Lydie and September

Well, it's about time we have a brief update before September passes us by without a blog update! (haha, I guess it did. October too. Wow.)

The big thing this month has been Lydie, one of Isaac and Sonia's tanties, coming to visit us! We have been pretty busy each weekend and working during the week. The first weekend we went to Central Oregon to our very good friend Craig and Lisa's wedding, then went by Crater Lake.

The second weekend, we went to Oktoberfest in Mt. Angel. Ignore my face. The chicken was really good.

Then we went to the Portland Zoo.

Then Lydie went to Newport for two days with my family.

 (Photo by London)

The next weekend we went to Seattle (almost immediately after we picked up Ibrahim, Papa's nephew). Obviously the goal was to show Lydie as many places as possible in one month. :) We stayed with a friend from Burkina who we have been meaning to see for awhile, (but we have always cancelled our trips because, well, things come up...) Victorien and his family.

 Funny story - the sandals I am wearing in this picture broke while we were in Seattle. I bought them about 2 years ago when Isaac and I were visiting Seattle and the only pair of sandals I had brought broke. I guess they just wanted to make it back to Seattle before giving out on me.

We got to see Victorien's daughter play in her soccer game too, and on the way back, got to stop by a birthday party for Auntie Fritz and meet Uncle Doug, Great Aunt Christy and Great Aunt Kathy and Great Uncles John and George in one fell swoop. So, it was a nice, although exhausting weekend. Driving tires me out and we couldn't quite fit everyone in one car so we took two. 

The next weekend was special because it was the wedding reception of one of my best childhood friends and bridesmaids, Chel, and her new husband Kai! Many happy years to you two! They are a ridiculously good-looking couple. :) Apparently, though, I did not get a flattering picture of them. Don't worry, I didn't overdo it and ruin all their wedding photos with the flash. Just the three I tried didn't turn out well enough to put here.

They had the reception at a neat location where I didn't have to worry about the kids getting run over if they ran off :) and they had a special play area just for the kids too. The ArtFarm Barn in Seal Rock. Artsy.

I felt kind of dumb because I told Auntie Anna that it would be fine to leave London with us and she could go home to study, then London had a total meltdown and we almost had to leave early. Next time I will NOT do that if it is near bedtime.

We loved having you here, Tantie Lydie!

Sonia still asks, "Where's Tantie Lydie?"  She will actually answer her own question now. "She's in Burkina." 

backlog

I'm going to recap the events of September in a backwards fashion.

The last week we were in Newport, it was nice out, so Isaac and I went down to the beach twice. Isaac now loves the water and wants to go swimming in the tidepools even though it is not safe. I'll post a video of him running at the beach later. :)

Before the last week, we went to the Mount Angel Oktoberfest for about an hour to get some food and dance a little bit.

And before that, Isaac and Papa explored Portland while Mama went to a laryngectomy conference at OHSU.

The weekend before that, we went to the Nativity Church picnic on Sunday, and Isaac played outside in the grass. He got upset twice because he ran off, then looked around and couldn't find Mama in all the people.

The day before, we went to our friend Freeman's outdooring and naming ceremony in Salem. Isaac had fun listening to the drumming and eating the food.

He had fun playing with some of Freeman's older sisters, Aurora and Josephine.

But, before that, we went to the Oregon Zoo. I have to say, I think Isaac enjoyed it more this time, being more grown up and all.

He saw turtles.

He saw schools of fish.

He even found out that Bouba is real.

But before that, on Friday, we went to the wedding of our friends, Micah and Brittaini, and Isaac got to play with their three fabulous children (only one of them is in the wagon with him).

Here they are cutting the cake! It was a great reception (we had trouble getting there on time so we missed the ceremony) and Brittaini's dress was beautiful.

Papa and Isaac enjoyed the garden outside the reception area.

The weekend before that, we spent some time at home. Isaac read books.

We also visited the ducks and geese at Alton Baker Park. Isaac wanted to go swimming with them, but we prevented him from fulfilling his wish.

