Nice to meet you, Eli Jacob Stoker

If it looks like I'm blessed beyond measure it's because I am. In February I visited my Idaho grandbaby, and then last week I got to visit this little doll and his adorable brothers and sister. They live in Portland, OR. Oregon looks a lot like Georgia except instead of steaming, it's misting, and instead of thunderous downpour--drizzle. The main way of detecting that I was not flying into Atlanta was that Mount Hood was right outside my window. Awesome!!!

Upon arrival I was greeted with this warm welcome.

This baby is the sweetest guy, so calm and peaceful..

With four kids, 6 and under, this family is hoppin. In the morning we watched a tool show and a truck show, I'm seriously out of the kid show loop. I don't remember either of the names, but they weren't "Dora" or "Blue's Clues."

 We went to Win Co where we bought some healthy food and this, 

also a healthy food, just a little more delicious than anything in the world. We walked to the bus stop, rode bikes, and had so much fun. I played The Game of Life with the 6 year old and 4 year old. They taught me about choosing a good house, one that isn't cracked, and how great  it is to have babies. I was the banker. When I asked them if they wanted to purchase auto insurance they gave me a confused look. The 4 yr. old said, "We don't know what that is." Fair enough. We all ended up wealthy and retired in countryside acres, so a Life well played.

In the afternoon we dug in the flower bed and found the most enormous night crawler. This guy was so huge he looked like a snake. I tried to document him, but just know that in real life he is 10 times bigger than he appears in this picture.

When it was time to ride bikes, Mallory, my daughter-in-law, let me use hers. Up and down the street we rode, 3 children and Grandma. My spunky 2 yr. old grandson came up to me on his little push bike and with all the confidence in the world asked, "Race?" He almost won, but Grandma pulled ahead at the last minute.

Wednesday was music lesson day-- pre-school music group lessons where the children learn solfege, (that's do, re, mi, fa, sol...like on Sound of Music) chords, and other amazing things that I was thrilled about.

 We also visited the Portland rose garden where the buds are getting ready to bloom. I had to imagine the roses, but the rhododendrons were real and fabulous and oh so beautiful. The only disappointment was that a little bunny was scampering on our path but disappeared before 4 yr. old got to see him. "I never saw a bunny before," was the sad response. I tried to cheer him with the prospects of seeing another (they're everywhere, right?) but all we encountered were some boring squirrels. He seemed to rally when we went to the park which can be even better than a bunny

These are actually from the neighborhood, not the park.
I guess I was so focused on taking grandbaby
pics I forgot flower pics.

.

Thursday was rainy so we played inside. I wanted to play something super fun with 4yr. old and 2 yr. old. Of course I leveraged the game with picking up toys. (Once a mom...) I had the brilliant idea of having them jump from the exercise ball, over the back of the couch, onto the cushions.  I held the ball steady while 4 yr. old took a trusting leap over the back of the couch, bounced once and landed on the floor. You know those videos that go viral and then say, "Nailed it?" It was one of those moments, otherwise known as "Grandma fail." We changed our angle and added a few safety pillows and it did turn into a fun game, but ....oops.

The wrong way.

The right way

That night was Brandon's birthday celebration. We partied with balloons, signs, crowns, dragons, pizza and cheese cake. We topped it off with "The Hobbit 2" and went to bed early. And I slept. There's pretty much always someone awake at any given moment with these sweet children. Mallory works with the baby all night and then Brandon takes the early morning shift before work. Mom and Dad are working very hard to take good care of these lovelies.

                                                      

Friday was my last day. We played a little more "Jump over the couch," I learned how to play "Sleeping Queens" and got to take this great guy to work and see the Nike campus. It's a beautiful place, very swooshy.

Then my sweet sis, Megan, came and took me to the airport. A perfect ending to a wonderful week. Oxox.