Free associating

On Tuesday after jury duty, Drew took Rachel to Grant Park and...miracle of miracles...SHE PETTED A DOGGIE! It was a dachshund, and she told me all about it at dinner. "I petted a doggie, Mommy!' she said proudly. Hopefully it's the first step toward her getting more comfortable with dogs in this dog-obsessed city.

We spent most of post-dinner table talk cracking up. Actually, Rachel was the one laughing. We started out by her pretending to give us ice cream (Drew ordered chocolate, and when I tried to order chocolate, too, she announced that it was all gone because Daddy had eaten it all. So, I got rainbow flavor). Then Drew pretended to be an ice cream man, and when Rachel asked what flavors he had, he said...

"Smelly feet!"
"YUUCK!" Rachel and Mommy said, laughing.
"What else do you have?" Rachel said.
"Umm...how about...BROCCOLI ice cream?" Drew said.
"YUUCK!" Rachel and Mommy said, laughing.

And so on. It was hilarious to listen to Rachel cracking up; she has such an infectious laugh. Too bad that in a few short years she will be much harder to amuse.

***

As Drew and Rachel were driving over the Hawthorne Bridge (Rachel is beginning to recognize which bridges are which in Portland), Drew said, "that's the river, sweetie!"

No doubt remembering that Madeline liked to play on the bridges in Paris, Rachel said, "Is that Paris?"