Alberta Street Fair

I have vowed to have as much fun as humanly possible while the girls are home.  Tessa and I made a pretty good stab at so far - beginning with our trip down Hawthorne and then the dance concert Friday night.

Saturday morning we had our choice between the antique show in Aurora or the Alberta Street Fair here in Portland.  Since Tessa slept in a wee bit we opted for the Street Fair because it was only 20 minutes away versus 45 minutes.

We ate, rather walked, our way up and down Alberta Street.  We stopped in several of the fun little shops and Tessa managed to find herself two vintage dresses.  Vintage being from the 1970's.  I swear my mother had two just like them!!

We began our munching with an amazing blueberry old fashioned doughnut - it was amazing!

Tessa was still hungry so our next stop was Pine State Biscuits for the Reggie!  Basically a heart attack on a plate but it is so good I think it might be worth it!!  She shared a few bits with me.

Of course had to do a little Totally Tessa photo shoot while we were there.

And then we HAD to check out the brand new local ice cream shop that had just opened up the day before.  The line was out the door but oh so worth the wait.  I think I had the most amazing ice cream I've ever had in my life and I've had a lot of ice cream.  The Sea Salt with Homemade Caramel Ribbon was to die for!  We're going back for more soon.  The Cinnamon Snickerdoodle was also amazing!   Not too sure about the Pear with Bleu Cheese flavor though???  Only in Portland

In fact, I'm ready to go back right now!
Of course there is always lots of great people watching to be had at a Portland street fair!

We headed home and Tessa had to take a nap to recover from all the eating she did!! 

Jim was back from Seattle when we returned and was busy painting the hallway - loving the new color.   We all went to a wedding reception this evening for a boy from the ward.   A good and busy day!

Concert in the Park

Friday night Tessa and I decided to go to the free dance concert at Washington Park.  We invited her friend Rachel to go with us.

It was a beautiful night for a concert in the park - we've had a lot of those lately.  We're not complaining!
We sat right up front so we could see.

Of course the girls were hungry so they checked out the shave ice.  Only in Portland would you find shave ice made with Oregon strawberry juice with tarragon and a splash of lime.  It was so good!!!

And then there were beignets.  So good and so messy!

They danced to live music from the Blue Cranes and it was great.  It did get a little dicey there at the end when the guy's pants split up the back!  We held our breath every time he turned around!!!  I was kind of wishing we weren't sitting quite so close!!!

Loved hanging with my baby girl!

Go Mariner's

While Tessa and I played in Portland Jim headed to Seattle to meet his brother David and his son Cade.  David was in town for business and they decided to go see the Mariner's play the Red Socks.  Jim couldn't pass up a chance to go to a Mariner's game so he joined them.  He spent the night with them Friday night and headed home Saturday.

Unfortunately the Mariner's lost.

She's Home!

Friday morning I picked Tessa up from the airport.  Our first stop was the Waffle Window!!

We then made a visit to Buffalo Exchange where Tessa found a few treasures (It's a resale shop).  She scored a houndstooth Sherlock Holmes style cape for only $20 as well as a cute skirt.


We did a bit more wandering up and down Hawthorne taking in the essence of Portland!!!  We then headed back across the river and made a stop at Escape from NY Pizza - Tessa was craving pizza.  Since Cali can't eat it she hadn't had any all summer!

We then made a quick stop at her friend Kiley's house.  They had the car loaded and were ready to head out of town to take Kiley to college in LA so glad we got to see her for a few minutes.

Tessa was speechless when she walked in the house and saw her welcome home sign her dad made for her!

Pretty fun!  Jim is repainting the hall so he thought it would be fun to leave a message for the girls.

He also left a message for me.

Can't wait until Cali arrives home tomorrow.

Oh How I've Missed This Face!

She's home and can't wait until Cali is home tomorrow.  Love this face!!!

More Music in the Park

Washington Park sponsors 10 consecutive nights of free concerts each summer.  We try to take advantage of as many of them as we can. 

The second one we attended was the Festival Symphony concert.  The crowd was huge and the music was beautiful.  We went with the Densleys and the Jensens.  I brought dessert.

I always love a reason to make a cake!

We got lots of oohs and aahs as we walked in with the cake.  During intermission a lady came down to ask me if I had made it myself.  I guess that had been the topic of their conversation.  I told her I had and then sent her off with a piece to share with her friends!


Everyone loved kicking back and just enjoying the music.

Hopefully we will be able to fit in a couple more this week before the series is over.

Concert in the Park

Tuesday was more cooking classes - it was cookie day! 

Tuesday night we had a BBQ for the BYU Alumni Association Board which was fun.

Wednesday was cupcake class - 18 kids in all!

Wednesday night the Beehive class came for a tea party and book exchange in our garden.  They shared their favorite books.

Thursday I took the day off!  I must admit those 3 days of cooking classes wore me out a bit.  I enjoyed the day basically doing whatever I wanted which included some reading in the garden in the sun, a few quick errands and just a lot of putzing around the house!!

Thursday evening we went to a free concert in Washington Park with the Jensens.  It was a beautiful evening and we took a picnic dinner. It was a great evening of jazz music.

The roses were still beautiful and blooming in the Rose Gardens right next to the amphitheater.

We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful city!!

The rest of the week included  a BBQ with friends on Friday night.  Jim and I played a round of golf at Claremont on Saturday morning and then a wedding reception Saturday night.   

It was a busy but fun week and in the midst of all of it I thought it might be nice to repaint the entry way and upstairs hallway!

S'mores with Melanie and Boys

Since I started blogging 3 years ago I have made a lot of wonderful blogger friends.  One of my favorites is Melanie of Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  Melanie was in Portland this last week visiting her in laws who live just south of Portland and she emailed to see if we could get together.  I was so excited.

So last Monday, after my day of bread making classes we had Melanie and her darling family over for s'mores in the garden!  The weather was perfect.

It was so fun to meet Melanie in person after having emailed and corresponded via our blogs for several years.  She has four darling little boys between the ages of 2 and 7 - she is one busy mama!

We had a fire in the fire pit and the boys had a great time making s'mores. 

Melanie and her family live in Green Bay Wisconsin - so wish they lived closer!!  I also made homemade ice cream and we made s'more sundaes.  We just cut up a s'more, put it on top of ice cream and then covered it with homemade hot fudge sauce - so good!!

It was such a fun and relaxing evening in the garden getting to know our new friends better.  We hope they come back to Portland to visit again soon!