Day 5

Dear Jamey and Jack,

As you know Dad had to work this morning. Which meant I wandered the streets of Portland. Until I came upon the PERFECT intersection. At which point I quit wandering and stayed at the perfect place for three hours. Yes, you read that right--three hours. You two would have been bored out of your minds. I think it's a good thing you were with Grandma Lou!

Just in case you are wondering, this perfect location is found at the intersection of NW Couch St and SW 11th Ave in downtown Portland.

Four of the most wonderful things sit on three of the four corners.

First corner: Powells City of Books. Oh my. This store is an independent bookstore that takes up a WHOLE block. I spent half of the three hours there. I even bought each of you a book!

Second corner: Sur La Table. A kitchen store full of all kinds of wonderful things. It would take far too long to mention all of the fun things I always seem to find in that store. It would also take much too long to explain exactly how I came up with enough self-discipline to walk out of the store leaving behind the cutest table linens and the lovely green, oval gratin dish...

Perhaps what adjoins Sur La Table was the only think that helped me keep my credit card tucked safely away. Yep, a Peet's Coffee and Tea was right there just begging me to come in. And I did. And I ordered a tasty drink! Then I sat at one of the tables while I drank my drink so I would smell like coffee for the rest of the day.

Third corner: Anthropologie. The home and gift section is full of things that I "need". Fortunately I am far too frugal to spend $24 for a dish towel that I would be too afraid to use for fear of getting something on it. However, it was a close call. Anthropologie has a habit of making me question my values. Regardless, I more than completely enjoyed my 30 minutes of wandering...

Hunger pulled me away from the perfect intersection...eventually, that is. I found a nice little cafe that had more than one vegetarian option (that isn't salad) on the menu--something we don't see much of in Arkansas, so I'm trying to take advantage of my opportunities.

Please give Grandma Lou a HUGE hug to thank her for giving me a morning at the perfect intersection.

Switching topics... Guess what? We're coming home tomorrow! But I probably won't see you until you're asleep. I promise to give you each a kiss on your sleepy cheeks when I get back to the basement. Until then, keep having fun!

I love you!

Love, Mama

PS: Dad just got back, and he wants to check out the book store. It sounds like we're going back this evening! Yippee!!!

Day 4

Dear Jamey and Jack,

Today was a day off for Dad. He planned his trip so we would have a day-and-a-half for anniversary fun! I got to pick what we were doing this morning, and I picked a tour through the Tillamook Cheese Factory! It was great!

Here's the room where they slice and package the perfectly aged cheese. It looked like they were wrapping both yellow and white cheddar this morning.

This year is Tillamook's 100th birthday, so they had lots of special signs up around the factory.

At the end of the tour we went through the cheese tasting line. Dad liked the cheese curds best, and I liked the vintage white cheddar.

After the tasting we were hungry for more cheese! Lucky for us there was a cafe serving grilled cheese sandwiches. We headed there. Then...it was time for ice cream! Dad had a scoop of Tillamook Chocolate Mudslide, and I had Blueberry Lemon Pie. So good! We were a bit dairy-ed out, so we skipped the fudge. I guess we'll have to go back someday, because it sure looked good!

Tummies full, we headed to the car and drove to Portland. We're currently relaxing in our hotel waiting for some of Dad's cousins to come. We're going to have dinner with them. Tomorrow it's back to work for Dad. I think I'll explore downtown Portland.

How was your day? Did you have fun at the aquarium with Grandma Lou and Grandpa Jere? I can't wait to hear about all your day.

I love you!

Love, Mama

PS: Happy Birthday to Mom-mom!!! I can't believe you're 29...again...

Day 3

Dear Jamey and Jack,

Well, our Internet connections have been few and far between on this trip, so once again it's two days of posts today...

Dad started off yesterday with an appointment while I wandered the streets of Salem. It was super, extra, really hot! Never the less, I had a nice time looking in cute shops and Dad had a good appointment.

Since it was our anniversary, Dad took the rest of the day off. We headed back out to the coast. After eating a late lunch, we decided to check out this lighthouse. It is the tallest lighthouse in Oregon and was used until 1973. Kind of cool, don't you think?

On the walk back to our car from the lighthouse, we saw these rocks out in the ocean. They were covered with squawking birds. And let me tell you, those birds were stinky!

It was time to check-in at our hotel. We found our room and then went on a walk to find the ocean. We climbed down these rickety stairs...

...and wrote our names in the sand. Then we waited until the waves came and erased our letters.

