Splish Splash

We took Elliot to the pool for the first time this weekend! We went to the East Portland Community Center where there is a huge, new indoor waterpark with a lap pool, children's area, vortex current, whirlpool, and a seriously big, fast, water-park-style slide. While Andrea, Annika and I jumped in and enjoyed everything the pool had to offer, Elliot was a little less sure he liked the idea.

It took a while.  But after plenty of clinging to our necks and lots of gentle encouragement, he did relax his grip a bit and begin to enjoy the water.  

He especially liked it when we moved from the 3' part of the pool to the part marked 0'0".   

         

  

All in all, this little fish splished and splashed for over an hour!  A which point he communicated as clearly as possible that he was completely done being in the pool.  He then nursed voraciously on the sidelines and fell fast asleep.  It was a very fun afternoon!

Mmmmm....

Leftover Friday night pizza crust dough makes the best 

Saturday morning pecan sticky buns.

Like Great-Grandma, Like Great-Grandson

I have really distinct memories of sharing kiwis with my Nana when I was a little girl.  One memory in particular is me as an 11 or 12 year old, standing at the counter in the kitchen at the house on Tahiti Drive, while she peeled and sliced a kiwi into circles for us.  She used the same the little wooden-handled paring knife she's always used.  And she rinsed it and set in in the drying rack, just like always.  And then we shared the kiwi.  

And now, look... Elliot likes kiwis, too!  I can't wait until he and his Great Nana can share one together.  Maybe this summer???

PS... he also happens to be wearing a cloth napkin as his bib that used to belong to Nana and Bopa in... maybe the 70's?

PPS... what's bigger, the kiwi or his cheek??!?

Introducing: The Locals

Peanut Butter & Jelliot!

And Maxaroni & Cheese!

Got the thumbs-up from Max's Mama to show off his sweet little face on the blog.  Max is our childcare-share friend who spends every Tuesday and Thursday at our house.  Elliot goes to Max's house on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  He's so lucky--on Mondays he gets to play with Max's Mom and on Fridays he gets to play with Max's Dad.  Then, on Wednesdays, the boys share a nanny who comes to Max's house to watch them.  These two little guys spend 5 days a week together, and I think it's pretty safe to say that they are BFFs!


Pajama parties...

Playing footsie...

And lots of time in Baby Town...

Baby Got Back

We had to buy Elliot's next-size-up diapers... LARGE!  Those are his tiny little newborn diapers on the left... so sweet.  And in 8 short months he's already up to needing the large size.  My little baby is also a big boy!

A Good Time on Sauvie Island... Finally!

Sauvie Island is a beautiful, magical, wonderful place just outside of Portland.  It is surrounded by both the Columbia and Willamette Rivers, has great u-pick fruit farms, and is our favorite swimming spot in the summer.  We've tried taking Elliot there a few times, and he's never been that thrilled.

Berry picking as a newborn... not so happy.

The pumpkin patch at five months... um, not so much.

But now finally, on a walk at the Wapato Greenway today, Elliot had a great time!

It was an absolutely beautiful area on Sauvie Island, with the Willamette on one side and a marshy pond in the middle of the two-mile loop.  We'd never been here before but got the tip from the "Trail of the Month" in my new Portland Monthly magazine subscription that I got for Christmas (thanks, Mom... we're going to try and do the "Trail of the Month" every month!).

It's known as an ornithologist's paradise, so, yeah... we did some of that.

And we also had ourselves a little photo shoot, because the the landscape was so beautiful and it was such a gorgeous day.

It was just wonderful.  For anyone local, I highly recommend it.  And for any out-of-towners, we'll put it on the agenda for the next time you visit!

Mountain in My Back Yard

Mt. Tabor is one of my favorite places on Earth.  We are so lucky to live as close to it as we do.  In just a 10 minute walk from our house we're surrounded by a beautiful forest, perfect hiking paths, and friendly portland neighbors.  On the west side is a great view of Portland and to the east you can see both Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Hood.


