Tram and Streetcar

Cooper and I took an adventure on the OHSU Tram today and the Portland Streetcar.  We had a great time, Cooper loved the sights on the Tram.  When we got to the hill we walked around and explored the different sky bridges.  We also found some cool tunnels to explore.  I used to work at OHSU years ago and I knew some of the cool tunnels and areas to explore.  We had a great time.

Cooper was even more excited to take the Portland Streetcar, he loves watching that train.  We took it from Riverplace to Central Library, stopped for some books and reading time and then back to our car.  He had a blast, was able to see and say thanks to the conductor too.

Sunshine

We took a great walk with Erin, Teo and Ciaran yesterday. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, it was a great day.  We saw lots of birds nests, birdies and ducks.  Cooper loves exploring so he was checking out the nests and watching the ducks and investigating where the water comes from that goes into the creek.  I think he was pretty cold because he didn't ride his bike as much as he usually does.

Happy Chinese New Year

It is the year of the rabbit, my year. I read somewhere not to expect a warm, furry, sweet rabbit. We will see.
Here is a picture of the lanterns Cooper and I made for the new year.




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Newport Pictures

I posted a couple pics on the Newport post and here are some more.

Silver Falls

I took the kids to Silver Falls a few weeks ago and wasn't prepared for how cold it was.  It was pretty icy on the way out there and it was snowy and freezing once we got there.  We stopped at the North Falls because the kids were tired of being in the car.  The trails said no dogs, but we brought Riley and only walked for about a half hour.  The kids had a great time eating snow, running and throwing rocks in the falls.

Pictures

Cooper's first day of school pictures.

We went to Yo Cream after his class and he ate some chocolate ice cream and made silly faces.  He had a great day at school.  He had an accident so he was in some cute girl capri pants when I picked him up.  I forgot to talk to him about telling the teacher when he had to go potty, oops.  The teacher said he did great, snuggled her a few times, did a ton of finger painting and played with the pink and blue flubber. 

Newport

We took an impromptu trip to the beach this weekend. I think the rainy weather started affecting me and when I woke up Saturday, before yoga, I asked Sharon if the beach sounded like fun. We had enough hotel points to stay for free so we upgraded the room to a jaccuzzi suite. We had a standing date with Grandma Lindsay to see the Beaverton Model Trains at the Lake Oswego Library Saturday afternoon. Cooper loved the trains, he didn't want to leave. He didn't even want ice cream. He was allowed to run one of the trains and really liked watching them go around. There were three tracks and many different types of trains: freight trains, steam engines, etc. We headed to the coast around 3:30pm. We stayed in Newport, the weather was awesome. Saturday night was clear, stars were out, it wasn't cold. We ate at Local Ocean Seafood and had an excellent dinner, fish tacos and a crab po'boy sandwich. Sunday we went to the beach first where Riley ran like a crazy dog, Cooper got soaking wet playing in the sand and tide pools. The sun was shining and it felt like spring. We then hit the Hatfield Reasearch Center where an octopus lives. It is a free center, they ask for donations, located down the street from the aquarium. It was perfect, Cooper touched the sea stars and anenomes and also saw other fish and exhibits. He loved the octopus. We walked along the boardwalk and Cooper rode his bike for awhile. Sunday afternoon we came back to the hotel and we all took a nap. We had a low key dinner at The Chowder Bowl, not nearly as great as Local Ocean. It was a great getaway, we used the jaccuzzi both nights, there was also a fireplace in our room. It was a great weekend.

First Day of Preschool

We signed Cooper up for a preschool adventures class at our local community center. This afternoon was his first day and I am typing this after I dropped him off. The teacher is super nice, I liked her right away. When I left they were running in the gym and jumping on the trampoline. The class is two hours, one or two days a week. We are starting with one day to see if he likes it.
He has been excited about it all day. He was convinced he was taking the yellow school bus there, so I had to tell him that he will take the bus when he is in kindergarten. He asked to bring his backpack and we filled it with a couple things.
We attend Montavilla Community Center for indoor playpark and tumbling class and when we pulled up Cooper said, "This is not my preschool. It doesn't have a school thing." I think he was talking about a playground. We are planning on the Mt Tabor Co-Op this fall and he knows where that school is so I think he was thinking we were going there. I told him that we are going to this school for now. He was cool woth that. I hope he had a fun time!


















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What's in a date?

Our anniversary came and went yesterday. We both really didn't remember the exact date. When we think back to our dating days we both remeber the time of year and the day of the week and details of our first date.
The cool thing is we went to yoga together in the morning, while our friend Janet watched Cooper. We had a great evening with our friend Erin and her two boys. Sharon made us an awesome shrimp and cod dinner.
This is our seventh year, we have a great life and partnership and we look forward to watching Cooper grow.



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Great toy

Thanks to Nona, Cooper got a cool toolset for Christmas. It has three screwdrivers with two different bits. Two are battery operated one is manual and he can screw different pieces into the board and unscrew them too. It also comes with a wrench. He loves it and so does Larkin.






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Christmas

Christmas this year was terrific.  Our dear friend Rosey came down from Anacortes on Christmas Eve and stayed until Monday night.  We made our traditional homemade pizza for Christmas Eve with Holly, Angie, Janet and Rosey and then did Christmas Dinner at Janet's house with Cissy, Susan, Sue, Benita, and Rosey.
I am glad Christmas went well because I got the stomach flu the day after Christmas and it lasted five days.  Sharon, Cooper and Rosey did not get it and allowed me to rest while they played with Cooper.  Sharon did get bronchitis around New Year's Eve.  It seems the holidays aren't much without some kind of illness. 

Cooper got a farm from Santa and took his time opening all of his gifts.  Aunt Rosey spoiled all of us with gifts.  We spent the entire morning opening presents because Cooper would open one and then ask to either put it together or read the story.  He was very deliberate and patient in the opening.  He also received about a gift a day when more family came to town on Dec 29.

Here are some pictures from Christmas.