Christmas in Dairyville

We went to the Alpenrose Christmas in Dairyville with my mom.  It was cold and raining so we didn’t stay long and spent most of our time in Storybook Lane.  Henry’s favorites were the lambs and chickens.  He kept shoving his head between the fencing to get a better look at the lambs and later broke away from us to run back to see the chickens and tried to open the door to their cage.  

Madsen Tree Farm

Brody’s family tradition for getting a Christmas tree is to drive out to Madsen Tree Farm just outside Eugene.  This year, while we were in Eugene for the weekend we decided to help Sue and Jim pick out their tree.  Henry liked the trees and especially enjoyed watching as the tree was shaken and bound.

So far he hasn’t been into the tree at our house or the one at Grandma and Grandpas, which is a little surprising.  He will touch a few of the lower branches and pull a little on the lights and maybe try grabbing at a few ornaments but not with the determination and persistence that he has for the remote, phones or anything in the kitchen cabinets. 

The highlight from the weekend was the new train set at Grandma and Grandpas that has a remote control, which Henry loves to operate.  He is a little hesitant to play with the train while it is moving and wants to hold one of our hands when he crosses the tracks.  

Holiday Fair (LOMC)

Since moving home I have been trying to figure out what activities are offered in the area for Henry and I to do.  The Lake Oswego Mom’s Club sponsored a Holiday Fair for the community so we thought we would check it out with my friend Beth and her daughter Annie.  They had vendors selling holiday gifts, snacks, cupcake decorating as well as pictures with Santa.   Henry got his picture with Santa but I think the Santa at Macy’s downtown was better.   

My favorite part of the fair was the huge containers of fake snow that the kids were playing in with buckets and shovels like sand boxes.   It was supper soft and feels cold when you touch it.   It was the coolest stuff I have every seen.  Its called SnoWonder.   

Thanksgiving

Henry spent his first Thanksgiving back in Portland with family. It has been three years since the last time we had Thanksgiving with family and it was a wonderful day. We have only been back in our house for a week, but wanted to host so we didn't have to leave the house and so Henry could nap in this own room.  While Henry did not love the turkey, he certainly enjoyed the company. His favorite food of the day had to be the pumpkin pie with whip cream.

We have a lot to be thankful for this year!

Halloween

We didn’t go Trick-or-Treating this year because Henry is too small but the City of LO had a Harvest Festivle that started at 3:30 and included games, crafts and some candy from local businesses.  We went with my friend Amber and her 2 kids Jacoby and Nia.  Henry loved watching all the kids dressed up and while we didn’t participate in any games or crafts we watched intently.  We can’t wait until next year.  

Brody's new job

Here is Brody on his first day of work at NW Natural Gas.   After over 11 years at PwC, Brody decided to take the leap from public accounting to the corporate side.  Since we had only been back from London for a few days I had to take Brody to work and this was the only picture he would let me take.

He is so excited about his new job and looking forward to a new challenge. 

These are a few of my favorite things

Over the past couple of weeks I have been taking a few pictures of some of the things we have enjoyed in our neighborhood.

Our local coffee shop.

Bishops park which is a couple of blocks from our flat.
Henry loves the swings and watching all the older kids play.  We walk to the park at least once a day.

Our local butcher.  They are always so helpful and offer inspiration when I'm looking for something different for dinner.

yummy Italian delicatessen - we love their fresh pasta, chicken parmesan and tiramisu.

Visitors

Our friends Britt and Ian visited us this weekend.  It was great to see some familiar faces and it gave us a reason to visit some of the tourist sites that are still on our list.  We went to the Imperial War Museum, climbed to the top of St Paul’s Cathedral and made the walk from Kensington Palace to Buckingham Palace (which we have done before but it always fun).   We also had wonderful food at our favorite Indian restaurant, Dishroom, and traditional American breakfast at The Breakfast Club.  It was a great weekend!

Imperial War Museum - Those are some big guns.

 

@ The Breakfast Club

This is a new statue in front of Kensington Palace
as a tribute to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. 

Love that Hank and I have the same expression on our faces.

