My parents have been visiting this week, and our planned getaway to Bellingham (we have family friends there) fell through. We had so much fun in Portland a few weekends ago, that we've decided to drive back down for the weekend and spend a few more days. My parents will be able to leave for their roadtrip back to California from there.
We leave tonight after dinner. We'll get the kids nice and sleepy, do their regular bedtime routine and then get them in the car and tell them it's sleep time. That should work, right?!
We booked a last minute room through Priceline and ended up at Hotel Monaco (we stayed there years ago when it was the 5th Avenue hotel, so I'm excited to see the renovation). Wanting to avoid the two twin beds fiasco we had in Vancouver, my husband called this afternoon to secure a room with two queen beds & was told they were all out. They were willing to upgrade us to a suite with a king bed for an additional $20/night though, not bad!
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Posted on August 10, 2007 |
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We were all up at relatively the same time this morning. The best word to describe E’s mood is bubbly. He keeps repeating “you woke up in a hotel room” and seems absolutely delighted. Since our suite has a dining table, we thought it would be extra fun to order room service (something we rarely do) Of course, being a toddler, my son rejected the pancakes (more for me ;) and made his breakfast almost entirely out of leftover olive bread from Granville Island.
We headed over to Stanly park directly where… more bad luck… the children’s train and farm are closed due to a strike. Luckily there was a cool playground do distract E from our unfulfilled promises & the Aquarium was open. The Aquarium was super crowded & I wish that we had purchased tickets online before coming so that we could skip the line. Once in, we focused our energies on the outdoor dolphin pools, the big dive tank at the entry, and some of the animals that are not found in our local aquarium.
With the heavy rain that we’re getting & both kids exhausted, we decided to head to lunch and then pile everyone in the car to head home. Lunch was as Vij’s Rangoli. We’ve eaten in Vij’s repeatedly and it is one of my alltime favorite meals. However, it’s a little too fancy for the kids & not open for lunch. Rangoli is a casual restaurant with plates small enough that we can get a variety of tastes & in good weather there is outdoor seating, which always works great with the kids. We loved our meal & I picked up some interesting spices and cardamom chocolates to take home. Then we got in the car & told everyone it would be a long drive and it was a good time naptime and drove home. My son complained a little bit about wanting to sleep in a hotel room again, but he must have been really exhausted, because the next time I looked back he was asleep.
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Posted on July 21, 2007 |
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Today seems to be a “no nap” day for my son, so I took him and Darya out to check out the Vancouver Public Library. We often use public librarys as a stopping point when we’re travelling, because they’re quiet and give the kids a little break from the day. I had read that the library had a play area for toddlers, so it seemed like a great choice in the rain. Unfortunately, this library was a bit out of the mainstream downtown area and pretty run down. The toddler area consisted of a lot of scruffy stuffed animals (not much play for a 2 yr old and a baby) a mirror (which the baby loved) and some big blocks. We had a nice time for a little while, but it hardly justified the long walk.
On the way back, it started to rain & little d started to complain that she was hungry. I took D out of her sling & decided to swing into a Starbucks to get a little snack for everyone and a quick break from the rain. Getting through swinging doors with a stroller & while carrying a baby is always a challenge, so I was grateful when a man came over and opened the door for me. I said “thank you” and gave him a big smile… his response “no problem, just don’t have any more kids, eh” WOW!!!! I wish I could say that I had some sort of witty response ala “it seems like your mom had one too many” but I was so shocked that I just stared at him and went inside. I’ve had a lot of crazy things happen to me while travelling, but that’s possibly one of the rudest and most invasive!
Dinner was at the excellent Phnom Penh restaurant. My son had a tough time with the crowds, but he loved the mango drink we ordered for him. We are absolutely in love with their fried chicken wings & I feel like this restaurant needs to be in my regular rotation in Vancouver.
