She'll Never Leave

After a long day trekking around the zoo, we stopped back in at the school to pick up our things. We could have headed home right away like almost everyone else, but nope. CJ decided to get to work making up for lost time. What did this mean? Art. Hot glue. Fancy Paper. Shiny things. Some days Mama thinks she'll never want to leave school. And that's after a long 7-8 hour day! I guess that's a good thing.

The Elephant Kong

Whenever someone tells us they got a new dog, we always ask if they have a Kong. It was a life saving toy for us with our dogs when they were younger. We had the perfect cookie that we could sneak into the Kong and then it would distract the dogs while we left. The elephants had a similar item today and they really had to work with it to get their grain treats to drop out.

Not Quite What I Envisioned

When Mama said "sure, I'd love to go to the zoo with your school", she had in mind a nice, dry, maybe even sunny day at the end of May. But we woke up to some drizzles and it was pretty darn cold out there for it being almost June. It was a nice visit and thanks to another Mom at CJ's school, we got to meet with some of the elephant keepers and talk about how they might make improvements to their environment. The kids had put together some research and presented it to the staff. Then we were treated to a little show with the elephants doing some work to get their treats. After a quick lunch, we headed off in small groups so the children could see their special animals and take notes on them for more schoolwork. It was a fun day, but definitely too cold for Mama.

Grandma's Girl

Here's CJ enjoying some time with Grandma before we headed home.

Isn't She Cute

Were you expecting CJ?

The Slide Show

While Mama and CJ were out shopping yesterday, Daddy and Grandma dug out some old slides. We had a preview last night, but today the cousins came over to watch them with CJ. After the show, we realized that we hadn't taken any pictures again. The kids posed (with books) in front of the screen for a few quick shots, with some interesting special effects on the screen.

The Girls Go Shopping

We were in Seattle for the weekend so CJ and Mama decided to meet up with Aunt A and Cousin B for some girls shopping. We hit the mall for a pretty good sale and CJ ended up with a few new items, including an elephant dress for our trip to the zoo next week. Afterwards, CJ went back to her cousins' house and had a great time playing, like she always does. Mama was just silly and forgot to take any pictures.

Butterfly Notes

Today Daddy and Mommy got some special butterfly notes. Dad's says "I love strawberries and ice cream and puppy dogs and you!(using pictures)". Mom's says "Who are you. Are you a Dog. Are you a Cat. What are you?"

Official Dog Walk Photos

One of the things we did at the dog walk was to get some pictures taken. We planned on having both dogs together, no people. But the area was set up with a small box and it became clear that there was no way Big B was going to stay on that thing with some help. So Daddy sat down to hold him. And then there wasn't really a spot for Little B. CJ did manage to squeeze in while Mama held Little B. Then we let the girls get their picture taken together. Aren't they cute?

Only in Portland

We were sad when the local ice cream store closed up shop this year. I can remember walking the dogs over there on warm evenings, with CJ in her stroller as a baby. And last year CJ was finally big enough to ride her own bike there. But don't worry. It looks like they will be reopening soon. As guess what? A taproom. Not quite a brewpub, but almost. We've been to their other location once and they feature local NW beers. Oh, and they are going to have $4 kids meals and gelato. We'll have to check this out.

A Dry Saturday

Although not terribly sunny, it was dry today so after CJ's 9 am t-ball game, we hopped on our bikes and had brunch at the bakery. On our way home, we stopped at the park to play. CJ found this sweater at a rummage sale last weekend and I think she's in love with it. It is pretty cute.

Helper Girl

Here's CJ helping Daddy build the new stairs outside her room. She was mostly in charge of nails, although I think she did help with some sanding. It will be nice to have this project done soon.

What a Cute Puppy

Here's CJ, modeling the dog ears mask she got from the kids table at the dog walk.

The Girls Go To Happy Hour

Well sort of. Starbucks has Frappuccino Happy Hour from May 6-15th, 3:00-5:00. We've been waiting for a day that felt like Frappuccino weather and finally got one. It didn't start out well, but the sun came out this afternoon so Mama and CJ walked to a store close to school and enjoyed some half price drinks.

What Did You Do With Mom?

Mama was busy working on a project when it was time to pick CJ up at school. Daddy happened to be working from home (keeping some cold germs to himself) so he volunteered to go pick her up. When he got there, the first thing CJ said was "What did you do with Mom?"

