Get outta town

Jessie, Travis and Damon. Don't they look like neo-fascists waiting to check your ID?

Labor Day weekend saw us in Portland (again) surrounded by all manner of outlandish creatures from storybooks. Oh wait, those are our children. Yes, it was time for Kumoricon and Travis was ready for Round Two in his love fest with all things dedicated to Japanese animation. His good friend Damon from New Jersey flew over for the weekend and Jessie, who discovered manga this year, was allowed to go for part of the weekend. The boys bought their elaborate costumes online but I made Jessie's from altered thrift store clothes with lots of embellishments. She was SOOOO excited to be there.

This summer we made a quick trip up to Portland for a reunion (of sorts) for Brian and two old his oldest friends, Dan and Debbie. Debbie was graduating from PSU and Dan was in town for his sister's big day so Brian took advantage of the proximity to spend time with them as he sees them so infrequently. Debbie took us on a tour of the physics lab at school where she completed her masters thesis, very interesting stuff.

Love this image of Leah. Grandmas Week was a family affair this year and included not just kids and Nanas but their parents! And Tara, in her first ever Grandmas Week. We camped on the edge of Banks Lake near Grand Coulee Dam in Washington. Leah brought her boat over so watersking, tubing and other water fun as a big part of the equation. Now that the kids are getting older the future of the kids' dedicated time with the Grandmas is tenuous, so it was decided to try something new this year. It hovered around 100 degrees but with all that water we managed fine. Except for the thunderstorm that threatened to take a few of the smaller kids to OZ, minus the farmhouse. But that was another story.