Wednesday, June 9, 2010
We woke up and played in our room a bit. After a bit, Akari called and said the girls were up early, so we headed down the hall to say howdy.
Ayize climbed under the covers to watch morning cartoons with the girls. Sophie was at the head of the bed...
...and Maddie lay at the foot.
Speaking of feet...
Ayize practiced his hand -- pun intended -- at being a masseuse.
BOING!
Ring around the rosy, Marriott-style.
We drove over to the hippie- and hipster-infused Hawthorne District to meet Jo Jo, Bahar, and Naveeda for breakfast at Bread and Ink Cafe, an old fave from back in the day. We parked around the corner by this awesome Mardi Gras house. The kids loved the fantastic front yard and posed for a portrait, but it was starting to drizzle.
They turned and fled after that, but I caught one more quick pic. Hard to tell from the coloring in this photo, but the house is purple, yellow, and green and has a huge Mardi Gras flag hanging off the left-hand side. It's so awesome and festive!
Dashing to the Bread and Ink, hot on Sophie and Ayize's heels. Jo Jo had already met Akari and Madison at the cafe's corner -- he'd come out of the restaurant to hail them down.
The place was pretty quiet so we easily snagged the biggest table.
Sophie helped Ayize run Percy (yes, that funny little engine from the island of Sodor who made such a mess of Mr. Jolly's Chocolate Factory) through his cell phone tunnel.
Naveeda helped entertain a very-hungry, very-wriggly Ayize too -- she ran his Matchbox fire truck from the other side of the table towards him, and he gleefully narrated each smash into Percy with a loud, "Dujjzzhh!" (sorry, not sure how to spell his patented "crash" sound effect).
A major "DUJJZZHHHHH" about to happen!
Food arrived, and he gleefully dug in. His pancake was bursting with thick, ripe, delicious blueberries, and he ate them all one by one, with great relish (though the pancake itself hardly got touched) along with a little-of-this and a little-of-that off of everyone else's generous plates.
We said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel. The kids copped a ride on this luggage cart, which was parked in the hotel garage near our usual handicap-accessible spot.
Next, the kids got suited up in our rooms, and it was onwards to the pool! The rain had started in earnest by now -- truly torrential, by Portland standards, where it rains often, but hardly more than passing sprinkles -- so we were stuck with indoor activities.
As you can see, we had little competition for space here.
Ayize celebrated having an empty pool to ourselves by making huge splashes, and delighted in blasting us with his self-invented hand-scoop water cannons!
I gave him a plastic leftover dish to distract him, and he used it to make about fifty trips back and forth from the stairwell to the pool -- where he gingerly stepped in and retrieved dishfuls of pool water -- to this drain hole. Fill, baby, fill!
Everybody warmed up in the hot tub after a ton of splashing around and swimming.
The kids really braved the water for the first time, sitting in the hot spa up to their chests (or waists, in Ayize's case). But clearly, somebody was getting very sleepy!
Upstairs we went, my little one wrapped in a big pool towel and snuggled in my arms. But just as we stepped off the elevator, he wriggled his way down, brandished the towel like a cape, and threw it to the ground with a flourish. Then, much to the amusement of an elderly lady and her middle-aged daughter getting off the elevator alongside us, he took off down the hall, little naked backside tearing away from me, feet churning frantically at top speed, giggling all the while. He didn't stop till he had streaked all the way to the end of the hall, at the door to our corner room, where the window looking out was. Thankfully, the window was at neck height on him...sigh.
Even more thankfully, a looooong nap followed!
Akari and the girls called just as Ayize was waking from his nap, bored in their room, and pondering what to do. We were all hungry. Grandpa wasn't feeling well so he and Grandma were continuing to stay in their hotel room for the day. The weather outside was dreary, with on and off rain, and Ayize had napped til a pretty late hour -- not going down until almost 2 and staying down til past 4. Jo Jo was busy with family obligations.
What to do, what to do, what to do...? It was too late for an outing to the science museum or an indoor children's play place, as everything closed up shop in less than an hour at 5.
I had a flash of insight and told the girls that Ayize and I had been enjoying our early-morning strolls to the Lloyd Center Mall, and although we'd not explored beyond the bookstore, it looked like a pretty huge place with lots of indoor activity going on. Besides which, we were all hungry, so we could eat at the mall, or even someplace along the way.
The girls were game, Ayize was chomping at the bit, and Akari would be able to nail some errands at the mall, plus it was nice for she and I to hang out and do something with the kids that was within walking distance (we had high hopes of tuckering them out!) so we saddled up in our rain gear and set off.
As we passed a daycare center, the kids posed for this shot as Ayize captured the flag.
We turned a corner and ran into a...Chipotle! I may not be the biggest fan of this McDonald's offshoot at home, but it was a real godsend on the road that day! The kids were starving and the price was right. Chipotle is pretty cheap at home and even cheaper in Portland. And may I add, waaaay tastier, at least at this Lloyd Center location. Yum!
