Wednesday, June 21, 2006
A few days after our return home to San Francisco my dad made a stop over for a few days on his way back from Australia. As always it was great to see him. He had a wonderful trip to Australia and was in a fabulous mood. He was thrilled to see Lotus Maria, unfortunately she has decided that beards make her nervous so he got a few tears from her, but that didn't stop him from insisting on pushing the stroller.
Lotus Maria and I took a trip to Portland to spend some time with Kaiya and Rachel. I was hoping to escape the freezing San Francisco weather and was promised summer. I was lied to and deceived, though my friend Courtney swears it was 85 degrees the week before I arrived. But even with the Portland gray we had a great time. Lotus had a wonderful time with her cousin and I am lucky enough to have two dear friends in Portland that didn't mind doing kid stuff.
Portland is a great city, especially for kids and new moms. There are tons of parks and a wonderful children's museum. People in Portland are very nice and don't give you dirty looks for taking up space on the sidewalk with your stroller as they do in SF. It also very easy to park in Portland, which was very important since I was driving around my dad's minivan with two car seats in it. Who would have ever pictured that? Damn that thing guzzles gas
We packed our trip with tons of fun. We visited our cousins, went to the Rose Festival, celebrated Rachel’s birthday and played and played. I think Lotus was sad to leave her cousin and Tia Rachel, but happy to get home to her dad.
Portland has the coolest children's museum. I had just arrived and was trying to figure out what to do with two little ones on a rainy day. The Children's museum saved my sanity. I dragged my friend Courtney along for the adventure. Luckily for me Courtney is both a great sport and good with kids. The museum has several different themed rooms, there's a music room with instruments for the kids to play, a building room, a grocery store with plastic food that you can then take to the kitchen and "cook" with. Kaiya's favorite room was the water room, where she got to race rubber duckies. They also have a baby room where little crawlers can play with out parents worrying that the older kids will trample them. Lotus Maria was in heaven. All in all it made for good night sleeps all around, and that was really my priority.
My wonderful friend Megan recently relocated from Boston to Portland. I was terribly disappointed at first because she initially was set to move to SF, but if I can't have her in the city that I live in I guess I can settle for a city I visit often. Portland suits Megan well and she seems to be quite at home in her new surroundings. She took the kiddos and me to Mt. Tabor Park, which is a fabulous park on top of an active Volcano right near the Hawthorne District. Isn’t Portland cool? Sadly we had no volcano activity, but we still had such a great time. At the end of the day Kaiya was ready to trade me in for a new Auntie named Megan.
Hopefully as close as Lotus will get to eating chicken if I have anything to do with it.
Lotus Maria, Kaiya, Rachel and I trekked up to Auburn, Washinton to visit our wonderful cousins, Anthony, Julie and Meagan. We were all spoiled rotten. and had a such a great time. But the gorls cried for the last hour ofthe drive back And I was forced to sing. it was not pretty.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
The sun made an appearance for our day at the Rose Festival. Lotus got to take her first ride on a carousel and Kaiya was very brave and went on as many rides as she could.
