Summer in Portlandia

Ahh, Portland.  It really is such a great city.  And since we wait all winter (and it was a long one this year) for the rain and clouds to leave, summer becomes such a magical time in the city.  Even though I grew up here, I still try to enjoy Portland as if I were a tourist, looking at it with fresh eyes and making the most of the different things it has to offer.  And since my international travel opportunities have dwindled radically since children entered my life, I have to love the one I'm with and make the most of it.  Fortunately, that is a pretty easy thing to do. 

With August here and fall just around the corner, I am feeling the urge to seize the day.  Just within the past week or so, I am actually pretty impressed that we have managed to do quite a few things on my summer wish list.  They make me love this beautiful city even more.  Savor summer!

Grant Park: We have had a few picnic-and-play lunches here lately.  Morgan loves it and they have a cool water feature celebrating Portland author, Beverly Cleary, and her Ramona books.  There is a fountain with statues of Ramona, Henry Huggins, and his dog Ribsy.  Today we stopped by and she had an impromptu play session with several other preschoolers in their undies. 

Taking a ride on Ribsy.

Meeting Henry Huggins.

Daddy teaches his girls about bridge

MAX:  We live only a short walk to a MAX (our light rail) station, which is something Sam loves about our house.  Being the public transport geek that he is, one of the things he wanted to do this summer was take MAX downtown with the girls.  A few weeks ago, we went for a ride and walked along the waterfront and through Saturday Market. 

At Saturday Market

Sasha did great on the 1.5 hour hike

Hiking Forest Park:  One day when Morgan was at school, Sasha got her first ride in the backpack carrier so Sam and I could hike a favorite trail through Forest Park.   It is so amazing to have a beautiful forest with a babbling stream literally right in the city.  The hike was one we used to do back when we were first married, living in NW Portland.  It brought back great memories from my 20s - life seemed a bit simpler then!  




Jamison Square:  A favorite tradition that Morgan has done since she was a baby is play in the fountain at Jamison Square.  While it may be highly chlorinated and filled with diapered tots, it is hard to beat such a well designed and beautiful place to watch your kid experiment with water and squeal with joy. 

Yummy breakfast!

Street Fairs:  "We're going to a street fair!!" Morgan shouts across the street to our neighbor.  They were going as well, so she said we'd see them there.  I don't think she really knew what a street fair was, but she was excited.  We went to the Fremont Fest last weekend, where they close ten blocks off of NE Fremont for a street fair, complete with booths, bouncy houses, and a kid and pet parade.  Morgan enjoyed the parade, which ended with a troupe of belly dancers - definitely her first.  She got to have her first Voodoo Doughnut too - I forget the fancy name, but it was chocolate with chocolate puffs cereal on top.  Very healthy.  And like all parents who take their kids to some kind of fair or carnival, there was drama.  Like when she saw the bouncy house and was dying to go in, but then we saw the crazy long line that we didn't want to stand in.  And to appease her sadness about that, we got a free balloon from a vendor, which lasted about four minutes on her wrist before it sailed away into the sky.  More drama ...and it was time to go home!

Symphony in the Park:  Something I had never done before was listen to the Portland Symphony in the park, so last Saturday (yes, after the street fair - we were on a roll!), we went to beautiful Laurelhurst Park with Kim to picnic under the trees and enjoy some classical music.  The girls did great, and Morgan enjoyed hearing all the different instruments in "Peter and the Wolf."  She came dressed in her frilly Cinderella nightgown (it was the symphony, after all), and loved spending time with her Aunt Kimmy.  When Sasha was getting a little fussy, I pushed her around the small lake listening to the music and seeing the sunlight through the trees.  Laurelhurst Park is our Central Park, our Rigerovy Sady (the park we lived across from in Prague).  So gorgeous!

Kim & Morgan both enjoy the arts...and picnics!

Sasha's first symphony

Farm Tunes:   Every Thursday in August a farm on Sauvie Island hosts a night of music, complete with tractor rides, picnicking, pigs, and berry picking.  This will definitely be one of my most cherished summer memories, not only because it was an exquisite summer evening, but because it was just "Mommy and Morgan time."  I try to plan special things we do together now that Morgan has to share me with Sasha, but I honestly haven't been that good about it.  I would have loved to have gone as a family, but since Sasha goes to bed early, Sam offered to stay behind with her, and I am so glad I got to share this time just with Morgan.  She loved the freedom to run around in the grass, run up and dance with the band, go for a real tractor ride, and stay up past her bedtime. 













I loved the freedom I had to simply observe her joy, let her take the lead, and slow down for a minute and appreciate what a perfect little human she is.  She is changing so fast, and when we seem to spend so much of our day trying to coerce the other one to do what we want, Morgan and I often miss the simple joy of each others company...or at least I do.  It is so easy to take her unconditional love for me for granted.  So, when fall is here and the weather turns, she is back in school and already four years old, in my mind I will replay that happy tractor ride with my little girl on my lap, the scratchy hay underneath us, holding on to her tight as we bumped along with Mt. Hood to the east and the gorgeous summer sun setting in the west.  Pretty. Perfect. Summer.