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

Family Game Morning

With all of the efforts surrounding selling our house and buying our Portland house, it is nice to have a lazy morning (where Mom and Dad are not busy cleaning, straightening, and making our beds) where we stay in a pajamas a little bit extra. 

One of my favorite things after cars, trucks, buses, monster trucks, swimming, reading... is playing games.  Before we packed everything up, Mom and Dad were letting us play some of their Mom & Dad games, including this one below with the crazy dots.  I call it "Twisty."  Since the spinner twists in a circle.

I also like to play Sorry and Checkers (plus my own games).

Peace Out,
Phin, the "Twisty Champ"

Poconos or Bust (again, only in 2015)!

In keeping with the annual tradition, we made our President's Day pilgrimage to the Poconos.  After this trip, I must confess that Pennsylvania has a lot of cool stuff (a chocolate museum, an ice cream museum (which we have not been too yet), the Please Touch Museum, and the Poconos).

As usual, we stopped on the way to the Poconos in Philadelphia to go to the Please Touch Museum.  As you may remember, we went to the same museum in 2013 and had a lot of fun (we tried to go in 2014, but it was closed because of a snow storm - so we went to Target instead, which was not as much fun).

Aside from the Please Touch Museum, we also went snow tubing, hiking on the frozen lake, exploring in the woods, to the scary Blakeslee Flea Market, and to the Boden Outlet .  This trip was our coldest Poconos trip yet.  Saturday the high temperature was 5 degrees (with -15 wind chills) and Sunday, the high temperature was -1 degrees (with wind chills hitting below -25 degrees). But, we did not let the cold stop us for long.

Here are a few highlight photos, you can see the rest here.  You can also check out photos from when we went in 2012 (when I was a very little guy and it was evidently warm).

Snow tubing with dad!

Checking out our snow giraffes

School time with Uncle Brendan

Peace Out,
Phin

Portland Pics - Finally (They're from October)

Back in October, the FuFu Foursome took a trip to Portland.  Mom and Dad wanted to show us around, make sure we liked it (even in the rainy Fall), and look at houses.  After 4 months, we finally convinced them to upload and share the pictures. 

To ensure we did not get bored looking at houses and driving around neighborhoods, we did a lot of cool things.  I asked Amelia how many different types of transportation we took while in Portland, she said "6, 7, 8 things."  No worries, she's close (and still working on what counting means).  We used 9 different ways to get around (Dad calls it multi-modal methods):

1. Rode the Metro to the Airport
2. Took a Plane (direct) from DC to Portland.  It was a long flight.
3. Rented a car
4. Rode an aerial tram/cable car
5. Rode on a trolley
6. Rode the Portland MAX train (named after my friend Max)
7. Played on parked trains - which is kind of like going for a train ride
8. Went hiking
9. Road the moving sidewalks at the PDX airport a lot (for no real reason) - we also watched a guy play the piano at the Portland airport, but that does not count

After that huge number of transit methods, I knew I would love Portland.  Everyday, I bring up something new about my Portland house (which we still have to buy), like:

• We can get a new fish in our Portland house (Amelia is really concerned about this since Mr. Bubbles Orange Green got sick, died, and flushed down the potty)
• We can get a dog in our Portland house - maybe when I turn 5
• We can have a room for Nana, Papa, Grandma, & Grandpa in our Portland house
• We can have a yard in our Portland house
• We can have DC friends come visit in our Portland house
• We can have our toys (most of which are currently in storage) back in our Portland house
• We can go look at waterfalls from our Portland house
• We can see the train from our Portland house (like we can from our DC house)
• We can have a desk for Dad in our Portland house, so he will not have to work from the bedroom floor
• ...

It is a long list with a new item added everyday.  No pressure Mom and Dad, but you have to find a good house with room for a dog and a new fish.

Anyway, here are some of the pictures from our trip.  The rest can be found here.

Here we are riding the aerial tram up to the hospital.  So fun

Playing in one of Oregon's cool trees.  They have a lot up there.

Pushing a passenger train into place, without Amelia's help

Group shot on our waterfall hike

I forgot to mention we also went bowling - it was Amelia's first time.  She loved it.

I am looking forward to going back this summer!
Peace out,
Phin