Cupcakes for all!

For those unable to attend Sylvia's 3rd Birthday party

here are a few snippets of the action.

Testing the party games.

Success!

Setting the table. Thanks Mom!

Enjoying the fruits of her labor.
(Three years of growing that is).

Rocking some Knuffle Bunny.

Some artistic help from Aunt Vic.

Birthdays Yummy!

Sylvia's good buddy Violet had her second birthday recently. We all gathered a t nearby park to wish her many happy returns.

Violet's mom Jillian, who is also Sylvia's nanny, supplied super tasty cupcakes.

Happy Birthday Violet!

I think the meaning of birthdays became clear to Sylvia when, after the singing was completed, she got her own cupcake to devour. When she was finished, she uttered these words that I will never forget, "Birthdays Yummy!"

Party Girl

A few days after Sylvia's official birthday, she was host to her first party. After much cleaning of house (I'm always sure the guests will be inspecting our upstairs back closet) and baby we (Aurelia, Linda, Ted, Ian and I) greeted Sylvia's buddy Akio and his adults, Nina and Jake. The group quickly got down to the important business of blowing bubbles and eating puzzle pieces.

Just minutes later the party really got started with the arrival of Lena and her adults, Dana and Brett.

During the party ted and Lena took time out to discuss the relative merits of balloons versus puzzles,

(Lena clearly prefers balloons)

Linda and Sylvia enjoyed the crowd,

and Ian perused our increasingly large collection of sleep propaganda, this one titled, "I'll See You in the Morning."

Our generous friends and family gave Sylvia some sweet gifts. Thanks!

Here Sylvia models a new dress that will fit this summer.

There are many birthday cake legends in our family. Some follow the mode, first perfected by the Greeks, of "My birthday cake was so natural is had no sugar, was made from raw oats and water and the icing consisted of tofu and sad songs." Others consist of various recollections about how, in our youth, we managed to strike our cakes with blunt objects (Ian-Hammer), had allergic reactions to an ingredient (Fidel-Strawberries) or ate twice our body weight in one sitting (Miguel-no just making that up).

I am happy to report that Sylvia's cake contained sugar (not too much), flour and nary a shred of tofu. As the movies below show, she seemed to enjoy it. Happy birthday sweetie!

Futbol and Waterfalls

One might wonder what futbol and waterfalls have little in common. But here at the dinner table they are connected by my birthday. Lest you think from the pictures of Vancouver that Aurelia is the only one treated well on her birthday here are a few pictures from some of our activities around the 10th of August.
First Aurelia surprised me with a trip on a jet boat down the Willamette river. While the pilot's jokes were predictably tired, the 360 degree spins at 60mph were refreshing. We traversed up river with about thirty fellow travellers visiting a remarkable set of locks still used by boats heading North. (The Willamette is one of the few rivers in the world that flows North. Don't ask me why).


After a few more spins we reached the base of the Willamette falls where the indigenous Portlanders hunted for eel. Now there is a large paper mill with a Piranesian tangle of armatures and rusty catwalks.



We finished with a sprint back to the dock, six more spins, and very wet shirts.

The next day we organized a group of about 15 people to attend an exhibition match between two ancient Mexican futbol rivals: Chivas de Guadalajara and Club America. The former is the team of the pueblo and the latter the team of the city. So this was a grudge match (or Super Clasico) and the fact that the players were old has-beens did not prevent the overwhelmingly Mexican fans from showing the colors and making their allegiances clear. PGE park was packed to near capacity (~15000) and the banner and bugles blared.

A few of the many Chivas fans

As I said, the players were a bit rusty and put on a rather slouchy performance but I think the fans just wanted a slice of home and roared with every goal and screamed at every perceived injustice.

In the end Chivas beat Club America (whom I rooted for as a city slicker with his thumb on the pueblo) 2-0. Poo. Below are a few pictures "borrowed" from the local website Soccer City USA as I got caught up in the game and forgot to take pictures after the starting whistle. As you can see, the players are losing some hair and kinda chubby (not that there's anything wrong with that).

picture from Soccer City USA

picture from Soccer City USA

All and all, an excellent birthday.