2017...So Far

Hey! It's Siena, the tiny one in all the pictures. Most of these, I commented on. Some of them I didn't. Sorry for not posting pictures on the blog. We always forget! Anyways, this is some of the things that has happened in 2017 so far. We promise we will try and add more pictures every now and then. I hope you enjoy this one! ♥

Hey...it's me Kris.  Siena and I decided to joint blog this one.  Now you get more than just my 2 cents!!

Okay, I'll do the heavy lifting on this first part since I was the one that actually went to India.  Did I mention that?  In January, I went to India!  Was never near the top of my bucket list but if my company wants to pay to send me someplace, I'm game.

Luckily Jackie and I are such amazing auditors that we were able to afford ourselves some time for sightseeing.  The day after we arrived (note it's 24 hours of travel...BRUTAL), we went to Qutb Minar in Delhi (my company's finance headquarters are just outside of New Delhi).  Construction started on this tower in 1192.

It is surrounded by the Qutb complex which, like the tower, is hundreds of years old.

It's clear how striking the architecture here was at one time and how many years it must have taken to build it all.

Jackie and I with the tower in the background.

One unusual thing about India is that various strangers would come up to us and ask to take pictures with us.  I guess there's not many white girls around.  We complied, though we thought it weird.

Requisite pose with the tower.

Requisite other pose with the tower.

This is the base of a second tower at the site that was started but never completed.  Old stuff is cool!

After we did our weeks worth of work, we were able to make the 3 hour drive (via car service of course - India's the one place we don't roam around alone) to Agra - home of the Taj Mahal.

The Taj is even more impressive in person than in pictures.

So glad we had the opportunity to take the day to come see it.

A tour guide was arranged for us who insisted we pose for all of the best Taj angles...

The Taj through the Oakleys.

And me as seen through the mesh inside the Taj.

When you have to squat and pee in this...you take a picture.

Outside the Taj.  Yes, this is also my Facebook profile picture.  Love it.

Jackie and I snuck in a few pics together.

India was such a different place, with the insane roads and driving, number of people, abject poverty, heat, and cuisine.  It was absolutely worth experiencing and it made me appreciate being back in a place with some semblance of order once I got home.

Siena: We went to Idaho for a wedding. It was very fun, but this was in the Spring so it was quite cold. We were there for about 3 days. But whenever we go anywhere far like this, we always want to stop at this restaurant called Country Cousins. This is us embracing Country Cousins with a funny cardboard cut out! ♥

Kris:  The wedding was for my Dad's cousin Dave (see previous Roslyn posts).  Dave's previous wife passed away a couple of years ago and he reunited with his old high school girlfriend whose previous husband also passed.  Reconnected after 40 years...so amazing!

 Siena: Mason, looking handsome for one of his concerts!

Kris:  This was Mason's Spring Choir concert.

Siena: Here is one of the performances that Mason and his group did.

Kris:  For whatever reason, Mason's choir teacher positioned him between the two tallest boys in his group.

 Siena: And another!

Kris:  This was their cute sailor number.

 Siena: Here is me saying goodbye to Elementary School with a graduation at my school.

Kris:  Siena finished up 5th grade (and Elementary School) this year.  The school has a "promotion" ceremony for the 5th graders.  Here's Siena receiving her certificate with her 5th grade teacher Ms. Rogers.

 Siena: I doesn't seem sad, but that's probably because there is cake!

 Siena: Mason having some too.

 Siena: This was my last day of Riverside. ♥

Kris:  On the last day of school for 5th graders, the school does a "clap out".  I think deep down Siena enjoyed the clap out but she was a bit emotional about leaving the only school she's ever known.

 Siena: Me and my best friends, Leslie and Gracie!

Kris:  Hugs from friends help though!!

Siena: Me and Ms. Rogers, my teacher.

 Siena: Me and some more of my friends, Amy and Jureima.

 Siena: Me and my friend, Myla. If you can tell, Myla had to try and put on a happy face for the picture!

Kris:  Siena wasn't the only teary kid...I had to tell more than one of them to try to look happy for the picture!

 Siena: Me and my guy friends, Felix and Emerson!

 Siena: Me and Mama went to a Thorns game.

Kris:  The girl and I love catching the Thorns whenever we can!  Unfortunately they lost this match but we still had a blast.

Siena: I decided to take a funny selfie before the game!

Kris:  That's my girl!!

Siena: Stinkoy being funny! I really don't know what went on in this picture, but it made me and Mama laugh!

 Siena: Me and my best friend, Leslie, were having fun on the trampoline + sprinkler.

Kris:  Mason asked for a trampoline for his birthday this year and it's been a great addition to the back yard.  We also took Mason to the beach (Seaside) for a long weekend for his birthday but my phone bit the dust and I lost all of my pictures from the weekend.

 Siena: Mama and Mason went on the wave runner one day, it looks pretty chill!

Kris:  It was pretty chill!  The boy and I took the waverunner from Milwaukie to downtown Portland.  We won't talk about the fiasco of me breaking the trailer after getting back home that afternoon though...

Siena: Fourth of July! Here's Mason embracing the smoke from the fireworks! ♥

Kris:  Now that we have a house with a decent yard, we are hosting more and more.  We had a bunch of family and friends over for dinner, slip and slide, trampoline, and a million fireworks!!

Siena: His outfit says it all!

Kris:  It really does...doesn't it.

Siena: I filmed Fourth Of July this year. I couldn't post it because I had so much footage. But I recorded it because it's was a fun time.

Kris:  The kids LOVE having their cousins over and I think we all enjoyed getting together to enjoy this holiday.

 Siena: Mason found a cool hike and it had a lake that you could swim in. Of course, I was down for it!

Kris:  Siena isn't normally down for hikes but if there's water involved, we can usually get her in the car.  Plus with all the sports she's done this year, she's way more fit and no longer complains the whole way!!

Siena: Me and Mason, of course, wanted to hang out in the lake. The water was actually warmer than we originally thought, since the water in Oregon is usually freezing. ♥

Kris:  As I probably alluded to in the Paris post, my Paris girls and I have gotten to be pretty close over the last year and of course we need to get together to celebrate each other's birthdays.  And we also just like getting together for girls night.

For Yelena's birthday, Julia arranged for us to hang out at her parent's house one evening.  Her parents have an amazing place along the Willamette river.  (The birthday girl is below).

Slightly out of order here but due to dessert accidentally being left at work, we went back to the office at 10:30 at night to eat it.  And jam to Celine Dion.  Pretty sure we scared away the cleaning crew.

 Chilling in Julia's parents pool.  They keep it at 92 degrees so even at night it feels great!

After dinner we kayaked the river.  Even pregnant Julia did it!

 Siena: Daddy and me taking a silly picture at Skyline!

Kris:  After an afternoon at a beach on Sauvies Island (not the nudie beach), we drove up to Skyline Restaurant for dinner.  Their milkshakes are worth the trip!

 Siena:  Another me selfie! I really don't know how they turn up on my mom's phone since I have my own!

Kris:  Yep, still finding Siena selfies on my phone even though she has her own.

Siena: We went to the movies, but there was this cardboard trailer thing. We took a lot of pictures with it, and this is one of them! ☻

Kris:  I don't know why we enjoyed these so much but we did!

So that's it for the blog this time. We will definitely be adding more this summer, because we really need to. But for now, this is what we have! ♥☻

Kris:  We're off to Sweden and Norway in less than a month which well definitely necessitate a big blog posting!!  And now that I have Siena nagging me about blogging, I'll be sure to do it more frequently.