Miss Stephanie and Myles's Grand Adventure: Take 2

I appreciate the children in my life. Since I don't have kids, I sort of "adopt" the children of my friends. I am lucky enough to spend time weekly with Stasia and Dave and their kids Myles and Josie. Before Christmas I had taken a day off from work and "kidnapped/borrowed" Myles to go on a Grand Adventure. We had such a great time that I decided I'd like to do this twice a year...a winter outing and a summer outing. I realized I was running out of time for our summer edition of a Grand Adventure and Myles was going to be started pre-school, which would further limit the times I could kidnap him. So, we scheduled it. For our winter Grand Adventure edition I had a plan and we did it. For our summer edition I came up with three options and let him pick what he'd like to do. Mini-golfing was the winner and the adventure commenced.

In my email box that morning was this:

How true. Eh?!

When I picked Myles up we got all squared away and went to my workplace. Many folks had heard about him, so it was time for them to meet him. He played on Euphemia's iPad and loved it. Got the hang of it SO quickly, too.

 Myles met lots of people, young and old. He was very shy at first, but we discovered that when someone asked him a question he could answer it, even though he was shy, if he whispered the answer and as conversation continued I encouraged him to use his normal voice. Worked spectacularly. I forget how shy he can be, since he isn't at all when I am at their home. After meeting lots of people he decided he wanted to Bingo with my old folks...and he won.

 Myles with my co-worker, Kelli.

 Myles loved the fish and fish tank at my old work place and I hadn't realized there was a fish tank/fish at my new site, but Myles spotted it right away. Then I felt bad since I walk by it daily and hadn't paid that much attention...I'm blaming it on the fact that I wasn't responsible for feeding the fish...

This was the prize Myles picked out when he won Bingo! So, we had a cat and an elephant accompany us on our Grand Adventure.

 After leaving work we headed for Oaks Park for some mini-golfing. On the drive to work, Myles had picked this of the three options, but was worried that he might not be able to play since he hadn't brought his "golfing sticks." To-stinkin'-adorable. I assured him that we could borrow golfing sticks and he was fine with that.

This is grape snack time before going in to golf.

 Someone was excited to see the Ferris Wheel.

At the entry to Oaks Park were a couple of the warping mirrors. Myles LOVED them...I even got a short video of him dancing while watching his reflection.

 Cheese!

And, we are on the 18 hole course...how long can a 3 year old last there?! Actually, he did pretty well. He didn't really loose interest until about hole 17...though it was a 3 year old version of mini-golf, which was too funny.

Myles did a great job of putting and "tee-ing off," but his favorite part of mini-golfing was to pick up the golf ball after the first hit towards the hole and then moving it to about 3 inches from the hole and hitting it in, or just putting it in the hole himself. Things move faster that way...maybe. :)

 Sometimes there was sitting on the course going on.

 Look how big he looks...when did that happen?!

He was red, I was blue.

Evaluating the shot....

Helping Miss Stephy to get her ball "unstucked" from the tree. Thank you for your kindness, Myles.

This was hole 16 or 17...we are loosing interest now, maybe sitting to do the putting will help?!...

 And, it did!

After mini-golfing, Myles really wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel. After a stop at the arcade, of course.

When I asked Myles if he'd been on a Ferris Wheel he assured me he had, with Old Guy (paternal g-pa) in fact. He was very convincing I must say. And, even though I hadn't heard the story of the Ferris Wheel ride with Old Guy, and I hear about most of those kinds of events, I figured maybe he had indeed been on a Ferris Wheel. We went and stood in line for tickets and then went and stood in line for the ride. Myles was so, so patient, but so, so badly wanted to get on that Ferris Wheel to ride. 

 We eventually got on and this kid was in heaven. He didn't stop smiling, asking questions, pointing things out. I had been worried about how he'd handle the height and that is the primary reason I'd asked him if he'd been on a Ferris Wheel before. I found myself being WAY more nervous than he was. He was excited. I was thinking, heck I've jumped out of a plane and this makes me nervous. Later, after confirmation from Mom and Dad that indeed, Myles had NEVER been on a Ferris Wheel, Stasia assured me that my nervousness was rooted in my unease at how Myles would react with the height...makes sense to me. But, he did phenomenally well.

