Rachel teaches Mommy a thing or two

I had today all planned -- the heat is beastly, I was dying to get out of the city (Tia Daniella can relate, I'm sure) and I was all set to take Rachel to the beach as soon as we finished up at 10 a.m. brunch with my friend Kim, with whom I covered Portland Public Schools back when we were both at the Oregonian (she is now an organizer/policy person for Stand For Children, the kids' education group founded by Jonah Wright Edelman, the son of Marian Wright Edelman. Jonah's wife is a Willamette Law grad. And, yes, Oregon is very small).

Anyway, Rachel took her 5,423 Barbies to brunch. (No, really, it was only five. The five she brought into my bed this morning because she insisted we all had to cuddle together). She spent a remarkable amount of time keeping busy with them while Kim and I talked. Between bites of chocolate chip pancakes Rachel made her Barbies ice skate and, um, watch one of their own die. In a play. It's amazing how much Kim and I were able to catch up. Too bad we didn't plot a novel or outline a screenplay, we could have gotten so much work accomplished!

So afterward I was so excited about taking Rachel to the beach, which is usually cold and rainy but today was mid-70s and sunny. And then she stopped me cold: "Mommy, I don't want to go to the beach. I want to go to Laurelhurst Park." Which actually made my life a lot easier because the Oregon coast is a two-hour drive and we would have gotten there at 2 at the earliest and probably wouldn't have gotten back until 10 or so. But I persisted anyway; it's not often we get to go and it's so scenic, and I was anxious to get out of Portland, and playing in a park was not my idea of how to spend a hot day in the upper 80s. "I get sand in my shoes and the water is too cold," Rachel persisted, and so I acquiesed...and we spent the afternoon at Laurelhurst Park. I got to read most of the NY Times and even took a nap while Rachel played on the play structure. Toward the end of the afternoon as the sun kept chasing us when we moved into the shade, I insisted we eat an early dinner at the food carts and then go to Grant Park's outdoor pool and swim.

Unfortunately the pool closes at 6 p.m. on Sundays but, inexplicably, is open until 9 during the week. AND the ice cream machine was broken. (This is what living in a low-tax state gets you). No other pools were open, and I finally told Rachel we would do whatever SHE wanted to do. Which ended up being the Jamison Square fountain in the middle of the Pearl District (so much for leaving the city, eh?) and Cool Moon ice cream afterward (chocolate sorbet for both of us, most of which ended up all over Rachel).

But the water in the fountain was so nice and refreshing, and Rachel had a blast getting herself all wet and pouring a bucket of it all over the head of a little girl she made friends with, and the chocolate sorbet was fabulous, and we both were in a terrific mood when we got home. I read half a chapter of Trumpet of the Swan, tossed Rachel into the bath and put her to bed.

So, it wasn't the perfect beach day I envisioned but Rachel looked so happy in the fountain that I couldn't have any regrets. Maybe I should stop worrying about giving her the absolute ultimate Oregon experience and just let her do what makes her happy. (As long as it's not video games or TV on a beautiful sunny day, OK Dad?)