Well, we had another great day today -- helped by the fact that it was in the high 70s and sunny. Portland gets drunk on sun -- I haven't seen so many people outside since I don't know when. Drew was here until 11, and as soon as he left for Seattle Rachel and I hauled a cooler's worth of food over to my friend Amy's house. Amy is recovering from surgery, so we brought her baked chicken and pasta for dinner; salad, bread and cheese for lunch; and a banana pudding that I was test-driving for a big catering job I have in California next week.
The banana pudding was a huge success; it was 3/4 gone by the time we left (and I left the rest for Amy, her husband Greg and sons Jake and Tony to finish). Rachel amused herself by playing with one of the boy's puzzles, and then managed to charm every man present -- Amy's younger brother, Jay; Greg; and 8-year-old Tony -- to push her around in the boys' toy wagon. "I'm going to CHINA!" she hollered. "Write when you get work!" I yelled back, to her puzzlement. She was so cute taking such delight in riding in a wagon; I need to look for more opportunities to do this kind of thing. Maybe the Zoo Train again, or the old-fashioned train between Portland and Lake Oswego?? I love how she gets excited by the simplest things.
After we finished up there, it was time to go home for nap. I zipped a chocolate chip cake into the oven for our second playdate at Rachel's friend Devin's house in Southwest Portland. I love going there; their house is set in the hills, so high above the street it feels like being in a treehouse. We got there at 5:30 and stayed until almost 9. The girls had a ball dressing up in some princess clothes that Devin has (and I found out where Devin's mom, Linda, got them, so guess what Rachel's gonna get for her 4th birthday??). Devin was in blue; Rachel was in pink; and she even got a little tiara and a necklace to wear. They looked ADORABLE scampering around, walking up the stairs to the 2nd floor of the duplex, then down, then eating dinner (noodles and carrots, so each got to eat chocolate cake) then settling down briefly to watch "Ramona and Beezus," and then the water gun fight. Ah, yes, boys are not the only ones who like to shoot water at each other. The guns came out toward the end of the night, when it had started to turn cool, and Rachel was devastated when I told her we had to go. She cried and cried and cried. "I want a SLEEPOVER!" she said, and when I carefully asked her if she was absolutely sure she was OK staying overnight at another person's house, she said yes. Maybe she's really 8 years old after all?
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Cute Rachel sayings:
When we were driving to Amy's today, Rachel said:
"That guy was walking across the street when you came, so be careful not to smoosh him. He may be a daddy. Or an uncle!"
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"Lila Anne is EXACTLY weird!"
"Why?" I asked. "What does she do?"
"She says, 'oh, hello, DUUDE!'"
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