Back to the hotel for bedtime. We had some of the special brand of goofy, silly dancing and fun that seems to only happen just before bedtime when we’re travelling together. Luckily bedtime went better than nap and both kids were asleep pretty quickly. Today was a fairly crazy day, but I’m so glad we’re here. I’ve had some fantastic food (which is what I love about Vancouver) and while we didn’t exactly hit a lot of cultural spots the kids got to experience some new things that they would not have at home.
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Posted on July 20, 2007 |
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Little D woke up early today and could not be more excited. Not only did she get to sleep with mom all night, but we’re in a new place that needs to be explored. I didn’t want her to wake up husband & son (the last thing I need is two grumpy men all day) so I put her in her backpack and we headed out to the supermarket next door.
Strangely, checking out supermarkets is one of my favorite things to do when we travel, especially in other countries. There’s something I love about seeing what people eat everyday (as opposed to in restaurants). In Canada, the packaged food choices aren’t much different than at home (though there tend to be more international options) but there are fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses and spices that aren’t legal to import to the US or from countries that we don’t trade nicely with (e.g. iran). In our pre-child days, we used to make picnics almost entirely out of products not allowed in to the US. Mangosteen is my personal favorite & I’m always trying to wrangle a trip to Vancouver in June or July so that I can eat some of these sweet delicacies. At home, I’m a gourmet chocolate bar kind of girl, but when we’re travelling, I love to try the different varieties of supermarket chocolate & see how they compare.
After a light breakfast in the hotel room, we headed to Granville Island. Granville island was once a derelict industrial park and has been transformed in recent years into an artist’s colony, public market, and entertainment destination. I love the market, with it’s excellent food (both raw ingredients & prepared) and enjoy visiting the different artist’s studios where you can often see how the artist creates his or her artwork. It’s fun to explore with the kids, and they enjoy seeing the workshops as much or more than us.
This trip marked the first time that my son was old enough for the Kids Market (a shopping area designed especially for kids). We spent a short time exploring the toy shops (nice, but we have so many good, independent toy stores close to home that we didn’t see much that was new) but what he really loved was the Adventure Zone, an indoor play area for kids, cleverly oriented vertically to take up less space and let the kids climb. My son is 2, so most of the play area was too intimidating for him (also, my husband had to go in with him, while older kids parents stay outside) but what sold it for him was the big room full of balls. I’m pretty sure he thinks that’s what heaven looks like ;) He talked about it for the rest of the day. The only disappointment was that there wasn’t a good area for little D to crawl around. We ended up hanging out on the stairs & so that she could practice climbing.
We also visited the excellent model train museum. While none of us is a train aficionado, my son was beside himself with joy watching the model trains running around the lovingly detailed track. While I thought the admission was a little steep for such a small museum, his joy and enthusiasm quickly made it worthwhile.
Granville island also has waterpipes, a water spray facility, and a special water play area designed for toddlers. It was too wet and cold this trip, for us to check it out, but I’ll look forward to next time.
Now we’re back to the hotel for a nap (the baby is having one. My son, so far, is not.) I’d somehow forgotten how exciting the hotel room itself is for him. There are so many new spaces, buttons, etc to explore and mom & dad always in close proximity.
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Posted on July 20, 2007 |
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We’re here. It’s so late (after midnight) that the only room left in the hotel had two twin beds & barely enough room for our suitcases, let alone a crib! My husband is on one with E & I will sleep in the other with little D. Not the safest or most comfortable arrangement, but we’ll make it work. Tomorrow night they will move us to a suite to make up for tonight. Both kids woke up soon after we arrived & so there was a little excitement about being in a new room, but everyone settled down to sleep pretty quickly.
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Posted on July 20, 2007 |
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Dinner was excellent (if a little crazy as always) but our packing fiasco continues to wreak havoc on the plan. Midway through dinner I realized that we’d left the passports at home & so we’re back to pick them up (along with a couple of other forgotten items) Sigh. Luckily the baby fell asleep on the way back home so we’re one down, one to go.
We change my toddler into PJs outside the restaurant. He thought it was absolutely hilarious & I can’t think of when he’s been more cooperative about pajamas J We also stopped in a Mc Donalds drive through to pick up milk for him (something he’s never done before) so as far as he’s concerned, the adventure has already begun.
