Hi-Ho Ontario

Thanks to aunt Tina & uncle Bryan for all the great pictures of Devon & Avery's trip to Waterloo, Ontario last week. At least half of these pictures are theirs.

Here are some of the highlights of the week, as told to me by Devon and a very excited Avery!

Bryan, (big) Jamie, & Devon, the 3 Musketeers since high school. Jamie was visiting for a day, on his way back to Pennsylvania.

There was a gathering of cousins & extended cousins one day in Waterloo. Here Avery is getting a pedicure from Devon & Bryan's cousin Taryn's daughter, Piper.

She got a tattoo from Piper, too, which was still partially on her forehead a week later when they got home (and consequently it's in ALL the pictures for the week as well). Devon said he would try to rub it off at night while Avery was asleep, but couldn't get it all off.

Cousin Nathan (5.5 yrs) in the pool at the Waterloo cousins party

Cousin Ally (3.5 yrs) and 2nd cousin Piper

Ally & Devon

Cousin Jamie (3.5 yrs -- he and Ally are twins)

Ally, Devon, Piper, & Avery (4.5 yrs)

All in the family: McKenzie (yellow shirt), Michaela (orange dress), Piper (white dress), Josh (in the back, white shirt), Quinn (no shirt), Avery, Nathan, Jamie (red shirt), and Ally hiding behind Nathan

One day they went to the Waterloo Children's Museum. Here Nathan & Avery are digging for bones in a rice box

Jamie riding a dinosaurAnother day they were off to the Toronto Zoo. One of the special displays at the zoo was Stingray Bay, and here they all are, petting sting rays (Bryan, Ally, Jamie, Nathan, & Avery)

Trying to get a group picture was quite a task -- but they tried & tried nonetheless.
Bryan, Ally, Avery, Nathan, Jamie, & Devon

Nathan, Avery, Jamie, Ally, Bryan, & Devon

Camel, Ally, Avery, Nathan, Jamie

Avery, Nathan, Ally, Jamie

Ally & Avery

Nathan & Avery (Avery wanted a hat like her cousins, so she had to borrow Devon's)

Avery & Nathan on a camel ride. Avery will ride anything (so far this year horses, a sheep, an elephant, and a camel -- and we're off to the fair again in a few days, so she might have a few more animals to add to the list soon!)

Ally & Jamie on a camel ride, too

Nathan

Ally

Jamie

The zoo even had its own water park to cool off in. Here's Devon straight out of the tunnel!

Ally & Nathan

captain Bryan

Jamie is all smiles

We wanna see, we wanna see -- who can see all the way up there? Avery, Nathan, Ally, & Jamie

Bryan, Ally, Avery, Nathan, Jamie, & Devon

One day they went to the Butterfly Conservancy

Avery, Jamie & Nathan learning about butterflies

Jamie, Avery, Ally, & Nathan

Jamie, Devon, & Avery

A little mini-golf, too. Avery, Bryan, Jamie, Nathan, & Ally

There were lots of adventures in the back yard, too. Bryan & Avery. Jamie

The rope bridge on the awesome tree fort was a hit with AveryAvery & JamieBryan, Ally, & Jamie get some swinging in Bryan, Jamie, Ally, & AveryAlly & uncle Devon

And, of course there was bike riding

AllyJamie, Devon, Ally, & Tina (Avery took the next couple of pics)Devon & AllyDevon & JamieRub-a-dub-scrub! Avery, Nathan, Ally, & Jamie

20,000 Hits

If you're number 20,000 (check the counter to the left, near the bottom) -- e-mail/comment me!! I would never have guessed when I set up the counter last year this blog would get more than 20,000 hits in less than one year. Thanks everyone for the last couple of years of support!

Pool Party

This afternoon we went to our friends' belated birthday party for their daughter, Ariana (who turned 6 in April, but waited until the pool was ready to have her party). It was nice & hot today (103'F), and even though the pool was warm, it was refreshing. Jordan especially loved it -- too bad we forgot her sunglasses, or she might have opened her eyes a little bit more. But any kid could take a lesson from her on relaxing to float. Devon barely had to hold her head up with a couple fingers, and she just floated along on her own.

