A little less work and a lot more action...

Sam and Maggie's Great-Aunt Sandy sent them some very cute bears that a friend of hers made. They have been named Kody (for Kodiak) and Rose (due to the roses on her head). They kids LOVE them and have made them fast friends.

We were hunting in our dressup things for an 80's outfit for Maite at Young Life camp this week...Here are some pics of Maggie's time with the trunk and a pic of her in her new pic boots.

Working Girls

Maggie found Eric's work gloves in the backyard...and we found a small army of zucchini in the garden. Don't worry- there are still plenty more to come. The kids did enjoy running back and forth from the garden to the kitchen to bring them in to Eric. Sam just said "more..more...more" the whole time.

Eric taught Maite about the use of a drill and a chopsaw. After laughing at our silly English system of measurement, she caught on very fast and they got the new railing done in no time. We think that she really enjoyed her little construction project...Eric actually left her to it for a bit and he went inside to get something to drink. :-)

Harvest

The harvest has come. Here is our first zucchini. It was hidden under the plant and we didn't see it until it got to be a little too big. Oops. We have sugar snap peas and lettuce galore too. I think I like this whole garden thing.

Punch it, baby.

We hit Eagle Creek and Punch Bowl with the Basque students this week. Here are some photos of our adventure. Above is Irati and Lorea hiking it up, the next is a rear view, followed by two shots of the group in the FREEZING cold water. Most everyone went in all the way and ended up really enjoying their swim....however cold it might have been. :-) Below are some of what we like to call 'shaky face pictures' taken during the afternoon at Punch Bowl. Clockwise from upper left, Elena, Eric (Maite's American Dad...err, brother?), Matt Moffat (Elena's American Dad), and Maite. Somehow my (Leah's) picture got mysteriously deleted from the computer....Hhmmm...

Maite is learning to cook. Okay, maybe not too much- here she is just battling the marshmallow creme. It can be a bit hard to get out of that jar....but the rice crispy treats are always worth it! You can add these to the short list of American foods that Maite likes....put it right behind hot dogs and cookies.

This is a poster that Eric and Maite made. It has pictures of the Gresham Basque students (except Irati- she didn't have a bad enough picture of her...). They were laughing so hard that they were crying while trying to make it. The pictures are all taken when they got off their flight from Paris to Seattle. They are all terrible jet lagged and the pics are terrible. So they put some sayings on it- the English one is 'America the Beautiful', the Spanish one says something like 'These are the BASQUE of the Basque', the Basque one says something like 'Oh my gosh, look at their faces.' Anyway, the other students were screaming with laughter when they saw it...and Eric and Maite have officially bonded.

Gettin' frisky with the whale.

This went, "Sam do you like the whale?" - followed by hug the whale and kiss the whale. Too cute.

I like Maggie's face...I think any one of us might look the same if we were that close to Sam's rear too...

Shamu.

We hope you like it!

One more...

We've been busy.

Some people at the Welcome BBQ for the Basque students said that Maite and I look like we could be sisters....I think I am the sister that needs to go on a diet. :-) The students all LOVED the kids. Something about the red hair I think... This is Aitor (eye-tore) getting his pic with Maggie. She was very gracious and let this boy she had never met hold her for a picture. Good job Maggie!
Maite was running Maggie through the sprinkler this evening. It was very cute!
Here are some of the Basque girls hanging out at a fountain in downtown Portland. L to R: Elena, Maite, Lorea, and Irati.
Maite and the kids playing in the backyard.