Hungry, we headed off to dinner (thanks for the tip, Aunt Zona--it was delicious). Here's a picture of our hotel. We took the picture from the sidewalk on our way to dinner. It was a homey little inn. We fell asleep listening to the ocean waves.

We sure had a nice anniversary. Can you believe it's been nine years?

I love you!

Love, Mama

Day 2

Dear Jamey and Jack,

After a good night's sleep, Dad headed off to his breakfast meeting. I stayed back at the hotel enjoying the sound of ocean waves outside my window. When Dad got back to the hotel, we took a quick walk on the beach.

I absolutely love the Pacific Ocean. It is especially pretty up here. The fog is quite lovely, too!

Chilled and ready to head back inland, we hopped in the car and headed up to Dad's aunt's house. Aunt Zona and Aunt Priscilla had a nice lunch ready for us. We ate while enjoying these pretty flowers arranged by Aunt Zona.

After lunch we took a tour of the yard and house. It's a fun place! You both would have really liked the koi pond (I should have taken a picture). Then we had a yummy dessert consisting of all kinds of fruits with a little ice cream. Fresh fruit tasted especially good after "road food".

Picture time was next! Uncle Todd doesn't really prefer to be in pictures, so he agreed to be the photographer. Here's Aunt Zona, me, Dad, and Aunt Priscilla.

This next picture is Dad with his first cousins (Aunt Zona's two youngest). Tyler is on Dad's left and Michael is on Dad's right. And, get this, Jamey, they have lots of pictures of wolves in their bedrooms! And Uncle Todd has wolf pictures in his office! Hopefully some day soon we'll make it out here with the two of you so you can see the pictures in person.

We sure had fun with the relatives! What a great time visiting and laughing and eating! Thank you for being such good hosts!

Back in the car, we drove to Dad's next appointment. Now we're in our hotel enjoying the hotel's air conditioning. We've got it cranked up! We're soaking in the chill as tomorrow is to be another hot day inland. Good thing we head back to the coast tomorrow evening.

Grandma Lou said you boys are being super good and having lots of fun! Sleep well! More tomorrow...

I love you!

Love, Mama

Day 1

Dear Jamey and Jack,

These are the pictures from our day yesterday. I wanted to write you last night, but the Internet connection at the hotel wasn't working. Now you will get to have two posts for the day!

We landed at the Portland airport, got our rental car, and started on our drive to Dad's first appointment. It was a long trip.

Finally we saw the ocean! But we still had a long way to drive before we got to the place Dad was meeting with his people. Inland Oregon is having record-breaking heat, so lots of people have "escaped" to the coast causing lots of traffic. We were very patient and decided to enjoy the ride.

Eventually we made it to our hotel. We checked in and looked out the window and saw this:

The ocean was RIGHT outside our hotel room! Yippee! I sent Dad off to his appointment, and I opened that window, crawled into bed with my book, and listened to the waves while reading myself to sleep. Lucky me!

I hope you had a fun day with Grandma Lou. I love you two!

Love, Mama

Off, off, and away...

As you know I keep this blog up for my grandmas and aunties. Sure a few uncles and grandpas read, but mostly it's so my grandmas and aunties can see far away Jack and far away me (almost) every day.

Well, that's about to end.

Just for a week.

Never fear, I'll be back!

In the meantime, Mom and Dad are taking a trip--just the two of them! My Dad travels for work; he takes a trip almost every other week. Mom always stays home with us. But tomorrow Mom is going on Dad's work trip with him! Grandma Lou has graciously offered to take some time off work to take care of Jack and me.

Mom is quite excited! The longest she has ever been alone with Dad since I've been born is 17 hours. That only happened once. Then there was one other time they were at a conference for 14 hours. They're good about going on dates, but that's just for a couple of hours here and there. Other than those few times, they're with their boys! Mom says this trip will be wonderful. Dad will have to work most of the trip, but Mom said she won't have any trouble filling her "alone" time. I hope she's not bored!

Anyway, Jack and I will be missing from the blog for a few days. Mom says she might post pictures about the fun she and Dad are having. That way Jackie and I can keep up with their adventures from Grandma Lou and Grandpa Jere's house.

So...if you're a grandma or an auntie who is in desperate need of a break. Take one! Come back on Sunday, August 2nd. Jack and I will be back then! Until then, if you want, enjoy Mom's posts from the Oregon Coast.

Wedding Day: The Reception

After the wedding we headed on over to the reception! There was to be lots of toasting, so each place setting had a champagne glass. Dad filled Jack and my glasses up with sparkling cider, and we drank up! Jack even put a few peanuts in his drink.

