I'm sorry I haven't been blogging here much in the last two months. A couple of days after my last post Bean was admitted into Children's Hospital and diagonised with T1D. It's life changing. I started a second blog that is devoted to it and our family which is currently where all my energy is going. If you are interested in reading about our life please feel free to check it out here:
http://t1djillybean.blogspot.com/
There will be no dolly pictures over there. There will be dolly pictures here however.

Here's some eye candy from our recent trip to San Fran.

Portland - father's day, birthdays, cooking and Rock Band

It's R's 40th birthday so we drove down to Portland for the weekend to see our good friends Chad and Bree who were also celebrating Chad's birthday and throwing a party. We took my new picnic basket from Target and stopped along the way at a rest stop for a small picnic and some dog walking. The traffic was absolutely horrid and the goodies in the basket really helped. Although I adore the basket as it's woven with a red check lining the handles are absolute crap and can't support the weight of a full basket.

We started the next day with breakfast at a cute little place called Old Wives Tales. They had a little painted room that the kids could play in and the menu had all kinds of unusual but yummy foods.

Acrossed the street was a cool old building with a retro looking 7-up sign. Portland has some of the best buildings, so much quirk and history.

Later in the day Bree, Bean and I spent time in the kitchen. Bree's kitchen is beautiful, sunny with a vintage style that inspires and comforts. I now understand all those chick flicks about cooking in Tuscany. It was such an amazing experience. I'm not the most skilled person in the kitchen and I learned so much from her. And I watch Bean thrive as she did things she'd never tried. I felt reconnected with things I feel I missed out on when my parents died - skills in the kitchen and a sense of self. I'm now commited to spending more time with Bean in the kitchen. Making food that takes time which rewards us with time to connect to each other.

We made a wonderful salad and Bree made the cake of awsomeness. Her cake was amazing and all the food was a huge hit at the party. We drank, ate and played some Rock Band. Even Bean got in on the action wowing all the adults with her vocals. I think we're going to have to spring for the Beatles Rock Band when it comes out. Bean and I left the party early leaving the adults to continue the merry making. But it was a very enjoyable weekend.

Mother's Day in Portland part 2

When visiting Portland we stay at Red Lion Jantzen Beach as it is near our friends and is pet friendly. The hotel is interesting, it's two large buildings seperated by a bridge, it sits on the river with a pier, a beautiful outdoor pool, an indoor restuarant that serves a very pricey Sunday buffet and they host a lot of weddings. But one of the two hotel buildings is closed and fenced in. They've done some restoration on the inside of the open building but it still feels old, our hotel room had also been updated new TV and pretty beds, except the bathroom had cracked and broken fixtures. Still it's affordable and clean even if it's quirky.

Chair storage.

A 'wall' made from chairs and couches. It seperates a walk way from the buffet area and coffee bar.

After eating at Voodoo Doughnuts we said good-bye to our friends and met up with the puppy seller to pick up the newest member of our family. Bean has begged for several years and we finally caved and bought her a puppy. A pretty petite 'shorkie' which is 1/2 Shitzu and 1/2 Yorkie. She was a beautiful little girl but got car sick and had to ride home in her crate. Leaving Bean to cuddle with Remy.

Bean has named her puppy Bella and she's such a little cuddle bug. She likes to bound over the grass like a rabbit, then drops down and hides in the green like a ninja puppy. We'll have to enroll her in puppy classes. But right now she just wants to sleep with us on the couch. Remy is not completely amused.

Mother's Day Weekend in Portland

On Friday Bean spoiled me with my mother's day gifts. In class she had made a flower from a wooden spoon and a potted plant. I love class project gifts. So much inovation and creativity.

Saturday after Bean's acting classes we hit the road and headed to Portland. For lunch I wanted to eat some where that had personality. So we pulled off the road at Tumwater. A little sign caught our eye and in the distance the restuarant looked like a darling blue coastal building with white pillars and a wrap around porch. Cute! But then we pulled into the parking lot and R noticed the bar attached to the side of the restuarant and a large motorcycle gang parked out front. The blue paint was peeling off a building that looked more shabby than chic. So we stopped at a sub shop instead. We walked the dog and watched a nicely dressed man pee in the bushes outside of Costco. Tumwater has quite the personality.

We then arrived in Portland and after checking into our hotel we headed to the pool. Only too bad for us the pool was closed and we could only use the Hot Tub. Hot Tubs are not as fun as pools.

We wrapped up Saturday with some sushi and Rock Band with some friends. On Sunday we met up with the same friends for breakfast at Elmers. It's such good food! Bean had a dutch baby and now I have to find a recipie for it as it was pure yummy. After breakfast we headed to Voodoo Doughnuts which was featured on the Food Channel. They have two locations in Portland. The first one was full of bums so we went to the second location which is very quirky but has 100% less bumage. Bean and I had voodoo doll doughuts, complete with raspberry filling and prentzle stuck in the heart.

Continued tomorrow....

One nice thing about being an adult is that you can go to Disneyland as many times as you want, it's like having chocolate cake for breakfast.

It's not the rides, smiley characters or fake buildings that we love so much. It's that at Disney there is so little to worry about. We go during value season, I'm great at preplanning, R is great at keeping us organized the final days up to our trip. It can be cheaper than a trip to the beach or camping. So the minute we step into the airport the only thing we need to do is relax and spend time as a family. Our families must think we're nuts as we've gone to Disneyland and Disneyworld twice in a very short period. But we're all so busy at home, with work and school - that it recharges our little family and helps us get to know each other better. We've had some great arguments on our trips. I miss it already, though we are planning on taking a little Disney break and focus on other vacations for the next few years. We want Bean to experience other things.