We had the team picture taken and the games have started.
Lucas is having so much fun this year. With a year of baseball under his belt, he’s excited to be playing again.
And on picture day, our team got to go around the bases and “give fives” to the big kids.
And with new friends and old friends watching, from the side line and from the field, we are all excited to get started.
When we went last February for a hike to Eagle Creek, we knew we had to take our friends there to see it. It’s not a long hike, it’s close to Portland, and it is so beautiful.
We go there every fall, to see the salmon run, and to me it means the beginning of fall.
Last winter we didn’t see many people. Some hikers here and there, but this time, it was packed!
t must have been the hot day that everyone wanted to get out of the city.
A 2-mile hike to Punchbowl Falls, under the canopy of tall trees, and in parts, you are as high as the top of some of them.
Not far into our hike, we stopped to see the river, while we were still low.
And if you are by a river, you have to throw rocks, right?
And get your feet wet…
Back in the trail, we saw this garter snake. Actually we saw two of them that day.
And yes, they make sure you don’t hold them!
Once at the fall, we had a nice lunch under these beautiful trees, in wonderful company.
And then we stopped again by this nice pool in the river, to cool off.
But we were not as brave as Ros was. It was freezing water! Well actually, just a little over freezing because it was liquid, but you know what I mean.
A fun hike that day that ended where you should any hot day.
Where the small ice cream is larger than I’ve ever seen!
How many shoes/boots do you see in this picture above?
We walked all the way to Punchbowl Falls. Yup! The same one that we saw that kid go down the falls in his kayak. And yesterday when we were going for a tour to the Leatherman factory, we saw a photo in the Outside magazine from last December. Incredible!
And if you do a google search… you find lots of great photos and links! and of course my videos are there too. We had a fun Sunday on a beautiful summer-like day.
We’ve had our friends from overseas for just over a week, and we’ve had many late nights, many stories remembered, new stories as well and lots of laughter. We’ve had many meals, beers, wine, tea and coffee. We’ve gone for bike rides, walks, hikes, runs, car drives, bus and light rail rides. We’ve had breakfast, lunch and dinners together. We’ve played inside, watched shows, and played out of doors more than anything. We’ve seen bald eagles, ospreys, blue herons and raccoons. We’ve had fires and sat in the shade to stay cool. Some of us have gone swimming in the swimming pool and some of us (Ros) has gone swimming in an almost freezing creek. We’ve taken pictures and videos and done paintings and written in the blog.
There’s just so much to be remembered from now and from our time together in India, and so much to enjoy and celebrate now that we see each other once again. This time, in the comfort of our home.
Like this airplane competition.
And games inside.
Learning together.
Oh yes.. the sunshine has been present every day since they’ve arrived, with days so warm that seems that summer has arrived. A special treat in May.
And of course, tetherball games. Many of them.
The other day we also went downtown in the bus.
Walked to the Central Library.
It is such a beautiful building.
We’ve been showing them Portland and the areas close by, because really, Portland is such a beautiful city, and Oregon has so much beauty everywhere you look. In my opinion.
Here we are at Council Crest Park in SW Portland, with what I think is the best view of Portland and it’s surroundings. You can see in the background Mt. St. Helens and in the back (can’t really see in the photo) we saw Mt Reinier, and then on the right of the photo, you can see Mt. Adams. Further to the right, we were able to see Mt. Hood too and because the trees are big, we didn’t see the other mountains that I’m sure we could have seen further to the south.
It’s funny to think, that the last time we took a similar picture like this one, we were all in India, more than a year ago. Now… we are making new memories in a new place. Fun to celebrate.
We have some friends visiting from out of town (overseas actually) so we cleaned up our art studio and made it into a guest space.
With the bathroom all filled with wool, and other craft supplies, we moved things around and opened the bathroom to be used as such, instead of (ahem) storage space.
A new bathroom rag was made with all recycled fabrics and an old towel I had in my stash.
And when Glendie was here last month we went to Fabric Depot here in Portland and Siena found some cute fabrics she wanted me to make her another foot or floor rag for her to use when she’s getting dress after swimming (and you know, the floor is all wet and doesn’t look very clean…)
Cute combination I thought.
I love making these. They are so easy, fast and I love making these little mixes of fabric. Siena is also trying to convince Lucas that he needs to start using them. He’s not sure he needs one. He doesn’t care much about the floor being wet when he’s getting dress. Which is fine too, I guess.
OK, I must confess I thought it was “willie”, because probably a “little William” was the first kid who did this trick… When I did the search online for spelling it correctly, I realized I had it wrong… funny I guess, and now it makes more sense.
