Escaping the house

Yesterday was day 8 of "arctic blast 2008". We don't have television any longer, so we're counting on others for the appropriate name for this year's storm. All I know is that by yesterday we just needed to get out of the house and move. Fortunately, the strong east wind had died down and we were able to get out without worrying about causing Saul too much discomfort.

We packed him up in the hiking backpack, all bundled in his warm snow suit, and marched off to Jim & Patty's for coffee and a pig newton (modern version of pig-in-a-blanket). Jim and Patty are the original owners of Coffee People, a classic Portland coffee spot from before Starbuck's, and provide tasty coffee drinks and treats like coffee cake. After getting fully caffeinated and rested, we moved on to Marian's to drop off a little gift and the check for Saul's day care. As we were leaving Marian took these pictures:

And we then made our way to the local market for a few groceries and the walk back home. Saul did great! He talked, he kicked his heels, he rubbed my head and he took a nap. Then, the last three blocks he final cried and let us know that he was done. When I got him all unbundled and his diaper changed I found that his poor feet were red and colder than I would have liked, so he got a nice bath to warm him up. Maybe we should go do it all again today -- he slept six hours straight last night, the longest he's gone in weeks!