Mavis doesn't like her daddy laughing at her. 

Mavis watches with excitement? trepidation? as a gecko walks between her & daddy. 

While we were in Idaho, we went on the Hiawatha Trail (www.skilookout.com/hiaw), which is an old train track through the mountains in Idaho (& a little bit of Montana) that has been converted into a bike trail. It was beautiful & fun & 15 miles downhill! We rode through/over 10 tunnels & 7 trestles. This picture is at the trailhead, which starts through a tunnel that is 1.8 miles long! We had lights on the bikes, & Mavis rode in a trailer behind mom. We paused here just before entering, to gather our courage. 

We made it through! As you can see, I had to put on my sweater for the ride, it was COLD inside the tunnel. Inside the mountain. You can barely see the sign on the left lower corner where it shows the length of 8000+ feet. It was fun. And scary. 

Mavis is very proud, after having ridden through the long dark tunnel, how very quickly she was able to dump out her bag of O's (cheerios), as you can see in this photo. She seemed to enjoy riding in the trailer. It has a screen that is zipped down, then for the tunnels, a pastic cover so she didn't get mud splashed up on her. 

Emerging from one of the tunnels, we got a view of a trestle bridge in the distance that we'd soon be riding over. The scenery wasnt' too shabby either. 

Peering over the edge of the trestle bridge, it was hard to get too close to the edge. We rode over 6-7 of these, some a couple hundred feet high, one was over 900 feet high. It was pretty cool, & not as hard (I mean scary) as expected. 

Diaper changes wait for no convenience. 

From Idaho to Portland Oregon

After enjoying northern Idaho, Mavis took her parents to Portland to meet up with some of her mom's friends from college. We met at a huge, lovely farmer's market full of produce & flowers. The two longest lines at food stalls were for breakfast tacos (only they call them burritos, like some kind of communist) & for biscuits. I guess these Texas staples are "ethnic" food to them. It was great fun & Mavis enjoyed meeting Miles, Caden, Tritan, Asa & Harper. 

Rob teaches Mavis how to play the guitar. Notice that in Portland in August the weather requires a sweater. Mavis was so confused. 

Miles in the foreground & Kim in the background, taking their repose. Mavis was in the middle, but then she woke up. 

Mavis Jane: True Patriot

Mavis loves Noam Chomsky. But don't tell anyone. Apparently that can get you on the "Terrorist Watch List." And she totally fits the profile that our government is protecting us from -- her mom is a vegetarian, she was born at home, she didn't contribute any money to the Bush campaign -- must be a terrorist. 

Sshhh....

Don't tell Mavis, but this is actually a tog toy. 

Mavis working on a Mohawk

Mavis still loves her swing. She likes great big pushes that make her hair fly up. 

Pics Stolen from Loretta's Blog

See, I told you it would fit in your mouth! 

Eh! Wattsa matta wit you?! 

Green-Eyed Monster

Cara is holding Alice. Mavis looks like she is going to be sick.

Futon Time

We each have our own pillow.

Cheerios!!!!

Mavis has recently decided that maybe she can feed herself small pieces of food. Until now, whenever I put small chunks of food on her tray, she promptly threw them on the floor. But if it was larger, you know, good choking hazard size, she loved gnawing on it. Now with those upper teeth, we have to be a bit more careful. We tried cherrios again a few days ago, & she quite likes them this time around. She's getting more interested in feeding herself now, picks up the spoon & says "uhhnnhh?", etc. She ate a lot of cheerios this morning. As did her dog, Zed, who graciously cleaned up the floor when she was done eating.

Where's the Cherrio?