Fun in Our Little Town and into the Big City

This weekends adventure started out with a walk down the street to our local farmers market. We explored all of the vendors, sampled all of the delicious recipes and purchased some locally grown, organic veggies and our favorite BBQ sauce. We then made our way over to Bella Cupcake, which is a new little cupcake shop we have been dying to try out. They absolutely have the tastiest, moistest cupcakes we have ever had, so I am going to have to put an order in for Asher's birthday next month.

After that we walked into the Gresham history museum which we have been meaning to check out. It is a tiny museum dedicated to the history of our little town (well not so so little, it's now the fourth largest city in Oregon). It was fun looking at the old pictures of places that we recognize. The boys go to a historic school that was built in 1923, so it was fun looking at the pictures of their school with all the kids standing in front of it from years long past. We talked about the way they dressed, and why they didn't smile in the pictures. One of the ladies that worked there was nice enough to speak to Makai and I at length about the history of the old school and how before that school was built there was another school in that place, and had been a school in that very spot since the first white people settled here. It was first a one room school house and for many years it was the only school in Gresham.

On the way walking back to our house we passed by the boys school, so we stopped there to take some pictures. There is a big, beautiful, old tree that has been overlooking that school since it was built. We have been admiring this tree since we moved to this neighborhood 2 and a half years ago.

The tree with the school behind it. 

we love our tree. 

taking a picture like the ones we saw in the history book at the museum.

They were not supposed to smile. To Asher this meant make a mean face. 

After going home for lunch it was time to go into downtown Portland to check out the festivities there. The Rose Festival is going on so there are a lot of things to see and a lot of people to watch. Portland is full of the most interesting people.

Since parking is often difficult to find and you must pay for it just about anywhere in the downtown area, we chose to park farther out and ride the Max train in. This is quite an adventure, especially when the weather is good and there are things going on downtown, it can be quite crowded! We had to all squish together for a bit, but we made it.

 The marines were there giving everyone a chance to show off how many pull ups they could do. Makai wanted to give it a shot. The guys were very nice and gave him a little extra help.

The fountain at waterfront park. Kids were running and playing in it. 

 And even after I told Makai he would be cold and miserable since we did not bring shorts or extra clothes,  and we had lots of walking and a train ride back to our car, he insisted that he just had to run through that fountain too. It was too much fun.

We got ice cream bars from a local vendor. 

 This train was set up on the side of the road. Yes my children unhooked the chain so they could get a little closer. I just took the picture and then ran off and pretended I did not know them. :)

We also toured a coast guard ship. The men who worked on the ship were very knowledgeable and explained the parts of the ship and how it runs. 

The boys were pretending to drive the ship. Even though there was not a steering wheel to be seen, apparently you can not drive something without turning a wheel. 

exhausted with a face covered in chocolate, Asher patiently rides back on the max.

As you can see from the pictures, Kobe was not with us this day. He had stayed the night at a friends and stayed over there all day. Just wanted to let you know, in case you were worried about him ;)