Floating along on her own for quite awhile (yes, Devon stayed nearby)

A pool full of beach ballshiding out in the shade for awhile

Surprise -- Half Way There . . .

And now an update from behind the scenes -- Avery & Jordan are getting a baby brother for their birthday/Christmas (yes, another December baby for the Rowes!). I'm finally feeling brave enough to start talking about this publicly, although frankly, I'm still scared to death. . . .

Yes, we did find out the gender of the baby this time. After all the surprises Jordan presented us with, I've really lost my gusto for surprises with babies. In fact, I want to know everything, right now. Unfortunately, because Jordan has never been diagnosed with any specific disease, syndrome, or disorder, there's nothing to go looking for with the little mister. Well, almost nothing. The only thing we can do is monitor the baby's brain growth every few weeks (since we now know what parts of Jordan's brain didn't grow right), and as the pregnancy goes on, my doctors will be watching me for polyhydramnios (which I had with Jordan, and we later understood happened because she wasn't swallowing properly in utero).

So, for the past 4.5 months, I've been living appointment to appointment, waiting for this "big" day -- the detailed anatomy scan, with an emphasis on brain development. After a very long session with the ultrasound technician, she had the perinatologist come in and look for himself for awhile. He focused in on the brain stem, cerebellum, the corpus callosum, and the overall circumference of the brain, and said things are looking perfect at this point. They also measured legs, arms, fingers, toes, eye socket distances, the heart, bladder, kidneys, diaphram, thoracic cavity, spine, and probably a few other things as well, and it all looks good.

Of course this should have provided some relief, but really, in the end, it made it worse. Despite things being fine today, the perinatologist wants me back at 24 weeks to follow up and see if there is anything progressive (i.e. deteriorating). Now they have baseline measurements, and according to the doctor, with most progressive diseases they don't see the "shrinking" until after 22 weeks. In addition, he wants me back at 30 weeks to start watching for polyhydramnios, which is when that should start to show up if there are swallowing difficulties.

I felt like I'd been kicked in the teeth after that, despite his reassurances that at this point, there's no reason to think that anything will go wrong. He's convinced that Jordan was a "lightening strike," and (statistically) whatever happened with her could never happen to us again.

Avery & Jordan's pediatrician tells me to relax when I get nervous, and to remember that we also have a perfectly healthy, smart 4.5 year old in Avery. But believe me, when you have an elephant in the room like Jordan, it's hard to see the rest. I don't think I'll quit being a nervous, anxious wreck until this baby is born & I can see for myself that everything will be okay -- no matter what the outcome.

Now, put on your imagination caps if you want to scroll through the ultrasound pics.

Profile from today (19.5 weeks)Legs (19.5 weeks)
Foot (19.5 weeks)
Hand (19.5 weeks)
Profile (17 weeks)
It's a BOY (17 weeks -- confirmed today at 19.5 weeks -- this one needs a lot of my imagination, but 2 ultrasound techs have said the same thing now, so they must be right, right?)
Profile (13 weeks)
Profile (9 weeks)

What Volcano

Poor nana Noma, she just made it home from her Alaska vacation with Jill & Matt, 1.5 days late. Seems there was an eruption of a volcano in the Aleutian islands (actually, more than one, Okmok & Kasatochi the main ones), and each night the airports were canceling flights due to ash in the atmosphere. Nana Noma was booked on a red-eye on Sunday night, then re-booked on Monday night, and finally got a day flight today. She was anxious to get home and see the garden & yard she so boldly entrusted to my (blackthumb) care. All looked good, except for the hanging fuchsia, that I did forget to water (since it was hanging and not sitting in plain sight, I guess). She was also excited to see us, of course, and hear all about Avery's adventures in Ontario. I'm sure we'll all be busy catching up on trip stories over the next few days.

They're Back!

