Portland Day 1

I was really nervous to fly with Jane.  It was only a two hour flight, but I spent hours researching "how to take a baby on a plane" on the web.  I think it might be easier with a smaller baby who can't walk yet and will just sit in one place, but Jane seems to be in full toddler mode, walking and moving every moment.  I wasn't sure how she'd react to being stuffed into such a small space for two hours.

She also does NOT sleep in random places like some other toddlers you may see out there.  Jane will only fall asleep in her crib if the room is totally dark and silent, or in the car seat when the car is on the freeway.  Not in our arms or in the stroller... not on a plane, not on a train.  Not in a tree or by the sea.  She will not sleep just anywhere, she will not sleep at all, I swear!  So I knew I would need to keep her entertained for the whole flight.

Turns out everything went fine.  I made special toys that she had never seen before so she found those interesting, and was pretty happy to sit on Mom or Dad's lap most of the time.  She did slip down the floor occasionally to see what was in the diaper bag, but there's wasn't much room for maneuvering:

The most useful thing we brought was probably the ipod, which I had loaded up beforehand with baby einstein movies and her favorite: Tangled.  Jane LOVES Tangled and will sit quietly forever and watch it and giggle at that crazy horse.  I think Jane only cried for about five minutes on the whole flight, which isn't bad for two hours.  

I was also very impressed by the stunning view of Mount Hood as we passed it by.  Luckily we were sitting on the left side of the plane!

Our flight was in the morning, so we got to our hotel around midday and got settled in while Jane took a short nap.  We also went to a grocery store and got stocked up on some food for the week.  After an early dinner we headed out to Multnomah falls, which is a short drive out of Portland, an even shorter hike, and a lovely view.

This was what I watched as we went back down the trail.
Lots of stripes!

The biggest thing we noticed about Portland right away was how green everything is.  Beautiful!  Because of the spray from the falls, this area was even greener if that's possible.  Lush and mossy.

That was all we had time for our first day.  Jane did great even after the flight and seemed totally excited to be in a new place and seeing new things.  I think she's a traveler at heart!

Playing catch-up Part 2: the Tulip Festival

Michael and I took Jane to the local Tulip Festival a few weeks ago.

On our way there we saw big, dark rain clouds in the sky and I kept saying, "We'll get there before it rains," and "I'm sure it will be over quickly," and "We can make it, we can make it."

By the time we got there the rain was in full swing but we decided to go in anyway.  The plus side to that was that we practically had the whole place to ourselves.

After awhile the sun came out even though it was still a little bit rainy.

Jane just went with it.

After the first 20 minutes or so, the rain left and the sky cleared up - you couldn't see a cloud!  It was like it never happened.

Beautiful!

All in all a good day!

Playing catch-up Part 1: the Zoo

I realized that before I can post about the last couple of weeks, I have a few things to catch up on.

In April Jane and I went to the zoo with my sister and her kids.  It was a very nice day - a little cold, but sunny.  I had never been to the zoo here in Utah and obviously Jane's only animal experiences so far have mostly been watching her mom get too close to a llama.

So get ready for lots of pictures.

Jane was a doll

3/4 of my sister's cute kids

Jane looking at an elephant

Said elephant

Jane absolutely adores her aunt Jacque and
insisted on being held by her for most of the day.
Mommy had no problem with that (heheh).

Jane didn't want to ride by herself but she was
more than happy to sit on mommy's lap

Cute cousin Ella

Cute cousin Alex

When I saw the ostrich I knew we had to ride it.

I didn't even have to push the stroller up
this big hill!  Nephews are the best!

One of these things is not like the other...

And help going DOWN the hill...

Jacque said, "Hey, Bre, you should go get
reeeeeeeal close to that llama!"
Ha ha.

Awesome tigers

Jane thought they were cool, too.

Hey, we just rode one of you!

Giraffe

Jane watching said giraffe

No idea what these things were called,
but Jane sure liked them.

Enough to lick the glass.

Jane, quit it!

Jane we have to move on, now.  Jane?

Sup?

"Take a picture, it'll last.... oh."
He seemed to say.

What can I say, I like the aviary.

Jane was happy as a clam with Aunt Jacque.

Self portrait.

Beautiful Ella.

We went for a little train ride.
Jane was getting pretty tired by that point.

But her cousins were still going strong!

I think I have forgotten most of the anecdotal events of the day, which you may or may not take to be a good thing.  But all in all it was pretty fun. =)

Last clue

We're stateside - although i would rather be at some of the exotic locales you've mentioned. :)
You can see the downtown buildings behind me in this photo and the notable skyline behind it. Where could we be? We're coming home in a day or so, and I'll do a proper blog post then.