Happy 2nd Birthday to MEEEEEEEEE!

Guess who is 2 years old? That would be ME!

My Gramma and Grampa Griffing came to celebrate with me! And for my birthday I got my very own cake, and my very own candles to blow out...

...and presents, too! Meet Gary, my dinosaur (or, to be more precise, "Gary dadoah"). I named him myself. He comes to bed with me. And into my bath. And everywhere else, at least for the moment.

Drawing with my new pens is fun... and I got scissors! I like to "dut" the paper with my "dizzers"....

And I really really like my monkey towel! Gramma and Grampa gave me a wading pool for the balcony.
























That's all for now, folks, I need to go ask my Momma and Dad to sing Happy Birthday for me one more time.

Fountains, giant sweatshirts, and graduations...

Hi again! My Momma and Dad have a few new pictures of me to show off!

Look, see? My Dad's sweatshirt fits me JUST RIGHT! What you can't see is that I am "all nated" underneath... after peeing in the big potty!

This weekend, we drove to Spokane to celebrate my Grampa's graduation from seminary, and my Aunt Tirsti's graduation from Highschool. We had a really nice time, and we remembered to have some family pictures taken. Oh, and did I mention that we got all the way from Vancouver to Spokane on 8 gallons of gas with our hybrid?

These are my Momma and Dad, and my Aunt Kirsti, my Aunt Hanna, and my Uncle Brian.

Today my Momma and Dad took me on a walk through the forest on the WSU Vancouver campus. I walked for a long time all by myself, and then when the forest started getting muddy, my Dad put me into my backpack carrier.

Don't you love how GREEN the forest is?

The branches were covered in moss...

...and there were lots of different greens! ... although I have to admit that the forest was the boring part of the walk...

...because on the way back home, we walked across the campus, and there was this AWESOME fountain right in the middle of it! At first I just stomped around in the puddles, and the water only sprinkled. Then ALL OF A SUDDEN the water SHOT up into the air, and I got SOAKED! Boy was that fun! Yep, that is water dripping out of my sleeve. Yep, my hair is sopping wet.

Only my feet inside my boots were dry... the rest of me was drippy, soppy, soggy, and very wet!

Snug as a bug in a rug!

Look at me! I'm as snug in this rug as a bug!
My Momma invented this game. I lie down on a blanket, and then she wraps me into it as tightly as possible. To get out I have to wiggle like a catterpillar. It is lots of fun. When I want to be wrapped up like this, I say "bug IN rug!"

My buddy Holden had a birthday, and we went to his Gramma's house for a BBQ. It was fun to run around and play in their yard! Happy Birthday, Holden!

...Holden wasn't the only one to get presents... they gave me a hat, and some sandals, and some fun books! Thank you Erin, thank you Gail!!!!

...and just about one month until I have MY 2nd birthday, too!

Uncles, Espresso and Free Puppies

My Momma and Dad took me to my uncle Brian's concert yesterday evening (I call him "otoh Bain")! It was fun to hear the really good "tunes" (my word for music) that Brian played, and it was especially fun to run around the cafe.

Can you say "cheeeeeese" ...louder than this cheesy, cheesy grin? Naw, this one is all natural. I have NOOO idea there is a camera pointing at me.

This sign was hanging in the cafe. I tried SOOO hard to look unattended, but with my Momma or Dad running after me all evening, how the heck was I going to get a chance at that puppy?

I'm a monkey! Swinging in a tree! Ouh-ouh! Woah, chair almost tipped over... wow, that was FUN! Let's try it again!

I got my first shot at a really good episode of BRAIN FREEZE after gulping down more than HALF of my Momma's blueberry smoothie in one big huge slurp...

After that my Dad kept forgetting that I was already sitting IN the chair he wanted to sit in. Help! Squishing-my-belly! Can't-breathe..... Daaaaa-aaaad!

Ok! Back at the appartment! Up! Dad! Up!

Here my ohto Bain is building a really cool tower with me! It was fun to have him visit. He's a really cool guy.

Ok, now, did you know that my Dad and Momma are crazy? Well, I have the proof: they decided last week that it would be a good idea to drive from Vancouver to Bozeman, Montana, in order to surprise my Grampa Bradley for his birthday! We drove as far as Spokane on Thursday, where we surprised my Gramma. We spent Thursday evening and Friday with Gramma and Grampa Griffing, and I got to see my aunt Hanna, and my aunt Kirsti, too.

And here is my green dinosaur! You are probably thinking, "who???" ...well, this is my uncle Rob, my Dad's older brother. As you can tell by his patches (which I re-arranged, in case you were wondering why they are velcroed all crookedly to his flight suit), he is an Air Force pilot. In stead of calling him uncle Rob, I decided to call him the "green dinosaur." Don't you wish I had given YOU such a cool name?

