Summer Solstice

While sitting in our backyard last night with our neighbors, enjoying the extra long daylight hours, we realized that Big Papi has given up and has accepted his current role in our home. Ava is doing a great job of breaking him in for Farrow. What a nice girl.

Happy Solstice!

Ah, the weekend

Rest up, little girl. Next week begins the most wonderful time of the year.

Real Early Spring

This was Febuary 22 and it was 60 degrees. That is our plum tree already flowering like all the other fruit trees in the city. If you look closely you can see that daffodils are not only up, but blooming.

Olympic Disaster averted

An Olympic tale in pictures:

First Colbert tried to talk smack.

Then Canada got pissed.

Luckily, two gay guys and a baby came by to save the day.

And the Olympic spirit prevailed, like its neverending flame.

Farrow the Ham

Hi.

My name is Farrow Yoder and sometimes I pose ridiculously. I can sense the moment. See that picture at the top of the blog? I'm not even trying there. And here I am overlooking Lake Union with my mom. I'm like the Will Hunting of photos. That's why some call me Danger.

True North

Two weekends ago, Teri, Farrow, and I headed north to Vancouver with our friends Palee and Jess (pictured) to go experience the Olympics. We had no tickets to any events but we thought it would be fun to hang in the city where everything was happening. We had a place to stay and an agenda of free things to do.

On the first day we battled the rain and traveled to Granville Island, Robson Street, and Yale Town. Palee and Jess patiently tolerated Farrow protesting against the stroller which eventually just became a way for use to push around coats and bags. Farrow could not see throught the crowds down that low and repeatedly demanded to be higher.

Vancouver was packed. Many of the streets downtown were closed and turned into pedestrian boulevards. The red maple leaf was everywhere. We hopped around international houses and free viewing sites trying to take in the Olympic spirit.

Here I am hanging with some Swedish fans. This guy thought I was Che Guevera.

Palee and I ran into this guy after not getting into a free Wilco concert. We wandered the crowded streets of Vancouver one night and watched Canadians celebrate their women win a hockey game 15-0. The bar we were at ran out of so many Molson's that they were forced to serve us Coors Light. We also ran into an impromptu version of "Oh Canada" being sung in the middle of the street with about 50 people participating at midnight.

The next day the sun came out and we had a day of scouting to see where we should spend some time wathcing speed skating. And here we are hanging at the German house. Brats and Pretzels. And Speed Skating. The German house was a large tent whose inside was set up like a Bavarian beer garden. Picnic tables, music, beer, saugage and sourkraut.

The experience was worth the rain and crowds. It was fun just to be there with nothing to do but see what an Olympic city was like. Though we didn't see anything cool like snowboarding, we did see the flame. That was good enough (even though Vancouver tried to hide it behing a building under construction and some fencing.)

Celebration!

I know we owe our very large fan base an update, and we'll work on getting that meaty update out to you all soon. For now, a quick photo of Farrow will have to suffice. We had a great time celebrating Kaisa's First Birthday, and Farrow left the party with a big smile on her face. Thanks to Emily and Paul for hosting a great party!



* Note: I realize that maybe three people follow this blog. *

Let the Sun Shine

And now it's 2010! We were pretty exhausted after our birthday bash, but we were able to get out and enjoy the sunshine the following weekend. We had a great walk along the water, with bright morning sun and a perfect temperature of nearly 60 degrees. Even though it was warm out, Farrow still modeled her sweet new sweater jacket from Claire & Dan.


And while we are talking about Farrow, she had her one year check up and she appears to be very healthy. As proof, here are her latest stats: Weight: 21lbs 13ozs (60% percentile) Height: 30 inches (80% percentile). Beyond her stats, she has been very busy this past month ... she walks (and tries to run), she's chatty- with her best words being "Dada", "Cat", "Yes", "That" and "Mama" and will have a full on conversation with herself, she's relaxing in her new chair, and has officially moved to cow's milk. Dang ... that girl is busy. Here's a quick photo to prove her love for food... I've titled this "Get Away from My Cake".

The adults of the house (including Big Papi) are enjoying the New Year, as well. Not too much to report ... work is busy, the house is warm, and Big Papi is terrified of the rain. We were able to see some great friends over the break, including Suzy up from San Francisco (the baker from our earlier post), Tyler and Shoshana up from the Bay Area; the Schomp Family, the Tabiltones, and Manny & Michelle to name a few. Big thanks to everyone who traveled through snowy weather for a visit ... it was great to spend time with you all! Though, Suzy did come with cake ... so she may have one up'd the rest of you.

Happy Birthday, Teri and Farrow

Two weekends ago we celebrated the birthday of the two lovely Yoder ladies with a great party full of friends, toys, and homemade cake. Our friend, onsite wedding manager, and budding cake superstar Suzy, made a wonderful cake and about 100 cupcakes.

Along with a handfull of other toddlers and a houseful of adults, both honored guests had a great time. Farrow learned how to pick things off other people's plates, while Teri saw the last guest out the door at 12:15am.

Below is the 5:30pm rendition of Happy Birthday. Not pictured is the scene from 10 minutes later. Everyone under the age of three who attended the party spent that time wiping the entire cake clean of icing and licking their fingers. All the parents were very proud.