Fun weekend in Portland

This last weekend was a nice weekend for Michael and myself. On Friday the 10th, Arianna had a vacation day from school, so we left early afternoon and took the kids to Michael's parents house to stay for the weekend while Michael and I went to Portland. We had a very nice time. We stayed downtown, parked the car and walked the whole weekend. The weather was nice and it was just an enjoyable weekend. We walked all over downtown and the pearl district on friday night. Then on Saturday we slept in, walked around town, did some shopping, watched a movie and then had dinner for Ken and Kar-yee. It was so funny because Kar-yee was due with there baby on the 10th, so she was overdue and so Michael kept calling to see if she was in labor or if they would make it to dinner. We went to Veritable Quandary it was yummy. Then Kar-yee had told us about this chocolate place called Cacao. they only serve chocolate and they have real hot chocolate (like in Europe) where they melt the chocolate bar and keep it liquid by stirring with a paddle all the time. We were soo excited to go there, but when we got there they were closed because there had been a death in the family. We were going to try and go on Sunday but they opened too late and we had to leave earlier in the morning. So after we found out it was closed we walked down to Voodoo doughnuts. We have always heard lots about it. They were okay, but not the best doughnut I have ever had. I like Top Pot Doughnuts here in Seattle better.

Ethan has learned a sentence now. On the way to Michael's parents house he said Papa where are you. He loves his papa. Then while we were gone it was dada where are you. In the past he has also said a sort of sentence of Kitty go? Implying where did kitty go.

He has also had a lots of firsts in physical abilities. A few weeks ago he did a perfect sommersault on his own, he can jump (with both feet coming off the ground), he is singing songs - doesn't have perfect words, but he knows the rhythm and uses his own words to fill in.

Ethan started his first swimming lessons yesterday. They had a mommy/daddy and me class at teh same time as Arianna's class so it worked out perfect. I don't know if we will do more than one class or not. We will see. Ethan is very comfortable in the water. He is fine if we put him underwater. He wants to jump in, he kicks his feet when we float him on his front and back. The one thing he doesn't like is blowing bubbles.

Arianna is doing well in swimming. She moved to the school age classes and since she is advanced she is the youngest in the class. There are kids ranging in age from 6-12. She has always been used to being the best in her class and now the older kids can go faster than her so it was a little of a shock, but hopefully it will push her to do even better. She is still in soccer. She is also learning to ride her bike without training wheels. Since we live on a hill she has been a little slower than other kids, but we are working on it. We have to drive to specific park because it is like the only one that isn't hilly. She is still enjoying school. She is doing so well reading. She can read her reading books pretty much all on her own. Their phonics program has really made sense to her and she likes it. She is also enjoying the variety of her classes. She enjoys gym and she loves going to the library to check out books. she is also doing well singing songs from music class.

We are waiting for information on girls scouts to come so we can find a troop for her.

We are planning on going to the pumpkin patch this weekend. That should be fun. Michael is going to be heading out of town soon for work. He has to go to LA for a conference from the 26th-30th. The kids will be missing him. Michael has also started car pooling 2 days a week. We will see how that goes.

Well, i need to run.