The first week

Beach walks with the dogs (we are dog sitting Violet).

This has gone by very fast, I can't even believe it has been over a week since Iris arrived. We probably have over done some activities to show off our home and surroundings but it is also that time of year. You know, you are realizing that summer is about over and the school year with its own kind of busy, is just around the corner so you try to pack in all those things you had not gotten around to yet.

We have had people over, visited many local sites, gone to the valley twice and been to the beach numerous times. Iris really loved the beach once she could actually see it, yes--the sun came out! We went back to a beach we visited on the first day and she couldn't believe there were rocks and tide pools, totally obscured by the fog on our previous visit. It is really gorgeous here when the sun is shining.

My best hit so far as a new AFS host was to invite a group of people over with teens of the same age within the first week, especially if you don't have child that age. It was great to see the local teens surround Iris with advice and friendship while the parents were busy socializing. We had almost 3 weeks before school starts when Iris arrived and living in a rural community, there just aren't that many places to meet up with other people so creating the 'event' was the answer.

After a visit to Cupcake Jones in Portland, the girls attempt their own cupcake creations.

Although that was good event, I think Iris liked getting to a big city just as much. I visited stores I would never have gone to (Love Culture, Love 21, etc.) which cater to older teens (we did go to Alexa's Justice but she has about outgrown that one herself). Shopping for back to school clothes was a lot of fun and brought back so many memories. My gal pals and I used to cruise the malls and put our back to school clothes on layaway fairly regularly. Even though this won't be a regular event with the city in question being 3 hours away from here, the trip certainly bridged a bit of the difference between her Finnish home town and her new home town.

Cartwheels on the beach...summer has finally arrived!

Then there is the younger daughter, she is loving having a big sister! She can't stop talking around her. Then there are those other benefits such as shopping in new stores and trying on makeup. Ooh-la-la!

Everyone is part of the experience and that's the point after all.