Summer Vacation 2012

We are in the middle of a big two-week vacation to our hometowns in Washington, and we're having a blast.  I think this is actually our first real vacation as a family since Andrew was born, except for little trips to Philadelphia and New York during Paul's grad school year in Pittsburgh.  Here are some pictures of things we've done so far.

Andrew fed some animals at the Clark County Fair

Also at the fair, we saw the Pirate's Parrot Show.

If you hold out a dollar in your hand, a parrot will fly over and take it from you.  Andrew got a bonus when one landed on his head for quite a while.

Here are the parrots with their loot.

This is the pirate ship  

Andrew went on his first roller coaster.  It was this little dragon ride.  He liked it so much that Paul and I each got a turn riding it with him.

The next day he got to go on this little ride at Walmart, which he loved too.

Riding the swing at Hockinson Park near Grandpa and Nana's house.  See those beautiful evergreens in the background?

At the edge of the park I found some blackberries to pick.  The great thing about this area is that blackberries are weeds that grow everywhere, so you can pick some whenever you want to in mid to late August.

Laughing, and laughing with his cousin Melanie

Drawing on Grandpa and Nana's front walkway

We went to the zoo with my sister-in-law Rebecca and her kids, Melanie, Alex, and Liam.  Then my little camera died, so that's the only photo I have, except for on my phone :(

We took an early morning family walk.

Andrew ridin' in style

We've gotten to say "hello" to Grandpa and Nana's neighbor's horse, who often grazes in their backyard.

No gathering is complete without me agreeing to make some sort of elaborate and/or time consuming food, so we had my family and a few friends over for a little Indian buffet.  My mom made the aloo gobi masala (cauliflower and potato curry), and I made some navratan korma (nine-vegetable curry in cashew cream sauce), masoor (lentils soup), and brown basmati rice.  We also had sliced mangos and some store-bought naan and paratha (Indian breads).

My sister Bonnie and me

Paul and our friends, Ryan and Elizabeth

Bonnie, my dad, and my mother-in-law (aka Nana)

My father-in-law and my mom

Elizabeth made a beautiful strawberry cream tart for dessert

I jogged a 5k for the first time!  I am so proud of myself.  For someone who has always hated running, I was amazed that I was able to jog for 33 minutes straight.  Rebecca and Paul ran it too.  Woo Hoo!