Sunday, November 27, 2011

Family Shenanigans

We went to Deb's house today to have dinner and say hello since we missed Thanksgiving together.

The visit started off innocently enough. Then Charlie wanted to run outside, and like something out of Chevy Chase movie, ran right through the screen door. The door came completely out of the track and landed on the patio. Poor Charlie was so surprised; it scared him to death. Luckily no one was hurt.

This is Shawn putting the door back into place.



After things settled down again, AJ and Grandpa decided to go look at the ducks and turtles in the pond.





Can you guess what AJ is doing in this picture?




If you guessed, using a duck calling app on his phone to attract the ducks, you would be right. Leave it to AJ to find a way to use his iPhone in absolutely every situation.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Around Portland








The Food

We ate out quite a bit. Although I did not get pictures of everything we ate at some amazing places.

The morning we left, we went to a place called Mother's. It was the cutest restaurant I have ever seen, with tons of country charm. The place is a local favorite and right after we sat down, there was not an empty chair to be found. I did end up buying the cookbook.

At the restaurant attached to the hotel, we had a delicious meal our first night. The dessert I had was a s'more. It was chocolate mousse, on top of a graham cracker crust, with a marshmallow topping. It was delicious, of course.




Our first meal in Portland was at a great place called Higgins. I was determined to order things that I would not normally order. And that explains the reason I got ice cream made from mushrooms. It was delicious. It tasted like maple or brown sugar ice cream.





This was a pizza place that was featured on Rachel Ray's show. It is called Old Town Pizza. I tried to take a picture of the story on the menu, but it didn't come out. The restaurant is built on top of tunnels that were used in the white slave trade 100 years ago. One girl was kidnapped and brought there. She fell into the elevator shaft and apparently has never left. We were told to look out for Nina, as she tends to hang out in the back of the restaurant. We never did see her, though.




This was bar none, the best chocolate croissant I have ever had. Ever. We stopped into a tiny cafe that was no larger than my kitchen. It was so cozy after being out in the cold.

The Hotel

We stayed at the Hotel Monaco. I loved the hotel. It was quirky, friendly and fun. The interior design was very traditional in style, but very untraditional when it came to how it was all but together. Not one piece of furniture, fabric or treatment matched, but it somehow all worked. When you walked into your room, you had the feeling that no one else in hotel had exactly the same decor you did. I don't know if that was true or not, but you never got the sense that someone, in some far away corporate office, was making the design decisions.

The best part of our stay, was every night the hotel hosted a happy hour in the lobby. The mix of people was eclectic and some people even brought their very well behaved dogs. There was a roaring fire, comfortable seating and all the wine, beer and hot toddy's you could drink.




I Love Flying

I love the different perspective you get on the world. I love seeing how the landscape and terrain change in a matter of miles. We started off in desert, (I didn't get any pictures of that.) and ended flying over snowy fields.

Of course I love the clouds. I especially love the fact that I am looking at them from above. It just feels like such a great opportunity.




Saturday, November 12, 2011

A Walk in The Park





A Pirate Ship




Or as I like to call it, "Keeping Charlie busy while I mop."

Friday, November 11, 2011

Not To Name Drop. . .

but I know Optimus Prime.

I am his chauffeur.



This is Charlie at his school. That little pumpkin now sits on my desk.



You may notice that Charlie's costume is a bit sparse. After waiting in line for 20 minutes at the costume store, and trying to keep an eye on Charlie and my sanity, I forgot to check the costume before I left the store. I got it home, only to realize that it was missing the helmet, the breastplate and the sword. Shawn, being the awesome dad that he is, took the costume back to the store. The store's solution was to give us back half our money since half of the costume was missing. Shawn and AJ then went to Toys R Us and found a mask. It actually ended up working out. The mask they bought was a lot better quality than the one that would have come with the costume.

Charlie didn't care. He was too busy practicing his ninja moves and protecting the citizens of our town Halloween night to worry about a missing breastplate. He also became friends with a VERY patient motorcycle cop, who answered endless questions and took his helmet on and off to Charlie's squeals of delight.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Typical

After YEARS of trying to get a picture of a hummingbird, AJ and I were manning the garage sale and one flew into the front bushes. AJ said: "Look a hummingbird!", took my iPhone and snapped this picture. It took all of 10 seconds.