The kids and I attended the Tigard Balloon Festival on Saturday night. This took place within walking distance from our house at Cooks Park. We got there in time to see all but one balloon inflate. Ethan loves regular balloons so I knew this would be a hit and for $7 it was cheap entertainment. There was food, games, rides, music and balloons. Hopefully we can go as a family next year, Marcus was missed.
Hannah is my bipolar baby. She is either very happy and content, smiling and cooing or she's pissed & it's usually for a good reason (hungry or needs a diaper change) but not always. She loves to be held, looked in the eye, talked to & our combined body heat usually has her hanging out in just a covered diaper. She's chunky and adorable, but I hope to get her becoming not so needy. I may regret it once she becomes more independent, but I want her to be passable and content in a swing or bouncy seat for at least a half hour so I can do things like shower without her if I choose or cook dinner. She handles about 20 minutes at a time but like things to be switched up. She has lots of personality, she's very alert and likes things just so. She is why I hope to only have one girl cause they are more work in my opinion and I would love for her to have her daddy all to her self. He gets her to go to sleep so easily. When I hold her all she wants to do is eat. She's a little piglet. Dad's in trouble, that's all I have to say. And I know she will be playing us against each other for many years to come. Not sure daddy will be able to stand a united front with me against those baby blues, if she keeps them. She already has him wrapped around her little finger.
We discovered this park while riding the zoo train the other day. I wasn't prepared to get off the train and go see it at the time but we drove to it afterwards. It's a beautiful park & Ethan loved it. We will have to go again. Next time we might take a lunch. I will also have to take Hannah in the front pack cause it's hard to keep an eye on Ethan with the car seat or stroller. There are so many kids there on a nice day. There are other places I would like to check out in Washington Square Park as well. There is a childrens museum, the rose garden, a japanese garden, and walking trails. I will post those adventures sometime soo. Maybe when our company comes in July. We are expecting Marcus' folks and Marcus' sister Heidi & her husband Tomas. Dan, Misha & family are also suposed to visit sometime this summer and my folks visit sometime in September.
We decided that we would get a zoo pass so that Ethan & I could go to the zoo regularly. We got the zoo4two membership that admits Ethan & I plus 1 guest, Marcus, Kim, my mom or someone else. We have gone twice since, once with Marcus & once by ourselves. We hope to go with Auntie Kim sometime soon :-)
We left our old BBQ behind when we moved. It had lived a good long life but it's days were numbered so we gave it to one of the movers. A wheel was broken & Marcus didn't take very good care of it. So since we've been here he's been bbqing on our little smokey bbq. It's meant for tailgating or camping not for us to use at home and I think it's just pitiful watching my husband who is a chef bbq on this tiny thing on our front porch. So...I took care of that tonight. I bought a preassembled Weber Performer from Fred Meyer and it's waiting along with a cover & new tools on our back patio. Think he'll like it? Hope so!
We are only 12 miles away from a Picture People in the Clackamus Town Center Shopping Center. I got a really great coupon in my email from them for 2 picture packages (1 8x10, 2 5x7 and a sheet of wallets each) for $18 or 1 for $9, so we went yesterday to get some pictures of Hannah while she is little for Father's Day. I also got Marcus a frame so he could have a picture of Hannah at his desk at work. He already has one of Ethan there. I tried to get Ethan to sit still for a picture as well but he wasn't in the mood. There were so many good ones, but these are my favorites! Comment and leave your email if you would like me to forward you the email offer!
Yesterday we were invited to Sherwood Presbyterian Church by the Sesnon's, Karen & Bob. I grew up attending Bidwell Memorial Presbyterian Church in Chico, CA and I have tried several other Presbyterian churches in the cities we've moved to and never found one I enjoyed as much. A lot of Presbyterian churches have a large majority of elderly congregants and aren't contemporary enough for me to enjoy. I don't mind blended services with a few hymns, some are beautiful & fun to sing, but with a traditional service, I have found, comes a traditional message and I have to enjoy the sermon. Sherwood's service was very enjoyable and reminded me of a Vineyard service I tried in college. The church is still young and doesn't have many attendees but there are perks with that. We'd get a chance to know people better and there are a lot of people with small children. Many people came up & introduced them selves and the Sesnon's introduced us to some of their friends as well. The message was given by one of the support staff cause their senior pastor & family are on sabbatical/vacation. I took a look at his blog and up until recently it looked like they were having a wonderful time traveling through CA visiting Yosemite, the Disney Parks & Sea World, but on the way to Legoland they got news that a close relative had died and that has of course put a few things on hold for them. I look forward to his return so we can get a better feel for a normal service, but what we experienced we enjoyed. We may do a little more "church shopping" while he is gone and check out a couple of their "father churches", Lake Oswego Presbyterian and Sunset Presbyterian. We may also try some Baptist churches. The last three churches we have attended have been Baptist affiliated. So please pray that we find a church family soon so we can get connected and make some friends. Ethan would love a playdate!
We have wanted to do something with Ethan's room since he grew out of his crib but hesitated to commit to a character cause children so quickly grow out of liking things. But Ethan really loves the Toy Story movies and with a new one coming out we thought we'd make him super happy and theme his room that way. He particularly loves Buzz Lightyear.
I mentioned in my previous blog that Kim, my best friend from college lives here, but I forgot to mention the Carlsson's and Sesnon's. Karen Sesnon, formerly Carlsson, lives here with her family. I know her and her family from BMPC, my home church in Chico. She was one of my Sunday school teachers and I babysat her kids. Now her kids are all grown up, she is remarried and she lives in Tigard. Her youngest, Haley, still lives at home but will be leaving for college in the Fall and her second youngest daughter Chelsea, is currently living with her & her husband Bob too. She is the new manager at Teavana in Clackamus but she is interviewing people at the WA Square location, so I got to see her when we all met for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Marcus, my mom & I met up with Karen & Haley for lunch back when we were still looking for a place to live. Chelsea joined us too. Karen gave us all kind of advice about the area while we were looking, had us over for dinner and has kinda taken our family under her wing. I look forward to getting to know her better now that I am an adult. I also look forward to having Haley, who I babysat, babysit for me for Kim's wedding in July. We plan to try their church, Sherwood Presbyterian, on Sunday. I will blog about that Monday maybe.
We may have not gotten the house with the neighborhood park, but there are plenty of parks to choose from we just have to find them. We found Cook's Park which is just down Durham from us by Tigard H.S. It's great but can be VERY busy. It has a lot of sports fields and every weekend they are full and so are the parking lots so weekdays are best there. Weekends we have gone to the near by elementary school playground but it's not very well shaded so an overcast day is best for there. Metzger Park, I found a few days ago on Hall going toward Washington Square Mall and it's small but cute. It's close enough that on a hot weekend day we may have to check it out cause it's very well shaded. Kim told me about a couple with water features that she will have to show us sometime as well. Having her here is nice. This is the first time we have moved to a place with a friend already there. Marcus & Erik even get along so that is awesome. We are in a slightly different place in life than they are but they are a lot of fun! They get married in July. Soon we won't be so different. They are still in college, we have been done for 4 years now. They don't have kids but want them so we should be a good source of advice to them in the future. I am so excited to meet their future beautiful babies!