Party In Portland

When baby Nora came three weeks early, Stan and I were finishing up a weekend of fun with Makayla and Hailey while Amy was out of town.

I rolled over in bed early Sunday morning to see these perky faces urging me to get up and find food. That's an alarm clock in Makayla's hand to support her theory that I should be upright.

 

How great is it that I get a break from these morning birds and can go to Portland and lay around while Ashley recuperates?

 

After all, cute little Brinlee sleeps till noon and moves at a turtle's pace like my other grandkids.

Oh wait. That doesn't describe Brinlee at all. Not only that, I don't have any of those kind of grandkids.

And even though I got to Portland the day after the birth, Ashley was looking great, running at full speed.

 

 

Cute little Nora did a lot of this, EXCEPT for Monday night. You know, Monday night-- the night before the Tuesday McKay took his dental boards. That night she cried All. Night. Long. I think we were all a little worried that McKay would sleep through his boards, but he thinks he did just fine. I'm confident he's right. McKay will get results in three weeks.

 

Brinlee was a lot of "help".

I'm not sure she's really clued into the fact that Nora is here to stay.

 

What a cute big sister!

 

Brinlee is growing up--she gets her own shoes on.

I had a few kids with backwards feet, too.

 

Nora, recovering from Monday night's cry-a-thon.

 

I love this little family. They are such good parents and so hardworking.

 

On Tuesday we headed to the zoo while McKay was busy taking those all-important boards.

It was a very nice zoo, a little smaller than I expect for such a large city.

They have a good selection of animals, including the sea lion Brinlee is watching here.

 

A fun Brinlee-sized door.

 

When Ashley unwrapped Nora at the zoo, we discovered that Brinlee thoughtfully provided her with her elephant.

 

We visited McKay's school Thursday. I was trying to get a picture of the Dental School sign with the Pearson family on my cell phone, but it turned out a little lame. You get the idea...

 There is a tram that takes you from the school up on the hill to the city below.

 It gave us a great view of the city. Note snow-covered Mt. Hood in the distance just left of center.

The dental school is actually moving to a newly built spot down in the city this fall. It's the buildings behind Ashley and Brinlee. Every time we passed a tall building, Brinlee would point and say "There's Daddy's school!"

 When babies come early, there are always things that missed being done. We decided to do a few of those things while I was there to keep an eye on Brinlee. How hard could that be? We spent some time in the mall, with Paparazzi Brinlee happily snapping pictures of Nora with Ashley's phone while we shopped.

I soon discovered that Brinlee never walks: she runs. Olympic speed running. Marathon endurance running.  As we prepared to leave, Brinlee made her escape and started for the car. She ran the entire length of the mall (a mile or two?) at super-human speed, with me desperately trying to catch up to her. Let me just say that everyone in the mall had a good chuckle that day at the sight of poor old Grandma chasing frantically after Brinlee, who would turn from time to time and say encouragingly "Run faster, Grandma!" I'm pretty sure Ashley laughed hardest of all.

 We actually visited another mall on another day. This time I came prepared and spent several hundred dollars putting money in the toy to keep Brinlee off of those running feet.

 I had to forgive her, though,

since she willing participated in

Ashley's and my daily consumption

of ice cream and

frozen yogurt.

 We even talked McKay into joining us one day.

On Friday we took a scenic drive.

Portland is incredibly green and beautiful.

The weather was perfect while I was there-not a drop of rain anywhere. I think Ashley is just making that part up.

The Columbia river- Lewis and Clark came this way.

Daddy was good enough to run after Brinlee this day so that I could rest and recuperate.

This is the Vista House, built as a "comfort station" for travelers in 1918.

It was ridiculed by Oregonians as the "$100,000 Outhouse" back when it was finished. I doubt there's a public outhouse being built anywhere in America with such a low price tag today.

It's really a beautiful Art Nouveau style building, made mostly of marble.

The upper deck gives you a great view of the Columbian river, and there is also a basement with a gift shop and small dining spot.

 We continued on to beautiful Multnomah Falls.

 

A large boulder recently fell and damaged the bridge (that covered thing), so we couldn't walk up the trail and get much closer

 

The upper falls are 242" and these lower falls are 69". Stunning!

 

Ashley's endless energy never faltered, although Brinlee's did from time to time.

 

 

No worries. Brinlee was soon jumping on the bed again (Shh! Don't tell Mom!)

trying to climb into the portable crib McKay set up to keep her from mauling Nora,

pretending to be Nora,

reading bedtime stories to Nora,

demonstrating her mad basketball skills,

and just making me wish I didn't have to go home.

 

Nora may be tiny now,

but I know how quickly

tiny infants turn into little girls.

Thanks for all the fun and time with the grandkids, Pearsons! Can't wait to see you all again!