 After potty breaks and wondering around looking at all the rides to see how much taller Myles had to be to go on them, we headed for the exit...and had to get one last together picture in the funny mirror. 

 Bye Oaks Park! Thanks for the fun times!

It has become tradition (2 times makes a tradition, right?!) to go to Burgerville for lunch on our Grand Adventures. So, away we went. And remember for later...Myles wanted a balloon. We got a green balloon at the last Grand Adventure. 

Because Myles has had a fascination with picnicking this summer, I'd decided we'd still do Burgerville, but we'd get it to go and go picnic in a park. We had a deadline to be home by 3...we were cutting it close with a late lunch, but hey, what the heck...we were on a Grand Adventure.

At the park...in the sun...before we moved to the shade. And, much to my pleasant surprise, Burgerville now has gluten-free buns...yay for me! But they didn't have balloons...it wasn't mentioned by him or me....remember that for later.

 After eating, Myles wanted a play structure time. We were still on a tight time limit, but we went for a few minutes. He was nervous because it was a different structure than his norm, but once he got going he loved the bridge.

 Eventually, it was time to go home, which was a bummer. I asked Myles (who minded very well the whole day, even when I was taking him away from the fun play structure) if he was tired. He said no and also didn't act tired. There was no fussing, crying, any behaviors indicating tiredness, so I believed him, sort of. I knew how tired I was, though, so I was guessing he really was tired. We got in the car and situated and when we were two blocks from the park he was out cold. So cute...

 We got all the way home and I got out of the car and closed my door and he was still out. 

He had an eye appointment at 3:40, hence the 3 o'clock deadline. I figured I could get him out of his car seat, get to the door to have Dave get the car seat out of my car, into their van and put Myles right in the van. I succeeded in getting him out of the car seat and he was sleeping on my shoulder when I got halfway up the driveway he looked up at me with the sweetest 3 year old sleepy eyes and said, plain as day and so sincerely and a wee bit just-woke-up-whiney, "Miss Stephy, we forgot my ballooon." I was so surprised that that was the first thing he thought and said. I couldn't not laugh. We got inside and shared our Grand Adventure with Mom and Dad and then tired Miss Stephy headed home so they could head to an eye appointment. I worried about how Myles would sleep last night, but Stasia said he went to bed at 7 and slept through the night! Hooray!!

What should our next Grand Adventure (winter edition) be?!

Thanks, Stasia and Dave for letting borrow your son. Your family means so much to me!

People of the Drum

I have never experienced an event like "People of the Drum." It was an amazing event. It was an event in the making by four very apparent drum groups in Portland and it was PHENOMENAL. Portland Taiko is a Japanese drumming group, which I will see whenever I have a chance. They are an amazing group and they are the group that spear-headed having this event that was a culmination of four very different cultural groups all connected by the drum. Here is a short description that I copied from the event Facebook page: "A collaboration with the Obo Addy Legacy Project (Ghanaian Drum and Dance ensemble), Medicine Bear (Native American Drum and Dance Ensemble), Mexica Tiahui (Aztec Drum and Dance Ensemble), Portland Taiko (Asian-American Drum Ensemble)."

First up was the Taiko. Amazing, as always. I swear that the room was vibrating with all the drumming.

There was an audience participation time.

Medicine Bear group was up next and this was a great experience as I had seen some drumming and Native American dancing a few times on one of the reservations at home in Wyoming. Reminded me of those times.

 And, the two dancers with the group were wonderful, as was their dress. All the bead work is amazing.

Up next was Obo Addy Legacy Project. It was wonderful to see these amazing, young individuals so enthralled and into the music of their native culture. Awesome.

