Oaks Park!

I guess the way that we truly know it's summer here in Oregon is the first trip to Oaks Park, the great little old-fashioned amusement park in Southeast Portland that we visited a couple times last year. We had an incredibly wonderful day there with Rachel's little friend Sunny and Sunny's parents, Erica and Jeff, the Hurricane Sandy refugees from Long Island who have relocated here -- the ones I met on the way in to a "Jewish Night at the Museum" event about three months ago and have since become fast friends with.

Actually, we started the day on a good note; I finally got rid of all the #@!* boxes full of old baby clothes that we had stuffed in the attic crawl space. Some of the clothes I've given away and a bunch of them I've sold to a consignment store near our house -- the last batch this morning -- and I got just enough in sale credit to buy Rachel's summer wardrobe. What a relief, since the temps are supposed to climb into the high 70s/low 80s next week. Which, incidentally, is why I dragged Rachel out of the house yesterday to get a manicure/pedicure with Mommy, because my feet are absolutely disgusting when I wear sandals and so that's why I tend to get pedicures when it's warm, so I don't have to spend hundreds of dollars buying closed toe old lady shoes and pair them with unflattering looking pantyhose. See why turning old is such a drag?

Rachel was very patient at the manicurist until the very end when she said softly, "I wish I could get my nails done," and I said "sure, honey," and she picked out glittery blue polish for the right hand and yellow polish for the left (and yes, Dad, I remember when Maria Tetens and I tried on blue eyeshadow and you called us the Blue Eyed Monsters and Maria NEVER forgot that, she still reminds me occasionally, it left a big impression on her. You would definitely not have approved of me letting Rachel, who is not even 5 yet, wear nail polish, but honestly? She looked pretty good when it was done). The polish had completely come off her right index finger by the time she got to ballet this morning, but she didn't seem to care.

Anyway...after ballet we headed to Oaks Park and had the time of our lives. Really. Rachel's tummy is apparently completely recovered enough to eat hot dogs and lemonade and blue-tinged cotton candy, and I was so happy that we were both out of the house in the beautiful sunshine that I said, what the hell. We went on kiddie ride after kiddie ride, and in between I got to have snatches of conversation with Erica and Jeff, and we had been there for five hours when both of them left and Rachel decided that she wanted to try the kiddie roller coaster. Hey Mom and Dad, remember how I used to love scaring you to death by going on all those scary rides at Great Adventure and Disney World? You are getting your revenge now because I.Can't.Do.That.Any.More. I can't even stand mild twirly rides like the Tilt-a-Whirl. The Ferris Wheel makes my tummy drop. The Ferris Wheel! What has happened to me?!?! Oh, yeah, I'm 46.

Aside from a nasty fall she took while she was running too fast, Rachel had a pretty great time. We had to have a couple of cuddle sessions -- at one point she said, "I'm really stressed out!" but generally it was a terrific way to spend the afternoon. We wrapped it up with a burger and hot dog at Skyline Burgers, a great burger join near our house, and when we got home Rachel went very cooperatively to bed after we read the Greek myth about the origin of Hermes.

Oh, and she said "please" and especially "thank you" to every ride operator and waitress who helped us today. I tell ya, when we both are in a good mood, we make a great team.