The geese were so enticing.
Before that, Isaac couldn't decide what to wear, or which team to root for, so he settled on a win-win wardrobe.

The weekend before that, when we were coming back from Newport, we stopped by Avery Park in Corvallis. Isaac was interested in this old millstone they have there.

Before that, he found a special cart that he did not want to leave without kicking and screaming.

Before that, we watched a race, and before that, we smelled the roses in the rose garden there.

Before that, during the week, Isaac got to take a ride on Boompa's shoulders.

And before we left for Newport in the first place, we went to the Eugene Celebration. Not the actual celebration, but the free parts around it. Isaac tried to pedal the bike to make the smoothie. He had good intentions but short legs.

He got to pet a baby crocodile too.

And that, sweet Isaac, is a recap of all the things I failed to blog about while we were at Nana and Boompa's. We really had a great time, and got to do lots of fun things despite all the work!

1,23,eyes

Here, my friends, is the week in review. The Compaoré family went to Portland last Saturday. First, we stopped by a store we like, Caribbean Spice. They sell African foods as well as Caribbean foods (the owners are from Jamaica). We saw our friends Ben and Katie there, which is funny because they live in Eugene too!
Then, we went to the zoo. We saw the daddy elephant.

We saw the mommy elephant and the baby elephant too.

We even saw the lions, which weren't at the Portland Zoo before.

We went in a smelly place with tropical birds.

We also visited Auntie Nallely briefly before heading back to Eugene. Actually, we had a quick stop to visit Auntie Anna as well, and she had a delicious birthday present for Mama. Next time, we will have to visit more aunties and Uncle Greg.

The next day, Sunday, Mama turned 23. Nana and Bumpa and Great Grandma and Grandpa and Great-great Aunt Christy and Uncle George came to Mass in Eugene and then we all went to McGrath's for lunch. Mama wanted to go to La Perla which is supposedly serves la vera pizza napoletana (I didn't realize some people don't like in-line links but I love 'em so there you go!), but they were closed. McGrath's is always good though. We were a little concerned because we had heard they had gone bankrupt, but they were still serving food, and it was still delicious. I have to admit I am unsure about the true meaning of bankruptcy.

Isaac tried some crackers. He still seems a little unsure of many solid foods.

Finally, he had some real lunch and took a much-needed nap.

We went on a quick shopping excursion, and Mama found a few new clothes. Isaac discovered the ride on toys, but we didn't bother spending money to make them move when they were so fascinating at a standstill.

But then, tragedy struck. Isaac got pinkeye. We went to urgent care Sunday night. They said it was viral so he didn't need eyedrops, but gave us a prescription in case it didn't go away soon. In fact, maybe it is bacterial... because it still is not entirely gone.

So Isaac stayed home Monday....and Tuesday and Wednesday, with the help of our neighbor downstairs, Bumpa, and Great-grandma and Great-grandpa. On Monday we brought him to the doctor again because of a 103.1 degree fever, and they diagnosed him with early bronchitis and gave him antibiotics and an inhaler. However, he vomited up the antibiotics and any tylenol we tried to give him. Wednesday, we brought him back to the doctor because of the inability to keep the antibiotics down. Isaac's regular pediatrician saw him and decided it was instead viral and bronchiolitis. In the afternoon, he seemed really happy and playful. Thursday, Mama thought he was probably feeling okay so he could go back to daycare. But, that did not pan out. He was sent home around 12:30 with a fever. So, Bumpa came back to the rescue on Friday. Mama did not have a very good week scholastically. Hopefully the second week of 23 will be better. But let us not dwell on this; instead, I leave you with a few pictures of cute boys.
Here is a sweet little boy.

And I couldn't resist adding this because of the handsome man on the left.

Finally, no one can resist that fierce little face in this last picture. This is Isaac's new smile - I find it so funny and I don't know where he picked it up, but I think it is kind of going towards my smile, where my eyes get smaller...

We hope all our friends out there are in good health, and we really hope Isaac starts feeling better soon! He has been sick enough in this past month!