Friends and Summer Fun

We are having a nice start to July this year...it is about 89 degrees today,. just perfect for me! Last weekend we went to the Sandy River Delta with our friends Christie and Todd, for a hike and dip in the river. Lucy did great as Marc pushed the jogging stroller through 3 ft tall grass...it was a jungle! The river felt wonderful, and Marc dipped her toes in it. Afterwards we had dinner at our friend's restaurant. Ying had a son 20 days after Lucy was born. Issac is super cute, and Lucy LOVED checking him out (and grabbing him, and trying to taste him!). My Aunt Audrey and Uncle Leonard came by for a surprise visit (very surprising since they live in So Cal! :) and it was nice to see them, and see how Lucy made them reminisce about when their kids were babies. My old friend Rachel has just moved to Portland and has been staying with us as she looked for a place to live. It has been great to have her around, and fun to see how much she is bonding with Lucy. :) There are a few pics our friend Yasmin took at end of April when we met her and some others for dinner in downtown Portland. She sure has grown!!! And if you can read the onesie that my friend Tasha got for us...Lucy is always congratulated for burping! I hope nobody takes offense, it is such a funny shirt. I love you all.

Happy Anniversary, Father's Day and 5 months!

We have been having a busy month! Sorry for the lack of posting. Lucy is doing great, and is nearly 5 months old already! She is becoming so aware of her world, and curious about everything. Grabbing, reaching, babbling, rolling, pounding hands on the table...she is an active girl! Last weekend we went to Central Oregon to stay in a cabin for a few nights. We stayed on East Lake, an awesome place, with fishing, hiking, hot springs, and all kinds of cool volcanic things to see, as the area is the Newberry volcano, an ancient volcano. It was kind of cold this year, but we were still able to do lots of fun stuff, and Lucy experienced several firsts. She had her first boat ride (she was none too happy about the life jacket!), her first time seeing hot springs (too hot for her to go in), her first time playing with pebbles on the shore, her first time in a high chair (boy was she excited, sitting at the table with us!), her first time on a swing, which she LOVED, and her first time feeding the ducks, or rather, watching me feed them. She was mesmerized by the ducks, and it was fun for me as it reminded me of growing up in Canyon Lake and taking bread down to Indian Beach to feed the ducks. Marc had his first Father's Day, which was fun and relaxing for him. He is a great Daddy for Lucy and so wonderful with her. She loves to see him and gets excited when he gets home from work. We are both so lucky to have him in our lives! Yesterday was our three year wedding anniversary. :)

I hope that you are all doing well and loving life. Remember that each day is a gift that we are blessed to receive, and to not take anything for granted.

Cat excitement and rolling over!

Lucy is rolling over now! She did it for the first time yesterday, and now if you lay her down that is all she wants to do. She is getting so big, and interested in everything, including this keyboard! She has also become very aware of our dog and three cats, and gets super excited when she sees any of them. She squeals and laughs at them! Fortunately Gracie the dog is great with kids, and one of our cats, Uliei, is good with kids as well. We have all been well, and glad that our kitchen is finished for the most part. I will post pics of it soon. We had several friends over for a BBQ this weekend, and Lucy was a champ. So many friends helped to take care of her while Marc and I got things ready. She was so cute, I could tell she was noticing that our house was full of people and kids. I hope that she remains so easy-going. Thanks for checking in on us! Love, Koree

Beach Trip

We have been having some wonderful weather here in Oregon, and it made me desperate to hit the beach. Our kitchen remodeling is almost finished, so Marc was unable to accompany Lucy and I on our trip. It was so awesome...the beach was hot (a miracle!), and Lucy was really taking it all in. She spent a lot of time looking at the waves. I dipped her little toes in the water...too bad it is too cold for swimming without a wetsuit. I think we will need to get wetsuits as she gets older, so we can enjoy the water. It was so nice to bring her to the beach and let her check it out. We live 2 hours from the ocean, and I have to make sure to make the extra effort to get there, because I want her to grow up with it in her life. In other news, she is just fitting into her excersaucer (thanks, Stephanie and Matt) and has figured out that the teapot makes noise, so she kept trying and trying to trigger it, and she was pretty good! It is amazing to she how she is learning. I dressed her up in the dress my Dad and GranPaddy picked out when I was born and everyone finally knew that I was a girl. I do think Lucy looks so cute in it. She is getting close to rolling over and is just very aware of what is going on around her. She loves to laugh, and I uploaded a video which is poor on visual quality but great for the sound of her laughter. I hope that everyone has a great week. Love, Koree

Thank you, for a real good time!

This past weekend we traveled up to George, Washington for a camping and concert experience! Lucy did such an amazing job, and really seemed to have fun. She is learning so much, and so into new things. Camping was a breeze, and the concert was outstanding. We saw the Dead (the remaining members of the Grateful Dead), the Allman Brothers and the Doobie Brothers. The Gorge Amphitheater is a great venue, overlooking a gorge in the Columbia River. The views are spectacular. The music was great, and the Dead even played her song, "Loose Lucy" which was exciting for Marc and I. The Grateful Dead represents something very special in both of our lives, and it felt so good to come full circle and bring our daughter. She slept through most of it, but that was just fine. We also had fun with some good friends, including Robin and Katie, who helped us out with Lu-Lu. We can't wait for more camping and concert trips with Lucy! Love, Koree

Mom's Day :)

It's Mother's Day! We had a nice, relaxing day. I worked last night, came home and played with Lucy before catching some sleep. The afternoon was so nice. The weather was calm, Lucy happy, and Marc played with her while I did some gardening. Yeah! It feels good to get some gardening in after neglecting the yard for a year. Marc made a wonderful dinner of BBQ'd salmon, sweet potatoes, garlic, cauliflower and a green salad. Yum. Later I came down here and have had some time to surf the webs and make not one post, but two! Lucy is really becoming more and more aware of her surroundings, and recognizing new situations and places. She is easily distractable. She is getting better with her fine motor skills, reaching for and grabbing toys, bringing them to her mouth and even learning how to activate the sounds on some of them! Wow! She is really lifting herself up during tummy-time, and starting to make the first moves towards rolling. She kicks and kicks and kicks her legs...she is a little squiggly worm! It has been nice having a couple of days break from the rain, as we have been hanging out in our yard. She looks around at the trees and flowers. Of course, she is a bundle of joy! Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mom's out there... :) Love, Koree

Cousins!

Last weekend Marc's brother Matt, his wife Stephanie and our nephew Mason came down from Spokane to visit. What a fun time we had! I really enjoyed seeing how much Mason loved Lucy, and how much she loved him as well. At one point she was just smiling and smiling at him as he smiled at her. When I said to Mason, "She loves it when you smile at her!" Mason replied, "I am so happy, I couldn't possibly make my medium face!" It really touched my heart to see them connect and bond. While they were down, we were able to ride the Max (our light-rail train) downtown for the Cinco de Mayo festival on the waterfront. We had fun playing games, people watching and eating food. Marc and Matt were finally able to talk Mason into riding the bumper cars after much debating. He ended up liking it so much he wanted to ride them again! Aunt Stephanie held Baby Lucy while Marc and I rode the Ferris wheel...our first date! :) It was fun being up so high over the city. Portland really is a beautiful place. It was so nice to spend time with Matt and Stephanie and Mason. Thanks for making the trip to see us! Love, Koree