SATURDAY THE PORTLAND CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

What an absolute kick! This morning Amy and I took Anthony and Alice to the Portland Children's Museum. It is absolute baby land. There was a grocery store for little tikes, a workshop, a garden, a water room, a theater, a train room, several different art rooms. We never even had time to do some places. It was great.

In the afternoon Chelsea came over to Amy's and brought her three month old baby Eden. What a beauty! It was such fun to watch Alice and Anthony play with her.

Lisa and I went for an early dinner at the Portland Grill. It is at the top of the tallest building in Portland. That was great. I just love spending time with my sweet daughter. She returns home tomorrow and it will be another month before I see her again. I do miss her company.

A NICE FULL FRIDAY

I began Friday walking to the park with Alice, Anthony and Amy. Such fun to watch them on the swings, slides, etc. Once they were down for their morning nap I headed for the airport to pick up Lisa on her return from Florida.

She and I then picked up Thai lunch for Rick, Nico, May and ourselves. We ate at their house and visited briefly with Nico before Nico, Rick and May took off for a weekend at the coast with friends. From there we went back to Ron and Amy's to see the twins. When Ronnie came home from work we had wine and sushi appetizers. After that Lisa and I had dinner out and then came back to the condo. Lisa shared her vacation photos with me. What a lovely day!

Double Bummer! I don't have any photos from this day.

FUNTIME THURSDAY

On Thursday I began the morning with a trip to the library with Amy, Alice and Anthony for story time. It was so cute to see Alice venture forth and communicate with everyone. She is usually pretty shy. Once they went for a nap I went to Rick and May's to spend the afternoon with Nico.

Nico and I walked to the Post Office and played outside for an hour. I had such a wonderful time and forgot to take any pictures of the afternoon. Bummer!

NEW CHAIRS

Hey Ron,

Check out the new chairs----I like them even better than I thought. The color is perfect. They fit ideally. I am so pleased. Sorry about the wires on the floor and the repetition of photos. It is difficult to get the color to be true. They are great. I am sure you will like them.
Diane

AMY AND RON RETURN FROM HAWAII

Well today was an exciting day for four loved ones who missed each other. Alice and Anthony were watching out the window for their mommy and daddy's arrival and they squealed out loud when they saw them get out of the car. Amy and Ron were so excited to see Alice and Anthony, too. I'm so happy that their trip went well and that we had such a wonderful bonding time with our precious babies. It was truly very special. What a blessing this last six days was for Poppi and Nana!

WATCHING THE BABIES--DAY SIX

Well nothing is ever entirely perfect. The kids are as great as ever. But just after I finished my blogging last night we realized that the heat was off and the house was growing colder and colder. Ron tried everything to get the furnace working. Rick did his best to help also. Finally we decided to call an emergency heat repair service. We were concerned about keeping the sweet little ones warm. The house was below 60 degrees and the outside temperature was falling to a 36 degrees.

As it turns out the repair man couldn't fix the problem last night. He needed a special part. We borrowed a space heater from Rick and May for Anthony's room. Alice already had one and her room was staying nice and warm. So they both slept snuggly. However, this morning the house was quite chilly. We used the space heater for breakfast. Then my darling grandchildren were dressed in warm layers and continued to play in their playroom. The heater was repaired this afternoon.

Poppi and I had lunch with Rick, May, and Nico at Sushiland. Nico is learning to join in a toast. Cheers! We had a fun time playing on the furniture at Macy's. Grandchildren are the best.

Oh yes, the final picture is of a area carpet by Andy Warhol that we purchased for our condo today.

WATCHING THE BABIES--DAY FIVE

This morning Alice and I were so excited when we woke up. We could see that the sky was clear. It looked to be a sunny day. We watched and listened to the birds singing their "morning greeting the sun" song, as I call it. However, by the time the boys (that would be Poppi and Anthony) got up and by the time we had our great breakfast the sun had gone hiding out somewhere. But we were undaunted and carried on with our plan. We took a walk to Grant Park to meet cousin, Nico.

It was a bit cold there and windy. Nico invited us to visit his friend Rilke who was smart enough to stay home where it was warm and cozy. Alice and Anthony had a fun time playing with Nico, Rilke and Emma. Anthony got quite a kick out of a little toy that used air to shoot balls up before they glided down a ramp. He just laughed and laughed. Alice took a bit longer to actually climb off my lap and check things out. I believe her favorite toy was a wooden rocking horse that she could ride with her feet touching the ground. The morning was full and Anthony almost fell asleep on the walk back home.

This afternoon after lunch Poppi and I left Dianna and did a bit more furniture shopping. We bought two stools for the island in the condo kitchen and a small side table for the living room. Then we used our coupon for McCormick's and Schmidt's and had dinner harborside. It was such a lovely day in every way.

WATCHING THE BABIES--DAY FOUR

Are we having fun or what? Alice and Anthony are so very sweet and good it's unbelievable. This morning for some reason they woke up at exactly the same time which was perfect. We fixed breakfast right away and were out of the house in time for the cleaning lady to do her thing at 8:00 am. We took the little sweethearts to the Clackamas Mall to play on their baby playground. We also let them walk around the mall a bit before it was open and crowded.

Once we were home again they took a nap. At 12:30 the nanny arrived and she and I gave the kids lunch. After that Ron and I went to Ikea. We saw a few things we liked and bought a TV stand. I returned to help Dianna give the little ones dinner, bathe them and put them to bed and Ron went to the condo to set up the TV stand.

Dianna and I had a chance to play with Alice and Anthony before bed. That is such a special time. We had another wonderful day.