This might be our biggest summer for sleepovers – and this particular sleepover is no exception.
These girlies have been friends their whole lives, and there are certainly older pictures of them together, but all four at a sleepover?
Category: pictures
Nez Perce and inter-tribal Tamkaliks celebration.
We took this trip to Wallowa (wa ‘la wa) in July because TheWeeOne wanted to meet an Nez Perce indian friend just like her American Girl doll named Kaya (whom she brought in complete pow-wow regalia).
I’m not sure she met with what she expected at this event;
I thought there’d just be lotsa teepees.
…but the weekend proved to be anything but lacking.
We did see, hear, and experience a fair amount of authenticity.
This image is taken from a short video presented on my Instagram account, where you can also listen.
The costumes, singing, and dancing were definitely a high point and a focus of the weekend.
They clearly took their rituals VERY seriously.
The grounds, where the majority of events took place, was well designed…
…and the view out of the south entryway was amazing at sundown – especially so with the teepees on the river.
A horse parade happened one morning, recognizing several individuals who had followed a traditional path to the encampment from Pendleton, on horseback.
TheWeeOne even got a very brief encounter with two of the performers her age.
And the rest of the weekend was spent either driving to and fro…
…or walking on water, near the cabin we reserved, just outside of Joseph.
It was a great little place called Trouthaven. The sunset on the hills even reflected gold in the water
(NO retouching here)
And we even saw some hard-to-find wildlife.
TheMermaids, ever the chameleons, went a little native themselves in a very short time.
TheWeeOne’s a Guppy.
Favorite line: “…wish I could be part of that woyld!!”
I think they were doing the little mermaid on the jersey shore! 🙂
Quotes in the windows
Frosted into the windows in the philosophy department building at the University of Washington.
“Once conform, once do what other people do because they do it, and a lethargy steals over all the finer nerves and faculties of the soul.”
– Virginia Woolf
“And information severed from thoughtful action is dead, a mind-crushing load. Since it simulates knowledge and thereby develops the poison of conceit, it is a most powerful obstacle to further growth in the grace of intelligence.”
– John Dewey
My ‘rear’ shifter
‘snot ‘sposed ta look like that.
Wee’s First Sounders Game
Yesterday TheWeeOne and I attended her first Sounders game to celebrate Tony’s birthday.
She’s quite the fanatic, some highlights:
- We marched with the Emerald City Supporters and she solemnly held her scarf aloft until her arms hurt.
- She told off one of the half-drunk revelers for not wearing any green.
You’re not wearing any green!
I know, I feel so bad, I’m sorry, I’m planning on getting some.
Ok.
[turning to her friend mouthing the words] I feel so horrible!
- She was astounded at how huge the stadium was at the beginning of the game but by the end of the game (and during the march out of the game) she was leading cheers!
Let’s Go!!
Sounders!!
That one came at the 80th minute and her wee voice started the whole end of the stadium chanting.
The Sounders won 3-2 and the fireworks after every goal, and the end of the game, were a big draw as well.
Overall it was a fun night spent with friends – Happy Birthday Tony!
Here come the Sun Dog
On the way home tonight, in the crispish sunny evening, I saw something I’ve never seen before; a sun dog.
It pretty much made me quit thinking about anything else except taking pictures and notifying friends and family to check it out.
It (they?) lasted for the better part of an hour – which means I had a good chance to pull out my good camera and take some pretty decent shots.
Click on the image for a high-res version.
And here’s a detail shot.
Nothing earth shattering here – just the first time I’ve ever seen one.
[click for high res]
Happy Birthday, Universe!
Today TheWeeOne is seven today.
She has fast-growing interest in things like French, piano, biking, NezPerce indians, and pretty much anything else that enters her sphere of sensation.
She takes this seriously, and makes sure everyone in the family knows that her’s is THE center of gravity – her universe is our universe.
A brief question and answer.
What does it feel like to be seven?
I dunnow, I feel older. I feel like a big kid.
Besides when I turned 6 I was happy that I could be in the student lounge by myself.Are you looking forward to anything this year?
Soccer, I wanted to do soccer. No, it was basketball – no I said soccer.What do you remember the most about last year?
Nuthin’Is there anything you miss about being six?
I miss everything.
Some recent pictures.
This is her first day riding – after some instruction on how to balance (without any pedals) for a couple hours off-and-on the day before, she picked it up right quick.
Speaking of instruction – this is the one what did said instruction. That’s right, I was at work and LaGrande taught OuiOne how to ride her bike, two sessions, two days. She even installed the pedals for her. 🙂
She bombed around the cul-de-sac for hours until her hands, feet, and bum were sore.
Then, today, we took a field trip up to the American Girl store for some good-ol-fashioned “dear little dolly” – and tea.
We were in the store for 2+ hours, just playing.
Tea Time with their girls.
Introductions
I was winning this morning! 🙂
15-20 mph wind at my back, 55 degree (F) temps, breathing good, and I chose the sidewalk.
I thought it would get me around a stranded bus faster.
It did, but then I spent 20 min changing the flat I received from a freshly broken half rack of beer bottles somebody pitched on the sidewalk.
Kudos to my Schwalbe Durano Plus tires once again.
Total slice through the tread body with a piece of glass the size of my fingernail and only a pinhole in my tube.
I can ride the tire for a while, but I’ll need a new one for safety sake.
Daddy Daughter Dance
Last night TheWeeOne and I went to a Daddy Daughter Dance – but we made it a Daddy Daughter Dinner Dance since I took her out for her favorite rice at Pabla’s Indian Cuisine first.
The Community Center staff really knew what appealed to little girls; crowns on the table for decorating, Kool-Aid in a fountain, and teensy corsages to pin on…not many stayed on (it was mostly Dad’s you know).
Wee made her crown first, and though the music was playing, nobody was dancing. We changed that.
Emma and I broke the ice on the dance floor.
First one’s on, last one’s off – 90 minutes with nothing longer than a sip of Kool-Aid break.
In the past 10 years I’ve lost touch with large swaths of Pop Culture – but I do hear a fair amount of pop songs, some of them I even like (gasp). This night – that paid off. I knew every song, some of the words, and most of the important dance bits to go with them.
Execution – probably left something to be desired – but it wasn’t for lack of trying.
Some snippets:
When “Single Ladies” came on Emma grabbed her little gold ring back from me and lip-synched into the mirror, pointing to her finger “If you like it then you should’a put a ring on it!”
She acted out some video or other (perhaps it was in her mind?) by having me spy her from across the room while she fixed her hair in the mirror, then I was to come over and ask her to dance, we’d dance together, then when the song was over we’d take up our previous spots “as if it was all just a daydream.”
I had to pump my fist down, in a ‘shoot – I was hoping that was real!’ motion.
First of all, I’m reminded of a three year old I used to know whose repeated re-enactments of the Prince/SleepingBeauty reunion scene caused me to wonder if there was anything to this whole nature vs nurture argument. I concluded then, and it’s been reinforced now, there is a WHOLE LOTTA nature.
Regardless, there will be some love-struck on my doorstep someday and I will be ready with a very stern warning,
Uhhhh, she’s a bit of a romantic.
blief 