August 23 - Birthday Number TWO and a Triathlon

This year we had a very exciting August 23rd. It is, of course, the girls' birthday - and we were thrilled to celebrate. We had driven out to Portland, OR for a triathlon Steve was competing in, and the girls got to celebrate their birthday big-city style. In the days leading up to their birthday we had taken them for fancy kids' haircuts, we'd gone to the big Portland children's museum, and had treated them to sushi, ice cream, and Lebanese food (not all in the same meal).

On their birthday, they woke up in a big fluffy bed with mom and we called down to room service to have banana bread french toast with whipped cream brought up for birthday breakfast - it was a hit:

But that wasn't all. The room-service person saw that it was their birthday, and asked if it was too early for cake. Our response: never! So he brought up two huge slabs of chocolate cake that were an even bigger birthday-breakfast hit:

But what is that behind the girls - why are they eating at a sliding glass door? Why, we were looking down upon Dad's triathlon site!

Steve came up to the room to show us his calligraphy to mark his race number, and to give the girls birthday hugs and kisses. Then, it was time for him to go compete:

The three girls (Elena, Clara, and Christina) got dressed and headed out to watch:

Here are the girls after a heated bout of cheering- you can probably make out a few people swimming in the background, because Steve's wave had just left the dock to start their swim, and we were shouting "GO, Daddy, GO!"

We watched Steve transition from swim to bike, and then caught him after his first bike loop:

We settled in to wait for him to finish the second loop, and can't believe that we MISSED him on the way back down!!

Seriously, we watched and WATCHED, but lots of those bikers looked the same, and we could not find Steve for the rest of the bike ride. So we missed him transitioning into the run:

When next we saw him, he had crossed the finish line! The birthday girls were thrilled to see their dad (especially since from this point out, he kept fetching them watermelon to eat from the runner's table!):

A triumphant triathlete dad and his beautiful birthday girls:

Clara decides that Dad needs to hydrate:

And Lena sweetly steps in to help him, too:

Barely an hour after finishing his race, Steve suggested we take the girls out to the beach, and so that is just what we did. For the rest of their birthday, the girls rode carousels, played in the waves, and had "little bit of candy" (their favorite phrase). We took video of this rather than photos, and we'll try to upload those soon!

What a wonderful day - next up, we celebrate the girls' birthday with a big party this weekend!

Making Gnocchi

Tonight, Steve was making gnocchi and meat sauce for dinner, and he thought it would be the kind of thing the girls might like.

He was right!

Elena and Clara first watched while Steve rolled the dough, cut it into pieces, and showed them how to shape it with a fork.

Then, the girls got their hot little hands on some forks and went wild:

They were actually pretty good at it!

Although, there were the occasional episodes of mashing with a fork (and, although not pictured, also poking of the fork into the butcher block, smooshing of the dough in their hands, and a little bit of eating):

Well, there's a little bit of the smooshing that got on film, after all:

And some cute showing-off of the "real fork" (they don't use these yet for eating, so they are pretty exiting):

The girls were so proud of themselves - just delighted that they were helping Daddy and really making the pasta "pa-pa" that they love:

The girls weren't quite as skilled at the rolling of the dough, but they did give it a good try:

It was the perfect dinner for a cold, rainy day - and a perfectly fun time for Daddy and daughters:

Off to the Fair!

It's no secret that Christina and Steve love the fair - we've gone to at least one fair almost every year we've been together, and we've never missed one here in Montana. The girls were actually born during fair weekend in Miles City, but they technically missed that one. We took them last year to our local fair, so very excited to have them there, but the girls mostly seemed unsure of what was going on, and a bit more fearful than the excitement we had hoped for.

So, we were so glad that this year the girls really seemed to "get" the fair. We debated going - it has been rainy, and cool, and the girls have been teething (again. still. yes.). But we decided to go anyway, and are so glad we did.

We got in the gate and it was raining pretty heavily, so we headed straight into the Home Arts building. But the girls were having none of it - they had seen the excitement of the main strip of the fair, and ran straight back out the doors. They looked up in wonder, saying "A boat! Up!" (it was one of those ark-type rides that swings way up into the air in a pendulum fashion). Then Clara heard music and said "Hey - dance!" and started dancing around. It was all over when they saw the carousel. Never mind that they've been on carousels dozens of times - this one had littler horses, and they could ride on their own! Clara had mixed feelings, but Elena was overwhelmed with the "neighs" and wanted to go back to them endlessly. In the end, we rode twice.

Then, we headed off to see some animals. We had told the girls we would pet some bunnies, but the petting zoo section seemed unattended, so we did not. Instead, we relied on the kindness of many 4-H kids, who let us pet a miniature rooster, a sheep, and several cows (one adorable mom and baby pair!).

They declined to pet the mini-horses, but thought they were awfully cute:

Then, there was fair food! Cheese curds, gyros, and the girls' favorite - cotton candy!

Clara was doing this funny thing, too, but I didn't get a good shot of her - just Elena:

We were eating while watching the 4-H kids show off their pigs - we liked it a bit, but those pigs are a ferocious bunch! The running away from the kids was funny to see, the pigs attacking each other was not.

Back on the promenade area, the girls felt totally secure heading out to see the wonders on their own (Christina and Steve were not so secure, and followed along right out of camera view!

Some among us got a bit tired - the girls wanted to be carried a fair bit, which gave Steve and Christina quite a workout! Here Clara asks to be carried "like a baby."

We headed back to the animal area one more time, to see the alpacas and llamas we missed the first time around. There was this cute little 2month old alpaca with its' mom - it was hilarious. It would nibble it's mom's ear, and Elena would grab Christina's ear and say "Mama's ear!!" thinking she had made the funniest joke. The alpaca was climbing all over his poor mother, something both Steve and Christina have experienced from our little ones - at one point he tumbled right over her back and landed on his back - it was hysterical to watch, and the reaction of the mom was priceless. She just looked at him, watching, as he worked to get himself out of that pickle.

Here was another mom and baby pair that Steve and Clara had fun watching:

Clara was a bit more reluctant than Elena to touch many of the animals, and she was so proud of herself when twoards the end she started petting this little guy - llama, we think?

We love the fair!!!!

Here and There

Just a few shots from two fun times. The first set is from an afternoon this week when Steve and Elena were hanging out, relaxing together in the living room:

The second set is from when Clara was playing in our bed today, with Baby Emily. She was too cute!