Regaling our relations

We have been delighting our relations (as well as the other way 'round) with many visits this summer. Above, that's Soren and Jill in Portland in June. Here are some recent snaps of Soren with other relatives:

Canoeing on Heart Lake with Papaw Bill, in an aluminum Grumman. We've taken the canoe out twice this summer.

Sharing chocolate milkshakes with Daddy, Grandpa Jim & Grandma Gloria in the Steamboat Rock Cafe and chatting with the proprietor, who attended Soren's baby shower (!).

I would've photographed Soren at the Banks Lake beach, where he clamored to spend most of our visit, but I dropped my point-and-shoot camera on a visit to a friend's farm and broke the LCD screen. Jim set me up with a spare camera of his right as we were leaving, after the beach action. (Thanks, Jim -- my documentary work can continue!)

Soren was not the youngest at a Garrison/Rees family reunion at the Vashon beach property. One generation was represented by my mom and her brother, cousin, and cousin-in-law. The cousin-in-law's son (my age) attended with his partner and two-year-old. The elders were Soren's Great-Grandpa Gerry and his first wife's sister.

Here's Soren with the sister, Margie. The closest we'll come to knowing what his late great-grandmother (who died before I was born) would have looked like at 90. (Pretty good, I'd say -- Margie went for a paddle in the sea kayaks after enjoying ice cream!)

And the hand-cranked ice cream master passing on his wisdom of this time-honored family tradition to the youngest generation... A Vashon picnic wouldn't be the same without it.

Soren spent his first night in a tent after this reunion picnic, as he and I camped out on the beach afterward, accompanied by Ann & Bill. He slept like a log in the tent we shared, and was brimming with excitement over the activity every moment he was awake. Will have to do that again!

In two days, we're taking the train to Portland for another visit to Jill. It's a bit of a trek to take public transport, which starts with a bus ride (or in this case, a carpool) from PT to the Bainbridge ferry, a 30-minute ferry ride across Puget Sound, a 20-minute walk thru Seattle's Pioneer Square to the King Street Station, and a 3-1/2-hour Amtrak ride. We're riding south with another family with a 3-year-old, but coming north it will be just the two of us. Wish me luck!