 The gentleman at the microphone who is holding the drum is Obo Addy. He is the reason this group exists and was designated as a master drummer in his home country at the age of 6. He has made a big impact on the music culture of Portland and just now when I am writing this blog (Oct 19th--much past the actual event I'm blogging about) I found out that this wonderfully talented man and prominent man in his community died less than a month after this performance after a struggle with liver cancer. Here is a news story about him. After reading of this news this event means that much more to me and I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to see and hear this wise, wise man speak and perform.

The last group was Mexica Tiahui. Once they started performing I realized I had seen them before. They performed at my workplace probably 5 years ago. I have a picture of them (well, some of them) interspersed with my participants. They were and still are wonderful. 

 There was also an audience participation section of this performance, as there also was with the Obo Addy group and Taiko. That was one of the amazing things about this event, people got to experience hands on, rather than just being audience and watching.

 After 3 hours of performances (my rear was very tired/sore from sitting on small plastic folding chairs) they came together as four cohesive groups for a finale. It was wonderful to see and hear the melding of the four cultures from four different corners of the world and see and feel the unity within the room. If only every person could experience events like this I think the world would be a better place.

If ever they have a follow-up "season" as they were doing this performance 3 total time this summer, I will be there. 

Bat N' Rouge

Portland is a quirky place. It loves its Drag Queens and its Drag Queens love Portland. If you remember this POST than you will see how I even knew about this event. When we were at Darcelle's I saw that Bat N' Rouge was coming up. This was to be a fundraising event for Cascade AIDS Project where there were softball teams made up of LGBTQ individuals. There was a superhero team, a Drag Queen team of Marilyn's and two others. It was not your typical softball game/event but was fun to watch, outside of the blasted near 100 degree heat for the day today. I didn't stay long, but hope to watch again next year for their 2nd annual match-up!

I can't imagine running bases in short white dresses with a blonde wig on in that heat...kiddos!

Music in the Park

Another reason I love Portland: it is a city ripe with music, especially in the summer. Portland Parks and Rec sponsor a "Free for All" summer with a ton of free events. There are multitudes of concerts, movies in the park, etc. I love going. For a two week stretch there is a nightly concerts at Washington Park in the amphitheater. It is a great venue and only once have I been disappointed by a group. I only made it to one concert for this two week stretch this year, but it was enjoyable. A group called Water Tower. 

Lovely night out and goal for next year: remember to look at the schedule and make it to more than one Washington Park Concert.

I {heart} PDX

I adore the city I live in. Time for another annual installment of "Flicks on the Bricks!" This time: A League of Their Own- one of my faves!

National Night Out With Some Cuties

I've never done anything for National Night Out, but this year it fell on a Tuesday (who knows...maybe it always does fall on a Tuesday). Tuesday evenings are the times I spend with my friend Stasia and her two adorable kiddos while Dave/Dad is at church meetings. I enjoy this time. In honor of National Night Out the neighborhood association for the neighborhood they live in was having an event at the park, so  we walked across the street to play and check things out.

Check out these cuties!

 Myles and I spent lot o'time on the slide. I can't remember the last time I went down a slide. We had a grand time.

Josie loves the swing! Look at that smile!

What a nice night out!

W.I.P.

Until recently I was not aware of the acronym WIP, nor could I guess what it meant when I first saw it. Then I realized that I am very familiar with the meaning of it...WIP stands for Work In Progress aka projects that have been started and are unfinished. I, unfortunately, have a lot of WIP's. Both in the cross stitch world, crochet world and scrapbook world. The glaring WIP's right now are the crochet ones as that is where my energies have been focused as of late. I decided I'd make a list of them and before I could start a new project I'd have to finish one of the started projects. Too bad I haven't had much time to crochet lately....you know, with all the pattern browsing I've been doing (wink, wink). Okay, not really. Life has just been busy and the weather has been great. Two lethal combinations when it comes to completing indoor oriented projects. When the weather turns you can be sure I'll work on those WIP's if I can restrain myself from starting any new projects....

Happy crafting to you, too!