Park time

The disadvantage of having Facebook and a blog is that sometimes one is overlooked in favor of the other. Here are some fun pictures of a trip Saul and I took to the "dog park". One of the best parts of being in Portland is the number of parks available to us. And Saul has named each of his favorites according to some major element that sticks with him.

The 'Mona' park is Grant Park. Children's book author Beverly Cleary grew up in the area and her Ramona books take place around Grant Park. In tribute, there are three statues - one of Ramona, one of Henry and one of Ribsy. These are very important to Saul. He'll often hug Ramona, tell Henry "hi" and he gets to ride on Ribsy. Pretty cute.

The bunny park has a bunny that the kids can climb up on and then rock. It's sort of like a rocking horse, but not.

The dog park is walking distance from the house. It has fun play structures especially now that the kids (Claire being included here) are older. They each have favorite things but it's fun to watch how much they like to run around now. It is also where Mom walked with Jeff and me and the kids one decent day while she was in town for the holidays. The pictures below are from the first trip back to the park, which was probably about three weeks later (based upon the weather). As Saul was playing he would say, "Grammie Susie, park." It took me a minute to realize that he was remembering the good time he'd had with my mom!

Step 1: Getting ready to climb through the tunnel.

Step 2: Crawling through the tunnel.

Step 3: Through the tunnel and going down the slide!

Step 4: At the bottom. Time to do it again!