Goodbye Washington DC

Dad called our departure "hitting the road."  But, luckily we did not hit anything (hands are not for hitting).  Instead, I call it leaving.

It has been a tough couple of months for me.  The house has been extra clean, my toys have slowly been disappearing, there has been a lot of stress, and strangers showed up randomly to see our house (frequently unannounced or on a short notice).  It has also been tough to leave my friends and school.  Amelia is probably too young to understand, but I know that moving means my friends won't be able to walk over any more, "our park" won't be ours any more, and for the next two months my room is my car seat and my closet is my suitcase.  Sure, Portland will be awesome and yes I'm excited to see friends and family; but leaving is still tough.

One nice perk, I got to drive the first stretch.  Now, I'm blogging from Columbus, OH - where we are having a ton of fun (more on that later).  Here are a few departure photos.

Peace out,
Phin

My School Birthday

My birthday usually falls during the first weeks of school.  That means, there is not much time to get to know my classmates before my big day.  So, at school we celebrate my birthday in the Spring.  In my Blue Classroom, my friends interviewed me before my 'birthday' and then everyone creates birthday cards based on my responses.  Below is the written text of my interview - you can click on the image to be able to make it bigger.  Since yesterday was Mom's last day of helping out in my class before the end of year, I got to bring my interview and cards home.

Bet you did not know that my favorite shape is triangles, or that I don't like Batman (sorry Griffin/Dylan), or that I love peaches.  Well, now you do.

 

Peace Out,

Phin

Last DC Photoshoot - Spring has Sprung in 2015

Wow, it has been a busy few weeks since my last blog: our house is under contract, our stuff is nearly all in boxes, Dad is job hunting, and we are prepping to move in 10 days (the movers come on 4/16).

Even more reason to celebrate a beautiful warm sunday.  The day started with a great trip to the zoo with our friend Max, where we saw a lot of animal pee and poop.  But the highlight of the day came after nap, when we went back out and took pictures at the Lady Bird Johnson park - the Daffodils were in peak bloom (even though the cherry blossom trees were just buds).   Today was our final official photo shoot in DC, you can check out all of the photos here (a few highlights are listed below).

Finding my favorite flower, as I sit in the middle of a field

Check out how many flowers there were.  There was at least 10-hundred flowers.  They were yellow and white.

Nearly a great family photo, I was too busy to get in the shot.

Happy Spring everyone! 
Peace Out,
Phin

Weekend Escape and Great pictures in Charlottesville

Earlier in the month, Mom, MeeMoo and I escaped from a weekend of open houses, house tours, and stranger visits to explore the snowy fun of Charlottesville.  Every time we go down there, Mom's friend Rachel takes great photos of us.  For instance, when we were there in 2013 Rachel took photos of us on the tractor, and when I was there in 2011 she capture great photos of baby Phin in my flying gopher shirt.  Well, this trip was no different (except that there was snow on the ground and I got to pick eggs out of the chicken coop, and we're older) - Rachel still captured some great photos (see the whole album).

Here are a few of my favorites:

Here I am picking eggs from the chicken coop.  So much fun.  Maybe in our Portland house we can have a chicken coop

Finally, showing some love (instead of poking her)

Dad's favorite picture of us.  It was snowy, yet 60 degrees out - the best of both world, snow boot and no coat!

Out for a romp in the woods

Peace out,
Phin
PS- Grandma, you can view the album and then click download.

Museum, Museum, Museum - Same Spot, Different Time

This past weekend, we needed to escape the house so that other people could come look at our house.  I suggested that we visit the Natural History Museum downtown to see the animals and other exhibits.  Even though the dinosaur exhibit is under major renovation, we still had a blast (we even found some dinosaurs upstairs!).

However, every time the four of us visit the Natural History Museum, there is a family rule that we must pose in front of the Mammoth.   I have included the obligatory shot below (in addition to two prior ones, so you can see how much we have changed):

 

March 2015
Phin: almost 4.5, Amelia: 2.5, Mom & Dad: Almost 36

January 2014
Phin: 3 1/4 years; Amelia 1.5 years old; Mom & Dad: 34 3/4 years

August 2012
Phin: almost 2 years; Amelia 1 month; Mom & Dad: almost 33 1/2

Peace Out,
Phin