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Posted on July 19, 2007 |
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We’ve violated one of our cardinal rules of travelling with the kids, and it’s not going well. For some reason, maybe because this is a last minute trip, or maybe because we’re not going far from home, we waited until the last minute to pack. The kids stuff got packed last night, but we’re running around trying to get our things together, print driving directions, etc while managing the kids close to bedtime. Not smart.
We’ve decided to stop at a Korean restaurant we like about 30 minutes north of home. We barely ever get there because of the distance, but tonight it will help break up the drive and let us leave home a little earlier. Perfect!
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Posted on July 19, 2007 |
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We’re headed up to Vancouver for the weekend. This is a sort of last minute trip for us, the nanny is off anyway & we thought it would be fun to get out of town as a family. It’s been way too long since we’ve had a family trip with just the four of us.
Hotels are fairly booked up and a couple of my favorites are full. We ended up using Priceline to book a room and it looks like we’ll be at the Sutton Place, which is a good, centrally located hotel. The drive is several hours (plus traffic at the border) so we’lll leave at bedtime tomorrow night. We’ll spend two nights and come back at naptime or bedtime on Saturday.
Tonight I’ll tell my toddler, E, that we’re going & help him pack his things in a small bag he calls his “suitcase”.
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Posted on July 18, 2007 |
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Stuff I wish we had time for in Portland
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Zoo (the second Tuesday of every month is 2 dollar Tuesday) http://www.oregonzoo.org/
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Forest Discovery Center http://www.worldforestry.org/
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Playground at Washington Park Rose Garden
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Japanese Garden (in washington park)
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Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (science playground upstairs) http://www.omsi.edu/
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Multnomah County Library Central Branch (801 SW 10th Ave) http://www.portlandlibrary.com/
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Farmers Market in the Pearl District (Thurs Night)
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Mother’s bar and bistro 409 SW 2nd Ave, Portland
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P.B. and Ellie’s http://www.pbecafe.com/ kids café @ 4405 SW Vermont
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Finnegan’s toy store 922 SW Yamhill http://www.finneganstoys.com/
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Posted on June 23, 2007 |
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Our last day in Portland!
My son wanted to ride in the stroller & check out the town & I wanted to shop. What a great combination! We stopped in at the Excellent Pearl Bakery (102 NW 9th St @ couch) to pick up some breakfast. Pearl is known as the best local bread bakery, but they also feature excellent sandwiches (including PB&J) and pastries)
We checked out the huge Hanna Andersson store (and their excellent 50% off sale) which has a great play area for kids (both a train and a gated area for small children). Next up was Henny Penny, a sweet little shop stocking European kids clothing with an adorable toddler play area (complete with kitchen and garage) and even snacks! Finally, we found ourselves at Posh Baby (long a favorite of mine online)
We discovered the excellent Jamison Square Park (10th and Johnson) wading pool & decided to return after nap when the weather would be warmer, but by now everyone was hungry and it was time for lunch.
We headed to Whole Foods Market (1210 NW Couch St) & choose something for everyone from the fabulous buffet and some fresh fruit and juice from the market. My son was delighted with their pizza, I got some fresh organic fruit and baby food for my daughter and there were plenty of high chairs and tables. Perfect. We even bought a snack for later.
During nap, I was able to visit the Portland Art Museum (which often has wonderful travelling exhibitions as well as a nice permanent collection)
The wading pool is fed by a large “waterfall” suitable for climbing on by even early walkers & is continuously emptied and filled. It was hugely fun & the best toddler wading area that I have ever seen. Posh Baby (along the edge of the square) sells swim diapers at a reasonable price. Also on the edge of the square is a great coffee shop (Featuring Stumptown coffee) with a children’s play area!
Back to Whole Foods for dinner and some snacks for the car. We got both of the kids into PJs in the Whole Foods bathroom before heading to the car & out of town.
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Posted on June 22, 2007 |
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