News From Tualatin
News from Tualatin
Heighdy-ho "News from Tualatin" junkies! I just know you've been aching for an update of our whirlwind lives here in the green Northwest.
Working backwards, this last weekend was a milestone in our grandson, young Benjamin's life, and ours, too. Not to mention his Mom's and Dad's. Saturady night was Ben's first sleepover away from home - at Mum/Pum's. No mother or father on site! Whew! Big emotional trauma! For everyone but Ben.
We have a second bedroom with an adult-sized twin bed. We installed a bed rail, and
Ben immediately took to it. He has become very comfortable staying with Mum and Pum when his folks go out for an afternoon or evening outing, but usually at his own house. We kind of snuck up on the big event by having him stay with us here for lunch and a nap while his Mom went shopping or our for lunch with a friend.
But Sat. night, Ben happily stayed with us, playing, having dinner, playing, reading, playing, watching a little "Wiggles" on teevee, playing, reading two bedtime stories, then going to sleep in his "big boy" bed (he sleeps in a crib at home.)
No muss, no fuss. Ben is a delight ... the greatest two-year-old I've ever met (except for his Mom when she was that age, of course.) He has developed a great sense of humor, and is rapidly developing a large and varied vocabulary. We have accumulated a pretty good store of toys here (for Ben ... I've always had plenty, but I'm not as good at sharing), and we had all of them out Saturday night.
Ben is very rational. He wasn't really ready to go to bed, but when we explained that it was time, and that he could watch one more Wiggles' song, then he would have to go to his "big-boy" bed, he said okay, and was good as his word.
Sunday came early. To say we usually don't get up at 5:30 anymore might be an understatement. But the toy dispersal crew was up and running at that time, after an uneventful night. We had a great breakfast, and although Ben asked where mama and dada were, he was very accepting that they would be here a little later - and sure enough, they were!
The mad whirl finally caught up with Ben after we all went to the park then out for lunch; he crashed during the main course at the Claim Jumper. So the Kunzes bundled up in their own car and went back to Portland after a successful overnighter at Mum/Pum's house!
We are about to head back to Colorado for a couple of months. Next weekend, Aaron's Mom and Dad are coming for a week-long visit, and we will overlap their stay by a couple of days. We will be able to lend them our car, so they won't have to rent one. It will be fun to have a "big family" evening while we're still here. We anticipate celebrating Ben's and Aaron's birthdays at a dinner next weekend, even though they don't actually come until later in September. Mine, too, is not far behind in October (60!!!)
We had a great visit this time. We saw "vintage" car races, a big airshow, a great concours de'elegance, the Blues Festival down on the banks of the Willamette, that weird but very cool exposed-muscle-and-bone thingy (Body Worlds) at OMSI, and we just concluded a trip down to Ashland Oregon for the Shakespeare Festival, and on to Fremont California for visit with my sister Maureen.
That was a trip in more ways than one. The Shakespeare Festival is a really big deal in Ashland, with a complex of theaters and a great schedule of plays all summer (actually all year, but the "season" is summertime.) We saw Romeo and Juliet. (spoiler warning!) Did you know they both die in the end?! What kind of romance is that?
We stayed in a very cute bed-and-breakfast for our anniversary (38th), and had a great anniversary dinner at a nice Tuscan-Italian restaurant there.
Ashland is just about on the other edge of Oregon from Portland/Tualatin - it's on the south edge, right next to California, whereas Portland borders Washington on the north, just across the beautiful Columbia River. Originally, we were going to meet Maureen in Ashland and see some Shakespeare together, but as that didn't work out, we went on down to her house in Fremont for a visit, Ashland being about halfway there, anyway.
In the meantime, Maureen had a terrible spill going down an escalator on the BART. She was returning from her own jaunt to Colorado Springs, and like the good, environmentally-aware urban grannie that she is, was riding the light rail home from the airport. She was exiting the train station, with her carry-on wheelie on the step lower than her on the excalator, when it just STOPPED at the bottom, and she tumbled over it, coming down hard on her knee. (Maureen's new rule: luggage follows, not leads on excalators!)
So when we saw her, she was esconced in her recliner in a full-length, bright pink leg cast from hip to toe (toenails to match, natch), with her trusty companion "Shamrock", her new Cavalier-King Charles puppy, a kind of frenetic, warm, wet, and slobbery doggie-kissing machine.
Oddly, this condition makes for a really great hostess situation. We were able to laze around, talking and generally doing nothing for a couple of days with no guilt, 'cause, after all, what else could SHE do? That Sunday, her terrific daughters came over with most of their kids and dogs, and we had a great patio barbecue picnic. Unfortunately, Molly and her family couldn't come.
We came home Monday, leaving early before the mad rush hours traffic on the east side of the Bay. Twelve hours later, we were back in Tualatin doing grocery shopping.
Well, that's all (whew!) for now! Love you guys!
Mum 'n' Pum
posted by Mique @ 10:05 AM
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