Kiahanie - North Fork of the Middle Fork of the Willamette

We like traditions ... So we decided to go camping with Beau, Becky & their family again. This year, we did not go as far and went to one of our favorite camping spots. We had a wonderful time, and even with four children from the age of nine months to eight years, we actually had a pretty relaxing weekend.

Snack time for everyone!

Henley and Andrin playing.

Hazel really liked her juice for breakfast.

The hammock was a big hit for everyone.

Clemens was adventurous and climbed on top of these trees and then fell backwards down ... He actually was really lucky to get away with a backache and some scraps. It looked scary!

Enjoying an apple in Hazel's chair.

Story time for everyone.

Andrin decided that Henley really needed a hug after he woke up from his afternoon nap!

It was hot, but not so hot that Mami dared to jump in the ice cold water.

Andrin loved that Bella jumped after every little rock that he threw for her.

Henly is getting some snuggles from Mama.

Doesn't this look like a yoga pose? I think so!

Hazel fishing and Andrin showing her where the fish are.

Fishing with Papa.

Those two really like to play together (well, most of the time :).

Showing off in Mami's socks and his sun glasses.

We just had to take this picture ... compare it to about a year ago ...

Yes, he has grown, our little man!

And every time we get home after spending a weekend away, Andrin runs for his toys and just plays quietly for about 30 minutes.

Learning and discovering ...

Everyday, Andrin proves to us how much he is paying attention to what we are doing ...

Andrin loves laundry day ...

This just perfectly captures our little boy's personality ...

Don't let the idyllic picture fool you ... brushing his teeth is a struggle and accompanied by screaming and crying ...

This year, our tomatoes are in pots (we were literally swimming in them last year :). I have no idea how many tomatoes we will actually get to eat. even though Andrin can tell you that the tomatoes are still green and not edible, he still has to take them off the plant. Tonight, he seemed to really take a close look at the plants ... before taking an unripe baby-tomato.

Snippets out of our day ...

What a relaxing ... and hot .... day. We all have been feeling the heat (well, I guess mostly Mami and Papi since Andrin seems as energized and crazy as always). We did not really have plans for today which was refreshing. Andrin had a great night of sleep and Mami and Papi slept outside again because it was just toooooo hot in our bedroom (Andrin is using the only fan that we have in our house). Andrin hat fun playing with Papi and Mami and then took a stroll with Mami while Papi had to go to the lab to do some work. Mami intended to head up to shady Hendricks Park, but then realized half way up the steep hill that she forgot to close the window downstairs and turned around. This gave us a reason to go to the new Student Athlete center by the university. Mami told Papi all along that Andrin and her would play in the water feature surrounding the entire building (at least once, in case the cops sent them away:). Nobody came and disturbed our peaceful rock throwing and playing with the water. Mami hoped that Andrin would make a dive for the water, but he decided instead to throw his sunhat in there, so that Mami had to step in the water herself. After Andrin's nap (Mami was napping too, what a luxury!), we headed to the park and Andrin played in the water once again. We were really surprised that there were no other kids in the park. On our way back, we had to get another watermelon (Clemens just bought a whole one yesterday and it is already gone .... no wonder with our little big helper, Andrin). We had a nice barbecued dinner and Papi is putting Andrin to bed now.

And yes, Andrin got another hair cut. He sat still in front of Winnie-the-Pooh.

Dancing and cuddling with Mami.

Today, Andrin got in his stroller on his own for the first time. He was beaming with pride! And he even gets out of the stroller on his own as well!

Eating ... watermelon.

It is hot!

Well, summer finally arrived here in Eugene as well. Temperatures have been hitting record-highs and we are trying to stay cool in a hot house. This afternoon, Andrin and I spent at the park, playing in the water feature and having fun.
But Andrin seems to love especially one thing about summer: Wasserbalone (watermelon/Wassermelone). Too cute how he tries to pronounce such a long word. When Papi got home today with another watermelon in his backpack, Andrin had to help and tried to lift it up ...

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

We celebrated Fourth of July this past weekend and took the chance to meet our friends, Gilad and Kirsten, once again. They had the wonderful idea of meeting somewhere between Eugene and San Francisco and we settled on Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. We planned to leave Eugene on Friday, but due to Clemens' flu symptoms, we decided to give him another night to recuperate and left on Saturday. Andrin was a great trooper in the car. We drove to Grants Pass and took a lunch break. Around 3.00 pm, we arrived at the campground and set up our tent and headed down to the river. Gilad and Kirsten arrived around 6.00 pm. It was just a wonderful weekend with great company, many laughter, not much to do, and lots of time to enjoy with Andrin.

Getting ready for the car ride. Andrin did not have a lot of room left ...

Studying the park brochures with Papi.

The campground was right by the Smith River.

Andrin and his favorite person in the world ... Gilad. He kept asking for Gilad, even yelling his name all over the campground.

Enjoying some egg in the morning.

Showing off his rock-throwing skills to Kirsten.

Papi was big into boat-building. Of course for Andrin.

And Kirsten kept herself busy with rock towers.

Gilad kept asking Andrin "zeige mir deinen bauch" / "show me your tummy."