Friday, July 16, 2010

Portland! (and Vancouver)

Okay, I've been way behind on blogging. But it's totally not my fault! I blame society.

Actually, there just hasn't been a time when I've had free hands and free time simultaneously. That's life with a baby, I suppose. And once again, I have a ton to blog about with very few pictures worth posting, so I'll need to supplement with some "creative illustration" via the worldwide web. Here goes...

Two weeks ago, we took Halen on his first plane ride! We went to Portland to visit David's family and attend my cousin Scott's wedding over the July 4th weekend. The flight up went much more smoothly than I expected. Halen slept the whole time! In case you haven't seen Halen sleeping, here's some stock footage. What a cutie!

Awwww...

While there, we stayed in Vancouver, WA with David's dad, stepmom and their 3 "babies."

Sort of?

Jamie and Rose love their dogs, only 2 of which are actually yorkies. The third is a... toto? (Cairn terrier, according to google.) Unfortunately, the dogs weren't equally as thrilled with us staying there, and yipped shrilly and incessantly anytime we entered the room. Or opened a door. Or crossed our legs. Or flushed a toilet. Fun stuff.

On Friday, we hung out, went to Target, and sat around talking about the dogs. David went to see his brother's band play in St. Helens, and I took Halen to dinner with my parents and David's mom and step dad. We went to Red Robin, which I haven't been to in years! It was really fun to see everyone, and our parents get along fantastically, so it was a good night. Here's a picture of Halen with his two grammas!


Saturday was Scott's wedding! He and Jordan had a short, lovely ceremony at the top of Mount Tabor in Portland, followed by a reception/bbq at the park near the bottom. Halen got to meet all of his relatives on my dad's side, which is not large; he met my grandma, aunt and uncle, great uncle, and my only cousin on that side (Scott). Here are some pictures from the afternoon, in no particular order, which are all copied from facebook because I didn't take any! Bad me!


Scott, Jordan, and my dad's uncle Jack who led the ceremony.



Yummy vegan cupcakes.


Uncle Jack and my Grandma Dottie.


Scott and his mom, my auntie Sheri!


My mom gave a reading, which she executed flawlessly!


All in all, it was a great day. I was proud to be celebrating alongside some truly unique and special people. I really have a terrific family!

The next day was the 4th of July. We met my family for breakfast, and then said goodbye to everyone. We had planned to meet David's mom, stepdad, brother Andrew, sister Katy, and Katy's family at a park for a picnic/bbq, but the weather wasn't cooperating. Instead, we hung out at Andrew's house. We had sandwiches, cupcakes, and a few other picnicish sides, and Halen got to meet his cousins! Katy's kids were excited to meet their new cousin. Here's Halen with (L to R) Justin, Zachary, Jacob, Crystal and Brendan.


It was a really fun and relaxing afternoon. We watched Goonies and Invictus, napped a bit, and ate some ice cream (soy-based for me). Halen and Shanna discovered they have something in common...

I know, right?


As darkness approached, David, Andrew, Andrew's roommate Andrew and I (that's 2 Andrews if you lost count) decided to hit the town to see what we could see. Here're a few samples of people who we "may" have come across...




Who knew Vancouver was so... exciting? We ended up parking downtown and having a few drinks at a quiet little bar. Overall, I'd say it was a great day.

Monday was dedicated to catching up with some old friends. We had a lunchtime bbq with Allison and Todd and their little girl Lucy, and Karl and Katie came down from WA with their boys Escher and Moby. It was really neat to see some of the developmental milestones Halen can look forward to. Allison made these amazing bacon-wrapped salmon kabobs, although I'm told it wasn't bacon, it was some other fancy thin-sliced ham (like prosciutto but not that either). DELICIOUS. We had the first stretch of warm weather while we chatted and ate some great food.

For dinner, we drove to Sheena and Trevor's place in Portland. Sheena was my maid of honor and we went to college with both of them. We got to see their new house, which they're mostly done fixing up. Trevor made chicken dumpling soup with a chicken that, well... used to live in their backyard. Until recently, that is! They have a small coop in their yard for eggs and apparently eating as well? I tried not to ask too many questions. I just know it didn't have a name, and it tasted delicious.

Tuesday I hung out in downtown Portland while David recorded a voice-over reel in the studio that his brother's band uses, and then we flew home! It was fantastic to see everyone, but after a long time away from home, it was great to be back.

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