I bought these Sock Monkey slippers fto wear in the hospital after I had Samuel. Thomas loves putting his fingers in under my toes and having me pretend like the monkey is biting them.

I found these at Target. Have I mentioned how much I love Target?

Everybody loves a parade right? Well today we had a chance to march in the Portland Rose Festival Parade. Definitely one of those things I can now mark of the list of things I have done. Kei’s company was one of the parade sponsors so we had the unique opportunity to join a group of about 2000 walkers on a 4 mile route through the city.

Not that we walked the entire 4 miles exactly. After an early start and registration, we began the walk and made it about a mile before Samuel’s patience ran out. He was so good until that point but it was obvious that we would have to leave the procession to feed and change the baby (in a small grassed area by the side of the road – classy). By the time Samuel was refueled we had fallen behind the other walkers so it was clear that we needed a quick plan to catch up. Luckily there was a Portland Max (train) station nearby so we jumped aboard and caught it downtown. The timing was perfect and we caught up with the parade at about the 2-3 mile mark.

It felt like we were cheating. I mean we stood by the endge of the road and then surreptitiously walked into the procession like we had been there all along. There is an episode of The Office where they participate in a fun run and a few of them decide to jump in a cab. That’s how I felt.

When we reached the end of the parade route we were able to sit down and enjoy the rest of the parade. Thomas LOVED it. They had every float he needed to see – a Dinasour float with T-Rex, A Pirate float (but only after we assured him they were friendly pirates) and an astronaut float – which was appropriately renamed the “Buzz Lightyear” float. It was so much fun watching his expressions and seeing him enjoy the marching bands as they came past. The horses were also a highlight – especially the Clydesdales (above).

A fun, uniquely American, day. According to Kei, the only thing that would have made it perfect (apart from an improvement in the weather) would have been if every marching band played “Louie Louie”.

Mum and I (and Samuel) went to a quilt show in Portland. Yes, a quilt show. My mother is an avid quilter and wanted to check out the “American Style” of quilting. Apparently it doesn’t differ much from Australian quilting save a few Bald headed eagles, stars and stripes and the odd coyote.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by the artistry of some of the quilts. Although a lot of them weren’t my style, there were quite a few with incredibly beautiful colours and intricate stitching and design – real works of art. I definitely need the inspiration right now.