Happy Mother's Day

Thanks to one of the local yoga studios, Mama started her day with a great hot yoga class for free! I went early, thinking the second class would be pretty crowded, but it turned out that they had about the same number of students. Oh well.

Meanwhile, CJ and Daddy were at home making me a beautiful card (see below) to go with the tulip painting CJ completed at school last week. It even came with its own display easel.

And CJ and Daddy had gotten Mama some flowers yesterday at the farmers market. Mama got to pick a couple of varieties and they put together a huge bouquet for her.

We had a pretty quiet day at home. CJ is loving that Mama has the living room cleared of furniture for a painting project. She's been dancing in there and today put on a hula hoop show from 2:30-2:33 (per the tickets she prepared for us during the week). She also put together a game for Mama and Daddy to play and she kept score. The sun made a few appearances and Mama caught a little bit from the back deck. She also caught part of the NBA playoff games and got to see the Mavericks sweep the Lakers. What a great Mother's Day present.

We really "celebrated" Mother's Day last night with a trip to a pizza place we've been meaning to check out and some gelato. Since the pizza place is so popular, they have a long wait, which gave us a chance to walk around the corner for some happy hour beers. CJ had a happy hour apple juice that may have been more expensive than the beer... So how was the pizza? It was ok. Good. But not sure we'd go back and endure another hour long wait. It wasn't THAT good.

The Trek to The Couv

CJ's 9 am t-ball game was rained out (not raining, but wet fields) so we decided to make a trek to Vancouver for the annual dog walk for the humane society. The weather was definitely mixed with cloudy skies to begin with and tons of sun for a while, followed by rain and then repeating that pattern. We didn't make it 3 miles, like we did last year. We didn't even make it halfway,like we did the year before. This year we made our donation and walked around the festival that sets up in the park for the event. CJ had fun doing art and playing games at the kids area. We should have entered Little B in the barking contest, but didn't. We had some pictures taken that we hope turned out well. CJ played in the park in the sun. We got warm drinks and tried to stay dry when it rained. And we made a walk through the farmers market for snacks and Mother's Day flowers before heading home.

Forget About It

The T that is. As in T-ball. Tonight the coaches decided to do something different so in the 3rd inning, they pitched to the kids instead of using the tee. The kids did really great. CJ swung a bit early on the first pitch, but a couple of balls later and she made contact for a nice hit. It was pretty fun to watch. CJ's favorite part? Was more likely that they actually had Voodoo donuts after the game. They were even decorated with team colors - turquoise and gold. Thanks to our sponsor!

Thanks Guys

Well guys and gals at the local tire store. Mama took CJ to school and headed home when she heard a noise in her car. She pulled over and walked around, but didn't see anything so she started on her way again. Two stops later and Mama spied the problem. A big screw in one of her tires. Just as it started to really rain, Mama pulled in to one of the local tire stores and a half hour later she was on her way with a patched up tired. The paperwork had quoted $16.25 for a flat repair, but they told Mama that the service was complimentary! Nice. This is the goodwill that they hope you'll remember when you need a new set of tires and it is pretty great.

Book and Jammy Day

Today was book and jammy day at CJ's school. Besides the performance that ran Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, some of the kids took part in an early morning May Day dance Sunday morning. The kids were to wear pj's and bring a sleeping bag. The teachers made soup and had bread for lunch. In reality, the day turned out to be pj's and movies. Mama got there in time to catch the tail end of one with CJ. Back to the routine tomorrow.

Sunday Run Day

Today was CJ's third Cheetah Run. This year the kids actually ran a short course inside the zoo. Much better than the dog park where the run was held last year. And more interesting for the kids than the zoo parking lot the year before. And if you can imagine, it was actually sunny in Portland. And warm. We had to wear sunglasses.

CJ warned up and then ran with Mama this year. It was pretty crowded. CJ sprinted ahead several times when there were breaks in the crowds around us. She was rewarded with a medal, a cliff bar and a chance to go up on stage to say her name and how old she was. When she said she was 5-3/4, the emcee asked what that was in decimals. CJ promptly replied .75. Mama was in awe of her brilliant child when Daddy clued her in that the emcee might have whispered something to CJ as she answered. Hmmm. And did I forget to mention the art? CJ got face paint and drew a Cheetah picture with our neighbor who always reminds us of the run.

It was a great day to enjoy the weather at the zoo and we got to see how big the baby elephant is getting and although Daddy thought it was crowded, the run got us there early enough to beat the major crowds that were fighting for parking and waiting in line as we left to head to the bakery to celebrate CJ's great run.