A few weekends ago, Joe and I took an anniversary trip to Portland, Oregon. It was the first trip there for both of us, and it was a wonderful bus and bike weekend.
Up on the hill above downtown, we found the Rose Garden and Japanese Garden, both of which were gorgeous.
We ate lots of good food
Drank lots of good drinks
And found lovely places to spend time soaking up the A/C and ice cubes, because it was crazy hot. I expected rain and chill. We got dry and 97 degrees. Go figure
Between then and the next weekend, Henry and I worked on our ongoing project of moving and painting the boys’ new bedrooms. Henry was heavily involved and invested in the painting. He was seriously helpful, though I had to keep an eye on his little tootsies which kept stepping in paint drips.
Henry wanted his room painted in sunsets and rainbows, which I think turned out quite lovely.
Then, we went to the cabin, where the first day was Mosquitoville, so we stuck inside and played games.
Charlie worked on LEGO contraptions. His favorite was the Annoyomatic, a noisemaker.
We hit the lake several times, which was perfect, though busy since it was the weekend of the 4th. Charlie learned all of the loon facts on the sign behind him here, and made sure to share his knowledge with us when we saw loons on the lake.
Stay 200 feet away, Grandpa!
The boys loved going over the bumps on Big Blue, especially with Katy up front with them.
Charlie insisted he would be helping put the boat on the trailer. A good sign for times to come!
This kid.
He’s magic, I tell you
We saw lots of turtles laying eggs that weekend!
On the way home, Joe let me drive myself, so I got to stop and have coffee at Café Wren with my book, and stop at the Franconia Sculpture park for a good wander.
I loved this woman’s self-portrait
It was good to be home after so much time away. Henry was pooped from all his digging and dump-trucking at the cabin
And I’ve gotten to try out my teeny little bowls I got at an Art Festival while we were away
This week was Member’s Night at mini-golf course in the Walker’s newly re-opened Sculpture Garden. When we crossed the bridge, Henry said, “Look! The Cherry-and-Tomato bridge!
It was good to see some new holes on the course
I liked this one, which represented the light-rail, where you could choose which line to follow
After golfing, we stopped by one of my favorite parts of the Sculpture Garden, the mirror-hedge
Good to have the Garden back
Do Does Did 