portland visit

Pete was able to take some time off of work this week so went went to Portland Thursday & Friday to see Nana Jo and Aunt Annie. While we were there we went to the Japanese Garden and the Portland Children's Museum. They were both amazing places to see. The Japanese Garden is the most authentic & beautiful garden outside of Japan, according to a Japanese emperor. I cannot wait to go back and see how it changes throughout the year. They also have lots of events that teach you about this type of gardening, papermaking [!], tea ceremonies, etc. We got a membership. I took tons of pictures that I will put into a slideshow for you.

Up a very steep hill from the Japanese Garden [which is up the hill from the Portland Rose Garden - also famous] is the Portland Children's Museum [and the Oregon Zoo]. It was so much fun. There were lots of things to climb on and slide down of course. But there were also a bunch of rooms with different activities: a room with a bunch of water running through gears and pipes into big tubs - they had plastic smocks for the kids to put on, a clay room where they could make something out of clay and let it air dry, a story room with a tree house, face painting, a "dig" room that was filled with cedar chips and shovels and conveyer belts, a theatre room with a stage and curtains and costumes and seating for the parents to sit and watch. This place has a preschool and a kindergarten. It would be awesome to work there and to take Zoe there. She cried when we left. Me too.

Anyway. It was a lot of fun.