is me entering the magical land the most amazingest happiest place for someone like me to be on earth. I love Oaks Park in Portland but this place blows it away! It's like living inside a cartoon on the tv.


Auntie Cari, Uncle Brad and Ondine met us there. They came all the way from New Zealand! Ondine's little mind was blown apart too.


The flying Dumbo. This ride used to be the pink elephant ride but they changed it so no one thinks it's fun to be drunk. They changed a lot of stuff since my parent's day, they say, like the Johnny Depp in Pirates but I didn't care I thought it was all perfect. My favorite ride in the whole park was the submarine because of all the digital Finding Nemo stuff that was not at all the same as my parents possessive memories. I wonder what it will be changed to when I take my little kids in 30 years???



One of the best rides was Autopia where I got to DRIVE MY OWN CAR. Seriously, no joke, I pushed the pedals and I steered the steering wheel. Dad was just my passenger. What a feeling of wonderful power! You should have seen me, I was like a crazy speed demon...just like my mom! (Not like my dad, everyone knows he is a slug behind the wheel.)


And can you believe the baby Ondine got to drive too? Her mom was hysterical the whole ride.


Star Tours. Great line, but the ride was kind of scary. The rides I was sort of scared on partly but then got unscared and deliriously happy on were: Star Tours, Pirates, Mr.Toad's Wild Ride and the carousel.


The Jungle Boat Cruise was great, except actually I got scared when the biting piranha fish started jumping right outside our boat (I should add this ride to my scared list).


My parents were always there to hold my hand and tell me that it was just fun we were having, not fear.


All in all, Ondine and I had the best time of our life. I'm so glad I got to go to this place. I stayed up really late and was there after dark to see the most beautiful fireworks my little peepers ever have peeped. I thought the ones we did in the street on 4th of July were cool. Turns out those were duds! The ones at Disneyland are like real magic, there's even real shooting stars. How can one place have so much greatness in it?


Thank you Mr. Disney wherever you are. You know how to make kids happy.