I got Ayize three soft tacos and filled them with nothing but rice, guacamole, and shredded cheese, with black beans on the side. He chowed down, eating most of the three flour tortillas and lots of the rice. He ate a bit of beans, and several spoonfuls of guacamole.
All three kids went to town on their grub, as a matter of fact, and Akari and I were thrilled. I had gone in line first, so I chose this bench-type table that overlooked the street. The kids were so cute, lined up by height, and they enjoyed watching people pass by, huddled below umbrellas.
The rain came and went so we lingered over our meal until a passable break in the downpour occurred. Then we grabbed our stuff and headed out again. The rest of our stroll was rain-free, thankfully, and the kids had a nice time balancing on border walls, hopping and dashing about, burning off some steam, and puddle-splashing.
Finally, we arrived at the mall, which was, for a long time, the largest shopping mall in North America. I'm kind of allergic to malls, but it was sooo nice to be indoors on this rainy day in a huge space where the kiddos could gallivant without being bothered. And with its airy, well-lit layout, I hardly felt like I was in Retail Hail (if you know what I mean, but have to watch my language on here LOL).
Anyhow, Lloyd Center is actually a really nice space. For a mall.
Fist stop: the food court, just by default, because it's the highest story in the mall, and we just ended up there in our rambles.
The kids went ga-ga for gumballs.
Or should I say, gum-fish?
Or should I say, gum-bones??
Akari was laughing at my delight with these wacky Dubble Bubble shapes. Apparently, they've been around for ages -- regular old-school gumballs are just so passe -- but not having 6- and 8-year old candy connoisseurs on my hands, I had no idea.
This extended hallway led to an entire college contained within the mall. It also made for an awesome corridor that the kids could race up and down along.
"Come on, Maddiesophie!"
All innocence, with the hands-behind-the-back thing. Maddie thought this old-man pose, that he struck as he ran, was hilarious.
Akari spotted a Gymboree and headed in to look for something. The kids found a TV with three tiny chairs in front of it, and plopped down for a little boob-tube break. They looked so cute as they stared at the screen. I stepped behind the TV and shot The Three Little Bears as they watched. Now that's retail genius -- keep the kids entertained so mamas can shop without being harassed!
Afterwards, we went to The Children's Place and I scored a rock & roll swimsuit for Ayize -- two pieces, though unmatched -- for five dollars. His wetsuit was getting heavy rotation at the hotel pool and hardly had a chance to dry between use. I also noticed, with great melancholy, that he was finally outgrowing it; the ankle elastic was working hard to expand to fit his shins!
TCP sale was actually five dollars per piece, but the lady was (a) in love with Maddie and Sophie and their charming ways (thanks, girls!) and (b), willing to negotiate on these leftover pieces from last season, and as manager of the store, had the power to do so.
Schwing! They not only served us great for the rest of the trip, but they continue to be used every day back at home now. And as you can see, even Ayize thinks they're pretty cool.
As we exited TCP, we paused on some provided seating to stow our purchases and I happened to look down and see this place. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, Jo Jo and Andy, but didn't you guys take me to this Motherhood Maternity store way back in September of 2007 when it was colder than expected on my trip and I needed to buy a pair of preggo pants?
"Memories...in the corner of my mind..."
Ayize spotted this candy shop and ran to it to gaze into its sugar-drenched bowels.
But I wasn't sure I wanted to spend money at a business that couldn't even spell! (Okay, well maybe some people call it this, instead of "caramel", but I was suspicious).
It was already well past six so we started our stroll home. The weather stayed surprisingly pleasant all the way back, and the kids enjoyed the walk.
Back at the hotel, the kids parked it in front of the tube again to recoup after their active afternoon while we organized dinner. Ayize was in heaven, having never watched so much TV in one day in his life, and the girls were enjoying access to nighttime programming on a cartoon station, which is decidedly for more-mature audiences. In fact, the instant Akari and I wised up to this fact (moments after this photo), the TV went off and there was no more evening shows made available for the rest of the trip!
Anyhow, my Fry Guy needed to hit the sack earlier than everyone else, so I ordered a pizza from our fave, Rovente, and settled in to await it.
The pizza took ages to come, but the kids played beautifully in Akari's room. I even got a chance to check email in my own room while Akari and the girls babysat Ayize, giving him an "art project" that he mightily enjoyed. I think he might have also ransacked Sophie's Polly Dolly stuff during the time I abandoned ship, but if that was the case (and I am almost certain that it was, given the evidence of the massacre when I came to retrieve him), Sophie stayed cheerfully mum about the whole thing -- very sweet of her, considering they are just about her favorite thing in the world. Just another reason why I have the best nieces in the world!
Our food arrived and Maddie helped Ayize lug it to our room. We polished off our whole pizza quite handily, and off to bed we both trundled, exhausted, around 10 p.m.
I couldn't believe how fast the time was flying away from us! Our trip was already two-thirds over in the blink of an eye.
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