Welcome Sally and Rio

At long last Ollie has a few new siblings. This weekend, after much ado, Sally and Rio joined the family.

Sally and Rio Jenkins.

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Reese’s Fifth Birthday

Credit to Ronnie 100%.

Yesterday the family Jenkins and twelve of Reese’s closest friends celebrated her fifth birthday.  The theme was “ballerina”: all the girls dressed up in pink tutus and Rhonda hired a ballet teacher to come in and teach them a few basics.

Thanks as always to Ronnie, good times were had by all.   Unfortunately I did not do a particularly good job as cameraman: lots of shots of the girls, but of the adults not so many:

A well-instructed party.

Even Ollie got in to the swing of things.

Everyone ate quite well.

Making a wish.

Cutting the very, very tasty cake.

The girls really got into playing golf in the back yard …

and running in the front yard — for no apparent reason.

A little post-party r&r before another big event later that day.

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Camping Near Cle Elum

This weekend we joined the family Richardson/Bryant and later the families Joffe and “G” (actual name withheld on request) for a two-day camping trip at Wish Poosh near Cle Elum. The trip went without a hitch until about dinner time Saturday night, when the rain came — and didn’t leave. We ended up hightailing it out of there on Sunday morning as the rain continued to fall, but not before we had a heck of a good time.

A few pics:

Ollie keeping watch in front of casa de Jenkins.

The kids kept busy with lots of arts and crafts (not pictured: the kiddie chalk graffiti).

Ollie led the gang on a Friday afternoon hike to Lake Cle Elum.

The campfire was our gathering spot.

This must have been taken on Friday night because Finn was in short sleeves.

Carrie and the ladies 'G.'

The family Jenkins at Lake Cle Elum.

Ma and Pa Jenkins.

I think Reese was tiring out at this point.

The kids climbing on the banks of a very low Lake Cle Elum.

The gang sans Ollie, who the nimwit photographer couldn't seem to fit into the pic.

I wish I could say this was the beginning of a long night's sleep, but I was awake by 12:30 am.

Reese with Stanley.

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July 4, 2011

Another Independence Day is in the books.

We kicked off the day up with the Otterlees at the Edmonds Independence Day parade.

Edmonds, Washington -- Americana.

The fam -- one year older.

Hayes made his first appearance at the parade.

Still can't get everyone to look at the camera.

From there we headed back to casa de Otterlee for a good ol’ fashioned backyard barbecue.

The kids (and adults) enjoyed some homemade ice cream.

After that it was back home for some power napping and meltdowns. From there we wrapped the day up with the Cheuks and Lake Union fireworks at Laurelhurst Park.

We joined the Cheuks to watch the fireworks.

Next year we'll all look at the camera -- I hope.

Ollie joined us for the fireworks show.

Not a bad day if I do say so.

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Mother’s Day Weekend 2011

This weekend we did Mother’s Day sans Mom. Ronnie’s dad passed away on Thursday after a long battle with cancer, so she’s in Phoenix with her family. The kids and I nevertheless tried to pack in a decent weekend’s worth of activity, and I think they had fun.

We started out with Reese’s soccer practice on Saturday morning, followed by breakfast at Burger Master and then a day’s worth of horsing around at home. We closed the day down with dinner from the 45th Avenue taco truck:

Reese and Finn redefined the way to eat tacos.

Mother’s Day itself was also quite packed. We started off before 9 am with a trip to the beach at Magnuson Park:

Where brother and sister tried their best to throw rocks without hitting Ollie:

Then it was another battle-filled day at home — Finn on one side, Reese and I on the other. (Behavioral difficulties to say the least.) Later in the day we joined the Cheuks up at the Roosevelt High School football field, where

I ran three straight 6.2 40's ...

Norman could manage no better than a 6.4 until ...

we squared off in a head-to-head race, where he nudged me at 6.0 flat.

Needless to say, I doubt Pete Carroll will be calling anytime soon.

No Mom, but not a bad Mother’s Day weekend. When Mom gets back this week, we’ll try the “Mother” part of “Mother’s Day.”

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Apparently Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are Buds

When I was growing up, Christmas was the big day for presents.

At Casa de Jenkins circa 2011, Christmas is still the Day of the Big Haul. But Easter ain’t so bad, either. This morning the kids woke up to full Easter baskets and gifts galore, courtesy of the “easter bunny.”

A few pics:

A nice start to the day.

Anything in there for me?

The Easter bunny.

I doubt Ollie thought she'd be dressing up like a bunny this a.m.

Unfortunately Finn's expression foreshadowed his later behavior.

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Another Stroll Through Magnuson Park

My creative wheels have been stuck in the mud the past few days and shaking money out of my empty-pocketed tenants is growing a bit old. So today I took the whole family out for a midday stroll through the cross-park trail at Magnuson Park. A few pics:

Reese handled the Ollie-walking chore.

The beach wasn't without wind.

The kids too their turn in the lifeguard chair.

Me and the kids.

The kids got their first lesson in rock skipping -- albeit with round rocks.

Finn took it easy on the way back.

Reese and Ollie taking a break on the way back to the car.

Almost there.

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A Wonderful Cross-Park Stroll

While Ronnie and Reese tackled phase two of the tea party cleanup, Finn, Ollie and I enjoyed a wonderful couple of hours trekking through the crosspark trails at Magnuson Park. We started in the south parking lot, made our way through the mud of the trails, and ended up down by Kite Hill, where we spent thirty minutes or so skipping — in Finn’s case throwing — rocks.

Finn found his way through many a mud puddle -- even sought a few out.

The, uh, tour guide.

We had a Pop Warner version of “I Shouldn’t Be Alive” on the way back. We came to a fork in the road — I picked the wrong way. We ended up going gosh knows where until I decided to take a “short cut” through some wetlands. Thirty minutes later we were still in there. We eventually emerged after hacking it through some sticker bushes.

Finn had a blast throwing rocks into Lake Washington.

Ollie was not pleased.

Ollie was not happy about the walk back -- either its existence or the numerous thorns therin.

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Some Pretty Darn Cool Christmas Presents

My dear friend Suzi Kelly from New Jersey sent me these as Christmas gifts. Pretty, pretty, pretty darn cool.

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New Year’s Eve: We Made it to Midnight

I have never been a big New Year’s Eve guy. I think the last time I made it to midnight was 1999.

Once every eleven years ain’t bad.

Last night the Moellers and their friends Georgio and Beatrice from Rome joined Benezra, Ronnie and I for some New Year’s Eve festivities at casa de Jenkins. And we actually made it to 1:30 am.

A few pics:

Our house doesn't lack for space -- still we cram into the kitchen.

Georgio, Beatrice and Victoria -- in from Rome.

These three were trouble all night.

Finn's New Year's resolution -- to look at the camera.

Party girls.

Debating the not-so-fine points of the death penalty.

Even Ollie made it to midnight.

Happy new year!!!

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