PDX Happenings

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again, we have an amazing daycare and are so lucky that Hadley gets to spend her days there.  They do an annual “lantern walk” at Halloween time and we were able to attend this year.  We didn’t go last year because Hadley was so young, but this year, she really dug it.

The event took part in Fernhill Park in Northeast Portland.  We arrived at 5:30 and enjoyed the hot apple cider and treats they had laid out for us.  We oohed and aahed at the lovely lanterns the older children have spent the last week making at school decorating reused jars of various sizes.  Hadley’s class is a little too young yet to be making the crafts, but there were plenty of lanterns to go around.

After some visiting they lit all the lanterns and each child got to choose one to carry on the path.  The path was lit by sand filled bags with tea lights in them.  As the sun set in the park, it was just beautiful.  Hadley’s music teacher was there and helped her pick out the perfect lantern for her journey through the park.

We walked the path with lanterns in hand and Hadley got to trick or treat along the way.  She collected a glow stick, 2 stickers, a whistle, a tattoo, an apple, a small sheep figure and a pine cone.  She loved walking by herself like a big girl through the woods and even though she wouldn’t say “trick or treat”, she said thank you to everyone who gave her treats.

It was truly a lovely evening and John and I are so grateful to be a part of such a wonderful community of parents.  Of course I took of pictures, you can look at them here.

This post should have been written days ago, but this house has been a hotbed of sick to say the least.  It all started with John, Hadley and I all coming down with the flu 2 weeks ago.  We survived, barely.  Between the three of us, we barely held it together, but hopefully that means we are now immune to whatever was ailing us.  I was better but then somehow caught a cold last week and tonight I am finally feeling the best I’ve felt in 2 weeks.  Hadley also had a second bout and got sent home earlier in the week after vomiting at daycare.  But she is also on the mend, and seems to be healthy as well.

In between the waves of illness we  were all healthy enough to venture out of the house and make it to the Portland Nursery’s Apple Festival.  It started at 10:00 on Saturday morning so we figured we would leave the house early enough to get there when they opened to avoid the crowd.  Clearly, there were a lot of other Portlanders that had the same idea.  Although the morning was a gorgeous fall day, there was rain in the forecast.

We made it through the gate shortly after 10:0o and each of us were handed a bag of freshly popped popcorn to snack on while we perused a couple different booths that were set up with various vendors, tastings and demonstrations.

I don’t think Hadley had ever had popcorn before, but she loved it.  We took a break sitting on the Adirondack chairs they had out by their beautiful fall displays and snacked.  I was excited to go to the apple tasting tent so I was planning my move over there.  The word was that they had 60 different varieties of NW grown apples and pears to taste.  They also had many varieties on hand for sale for just .89/pound.

Right next to the chairs we were sitting on they had an old wooden cider press and samples of freshly pressed apple cider.  We lined up and got a cup to quench our thirst after the delicious popcorn.  Hadley really had no interest in the old

Ahhhh refreshing!

cider pressing machine itself but was adamantly requesting another sample of the delicious nectar that was produced.

After we enjoyed our cider we made it over to the apple tent where we found giant wooden crates filled with apples to pick out and bring home.  Unfortunately the Honeycrisp bin (my very favorite apple) was looking a little low and picked over, so we settled for 1o pounds of Braeburns, which is my second favorite apple variety.

We couldn’t avoid the music that was coming from the tent just beyond the bins of apples, so we wandered over in time to watch a couple of songs by a fun local band.  Hadley enjoyed bopping to the music and watching the other little kids dance.  Just then, we heard thunder and looked to the west to see dark skies.  It’s not very often that you hear thunder in our part of Oregon, since lightening isn’t a common occurrence.  In fact, they count the lightening strikes when it is present and report it on the evening news.  We decided to try to make our way to the apple tasting tent before it started raining.

Apple tasting is one of my favorite memories I have as a kid.  My dad, my twin sister and I used to make it out at least once during the fall to an apple farm by heading west out of the Minneapolis area on highway 169.  We would make a day of it, tasting apples, buying and tasting strudels, ciders, butters, and any other apple related treats you can think of.  It is something I hope to carry on with Hadley and hopefully she will have the same warm and fuzzy nostalgic feeling when she thinks of apple tasting and her childhood.

By the time we made it to the end of the line at the tasting tent it had started sprinkling and we knew it was only going to get worse.  From the looks of the line, we wouldn’t be tasting apples any time soon so we made it over to the adjacent kids tent in a hurry.  There were a number of activities for Hadley to take part in.  She could color a picture, get her face painted or paint a pumpkin.  However, the only thing she wanted to do was run around in the rain.  She kept pointing out of the tent and saying “rain!!”.  It was just then that John realized he had left the sunroof open in the car.  By that time it was pouring and John had to run the 4 blocks to the car to close it.

soaking wet, but at the car!

We decided that since the rain wasn’t looking like it was going to be making it’s way out of the vicinity any time soon and we had about 15 pounds of apples in our arms, it would be a good time to make our way home and get some of those apples in the crockpot for that evenings dessert.

We made a run for the car as fast as we could in the rain.  Hadley loved it and just laughed and laughed.  It certainly lightened the mood and made it all part of the adventure.  After we got in the car and sighed in relief that we were out of the rain, we headed home and Hadley enjoyed the perfect red anjou pear that she had picked out as we made our way home.

There are a few more pictures of the day that you can check out here.

Happy Apple Tasting!

me:  “I live in Oregon, and it is often rainy here in the winter.  I’ve noticed that my service gets interrupted with the slightest bit of rain or wind.  Is this normal or do I need to have a technician come look at it?”

Customer Cervice Guru:  “That’s normal.  If I lived where you do, I would suggest a dish cover.”

me:  “Ok, what’s that?”

CSG:  “A cover for the dish.”

me:  “Ummmm, yeah, I kind of figured.  Is that something I can purchase from you or do I buy it from another retailer?”

CSG:  “You can buy it ‘on the line’ or at Best Buy.”

me:  “Yeah, ok.  Thank you, I can take it from here….”

L to R: Jeff and Ana, Heather, John and Hadley, John, Walter

After being sick for nearly 5 days, we made it out of the house to take part in Portland’s 2009 AIDS walk.  Our team (Team Yrazabal) raised over $600 for the charity and we walked a 5k (3.1 miles) around Portland’s beautiful waterfront esplanade.  It was a chilly morning with temperatures topping out in the mid-50’s but it was dry, and we were grateful for that.  Ana and Hadley were very compliant and enjoyed watching all the people and dogs go by.

John took some great pictures of the crowd, I heard an estimate of around 10,000, with our lovely city as the backdrop and as promised, here they are.

Thank you to those of you who donated to a wonderful charity!!

First you have to mash the overripe bananas

Then, you want to mix the dry ingredients in a bowl

Lightly beat a couple of eggs and add them to the bowl one at a time

After mom mixes in the dry ingredients and the banana, you may lick the beaters!

Pour into a greased bread pan and smooth it out

Wait, wait, wait, and wait some more

You can even do some chores while you wait to make the time pass more quickly…

And there you have it, BANANA BREAD!

Banana Bread

• 1/2 cup room temperature butter
• 1c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2c. flour
• 1t. baking soda
• 1 1/4 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 3 overripe bananas, smashed
• 1 c. nuts or chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar thoroughly.  Add eggs one at a time and beat well.  Sift flour, baking powder, soda and salt together.  Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with bananas.  Fold in nuts or chocolate chips if using.  Pour into greased bread pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes.  Cool thoroughly before serving.

We have finally gotten a break from the heat here in Portland and today was forcasted to be a lovely 68 degrees.  It was very timely that we got a gift in the mail from Auntie Shanna.  She knit Hadley a beautiful sweater that she will be able to wear through the winter and quite possibly next year too.

When Hadley got up from her nap we tried on the sweater and I think it was just a little too soon for Hadley to adjust.  She wasn’t too happy about the photo shoot, but I have to show the pictures anyway.  The sweater is beautiful, thank you Auntie Shanna!!!!

P.S.  Auntie Shanna, this is in NO way a reflection of how Hadley feels about your knitting!