Monday, October 21, 2013

Sunny October

As rainy as September was, October has been that sunny!  And warm.  It's been amazing.   (Too bad I've been sick for half of it).  I thought we had put away shorts and short sleeve shirts, but since its been in the mid 70's, we're pulling them back out.   


This is the park at the school next to our house.  It has a beautiful view.  Briz has been perfecting her swinging skills.


This was the forecast for a week and a half ago.  

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Rainy days

September has been ridiculously rainy.  I didn't mind it too badly:

-  I felt like I was able to much more productive
- It threw me into fall/Holiday mode, wanting to bake, cook stews, and turn on our fire all of the time
- Got me planning for Christmas ahead of time
- Got a bit more creative with Brizzy's indoor activities.




It's been rainy, but it has also been ridiculously busy.   Every week is a juggling act with all of the stuff we have going on.  But it's all great stuff, so we can't complain.

Monday, October 14, 2013

30

So . . . I turned 30.  It was a good day, I made Nick go on a ridiculously long bike ride.  He's good to me.  The End.



Saturday, October 12, 2013

Canada Part II


The beautiful Capitol Building, and the random Native statues next to it.

We went to the Childrens Farm, with a cute little small polka dotted pig, 

ponies, llamas, baby goats, and a peacock that was fairly aggressive.

We spent quite a bit of time at some of their parks.  Canada has the best parks.  Zipline, huge spinny thing, extra long slide.  Who knew?  After this, we went and watched a cricket match.

Craigdurroghckhhasdf ( or something like that) Castle.  It was cool, but I was too cheap to go inside.  We peaked in and it seemed very Beauty and the Beast ish.

Another random beautiful government building with the most amazing gardens surrounding it.  

A beautiful, ginormous church.

View of the waterfront.  Loved all of the water taxis, yachts, catamarans, etc.

Blue Sky: Canada's version of Coke.  A very poor second.  Come on Canada.

End of the day on Saturday.  Yeah, she was done.

Briz insisted on having a tea party.  I wanted to take her to a real victoria tea party, but then realized that my cheap side was more dominant than my nostalgiac side, and so Nick improvised with his own tea party.  

Again, the coast was stunning.  Hard to describe with words.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Oh Canada

Early September our family decided to hop across Country Lines and venture into Victoria, Canada.  It was a fun weekend.  Briz particularly loved the ferry and the swimming pool at the hotel.  Not sure we needed to go to Canada for that, but oh well.


giggling because she just can't believe we are on the ocean.  She can't contain her excitement.

she searched for Shamu the entire ferry ride.

The beaches were gorgeous, although the water was absolutely freezing.


These are all canoes, rowing out on the glassy water.  


Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Visitors from Reno

Our friends from Reno, Brett and Julia came to Oregon to show off their newborn twins and to spend a little time with us.  They stayed at our house for a couple days, but unfortunately, it was a crazy week/weekend, so we didn't get to see them as much as we would have liked.  Either way, we had fun and we miss them.

We took advantage and had a girls night out.  We saw the play Chicago and hit up Voodoo Donuts.  Megan and I reminisced of our downtown stroll near the homeless shelters, but this had the added bonus of being late at night, and lots of the "unique Portland people" out on the town.

We went to the zoo, and we wanted Julia to come back to the true Oregon experience, so we ordered rain.  


Come back again soon Nelsons!

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Preschool Northwest

Briz has been going to daycare/preschool since she was 18 months, so this felt a little bit anti climactic.  However, this was her first day at her NEW school at Nike.  We have been on the wait-list for this amazing school for two years, so we were all pretty excited she got in.  She was mostly excited about her outfit on her first day.  My favorite thing is that I don't have to pack her a lunch.  Oh, well, I also love the fact that they send home an email every day she goes, tells us a detailed play by play of what they have done.  And they give me specific follow up questions to ask when Briz gets home. Yippee!  Excited to see her grow and learn and make new friends this year.




Thursday, September 19, 2013

Laboring

Labor Day Weekend was a bit of a bust, but we still managed to have fun as a family.  

We were excited to go to the beach on a supposed sunny day.  The Oregon Coast fails again!  At least it was still somewhat warm.  But the fog was crazy.  It was so bad that a crabbing boat came speeding into the shore, slamming on the brakes as it crashed into the sand - it couldn't see that the shoreline was there.  


We headed to Pacific City so we could climb the dunes.  Briz was a champ and ended up climbing the whole thing to the top.  For those of you who know Pacific City, you know that's a feat for an adult, let alone a four year old.  My calves were really sore the next day.  We jumped and sprinted down the huge dune, and Briz just giggled the whole time.


Nick followed that up with some handstands.




Love the feeling of putting on a warm sweater after the beach, and getting into a warm, cozy car.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Holland's 2nd

Holland had her second birthday and it was a sweet simple day for our family.  Briz had been ecstatic about having a birthday party for her and eating cake and ice cream.

Nick and I shed some tears thinking about what Holly would be like as a two year old and reflecting on all of the many hard moments in the last two years.  But thinking about her as a two year old, and also about her birth makes me smile.  I'm glad we can do something to make the smiles continue.


We met at her grave with some family and friends to write messages on balloons and let them go.  It's funny, but we got just as excited to see how high the balloons get.  This year, they seemed to follow the sun, right where it was peaking out from the clouds.



And then there was some that got caught in the phone wires :/  Good job Papa!



Her grave is starting to look a bit more mature.  For a while, the grass wasn't grown in, but now it's starting to look more like the others.  It looked particularly pretty that day with all of the flowers people brought.



We got a lot of support from our family and friends, who let balloons go. We loved it!  It seems kind of silly, but it really does mean a lot to us.  

Above is our friends Steven, Meredith, and Weston letting go of balloons in Massachusetts.


Paul, Mac, Dane, and Lincoln in California.


Grandma Great in Utah.


Pops in Utah.


Briz asked that Holly would send her a rainbow for her birthday.  Brittany sent us this picture.  Briz thought it was pretty amazing.  But she was also not surprised at all.  


Daniel, Carly, Sadie, and Elise in Utah.



Molly, Michele, and Maryjane in Utah.  And it was MJ's birthday too!  What a nice cousin.  Aunt?


Ronell, Bri, Palmer, Portia, Teya, and Thatcher in Washington.


After balloons, we had cake and ice cream at our house.  It was a rainbow cake, per Brizzy's request (notice a theme?).  

It was a good day.