No doubt about it – the best part of our stay in the Portland area was being with our beautiful grandbabies. We spent lots of time with Paisley and Griffin and loved every cuddle, smile and gooey face. They are both happy and sweet little folk – easy to be with and now hard to be away from.
Paisley was two in December and she enthusiastically talks and sings and dances. She is rarely still. Griffin, who will be one in June, smiles and plays happily on the floor. He started to crawl just a few days after we left. Both of them are easy to entertain and never gave us any problems.
One day we took them to the Portland Zoo. We had a wonderful day – both of them smiled the whole day – not a whimper or cry out of them. Doug and I had much more fun watching them then watching the animals. We walked and walked through the whole zoo, exhausting us all, but left smiling after a perfect day.
We went to a few parks and took them to a Library Story Time. Our outings were fun but the best memories are just playing on the floor with them or sitting at the kitchen table for meals.
Jake works a lot so our time with him was limited but we love being with him. Julie works part time, juggling the two little ones at the same time, so we had lots of opportunities to be with her. We helped set up one of her church activities – Game Night – where we had lots of fun. We went out for meals with this sweet family a few times. Our favorite place to eat is Burgerville – this time we remembered to purchase a few jars of their special sauce to take on the road with us.
We had a long but lovely night of cuddling and not much sleep when we stayed overnight with the little ones and Jake and Julie had a long awaited night away. Little Griffin (Finny) is still nursing and neither of them have been away from Julie (except the one night Griffin was born). But Paisley was completely cooperative. We brought the air beds into their rooms so Paisley loved the idea of Nana having a sleepover in her room. She put her head down in her crib, let me rub her back for a few minutes, smiled and went to sleep. Finny settled down on Grandpa’s Magic Shoulder and slept for a few hours. We knew that wouldn’t last long and Grandpa snuggled with him on the couch for a while. I got up and kept them company. Finny slept on and off on our shoulders. Morning eventually came – sure, we were tired – but that special night of sweetness is a tender memory for us. And that darling little guy may not have slept through the night but he didn’t fuss or cry – just smiled at us.
As an added bonus, we had some time with two other adorable little ones. We saw Trekker, our nephew and niece’s 2 ½ year old and we met his new little brother Odyssey. They are adorable! We had a quick dinner (at Burgerville, of course) with their parents Josh and Jenn, which was a good time to catch up on each other’s lives.
We had a few days with Doug’s dad Creighton – helping him with his TV/computer/phone set up and eating a few meals together. Bev and Barry took us to Oregon Gardens one day where we wandered through some beautiful landscapes and then ate a great Thai lunch in Silverton. We are looking forward to camping with them when they get their new trailer.
We got to Orenco Church one Sunday morning – seeing our niece Rachel, her husband Brian and their amazing children – Grace, Beckah and Sam.
We spent our last night with Bev, Barry and Dad at Dad’s favorite seafood restaurant, McGrath’s. It was a great dinner and a special time together.
The three weeks flew by – it’s never enough time when you’re with your loved ones, but it was a wonderful visit.
Next Blog: Our first few weeks at Ice Harbor Lock and Dam.