busy, busy Saturday

kirsten

well, I know your monday is essentially over, but our week is really just beginning (no, I didn't just wake up at 4 in the afternoon....)...so I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

We had a super fun Saturday—we decided to just go downtown and "get lost," and to take public transportation the entire time!!! woohoo! you have no idea how much the bus system intimidates us (there's the max, which is the lightrail, the streetcar, which is like a modern trolley, and the busses. and the busses are super complex and seemingly complicated).

so we headed downtown on the max and started with lunch in north portland at a place called gravy (shan, look how super cute their logo is). They boast "southern" food, too, which it actually was more like just breakfast, and they didn't have sweet tea, so you can't really call it southern. regardless, it was super, super yummy. and packed. just packed. we had biscuits (and gravy, go figure), and then bacon and eggs. but they had a creme bruleed fruit and oatmeal thing that just seemed amazing and their hashbrowns looked so good, too. so plenty of options for next time, too!

then we walked around the area a bit, wandering around the boutiques and such, and it seemed like a really, really cool area. so that was really fun.

we went and got some coffee in the SE district, in an area we know a bit better (we've been trying to scout out apartments, just in case you know, and so that was part of our mission there...). Really nice baristas and yummy "cold pressed" coffee. plus a break from walking (you can't tell how much walking we've done from what i've said here, but trust me, a lot).

afterwards we headed west of the river and went to check out the "sun in the city" event—which was a huge sand "castle" building contest. Our favorite was the great wall of China with pretty far-off seconds of mario in the tunnel and a cucumber going down a slide (ha!) plus there's this walla walla onion. Plus, look at all those cute kids playing in the sand! and what are those things called from mario bros? koopa troopas? haha, alright, i'm getting a little carried away...

then we sat down to take a break and people watch...

before heading to a really cool park where there's a wading pool with tons of little kids falling all over themselves to get in the water...haha!

and then to the downtown REI to dream about kayaks, canoes and mountain bikes...

We ate dinner at this amazing pizza place called hot lips pizza. Their pizza is locally famous, super good, has funky-strange seasonal specials, and was so cheap! We filled up on $10!!! and i snuck a picture of these kids—just covered in pizza sauce while their dads (apparent brothers out to dinner) carried on a conversation, oblivious. (haha, are you beginning to see a theme? promise that's not intentional, nor does it carry any subtleties...just lots of cuties running around that day).

this is daniel very "sternly" telling me to put my phone away. he does this alot...he doesn't find me pulling out my phone to get pictures of things like stranger kids and pizza amusing... haha, i like how you can tell that he really is looking at me and not at the camera. that's funny...

afterwards we headed to powells to read the newest newsweek about obama's faith. pretty interesting i guess if anyone's interested. Worth reading, but maybe not worth buying. at least if you're on our budget. Nothing revolutionary.

So that was our Saturday! Sunday we went again to Imago Dei, which again was pretty fun...and then I think just rested. We had pork chops and corn on the cob last night for dinner. I know, a real dinner. and I think for under like $8, which is pretty amazing.

The Monroe seniors are flying in in a couple of hours. They'll be here all week and we have it all planned out, so be ready to enjoy plenty of pictures of this upcoming week. And they're bringing Daniel's clubs, so he's pretty excited about that (not that we have the money right now for him to play golf—haha—but soon!). The agenda includes the coast, shopping, golfing, some more of the waterfalls, a few nice dinners, and so much more! I'm sure you can't wait!!!