Labor Day Weekend 2012

We spent our Labor Day weekend showing Grandma Karen a little bit about what makes Oregon such a great place to live. Claire got to spend much-needed quality time with her grandma, including many early morning snuggle sessions, while Kevin and I got a relive our past a bit by sleeping in a little later than normal. 8:30? I'll take it!

While Kevin was working, the three of us ladies spent our Saturday afternoon perusing the Lake Oswego Farmer's Market. What treasures we found there! Organic fruits and vegetables of all kind. Killer homemade Pineapple Salsa. We even topped it off by enjoying some frozen yogurt in the Oregon sunshine. The greater part of the evening was spent chopping, steaming, and pureeing Claire a plethora of fresh, healthy baby food. Can we say spoiled? :) We topped the night off with a wonderful dinner, complete with a creep-ville waiter, at Oswego Grill.

We spent our beautiful Sunday at the Swan Island Dahlia Festival in Canby. Just like every year before, it was a sight to see! Rows and rows of all varieties of dahlias. Would have been a perfect photo op for the little miss but, in her typical manner, she slept right through it. Maybe next year. Of course, we didn't get away without trying some de-lish food cart treats and walking away with two gigantic bunches of fresh cut dahlias. As if the day wasn't good enough, Karen treated Kevin and I to a little date night. I had purchased tickets to the Tyrone Wells concert at the Albert Rose Theatre in NE Portland. Originally, Karen was going to be my date but she insisted Kevin take his wife out for a night on the town. Thank you very much! She said she'd hold down the fort with little Claire Bear and we were off. We had fabulous thai food out on the patio, enjoyed every second of the show and even stopped at Salt-n-Straw afterwards for the world's best gourmet ice cream. It was a great night.

Monday started out with a couple of errands then quickly turned into a brunch and park excursion with Grandma K, the husband and Claire. The park wasn't quite what we envisioned, as our motive for going was to put Claire in a baby swing for the first time, but the park didn't have any baby swings. So, Kevin and I took turns holding her on the big kid swing. She sure loved it, grinning from ear to ear, followed by some crawling around in the grass, trying to eat leaves and a little bit of slide action. She sure is the center of everything that is good. My cousin babysat Clairey Berry for a few hours that evening so we could take Karen out for a night on the town. We sat on the outdoor rooftop patio of Departure on the 15th floor of The Nines Hotel in downtown Portland under a beautiful Oregon blue sky, sipping fancy cocktails, talking about the future, and eating some of the best food I've ever had. Boy, Departure did not disappoint. I already can't wait to go back! Great atmosphere, great conversation, great company.

Tuesday came way too quickly, as usual. Kevin was already off at work by the time we dropped Grandma K off at the airport. Goodbyes are always so hard, but it was better knowing we had already planned our next get together and that one day (hopefully soon!) Grandma Karen will be a fellow Oregonian. Buy a strong umbrella, Grandma K!