I sure liked those fancy glasses.

And then it was time for toasting. (Jack and I got started a bit on the early side.) Grandma Lou and I clinked glasses and said "here's to Michelle".

After the toasts Jack headed over to Grandpa Jere's lap. We were out of candy at our end of the table. Grandpa Jere still had some left. Jack is one smart cookie! He charmed some more candy out of Grandpa Jere.
Sugared up, we headed out to dance. A couple of bridesmaids asked me to dance, but I only wanted to dance with Pamela. I'm a pretty good dancer; I think I get it from Grandpa Jere. He's a really good dancer!

Head on over to the movie blog for some action on the dance floor!

It sure was a fun wedding! We are thankful to Michelle and Sean for including us in their special day.

Wedding Day: The Wedding

Today was the day I got to be the ring bearer in Michelle's wedding. Here I am with Grandma Lou, Grandpa Jere, and Michelle. Michelle's mom and dad live in heaven, so Grandma Lou and Grandpa Jere filled in for today.

And this is Pamela. She is who I walked down the aisle with. Isn't she cute?

Mom thought this picture was especially cute.

A little nervous that I might mess up my tux, Mom and Dad let me walk around half dressed between pictures. :-)

After lots of smiles and flashes, it was finally time for the wedding to start. Mom and Jack settled in a seat up front (snacking on pretzels) while Pamela and I got ready with Dad in the back. (Do you like Jack's tie? He really liked it!)

And here we are! We did SUCH a GOOD job walking down the aisle! Being a ring bearer is a fun responsibility.

The reception is coming up next!

Tea and Treasures

This morning Mom, Jack, and I headed out for tea at The Wisdom Tea House. If you ever come to visit Grandma Lou and Grandpa Jere, you should really have a cup of tea at this place. It's just great--a pleasant mix of modern and cottage all rolled up into one beautiful experience! Their tag-line is "Infusing Life with Tea, Conversation, and Art". Mom says she can't think of a better place to spend a morning.

Jack had a cherry scone.

And I had a current scone. We both had lemon curd on the side. I really liked the "lemon stuff".

Of course, on the way out, we stopped by the fountain.

Mom takes us to tea because she thinks it's important for Jack and me to be exposed to all kinds of experiences. Having tea (or coffee at our hometown cafe) is a good way for Mom to reinforce restaurant manners.
On the other hand, Mom knows that we are boys--boys who like to dig around in dirt and get filthy! So, after tea, we planned a outdoor treasure hunt adventure. We got pieces of paper and wrote out all the things we hoped to find. Sticks, rocks, and pine cones were at the top of the list. List in hand we headed out to fill our buckets with treasures!

This morning was the perfect combination of tea and dirt.

And now it's time to go practice for the wedding...

PS: For those of you keeping track, I have always (and continue to) switched back and forth between my left and right hands. Typically I favor my left. Until this past month Jack favored his right. Now he seems to switch back and forth as well. Who knows what we'll decide in the end. Every thing Mom reads says to let kids make the decision on their own, so that's what we're doing. Mom hands us our pencil (spoon, crayon, etc.) and we decide which hand feels best that day.

A Preview

Yesterday we went to pick up the tux I'm wearing for the wedding tomorrow.

Here's a sneak peek at how I'll look walking down that aisle...

The Zoo: The Carousel

As I mentioned in the previous post, we rode the carousel at the zoo.

Jack and I picked our horses and hopped on.

And then the carousel began to move. Jack wasn't too sure about things.

His horse started going up and down!

Jack didn't know what to think! Poor Jack!

Mom and I got the terrible giggles just watching Jack. Finally Mom agreed to hold Jack, and things got better.

Jack's riding the carousel over on the movie blog, too! Check it out! Our baby is petrified of moving horses!!!

The Zoo: The Animals

We headed back to the zoo today, and made it in time to see the giraffes come out of their house. The zookeepers raised the drawbridge so the tall giraffes could come into the yard.

We also crawled into tunnels...

...and crawled right back out!
The most exciting thing we saw was a wild turkey who had escaped from her pen! Oh my! The zookeeper had to chase her back in!

Jack had fun chasing chipmunks. I'm pretty convinced a chipmunk bit me, but Mom can't find any marks on my finger.

The moose got very close and personal with us. He was stomping around in the water. Some of his splashes reached us!

Last, but not least, we rode the carousel...

(Stay tuned for the next post.)