Nina-bo-Bina

Nina is now 17 months old and her personality is definitely starting to show. A few little things that we're noticing about our little girl:

• She is showing a lot of independence, always wanting to walk out the front door to the car in the morning on her own, refusing to put on her coat when we leave school (or at least not without being chased around the room, laughing, first!), and always trying to get up on chairs, tables, or couches all by herself.
  



• She's also our little scavenger these days, managing to remove every baggie from the kitchen drawer, or every book from the book shelf (see pictures below), within about 10 seconds of sitting down (and before we can stop her).
  



• Nina seems to value her alone time, often finding herself a cozy corner to sit in and flip through books, or cuddle up with our big "Mr. Bear." She's quite good at keeping herself busy!
  



• Her vocabulary continues to grow slowly. She's got most of the family members down (though "Sammy" is a hard one to pull off), some animals names and noises, "wawa" for water, "no," "yeah," "all done," something like "airplane," etc.
  



• She's a happy little girl, and definitely has a goofy, silly side that is showing more and more. She is still adored by her big sister, and we occasionally get a glimpse of what it will be like when they can truly play together!

Here are a few pictures of Ms. Nina, and a video at the end of an independent Nina at our favorite playground, at St. Edward's State Park in Kenmore. The video ends with Nina going down the tunnel slide all by herself -- don't worry, I turned off the camera so I could leap down and catch her on the other side!

Cousins Weekend

Way back in February (yes, I'm a bit behind), the Flosi family came up for a weekend in Seattle. As always, it was really great to get the cousins together. Jake is 5, almost 6, and is always such a kind and attentive big cousin to Nina. And Becca and Sammy, both 3.5+ (just 5 months apart), are pretty much inseparable whenever they get together.

We spent an afternoon down at Madison Park, first at the playground, and then on the beach. Jake had a school project in which he needed to bring in a collection of 100 of some item, so all the kids (and adults) helped him to gather 100 shells on the beach. Other highlights were a fun dinner, ice cream sundae dessert, bike riding out front, and Sammy and Becca parading around in their matching PJs!

Jamaica!

The Breckenridge family goes international!

After a red-eye flight and a drive across the island, we arrived for our week in fabulous Treasure Beach, Jamaica.

We took some great day trips, spending time with friends from Paul's Peace Corps days in Munro, and swimming at the waterfalls at YS Falls. Mostly, though, we enjoyed relaxing days in the sun, where our biggest decision at any given moment was whether it was time to swim in the sea, play on the beach, hang out on the veranda, or swim in the pool!

Our morning routine -- coffee, milk, and bananas from the patio...

So nice to have a week where we didn't have to bundle up in fleece, gloves, and hats!

Just as we expected, Sammy couldn't get enough swimming!

Paul visiting with his friend Buzby, at his former Peace Corps community in Munro.

We happened to be at our friends' place in Munro right when the all-age school -- right next door -- was on a break for lunch. Sammy was thrilled to have all of the kids around, and we made lots of new friends!

Unlike her sister when we were last in Jamaica two years ago, Nina was not afraid to really experience the sand...

This scene -- Sammy excitedly sprinting back from the water, a bucket full of water to add to her sand castle or sand pit -- happened, oh, about 50 times each day.

View of "our beach" from the water. The house we rented is on the left.

Holiday Rewind

We stayed close to home for the holidays this year, enjoying lots of good time with family and frineds. Here are a few of the highlights from our holiday season:

The family, at the annual holiday brunch with the Macnab family, hosted by Pam and Dick Breckenridge.

A rare beautiful day in December, playing in the grass with the Macnab kids and grandkids.

A Christmas eve outing downtown for a ride on the Christmas carousel!

Our group of friends continued a great tradition of joining together to sponsor a family. Here's what we were able to deliver to the family just before Christmas!

Our annual walk down the block to the Christmas tree sale at the Dunshee House was even more fun this year with the wagon...

We ventured up to Paradise on Mt. Rainier just after Christmas. It was a long drive (longer than Paul or I realized when we began the journey...), but Sammy loved the toddler sledding hill, and Nina had a great time trooping around the beautiful lodge.

Here's Nina, sporting her new bibs and snow boots that we bought en route. In retrospect, probably not a necessary purchase, given that she much preferred the gift shop to the mountain!

And here's a video of Sammy, cruising down the mountain. The scene you see in this video was repeated, oh, about 23 more times or so. We were amazed that our normally cautious girl was totally unfazed with her repeated wipeouts on the mountain!

Sisters

Steps

With Nina now toddling around all over the place, it's hard to believe it was just a month ago that she was practicing her first steps. Here's a video of some of those early steps, taken by Gramps...

Thanksgiving in the City of Roses

It seems like a long time ago now, but we had a great Thanksgiving in Portland with the Savages and Flosis. As usual, it was really fun to get the cousins together. Sammy and her cousin Becca are just five months apart in age, and were inseparable throughout the weekend. Jake, who is now 5 and in kindergarten, took extra special care of his cousin Nina, making sure she always had a buddy when the big girls were off doing their own thing. Meanwhile, we as parents and grandparents actually had a few minutes to catch up!

Here are some pictures from our fun weekend...

the whole gang!

Nina and Jake

the girls try their hand at Nani and Papa's piano...

Nina snuggles with her new quilt from Nani
Game is on between two of the biggest competitors in the family...

Happy Birthday Nina!

Nina is 1 year old!



We love this stage with Nina, as every day it seems she is trying something new, or impressing us with a new feat. Just in time for her first birthday, Nina ventured into the world of the walking, and she's now able to string together 5 or 6 steps before gravity takes over. She is thrilled with this new achievement, often stopping to laugh, clap, or wave as she tries to maintain her balance.

Nina loves to climb things, and has already made us think that a certain additional level of babyproofing may be required this time around. She's also become quite the chatterbox, talking words or even what seems like sentences in her own language. Words so far include "Dada," "Mama," "Buh-bye," and something that sounds like "Tank you" (if you really listen for it!).

It's hard for us to believe that it's been a whole year since we were preparing for a big Thanksgiving feast with a 5-day-old...Happy Birthday Nina!