party!

this weekend we had a lot of family in town bringing our siblings to college so we threw kale a birthday party. he loved all the attention and made out like a bandit with gifts. thanks everyone for coming! our resident photographer, john roth, took all the wonderful pictures. i actually took this picture and it was the front of the birthday invitations. we had an alphabet block theme.
i made a "k" shirt for the special boy
what a lucky boy
checking everything out
he actually figured out how to rip the paper

peter decorated our block cake
grandpa and kale
very interested in the flame

the frosting was so fun to play with!
so excited!

more was on him and the floor than in his tummy

more beach pics

we just got these pictures from peter's brother john. he is a great photographer and really can capture a moment or a person. we will have more coming and also some more updates on life back in bozo. peter will have to explain this one in the comments, i didn't go on the hike
this is everyone who did go on the hike!
i love how this one captures his eyes
almost the whole group, missing about 5 or so people.
a beautiful sunset, again captured by john roth
view from our porch
he got this excited yesterday and bonked his head on the floor. he wasn't excited anymore
we leave this kid with any family member....

kale in his surfer/swim shirt

concentrating on one of many delicious breakfasts
sleepy head
looks kind of like he is trying to poo
all better

oregon

we are in oregon staying at an awesome house on the beach in lincoln city.  peter's mom's whole side of the family is here and we are having a sort of mini-reunion.  we started off in portland...

kale and liam heading down the slide at a picnic we had in portland

these guys are getting along great

such cuties!

my friend brianna lives in portland and stopped by the park during our picnic to say hello

a fun coffee for breakfast

our first day on the beach was perfect!  we drove to lincoln city from portland in a caravan of 3 vehicles and 12 people, plus luggage and groceries.  it went very smoothly and we got to the beach around 4:30.  kale was a little skeptical of the cold water.

kale and liam don't quite know what to think of the waves

kale was so tired at this point in the day that i don't think he would have liked anything.

today it is cold and cloudy.  we went for a walk aways up the beach anyway and checked out some fun stuff

here is peter's reaction to this....

....a dead sea lion on the beach.  smelly

playing frisbee with johnny and emily

hing-um

last week i was able to go up to hingham to spend some time with my family. my mom was in white sulphur springs spending time with my aunt ellie so peter drove me up there to meet her tuesday night. i drove back to hingham with her and then down to fairmont on friday with the family and peter met us there. i hadn't been home to just hang out since i graduated from high school so it was fun for kale and i to get so just be there, without another agenda of basketball games or graduations. enjoy the pics, there are lots! riding some bikes to the highway bar to get some ice cream cones
don't we look cool?
vanessa and kale playing in the backyard. ness took a break from painting the house to hang out. actually, it seems she was always on a break but who could blame her with this little guy to hang out with?
kale usually takes a few minutes to warm up to people he hasn't seen in awhile but not this trip. he was in true form.
this is a ceramic alligator that my parents have. my grandpa used to make ceramics so there are lots of random ceramic animals around our house. kale loved sliding this guy along the carpet.

the hingham park has lots of new play equipment that we took kale on. i am pretty sure we liked it more than he did.
trying to peek out the bottom of the swing at auntie ness
looks thrilled, doesn't he?
he was pretty indifferent about the swing



mama and kale going down the slide
mama liked it but i'm not sure about kale...

kale was exhausted that night after his photo shoot at the park!
i earned my keep up there by helping my sister clean up branches at the park and mowing the lawn. since we don't have a lawn in bozeman, i thought i would get my fix. i did, for the next 5 years i am set!

fairmont

i rode down to fairmont with my family and peter met us there for a fun filled weekend. we played in the pool, lounged in the sun, napped, had great food, and laughed a lot. kale and dad swimming. peter's first time with kale in the pool.
such a cool dude
mama and kale practicing floating
kale isn't too interested in the family pic

grampa entertaining us all
part of the laughs i was talking about earlier...
"the things i do to make you people laugh"
just waking up


showin' some skin
what a pose!
mama showing everyone how it's done!

kale found his own entertainment

not pleased with this idea
auntie nessa giving him a back rub to calm him down

"dad, why would you want to hit this ball when you could just eat it?"
grampa teaching kale how to put....with a driver apparently
kale didn't like to crawl on this green. this is how he used to try to move before he figured out the army crawl.
entertaining everyone

kale is discovering how to undress himself. it is bright out, sorry.