After visiting everyone in Spokane, we took another looong drive to Bozeman. Grampa Bradley had no idea we were coming, we had told him that his birthday gift would be delivered to him on Saturday evening. And there we were! It was a GOOD surprise! We had lots of fun. We spent Saturday evening with Grampa, and then had brunch at my Great Grandparents Sunday morning, and then had a nice visit with my Momma's uncle Dan and aunt Carolyn, and cousin Diana. After that we spent more time with Grampa Bradley. We drove back to Spokane Monday morning, and then on to Vancouver on Tuesday. It was very fun to see everyone, and except for the last hour of each 7-hour-drive, I was a very very good little boy. But please, please, please don't make me ride in a car for 32 hours within 5 days! Ever again.... ever!

Here we are, back at our apartment (spelled with ONE "p" just for my Gramma), in Vancouver. It is still empty, but the first shipment of our "stuff" arrived. It had some pots and pans, and a bunch of my toys in it. I am a happy camper.

Especially when I get to tank up hugs in my Dad's arms!

My Dad took this picture of my Momma while we were driving to Spokane. Look at all those freckles!

Well, that is all for today. Here is one last picture: this is the Columbia river, as seen from a viewpoint just past Camas, about 30 minutes from where we live. My Momma made my Dad stop the car so she could take this picture on the way to uncle Brian's concert yesterday.

Climbing walls!

Let me tell you about our temporary appartment:
it currently has LOTS of space for me to run around in! The bedroom has my parents' queen size air mattress, and my travel bed in it. The dining room has a card table and three folding chairs. We eat off of paper plates, and cook our food either in the borrowed pot or the borrowed pan. The living room is empty, except for my toys, and the pillows and blanket that double as a couch during the day. I like it this way, but I think my Momma and Dad are looking forward to our stuff arriving. I remind them that it will every now and then by saying "my stuff, HUGE boat, wa-wi, Dammah" (which means, "our stuff is coming on a huge boat across the water to the country where Grandma lives").

Because staying inside too much makes me misbehave, my Momma and/or Dad have to take me outside every day to climb and run. There is a little playground near here, but I enjoy GETTING there more than playing there: there are all these really cool walls to climb on! I can get up on top of the wall by myself now, but usually want someone to hold my hand for balancing once I am on top ("uP! wall! hand deeese?"). Pictures of me on the wall bellow!

Grrrr... put that camera away....

Hahah! I can balance here WITHOUT holding your hand, Momma!

Climbing the big-kid jungle gym is lots of fun, too!

The NICE bathroom rug...

Hi again! I realize that it has been a while... between job searching, house hunting, church hunting, and getting settled in otherwise, my Dad and Momma have been busy!

This post is dedicated to a very special household object. We bought it at Cosco. It's a cream colored bath rug. I looooove that rug! Several times a day, I take off my socks, and walk on the rug, curling my toes into its delicious softness... my comment: "Nice!"
Ok, Momma, time to change my diaper! (I say that by saying "Maw, dapoh eww!")... do you think this NICE rug would be a good place to change me?

*giggle* oh no, Dad, don't blow any more rasberries on my belly! Please! Please! It tickles!

Oh yeah. Have I mentioned that I like lying on this NICE rug?

Towel? What do you mean, dry me off with a towel? I'll just wiggle around some more on this NICE rug!

On another note, we drove to the beach on Sunday after church. This is haystack rock, by Cannon Beach. The weather in Vancouver was beautiful and sunny... but on the other side of the mountains, down by the beach, it was pretty cold and rainy... we still went on a walk, and picked up a few rocks, and a sand dollar...

Anyway, that's all for now. More news on jobs and houses to follow!

In Vancouver!!!!

After a very busy week of cleaning our appartment, wrapping up military paperwork, and finishing packing our stuff, we left Germany on a HUGE airplane. The flight was a direct flight from Frankfurt to Portland, and I slept for 4 of the 11 hours... except for the rather annoying bus rides from the airport terminal to the airplane and the airplane to the terminal, the flight was uneventful, almost pleasant.
Grampa, Aunt Hanna, and Anna met us at the airport in Portland, what a nice surprise!
We spent the first few days at Steve and Anna's house - thank you for sharing your home with us! The day after our arrival, we got cell phones, and found a cute, small appartment we will live in with a month-to-month lease until we move into our house. We bought a 2001 VW jetta wagon, which will be my Momma's car as soon as our Honda arrives from its trip to the US from Germany. My Dad jumped right into job hunting, too. He has a few interviews this week, we will see what comes of those. My Momma looked at lots of houses with the realtor, and found two or three we would be very happy to call our home... for some odd reason the bank wants Dad's letter of employment before they will give us the money to buy a house though.
ANyway, we have been too busy visiting friends and family and getting settled to take many pictures, but my Dad has a Blackberry that takes pictures, so here are a few:

Here I am in the inside of our new car. The outside is dark blue. I like it.

