A little recap

 Now that Fall is in full swing, I thought it would be time to share a little of the adventures we had this summer.  We had a fun summer with Michael being off from school, we just felt we got some good family time in.  And we did!  We did some stuff around the Portland area.  We even got to join Michael on a work trip down in Florida in June.  In July we went to California and camped with family and friends.  Also on that trip we rode our bikes 245 miles in 23 1/2 hours (we slept for 30 minutes).  In August we did a little camping tour of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.  On that trip we rode the Ferry to Victoria, BC and enjoyed our day there visiting Buchart Gardens and exploring the area.  We even got to go again with Grandma Jo and did some exploring of the downtown area.  What a fun time we had as a family and with family and friends.  Lots of memories made.  So here in a nutshell is a few snaps taken from our adventures. 

This was at Hurricane Ridge

At Buschart Gardens

The Wheels on the Bus

Paxtons most favorite book/song is The Wheels On the Bus.  I think we sing it about 1372  times a day.  Ok that may be a little of a exaggeration, but lets just say its a common tune here in the Miller house.  The best, however, is when Maia gets into it with him!

cookies, costumes, and candy

Halloween!  We had lots of fun on this day including the day before.  We did a little cookie decorating.  Which was fun to get Paxton into it.  He was more passive and allowed his sister to pretty much decorate his cookie while he ate all the decorations off.  So of course Maia took that opportunity to continue decorating his cookie.  As Maia gets older she gets more and more excited to bake and cook.  A girl after my own heart (this is Jeanette writing by the way :)). 

 On Halloween night we went trick or treating with some friends.   A lady bug and a mermaid joined us.  Its always so much fun to go with friends.  Maia loved the fact that she got candy and even started asking for two candies.   hmmm...well we got lots of candy lets just say.  It took Paxton a little time to warm up to the idea, but once he realized what was instore she was not shy anymore. He would just grab a handful of candy.  Did I mention that we got a lot of candy??  So yes a very successful Halloween indeed.  Maia does not really remember her candy or care unless I mention it.  Paxton, however, knows exactly where it is and will point asking for  "anny"  and I have to distract by giving him something else like.....a banana.  He was a monkey you would think it would work.

Dancing Pumpkin!

 So this Fall Maia was part of a pre-ballet class.  As you can imagine, she absolutely loves it!  I have to be extra attentive during class so I can know what positions she is talking about.  Its like we are both learning something at the same time.  I never took ballet and now I am learning so much.  We practice together at home and she loves telling me what position to do.  So much fun!  The class before Halloween they got to come dressed in their Halloween costumes.  This year Maia was a pumpkin princess.  Really we just had a orange dress we found at a vintage store and I made a stem crown and wallah!!  She thought it was the best!  I thought she was pretty cute myself.  So here are a few shots of my Pumpkin Princess dancing! 

First position.  This has been a hard one for her and she gets so excited because she can do it now!

Her little class!

Playing at the Park

It has begun to rain here in Portland.  Summer was wonderful and the sun was amazing, but nothing really beats the fall.  I love fall!  You get to eat soup all the time, wear boots, jackets, sweaters, scarves, eat pumpkin desserts, apple desserts, etc...I think you get the picture.  However, with the frequent rain it also is the season to rush outside whenever the sun is out because you don't know when your next chance will be.  So we ran to the park on a recent sunny afternoon. It's really just an ordinary experience, but I always bring my camera.  You never know what kinda cute park pics you will get. 

So Maia finally got a friend to play with her after going around the playground asking other kids if they would be her friend.  This little boy was playing all by himself when Maia approached him and then they were best friends.  They held hands constantly all over the playground for the next 25 minutes.  It was pretty cute.  Maybe Maia dragged him around a little, but he cried when she went to the bathroom so he must have enjoyed it too.  Here are some sweet pics of friends playing on the playground: