Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Tuesday was a totally awesome day! The sun was unexpectedly present and accounted for, and our family was all together -- at least in the morning -- though seeing Shishin go later that day was sad for us all.
But let me begin at the beginning...
Good morning!
Ayize, of course, woke me up bright and early, sometime around 5. After about forty-five minutes of tickle torture by him -- that increased exponentially every time I began to drop back down into the welcoming precipice of sweet sleep -- I gave in and finally, reluctantly, got up for the day. So of course, he chose that moment to dramatically throw himself back down amongst the many covers and pretend to sleep, lying there, rigid as a mummy, making horrific and hilarious fake snoring sounds.
Such a clown.
When he finally popped up and admitted to being awake (what a shocker), he had Bedhead of the Century. Am I the only one who instantly envisioned Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka??
We killed another hour or so playing in our room.
Then we headed to the elevator, rode it two floors down, and proceeded to Grandma, Grandpa, and Shishin's room to see what was shaking.
Ayize insisted on walking his pet spider the whole way, something he did during the entire trip. This was actually our first time away when he seemed really sad about being separated from Weeman. He frequently asked me, "Where Manny, Mama?" and never seemed very satisfied with my response, "At the dog hotel, honey!"
Hence, his obsession with his so-called pet -- a cheap plastic yo-yo from a long-ago Ecology Center event with an encased plastic spider -- which he called, "Manny" or "Goggie" (his pet names for Weeman). He would unfurl the string and "walk" his spider everywhere. He even ordered it to potty occasionally, or to "come on", which are favorite commands directed towards poor Weeman when we're at home. And heaven forbid one of us tried to take the "leash"; as the video demonstrates, that elicited quite the response!
Grandma answered our knock at the door; inside the room, a flurry of activity was happening. Uncle Shishin was packing and using the phone making last-minute travel arrangements. Grandma and Grandpa were showering, dressing, and getting ready for whatever the day would bring, knowing time was short before Shishin's departure. They, too, were packing, since they were moving to a smaller room on Akari's and my floor now that Shishin was leaving. I was almost immediately involved in several phone conversations with Akari and the girls in their room, plus with Jo Jo, Bahar, and Naveeda, in an attempt to hastily organize a bye-bye breakfast for Shishin.
Grandpa turned on a cartoon channel to entertain Ayize and he became totally engrossed within seconds. Shishin gave him a roll of buttery cookies to tide him over since breakfast was looking to be a late affair, and he devoured them one by one, eyes glazed over as he processed whatever bizarre show (I think it was about a girl who broke off all her teeth so she could go back to the dentist since he gave her candy at the end of her visits -- yikes!) that was on in the midst of our commotion.
We got Grandma and Grandpa's stuff transferred to Akari's and my room pending their actual room assignment later that day. Shishin packed up all his stuff and loaded it into the minivan. We all agreed on a breakfast destination and then Dad and I went downstairs to wait for everyone else to assemble, since Ayize had finally tired of the cartoon and started looking for trouble in the almost-empty hotel room.
He handed Grandpa section after section of all the many newspapers lying around in the lobby, saying "Here go, here go" as each one exchanged hands. Grandpa wandered over to the buffet and made himself a cup of tea to go, so Ayize seized the moment to make a run for it, towards the hotel's exit.
A lovely doorman, who was super sweet to us during our whole stay, assessed the situation and body-blocked Ayize. Then, in one swift move, he scooped up three of the big decorative balls in the lobby's centerpiece and threw them up in the air, then began juggling them. Ayize stopped and stood stock still, mouth agape, at the impromptu entertainment. It bought me enough time to catch him before he flew out of the automatic doors and into the street.
Phew! Somebody give this guy a big fat raise!
Our family assembled at long last and we all piled into the minivan. We were short one seat so I hid by sitting on the floor at the feet of the kids along the back bench -- yikes.
Predictably, Ayize led the way boldly into an establishment he had never before visited.
But I had been here many times before -- I just never knew the name or the location. And I'd never sat inside; I'd always chilled in this awesome outdoor patio. Lizzy and I used to come here to hang and drink coffee by the boatload. It was so nice to be back!
It was pretty chilly out but we needed to wait outside because our party of people was so huge and the indoor portion of the restaurant was super cramped. They did have one large table which would accommodate all of us but the people sitting there, despite being done eating, lingered another thirty minutes after paying their bill, so there was nothing to do but wait and try to stay warm.
The awesome, and I do mean awesome waitstaff -- they are the coolest I think I've encountered ever! -- did everything possible to make the duration pleasant. They let us hog a big picnic table in the tent-covered portion of the outdoor patio; they didn't mind that Ayize rummaged through their staff-only area and helped himself to various toys, renegade-style; and they turned on overhead heat lamps to try to warm us up (we were all dressed for summer weather since the forecast for our trip had turned out to be considerably off-the-mark to the reality we arrived to)!
We helped ourselves to several cups of coffee from the nearby stand, read some scattered papers lying around, and gabbed.
Here's our assemblage (sans me and Ayize) posing for the camera.
And here they are a moment later in my undercover shot! Jo Jo was assisting Ayize with his bead runner.
Why is Jo Jo laughing? Watch the video below to see...
Crabby patty no likey Jo Jo interferey with beady!
Shishin entertained the girls with his iPhone. Wait a minute, make that plural. Actually, I think the red one might be Akari's. Or Jo Jo's. Hmmm. I guess I'm actually the only iPhone-less member of my family, come to think of it. (Not for long though...Jo Jo is sending me his old one by mail as a birthday gift, woo hoo!)
Woo hoo! Seated, and not a moment too soon. The kids were getting restless.
We all admired the owl art on the wall -- especially owl-obsessed Ayize.
And I admired these words etched into our table. I had had enough coffee by then that I was plenty roused. In fact, I was so awake, I was getting shaky.
CAFFEINE OVERLOAD!!!
Yee haw!
The food at Tin Shed is so delicious, it's worth the wait. But we had been waiting a long time, and the wait for food was almost equally long. One of the awesome waitresses came over to visit the very-restless, very-hyper Ayize and brought this wooden Indonesian singing frog to keep him entertained. He had a wonderful time playing it.
She also gave him a hilarious coloring sheet and some crayons. I added a special adornment to the hand of the beekeeper, and after that, Ayize kept pointing to it and telling me, "Mama, owie. Bees owie." Oops!
My awesome coffee mug. No two cups at the Tin Shed are alike, so I chose carefully. I was happy to get the Perl one (Jo Jo's kitty's lookalike). On the other side of the mug was its black and white tail.
Somebody was getting awful sleepy! We had not expected to spend two-hours-plus at breakfast, so it was now well past naptime. Still, he ate spectacularly and behaved himself very well considering the late hour. This is not always the case so I was very proud! (Can you tell by my giant grin?)
Outside and discussing driving arrangements. I ended up hopping in Jo Jo's car to hitch a ride back to the hotel so that I wouldn't have to sit on the floor of the minivan again, potentially risking a driving citation.
But before that could happen, the adults wanted to discuss plans for the day. Ayize was crashing, but the girls stepped in to rescue him and gave him lots of hugs and kisses, which cheered him immensely.
Even though he tried to play coy. LOL
Arrival back at the hotel. Me, Jo Jo, Bahar and Naveeda piled out of Jo Jo's car after he parked in a paying spot. While everyone fumbled for quarters, I took a photo of this pretty bluebird that I kept seeing outside our hotel entrance (I only had bills and a credit card).
Then we headed in and up to Akari's room where we had all planned to convene.
Bahar gave Sophie French braids, much to her delight.
Ayize waltzed in from Grandma and Grandpa's room and ran to give me a big hug, then covered me in kisses, before ambling away nonchalantly. But my family told me the real story: I guess as soon as the minivan pulled away from the restaurant without Mommy in it, he had become inconsolable, weeping and wailing and crying for me all the way back to the hotel (fortunately just a short drive away). The girls reported that nothing they did helped, except for the change of scenery upon arriving at their destination.
I felt so guilty! He hardly ever has any kind of separation anxiety -- except when he's exhausted, overtired, and well past nap or bedtime, all of which applied post-breakfast -- so I should have known better. Not that he was any worse for the wear, but I still felt bad.
Anyhow, he was clearly feeling fine again by the time I saw him, except for being exhausted. He didn't want to leave the room, though, since he was happy to be surrounded by family. Even his pet spider had joined the party!
Maddie did some daring acrobatics onto the sofa where we were sitting.
Then she got her hair done while Ayize offered assistance with the hairbrush.
Jo Jo, Bahar and Naveeda left for home shortly after. Akari, the girls, Mom and Dad were all interested in venturing out while the weather held. Ayize was exhausted but refusing to nap (I had tried in our room but he was too charged up by all the morning's activity) so we piled into the minivan and I took the helm. Akari navigated with her iPhone.
We dropped Mom and Dad at the Portland Japanese Gardens and then the five of us continued along the winding road to the Oregon Zoo, just a few minutes further. We parked and discovered that Ayize had just nodded off, so I transferred him to the stroller, which I discovered had a lying-down option (thanks again, Buffy, a thousand thank yous!) and we all meandered towards the front gate.
I stopped to snap a photo of this school bus with its unusual route name.
You can see that I carry my free & cheaps attitude with me wherever I go! Although this was actually accidental -- I knew that one could save a huge chunk o' change by hitting the zoo on a $2 Tuesday (the first of every month), but I'd forgotten since it had been over a year since our last visit.
Anyhow, luck was in our corner. And to save even more, I passed Ayize off as under 2 (he looked a lot smaller buried in the stroller beneath my hoodie LOL) which I knew was bad behavior, but I thought he would sleep through our whole outing and I hated to pay for nothing. (I made up for it with a donation once inside the zoo, after he woke from his slumber, and my conscience came calling!)
Ayize was asleep for a large portion of the zoo, so I got to play with my nieces. Here are Sophie and I spelunking through a cave to investigate a prairie dog lookalike.
Japanese fashion, Portland-style. Oh my!
An old, handsome mountain goat.
A pair of bored black bears.
Two bobcats, wrestling. Their vigor and pseudo-violence scared all the bystanders.
But of course -- predictably -- moments later, they had kissed and made up.
We walked the winding path upwards...
...past the salmon stream (yes, they're fake, but don't they look real??)...
...past the tree trunk shortcut, which the girls eagerly took...
...and to the otter den. Here's the otter's disappearing backside.
And a foot to the left, his front end, emerging from his den. Poor guy has zero privacy!
Of course, the moment we reached the owls, Ayize woke up. Have I mentioned his obsession with owls? Anyway, it was perfect timing. One moment, he was snoring aloud, the next, his eyes sprang open, he hopped out of the stroller, and -- rubbing his eyes and blinking -- he was awake as anything and pointing to this handsome fellow. "Hoot hoot, Mama!"
"Yes, honey, that's right!"
He didn't get back in the stroller for the rest of the duration of our visit.
Outside the otter's den, we checked out the waterfowl.
He held Sophie's hand, offering comfort and telling her, "It okay, Maddie-Sophie (his name for both girls)" after she was dive-bombed by a duck and completely traumatized by the experience.
Leaving the Scene of the Duck Crime. Sophie was still recovering, as you can see.
Akari snapped this shot of Ayize and I doing our jaunty walk along the zoo path. He was so happy to wake up and find himself in such a delightful destination!
Passing the Zoo Train tracks. He was beside himself with excitement.
Waiting at a Zoo Train crossing. His eyes could not have been open any wider.
When it passed by, he was agog. Choo choo!
We stopped to refuel with some pizza and drinks at the zoo cafe.
Ayize finished eating first, so we wandered across the way to check out an animatronic dinosaur that periodically clawed at the air and gave out an ear-splitting roar. He was quite impressed.
After our meal, it was train time.
Here we are standing in line for the Zoo Loop. Look who's holding the keys to our admission! And if I had managed to catch his face on film, you would have seen how proud and pleased he was -- he felt so grown-up being in charge of our tickets.
I was surprised to see that we were boarding the steam locomotive; the Zooliner (a more traditional kiddie train) is always available but the steamer only runs on special days. I knew Ayize would be doubly excited when he saw our cool, old-fashioned train...and he was.
All aboard!
Ummm...literally!
The kids piled onto one bench for this photo. Maddie and I both tried in vain to get Sophie to stop with the bunny ears, but it wasn't gonna happen anytime soon, so here is the best train portrait I managed of the three of them.
The Zooliner approaching. Our train was so much cooler. LOL
And just like in Ayize's beloved Donald Crews' book, Freight Train, they were "going, going...gone!"
One of our last stops was at this delightful old-style train station. We took a ten-minute break to stretch our legs and catch the view.
Here's a shot of our train from the platform.
Ayize kept saying, "Oh no!" because he thought the train ride was over.
The gorgeous view from this lookout point. That's Mount Hood in the distance.
Even the hanging plants at the station were a feast for the eyes.
We re-boarded when the steam whistle blew, and back we went, the way we came. We passed the elephants, who were out in their private "backyard."
Disembarking time, sadly. Akari posed behind her two young Vanna White-wannabes.
Grandma and Grandpa were finishing up at the Japanese Gardens, so it was time to call it a day. I shot everyone skipping away from the train station and towards the exit.
Woo hoo! Ayize and the girls had a great time ascending the Aucoin plaza adjacent to the parking lot.
Climbing rocks, climbing stairs...climbing, climbing, everywhere!
We picked up Grandma and Grandpa and headed back to the hotel, with two sleeping passengers in the back seat.
After a short stint at the hotel, it was time for dinner.
Grandpa was tired from his long day so he stayed at the hotel, but me, my mom, Akari and the girls headed out in the minivan to meet Jo Jo and Bahar at Amalfi's Italian Restaurant. Once again, I called upon Akari to iPhone-navigate for me while I drove. I must say, those things are damn handy. (I can hear Jo Jo laughing in the background as I type this, and saying, "Told you so.")
Amalfi's was awesome!
From the outside, it looked like a somewhat foreboding (if you're a very tired single parent with a toddler in tow) high-end restaurant -- a nice outdoor patio with fire pits built into each table, and a tasteful, darkened, adultish looking interior. But contrary to what I expected, the food was reasonably-priced, the portions were more than generous, and they were super kid-friendly. Ayize and the girls got coloring sheets and crayons plus kiddy-sized water cups with straws. The children's menu was fantastic, and since I chose a basic spaghetti plate for him, it was actually even free! And did I mention the food was delicious??
Two giant thumb's up! I was thrilled. Can't wait to go back there again, num num.
One menu item caught my eye; this one's for Amy (who's probably vegetarian like me, but even so)!
;-)
I mixed up Ayize's noodles, sauce, and parmesan cheese and put it all in his generic snack trap (a Target knock-off by Munchkin called the Snack Catcher, which -- for a quarter of the price -- works just as well as the "real thing"). He fed himself and let me feed him too. He finished almost his whole mini-plate and loved every bite. And who wouldn't? Even their basic marinara sauce was heavenly.
The girls were thrilled to get Shirley Temples, and even more excited when their drinks arrived at our table garnished with plastic mini-swords. They had a battle royale for about fifteen minutes. I declared a tie.
Akari and Bahar got chocolate martinis and loved them! I watched with envious eyes but would have been way too paranoid to drive with so much precious cargo onboard in an unfamiliar city (well, a once-familiar city, but that was over a decade ago) after even a single sip (what can I say? Having such awesome nieces does that to an aunt LOL) so I just drank in their chocolaty beauty. Next time...
Ayize finished dinner before everyone else and was getting a little restless and crabby. He had held up like a trooper through an incredibly-long day with only a short stroller nap, but now it was getting on towards 8 o'clock, 10 his time, and he was threatening to melt down. I unstrapped him from the confines of the high chair, took his hand, and let him lead the way.
We wandered outside where he pulled me around the patio -- "Mama, come on!" -- and showed me the fire pits -- "Hot, Mama!"
He accompanied his many "hot" comments with great embellishments of his hands, demonstrating their extreme heat, and a flat hand, palm-out, that he kept flourishing in my direction abruptly -- a classic "stop" signal. With his feet planted in a "go no further" wide stance, and between all his crazy shouting and hand motions, he caught the attention of a couple older businessmen who were eating al fresco. They thought he was hilarious, and applauded his efforts.
He responded by becoming suddenly shy and running away. He dashed to the backside of the building and clambered up on one of the support posts. Then, using the decorative stones as handholds, he eked his way around and around the post, probably about six times, until my family finally emerged from the restaurant.
And not a second too soon, because -- as you can see by this photo -- his eyes were rapidly closing of their own accord. He hardly managed to stay awake during the short drive home, and we were both asleep within moments of touching our heads to the hotel pillows.
0 comments:
Post a Comment