At Steve and Anna's house, I escaped from my Momma while she was putting on my nighty...

Here I am having dinner in our (empty) appartment. It was yummy! My Momma made me a real burrito! I even managed to eat it without making too much of a mess!

Because we don't have many toys in our appartment, my Momma and Dad have to be creative. Letting me type letters (I call it "type e-i's") is one of my favorite new hobbies. I know the letter "eM!" and like typing lots of it!

Here the most recent picture... of me drinking "moo-juice" and eating breakfast.

More pictures and news (hopefully about a house and a job) to follow soon!


Greetings from beautiful, green Vancouver!

Goodbye Germany!!!!

Happy Easter, everyone! On Sunday we dressed up (I got to wear a real suit with a tie!) and celebrated that "Dee-dus" (Jesus) rose from the grave! We also had our official goodbye at the chapel, and then had Easter lunch with our friends.



Two days ago, three strange men came into our appartment and started putting our stuff into boxes and then carried them outside to pack them into a HUGE box thing on a truck. It was fun watching them until they began to pack MY toys. I made sure to tell them that those were MY things, but they didn't seem too impressed. As they packed, I commented "Ohoh! (insert toy name)! Mine (insert toy name)! Byebye (insert toy name)" ... I was a good sport right up until the appartment started to REALLY look empty. Then I cried and cried, walking around the apparment saying "Ss-tuff all gone! Oh no!" My Momma and Dad explained that our things are going on a HUGE boat to the country where Gramma lives. Now I reassure myself by repeating that our 'ss-tuff' is on a 'boat' to "ahMah."

We leave Germany with a sad and a laughing eye (that's a German term). Our time here was wonderful, but we are also excited to begin our new life in Vancouver!

12 more days 'til we move!

Wow, just 12 more days until we move back to that mysterious place called America! I don't quite understand what my Momma and Dad mean when they say "move" (which usually means that I have to scoot over?) but I can tell you that we are going to sleep in a "new Mark house" and that we will see "ah-Mah" and both of my "Da-pah"s... and I know that we will fly in a "HUGE" airplane!

My Momma and Dad took me to Rothenburg this weekend to pick up my cousin Diana! We had fun walking around the town, and I really like Diana. She plays with me, and tells me that I am cute!

In between, I decided to be naughty and run off. Luckily for my parents, we were right next to the torture museum, and so, I was punished appropriately... with 30 seconds in the stockade! (We didn't go into the museum)


Here I am proving that I am my Momma's son... I inherited her love for rocks, errr, I mean for "wroughts" (as I call them). All those silly old houses didn't interest me one bit, but when I spotted this fine, pebbled parking lot, I let out a delighted yell of "wroughts!" and ran onto it. Then I sat down and proceeded to pick out my 20 favorite rocks... and then commanded my Dad to "dit dow-nnn!" right next to me. He didn't understand, so I patted the ground again, saying "dit, Da!" The big meany only let me take ONE "wrought" away from the lot.

"Shhhhhh!" We are in an old old church, so you need to be as quiet as a mouse! Just like this! SHhhhhh! (It is not very easy to be quiet when there are gargoyles looking down at you that look like lions and dinosaurs, both of which MUST be pointed out with growly sounds!)

This is Rothenburg... or one part of it. Our hotel was right next to the upper entrance tower. My Momma took lots of pictures of the old houses, and will watercolor them once we have time... which will probably be some time around Christmas!

Bubbles!

Hey! Did you know how much fun bubbles are? Well, I got to find out last week! At first that weird white stuff looked VERY suspicious, and I did a funny little dance trying to get it off of me. When that proved to be hopeless, I decided to make the best of it, and played and played and played until all the bubbles were gone. I was so impressed by the bubbles that I told people about them for days after my bubble bath! ("bubboh ba-hhhh")

Did you know that bathing is one of the best inventions in the world? Now my Momma and Dad just have to get a house with a bathtub that has a glass shower shield, so that I don't flood the bathroom when I splash...

Hmmm, these bubbles just keep on multiplying! They are getting everywhere! Not sure yet if I trust this weird stuf...

Err, I just tried to lick the bubbles off of my duck. Definitely a bad decision. Yuck.




Well, time for my Momma to get back to writing her paper. She has to hand in 3 loooong papers on March 13, and has already finished two of them. Boy will I be glad when she is done. I don't like it when she has to sit at the laptop typing all day. Oh yeah. Less than 4 weeks til we move to Vancouver. Wow, time goes by quickly!