There it is!  Mt. Tabor, off in the distance.  A view from the sidewalk in front of our house.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, when I have both Elliot and our childcare-share friend, I walk Mt. Tabor with one strapped to me and one in the stroller.  Here's my lucky view for the walk!

It's just a beautiful park.  And today was sunny!

Someday, this will be our destination.  The playground!

But, for now, we just walk.  And walk and walk and walk.  I have a couple of different loops from our house, depending on the weather and the mud factor.  They range between 2.5 and 3 miles and take anywhere from 50 minutes to just over an hour.  And most Thursdays our very good friend, Hilary (She Vegan), comes over on her lunch break and walks with us.  On those days we are double lucky!  (We missed you today, Hil!)

Birthday Banner

This is not an original idea. I was inspired by similar banners I've seen on one of my favorite blogs (three separate links, they're all wonderful) and other crafty mom-blogs I've happened upon as I've blog surfed. So when Andrea's birthday rolled around last month and I was in Boise, with access to her mom's sewing room (quilter's scraps and a Bernina--heaven!), I decided to give it a try. And I'm so happy I did. I just love it! They're just double sided triangles with one felt letter sewn on each before piecing them together, then purple rickrack sewn across the top to hold them together, with long tails of it left at the ends for tying it up.  I can't wait until the next birthday (Elliot's 1st!) when I can hang it up again.

Art That's Not Cheesy, aka Vegan Art

We hosted the monthly dinner with The Vegans this month.  While our evenings usually include a rousing game of Taboo or Boggle, when they're at our house I sometimes try to get them to do something artsy or craftsy.  After the requisite eye rolling, they usually settle down and (dare I say) enjoy themselves some arts and crafts.   

This time I charged the group with making some new art for Babytown--the area of the house that is dedicated to all of the baby-playing, diaper-changing stuff.  

He Vegan's contribution (hilarious!)...

And a little lovely from She Vegan (apparently the same picture she's been drawing since she was 5, or something.  If that's the case, it's pretty darn good!)...

Hey, who's watching the baby??

Another great dinner with The Vegans.  And Babytown's never looked better.  Thanks, you two!

PS- Andrea made some incredible food... Spanish rice, refried beans, and enchilada sauce, all homemade.  They were amazing.  I turned the sauce into sweet potato enchiladas, plus we had chips and guacamole for appetizers and I made a single-layer chocolate cake with cinnamon chocolate ganache for dessert.  It was all delicious!

Crowded Cakes

Leave it to Portland, an enormously popular hotbed of foodies and kitschy food establishments, to come up with a breakfast spot where the customer actually makes their own food.  And, to top it all off, it's so immediately popular that the wait to get in is was too long and we gave up and went down the street to the good ol' standby, Cricket (a breakfast place where they actually hire cooks and servers).  Don't get me wrong, I'll be the first to say that Slappy Cakes, where the griddle is built into your table and what you order is pancake batter that you cook yourself, sounds like a whopping good time.  And we decided we will definitely go back, but maybe later in the afternoon next time (happy hour?  they do serve drinks!).

Instead, like I said, we ended up at Cricket.  Tried and true.  We had delicious goat cheese omelets and eggs benedict.  Elliot sat in a restaurant high chair and seemed to enjoy drinking water out of his Mama's glass, both of which were firsts.   He also got a foot massage while he nursed.  We made friends with (read: Elliot wooed) the ladies sitting next to us, one of which will be having her first baby on Tuesday.  So that was very exciting.  We all ate Party O's for hors d'oeuvres.

But the funniest part of the whole outing is how un-photogenic I think all of the pictures ended up.  Not terrible, just a little...off.  And I didn't take 127 shots of each thing, like I usually do.  Nope, just a couple random pics of us at Cricket.   Oh, and we did have one delicious oatmeal pancake that we all shared. The cook made it for us in the kitchen.  But you'll have to take my word for it, because I forgot to take a picture of it.

All in all, it was a perfect Saturday morning.