Pictures from Q2 2020

The second quarter of 2020 has been… different! We’ve been in lockdown for most of it because of COVID-19, so we haven’t had much opportunity to get out and do much.

We’ve been making the most of our time at home though. Both Ellie and Jack have helped me to till and reseed the lawn, Ellie has been busy doing remote learning, and we’ve ventured out of the house a handful of times.

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Ellie showing off her painted nails

Ellie gave herself a manicure, which is adorable in and of itself, but then, while speaking to aunty Shelly, she was showing off each finger in sequence. Well, she didn’t quite understand why she found it so funny when she showed aunty Shelly her middle finger.

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Ellie’s first year at school complete

And just like that, Ellie is no longer a kindergartner. Today is Ellie’s last day at school before the summer break, and they had a school assembly where parents were invited to come along, so I broke away from work to attend.

Each grade sang us a song, and several groups were highlighted and praised for their efforts and achievements during the year. This included the top two boys and girls in each grade from Running Club, where the kids are allowed to voluntarily run around the track at recess and have their laps recorded by a teacher. Apparently, Ellie was one of the top two girl kindergartners (out of ~40) that ran the most laps throughout the year, so she got a gift card and recognition for that.

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Lilac Days

We had heard about this small lilac garden in Washington, about an hour away from us, that had the most beautiful display of lilacs, so we took a trip up to see them and we weren’t disappointed.

The kids humoured us as us adults walked around, but they made the most of it too, and enjoyed smelling the lilacs, not to mention that we got some adorable pictures of the kids.

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Visiting the Cherry Blossoms in Portland

We live in the PNW because we love everything about it, and we live that reality out. At every opportunity, we’re out seeing all of the beautiful sites around us.

For whatever reason, in the first two springs here, we didn’t get a chance to make it down to Tom McCall Waterfront Park to see the cherry blossom trees blooming in early spring, but we didn’t make that mistake this year.

We have a lot of cherry blossom trees here in Portland and they’re just a beautiful adornment to an already beautiful city.

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Family pictures 2018

After we discovered Jess and Jon at Cascade Photography last year and fell in love with the great job they did on our family photos last year, we asked them to come back and do some more photos for us this year.

Fall is a perfect time for family photos in Portland because the leaves are beautiful and colourful and of course we can include those pictures on our Christmas cards.

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April – June 2018

As the weather cleared up and Ellie completed her fifth trip around the sun, her personality just keeps coming out more and more.

These photos help to show how much she’s coming out of her shell and that she isn’t afraid to be her, which I love. I don’t want her to ever apologise for being who she is.

She upgraded from her balance bike to her first real bike at Christmas and once the weather cleared up, she was able to start riding around and she’s getting pretty good at operating the bike by herself. She’s still got training wheels / stabilisers on for now, but those’ll come off soon enough with how well she’s progressing. Continue reading “April – June 2018”