St Pauls Cathedral 

View of London from the top of St Paul's.  It was 300+ steps to the top.

Cricket at The Oval

Brody at the cricket! After almost 2 years in the UK, Brody finally made it out to see a cricket match. It was a day/night match, England vs. South Africa. The match lasted 8 hours and England won. While cricket will not win awards for the most exciting sport, it was a beautiful day in the sun watching sport while indulging in a beer or two or three. The match was at the Oval, one of England's top cricket venues and known as the rowdy location when compared to the other main cricket venue, Lords. 

Turkey/Greece - Part III

Rhodes, Greece

The 2 ½ hour hydrofoil boat ride was rough. It was hot, rough water and longer than expected. So when we reached Rhoads, we were all very excited. We stayed in the old town, which is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe and a World Heritage site.  On our first night all 4 of us shared red snapper, his name was Georgio, and enjoyed the wonderful food which was a nice change from Oludeniz.

The next day we did a self-guided walking tour and meandered around the city streets. On our walk we saw the following sites:

• Street of the Knights
• Grand Masters Palace (but didn’t pay for entry)
• Acropolis of Rhodes

Dinner at Nireas. Yummy red snapper and saganaki.

Street of the Knights

Brad and Audra, our companions on the trip.

This is the lady that made our rug... not really but we'd like to think so.  It takes an average of 3 months to make these rugs by hand.  

Harbor at night.

Day trip to Lindos.

We decided to rent a car for the day. Lucky for us we found the last car not yet rented on the island. Unfortunately with baby seat in the back of this two door convertible Audi, it was a tight fit. We used the car to drive to Lindos. We also took time to swim in the ocean and eat lunch before heading out on a drive across the Island to wine country. Our route required us to drive on a “secondary” road (later determined to be a ‘rough road”) which made for a scary and entertaining drive across the island. Once there, we ate a quick dinner and found a place to purchase special honey where bees feed off of oregano.

*Random splurge of the trip was buying a large silk rug we found on our last day as we were walking around killing time before our flight. 

Cramed in the back of the only rental car available.  I love that Henry is just hanging out having a bottle. 

Town of Lindos with the Acropolis at the top.

Lindos taxi. Used for transportation up and down the hill to the Acropolis of Lindos.

Henry hitching a ride on the Lindos taxi.

Acropolis of Lindos

Sand in my toes.

Turkey/Greece - Part II

Oludeniz, Turkey

Oludeniz is a beach town, which became popular by the British in the 1970s.  Most of the posters advertizing travel in Turkey show the popular beach and blue lagoon. 

We were disappointed overall with Oludeniz for several reasons.

•  We found out the day before we flew in that the hotel we reserved and paid for did not accept babies.  We quickly had to book another hotel and negotiate a refund from the original hotel, which was not easy.
• The town lacked any character. We were looking for a little Turkish beach town and what we got felt like a party town in Mexico with bars/restaurants serving frozen margaritas, nachos and pizza.  Not what we expected at all. 

Our hotel was about 1 km up the hill from the town but had two fantastic pools and great views of the ocean. The hotel rooms were pretty dated but the amazing hotel grounds and the family that ran the hotel made our stay pleasant. They loved Henry and referred to him as ‘best Henry’ and ‘my best Henry’ which we have been calling him lately.

We spent out 2 days here swimming in the pool and at the beach/blue lagoon. The most popular activity is paragliding but we weren’t feeling like risk takers. 

We are excited to leave for Greece… back to the EU and safe drinking water.  It’s not easy to wash baby bottles with bottled water… or bath Henry with bottled water. 

** Henry’s first time in the ocean was here, in the Aegean Sea.  I still can’t believe his first experience was in Turkey!

View of Oludeniz from our hotel.

This has to be the oldest highchair I have ever seen.  We just had to laugh about it. Which is how we dealt with most things on this trip.

Love this picture.  I wish I knew what he was thinking. Probably something like...why did you bring me here.

Swimming and splashing.

Wrinkly toes.

Hank's first time in the ocean.  

Here's my traditional Turkish margarita. haha