Three on Thursday, Week 11: Portland Weekend

Last weekend I was feeling like I needed a vacation. So we left it up to Priceline. We said if we could snag a good deal, we'd go. If not, we'd tool around at home for the weekend. Thanks to Priceline we ended up with the Porland Marriott for $57! Awesome.

We also splurged on fine dining. (We LOVE the Portland food wagons!)



And just walking around in the Pearl District (heading to REI, of course!)



And no Portland trip would be complete without a trip to Powell's.



Or VooDoo Donuts.



So many yummy choices...



...so little time.



These were our selections.



A big box of sticky, gooey donuts on pristine, white bedsheets - what could be wrong with that?



This picture makes me smile. As Soren was falling asleep he kept mumbling "mom, I really like this round pillow." Apparently he wasn't kidding.



We were lazy and enjoyed breakfast in bed and some morning movies.



Before heading out for an official Portland Walking Tour.



In the rainy, rainy, freezing cold weather.



The rain even got this baby bear in a funk.



It was a fun tour nonetheless. And we learned a lot of new stuff about Portland. Including that this is the world's smallest park:

Three on Thursday, Week 10: Desperation

The thought behind committing to "three on Thursday" was that it would both inspire me to pick up my camera more, and also set aside at least a tiny bit of time each week to post about our happenings.



While it has succeed on both counts, it doesn't always succeed. Which is why tonight, Thursday, I found myself pictureless, and desperate.



So my desperation drove me to run down and snap three shots of my sleeping cherub. Or, as the case may be, my cherub gleefully reading "The Gas We Pass."



Three on Thursday, accomplished! Barely.

Snow Day

Yesterday was our first official snow day of the year. It was one of those times where our little bit of elevation made all the difference. Many people in town reported only a light dusting. But we got a full, beautiful eight inches. Soren was excited to head out and play!



These are the hills to the north as seen off our deck. So beautiful.



The snow also took out the power. It went off around midnight and didn't come back on until about three in the afternoon. Peter cooked us bacon and eggs for breakfast on the woodstove. Awesome.



Soren and I enjoyed a nice walk in the sunshine. It was so warm that the snow melted fairly quickly, though our road was passable only by high-clearance vehicles until the mid-afternoon.



He wouldn't throw a snowball at his mama, right?



Would he?



Oh, yeah!

Three on Thursday, Week 9: Great Wolf Lodge + Grandpa's Letter

We went to Great Wolf Lodge last weekend with our friends, the DeWilde's. It is a great place to play...but not so great for taking photos. I didn't even take my camera in to the waterpark because it was too humid and splashy.

This picture was from the bedtime story. Soren (and the other children) were enthralled with the talking trees and owls that tell the story.



I love the below picture. Soren raced down the hotel hallway every time we went back to our room. He got there so much ahead of the rest of us that he had time to sit and relax before we got there ourselves.



Soren sent Grandpa P. a picture. He addressed it himself. Any opinion on whether the postal service will be able to decipher it and get it to the destination?

Beautiful

Last night I was putting on some face creams while Soren was brushing his teeth.

Soren: Mama, why do you put that on your face?
Me: It makes my skin more beautiful.
Soren: But you are beatiful already.
Me: Aw, thanks, buddy.
Soren: You look like you are in your twenties...
Me: (chuckling) Thanks, sweetie.
Soren: ...even though you are like in your fifties!

Four on Friday, AC Gilbert House Science Fair

Last weekend we went to the AC Gilbert House Science fair with our friends Sarah & Elliot.



The very best event of the day was the Mentos & Diet Coke geyser. I must admit that the requirement that the kids wear rain ponchos did seem a little bit extreme, but it added to the excitement.



To prove that this is a science museum event, they had specially made Mentos dispensers that attached directly to the top of the 2-liter bottles:



And, wow!, what a display it was! The ponchos were totally needed as the kids were bathed in a downpour of soda!



Viva la science!

Three on Thursday, Week 8: Starfruit, You Disappoint!

We're a fruit loving family here. What's not to love about all the colorful varieties of sweet and juicy goodness?

Soren spotted a starfruit at the grocery store last weekend and begged to try one. Despite my misgivings, I relented. I'd tried starfruit once before and since then have counted starfruit as the only non-delicious fruit.

But they look so promising!



And cutting them up, they look even better. What lovely little bits of star-shaped beauty, eh?



But the moment of truth did arrive...



And while it didn't engender quite the photo-worthy look of horror that our past home grown orange tasting session did, the verdict was clear: starfruit are yucky.

Three on Thursday, Week 7: Painting

I picked up a good deal online for some time at a local ceramics studio. Soren and I did this about a year ago in Corvallis and had a great time. We did this time too. He chose a turtle with a secret hiding spot under the shell. Still no word on what he is so eager to hide in there.

Picking the brushes.

 

And then the painting begins...



...paying special attention to those small details.



We pick up the finished, fired, work this weekend!

(Photography note: sometimes I swear I'm just going back to auto white balance. Yes, I know I could shoot raw and edit it, but that just isn't going to happen. I'm trying to simplify my photography process, edit less, in order to just take more photos! This studio was a nightmare though - lightbulbs in the back, and natural light in the front of the store. So, that first photo is just wrong. Cute, but wrong. :-))