Our friend Butch, came to teach Lucas his first wheelie lesson (since it’s not a proper noun now should I capitalize Wheelie?)
We see Butch sometimes going on one wheel the whole block to the corner… Lucas (and I must say, all of us) watch him in amazement and excited to see such a cool trick.
So Lucas is excited to learn.
His bike got set properly and his first lesson was on its way.
And I know there’s lots of practice to come.
We are all watching and learning excited. Some of us are practicing more than others, but we are all outside watching. Thanks Butch!
We’ve been busy lately. With sports, play dates, practices, learning and spring… you know how spring some times makes you feel that your days are full. At least it does to me. Full of fun and many things.
Glendie found more of this panda fabric (that I found few months ago to make Siena some pj’s) and now she has a comforter cover. She loves it!
Have little reminders here and there of our days in India.
I made this little bag from the Boppy cover I used to nurse Siena and Lucas. A little faded, but mostly special, I cut a corner and made a curved-shaped bag for those little curved-things I might come up. Just a little special little bag to have and carry around.
A while back, I made this yarn from old t-shirts I had. I knitted it into a rag, I wanted for the kitchen, but it didn’t turn out. The t-shirts were of different thickness, so the yarn turned out to be of different thickness too. And because I was traveling (when we went to Vancouver, BC) I couldn’t make more yarn of the same weight. So I went with it and knitted it anyways.
It started to curled as I was knitting. It wasn’t even. So I crocheted a band around it, but I had to change yarn again too. It just didn’t work out. I liked it better when they were wound as a ball. But I think I’ll try it again paying attention of the weight of the fabric in the t-shirts. It might be a fun thing to knit for the summer evenings.
All the playing.
The days are full and beautiful. Spring is here! At least today.
We have very special guests. Our friends, Mac and Ros from England that we met when we were living in India. I know. Strangers in a strangers land.
They are so special to us. We met them within the first 5 minutes of stepping off the bus that picked us up at the train station, as we are standing in front of our home we were going to spend the next 5 months. Ros was walking home from school and introduced herself. They lived just a few houses down from us, and they had arrived, two days before we did. They spent the same time than we did, and we became good friends, sharing the ups and downs of our days in a foreign country.
This time, we are together here, at our home. What a fun way to gather once again. We have missed seeing them and never thought we would see them again, this soon.
While in India, we saw them every day, and really, most of the day too. There was one time, when we went camping up in the foothills of the himalayas for 6 days, it was the most days we didn’t see each other. And even those other times that we traveled for 2-3 days, we called each other. We liked seeing them every day. We got used to that. It was fun.
We usually ate lunch together, at The Mess. We went to the swimming pool every day. We walked to school together and walked back home, usually. Lucas learned few things about playing cricket with Mac, and he “taught” him to play baseball. They played catch. They made drawings, and read stories together. We traveled together. We saw the Taj Mahal for the first time, together. And many new places, together.
We were sometimes scared and disappointed together, sometimes frustrated together. And when we were not, we shared our fears and leaned on each other and looked for support. We enjoyed and grew a special friendship.
Now, we have great memories together and many funny stories to retell that remind us of our days together in India.
We told stories from the past and got to know each other. We shared stories of our lives before kids, in lands far away from where we were sitting back then. We told stories from those days, from the place we met and we were standing at the moment. We learned about each other’s families and friends. We met each other’s friends, in this foreign and colorful land we were calling home for few months.
We promised to see each other soon. And though we can’t really afford right now to visit them in their home in England, they came to us. And we have looked forward to their visit and stay with us, for over a year. We have talked many times, where we’d like to take them. Where we should go to share and for them to see, our home. Today, they are finally here and to say we are excited, doesn’t describe us a bit.
Last week we celebrated Mac’s birthday, and we were so happy we could have him here and celebrate together.
I made him a felted sweater blanket, for those cold days at home, so they can think of us and their visit to Portland, in the distance.
And maybe it will remind them of our friendship born in India, in Gwalior, in hot, hot weather, when it never even crossed our minds to use a wool blanket like this one.
Also, while in India, we were lucky to have been able to celebrate Ros’s birthday too. I knitted her wool hand warmers, when the days were so hot the yarn wouldn’t slide through my fingers. But I knew they would return home in England, to cold days, and maybe she could even use them in her way home from the airport, when arriving. And she did.
More than a year has passed since we’ve been back to our homes, and into our routines and daily lives. Our friendship has grown and has changed with time. We have changed with time, and especially since been to India. When we decided to go to India we thought of many reasons to do it. But most importantly, we kept thinking we wanted to make and have stories, and wanting to meet new people. Make new friends.
And we certainly did. Both. We are very lucky.
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