Phew, after 8 nights & 9 days, Devon & Avery made it home on Saturday night. Their plane was a few hours late due to bad weather in Toronto, and, in keeping with my travel traditions, they didn't get their luggage until the next day, but they made it home safe & sound. Jordan and I were thrilled to have them back, and to hear of all their adventures. They even came home with some great photos of their cousins & their adventures (thanks to Devon as well as Bryan, & Tina). I might even get around to posting some of them in the days to come.

Some of the highlights of the week were a Rowe family gathering (with lots of cousins!), a trip to the Toronto Zoo, the butterfly conservancy, and lots of bike riding & treehouse playing in the neighborhood.

So now Jordan and I are having to adapt to a full house again. We got most of our projects done, and a lot of rest & relaxation, but we're glad to have Devon & Avery back!

Old Friends

The great thing about old friends is the ease at which you can always re-connect. After living all over the western US & Canada, and now with Gariann in Japan for the past 4 years, it still feels like we haven't missed a beat each time we get together.

Last week, while on a long summer break from her teaching position at a US base in Sasebo, Japan, Gariann, her husband John, her sister Deina, and Deina's son JR came for a visit. Gariann and Deina were 2 of the first people I met when when I moved to Twisp in the Methow Valley, Washington, as a freshman in high school in 1987.

Among a few great dinners & lots of visiting, we managed to sneak in a trip to the Oregon Zoo as well. JR is a polar bear fanatic, so that was the focus of our trip -- and well worth it (as you will see below). We took a train ride through Forest Park & saw many other animals, and of course a (gigantic) ice cream snack was necessary to keep us going in the middle of the hot afternoon. What a great day!

Off to see the new display "The Great Northwest"

Off to see the highlight of the day -- the polar bears

She was having more fun than a winning volleyball team with that ball!

So much fun I even remembered to grab the Flip & video some of it.


After the ball she decided to play with a drum for awhile, which was pretty good fun, too.

(see entry below for the second polar bear video)

Yikes, those are BIG bears!

Time for a traditional afternoon ice cream break. Those were the most gigantic "kids" scoops we'd ever seen. Avery had to get hers in a bowl since it was so big & melting so fast.

Time for a ride on the train through Portland's Forest Park. It takes 35 minutes round trip, and if you want you can get off half way through and go play at Washington Park or the Rose Garden. We decided the zoo was enough for one day, so we stayed on for the round trip.

Deina, Avery & JR

Here Avery was scolding me for having my hands out of the train to hold the camera -- the sign says not to put your hands out of the train. Forget that her head was hanging out. . . .

Some of the other animals we saw

A Malaysian Sun Bear -- one of the smaller of the species

And of course, like everything else in Portland these days, there has to be a dinosaur display!

Avery wanted to see lions all day long, but the Oregon Zoo won't have any lions until the summer of 2009. She was disappointed. We did find this display telling about how the lions are coming next summer, but because of the roaring recording behind this cardboard lion, she wouldn't go near it. JR was brave, though!

This giant bear outside the gift shop didn't seem to scare her, though.

A long day with the lion & the polar bear winds down

Surprise!

Polar Bear Movie 2

I guess the clips were too big to both be posted in the same blog entry, so here's the second polar bear video.

Strange Summer Days

It's been so long since I blogged I had to sign into my account to get on it today. Oops!

After a nice long weekend in Hope with grandpa Earl & grandma Linda, we had friends for a few days visiting, then early on Friday morning Devon & Avery took off for a 9-day trip to Waterloo, Ontario, to visit uncle Bryan, aunt Tina, and cousins Nathan, Ally, & Jamie. In addition, nana Noma is spending the week with aunt Jill & uncle Matt in Palmer, Alaska. So, while everyone is off on their adventures, Jordan & I are holding down the forts, which means I'm trying to do a few projects around the house that never seem to get done, watching a few girl movies that I never seem to get to watch, and watering flowers & gardens like crazy!! Devon & Noma were clearly desperate when they left the survival of their precious plants to a blackthumb like me, but I'm doing my best. . . .

Only a few more days until "normal" returns, so I better get back to it!