Portland

Two weekends ago we took Aspen and went to Portland to celebrate some good friends' marriage.



Aspen was a trooper, staying up late for travel and to hang out with a bunch of grownups.



Sabine elected to stay home for this trip. She was originally supposed to have a fun-filled weekend with Nana, but unfortunately Nana had a bad fall and hurt her ankle, so we brought in babysitter reinforcements. Our babysitter is amazing, she and Sabine had a blast, they even got to visit Nana so she got some good time with Sabine over the weekend, and then she and Sabine also managed to go swimming, have play dates, bake cookies, and even make it to the aquarium!



Back in Portland, Aspen had fun exploring the neat hotel (a converted elementary school!) we were staying in,



and befriended all of mommy and daddy's friends, while she was at it.



She even suckered some of them into buying her a peacock feather at the gift shop,



and had great fun with it!



So did daddy.



We managed to make it out of the hotel to explore Powell's in downtown Portland, arguably the most famous bookstore in the U.S.



and the farmer's market



and A & P's house



where she had a great time running





and making a new friend



The reception was in the evening, and we had a good time getting ready



although it took some convincing to get Aspen out of her Red Dress


(Spanikopita will do it every time. Mommy's girl!)

and good shoes never hurt, either.





Neither does the iPad, which attracts kids like non-other.



Plus: cupcakes!



And, of course, dancing.





We had fun.



We said goodbye to our neat hotel room on Sunday morning





and to our friends



and headed home to Sabine. The girls both missed each other very much, (I think more than we, the parents, were missed!) it was sweet to see the reunion.