Reunion

Julia did not in fact reject her father, despite his 6 week absence. Her first sight of him was at 3 am, in the car from the airport to Mt Vernon, so her reaction was "why am I awake and who are you again?" She warmed up rather quickly in the daylight though, and we had a whirlwind couple days. We spent time with grandparents and Julia's godmother and Aunt Caroline, and also took care of moving back to Alaska chores like shipping up boxes of food and clothes. We are more savvy this year, but it is still a huge chore to figure out if it is a better deal to buy from a food company that will ship things in large quantities or to go buy things ourselves and ship them in, or to buy from the few websites that offer free shipping to Alaska, but only over a certain price and under a certain weight. Lots of research. All too quickly, we were taking Dave back to the airport and Julia and I were driving the 9 hour trip to Klamath Falls again. I've gotten more savvy about this drive too. I researched parks and kid-friendly stops in every major city along the way, and made notecards with the directions off of the freeway. As we passed a city with Julia asleep, I'd flip the card to the back of the pile. My favorite stops were the Jameson square water park in downtown Portland, which had a very kid-friendly fountain to play in and Ikea, which constantly outdoes itself in kid-friendly features: lunch for both of us for $3, fun furniture to climb on, a play room (we didn't actually try it, but it is there!) railings at adult and at kid height, and a clean family bathroom featuring a free diaper dispenser, free wipes, a comfy chair for nursing, a kid's table and toys for older kids to play with while you nurse a infant, and a seat attached to the wall to strap your child into in case you don't want them to crawl on a bathroom floor while you pee. I LOVE Ikea and will make every effort to stop there every time I am making this drive. I also keep a bag of tricks beside me with water, food, candy, books, toys, paper and crayons and stickers to hand back as the need be. Julia did pretty well on both legs of the trip, taking extra naps and being somewhat patient if I couldn't stop right away. She was kind of loosing it as we were coming into Klamath Falls, but as we pulled up to the house, Grandpoppa Jack and Olaf happened to be outside. When Julia saw them she just screamed with happiness. She was thrilled to be back in a familiar environment, and especially thrilled to have her Uncles Olaf and Joe to play with again.  (incidentally, Joe is the first name she's learned to say. I call him "joejoejoe" and she says "dododo!"

Jameson square. The park has waterfalls that fill up a central depression that drains away periodically and refills. 

Julia loved the waterfalls

at another waterpark with Dave. She didn't like the random spraying features very much. I can't blame her. 

she did like the motorcycle and didn't want anyone to help her ride it. 

with Godmomma Bekah

and with Grandma Gini

chasing after bubbles

admiring shoes together

I was really excited to find a potter doing something I've wanted to try for years, which is to combine ceramic bases with woven basket elements. 

instead of sniffing flowers, Julia licks the flowers. 

so happy to be with her Uncles again

note the pants! guess who sewed them, this time with butterflies in red!