Lions, tigers & bears (oh my)

A trip to the zoo was in order last Friday. Jeff didn't have to work and the weather was in the mid-70's, so away we went. I dressed Evan in his shark suit to ward off any potential predators. Don't mess with Texas.

We had lunch at the first zoo restaurant we saw. We sometimes have to explain to Evan that he's not the only one who gets to eat.


The mountain goat exhibit in the back, with mountain goat statues below and to the side. If you were to venture into the Goat Rocks Wilderness in Washington you would see many more goats, along with marmots and clear lakes resting at the base of mountains. It's an amazing place to backpack. This will do for now.


Yes, we actually saw bears. Black (below), sun, and polar.


We also went into the eagle enclosure. If you've never been inside the cage, you should go.


Taking a break in the shade.


The baby elephant Sam next to his mom. Sam was born at the zoo two years ago, and Jeff and I came to see him when he was a few weeks old and around 300 lbs. Now he weighs 2,000 lbs.


Evan has a lot of giraffes in his room; he didn't seem to recognize the real thing though. Pointing and repeatedly saying "Giraffe!" didn't help.



The zebra is keeping the grass neatly trimmed.


The zoo wore Evan out! As Jeff and I say, "This is a data point..."

Concours d'Elegance

Many classic vintage cars could be seen at the Concours d'Elegance, and so we found our way to Forest Grove for a warm and breezy Sunday afternoon. Jeff is a car guy, and if he has his way Evan will be too. I went for the hot dogs. I love a good dog.

We saw more than one couple dressed in the fashion of Tom and Daisy Buchanan, and they brought their cars to match.

A Ferrari 308 GTS, Magnum's car. This is an ancestor to the 430 Scuderia, Jeff's dream car.


A home built teardrop trailer, one of the cutest things on two wheels I've seen. Sleeps two with a kitchen in the back.




Marty: "Wait a minute, Doc. Are you telling me that you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?"
Doc: "The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?"

This one came with a Flux Capacitor, a deluxe model to be sure. "If we could somehow harness this lightning... channel it into the Flux Capacitor... it just might work!"


Jeff and Evan posing in front of a Triumph, similar to the one owned by Jeff's dad. You'll have to ask Evan why he's wearing a different outfit...


This Concours was all-inclusive, being held in Oregon after all. These are pedal cars for the younger crowd.

Santa, don't be surprised when Evan asks for a Wiener Mobile! A car and a hot dog - such a perfect combination.

Evan's first time in California

Evan got to meet his grandparents earlier this month! We drove to Redding, California the week of July 4th, and while we were there we also got to see Mike, Stephanie and Matthew. Jeff and I were mere conveyances for Evan, the star of the show.

Evan and grandma, their first meeting:

We had burritos for lunch one day. Evan was too tired to be much of a bandito.

One of these two is smiling!


Evan and grandpa:


This photo shoot was exhausting for Evan!


The three of us - Jeff in his photo pose, Evan mid-cry, and I'm laughing.


All packed up and ready to go.


One of our stops on the way home.


Evan got his diaper changed on the back seat. He found the set-up strange - this definitely wasn't his changing table.


It was hot so we left Evan in just a diaper while we stretched our legs.


Evan was pretty good in the car; he slept most of the way both directions, but got a little tired of being in his car seat near the end. A seven hour drive for Jeff and I turned into 8.5 hours with Evan. Maybe one of these days Horizon will bring back the PDX-RDD flight...

A nice trip all around, and we're looking forward to returning.

Evan is two months old!

I can't believe how quickly these two months have gone! Everyone - people with kids and also those without - said this would happen. ("It goes by so fast!") When we're out people comment about the tiny baby in the stroller. I want to say, "No, he's big! He's packing on the ounces! And just look at that head control!" At his two month check-up Evan weighed in at 12 lbs 8 oz, having gained about 1.5 oz per day since we left the hospital. A healthy rate of change indeed. And now he's 24 inches long, a 20% increase from when he was born. This puts him in the 64th percentile for weight and the 81st for length.

With all the growth it's no wonder he doesn't fit into his newborn clothes anymore. It was sad when the Onesies got difficult to snap, sometimes making him frown when I stubbornly tried to squeeze him in one last time. One by one they were relegated to the Newborn pile in the corner of his room. His 0 - 3 month clothes systematically got moved up to the top dresser drawers, becoming part of the pool that we draw from several times a day. More than once I whispered to him, "Don't grow up too fast Evan." I took him shopping at Gymboree and Baby Gap, and while I was driving home I started to laugh a bit. In the process of wanting him to stay small I bought clothes that make him look like a teenager.


The upside to Evan getting older is that he's starting to interact with us more. He smiles a lot these days, and now there's no question that the smiles are intentional. He smiles most often after eating and the big ones show his dimples, one on each cheek.

He also makes a lot of cool sounds, like he's trying to talk to us. If you catch him in the right mood you can carry on a conversation. It usually goes something like this:

Me: "Hi Evan! How was your day?"
[pause]
Evan: "Ghhhh"
Me: "Did you enjoy our walk?"
[pause]
Evan: "Ghhhh"
Me: "Do you like your new jean shorts?"
[pause]
Evan: "Ghhhh"

... and on it goes in this fashion. I did this with Evan for about a week before he did it with anyone else. It was always just me and him, no witnesses. I tried telling Jeff about it, but like Big Bird and his friend Snuffleupagus I was the only one privy. Now he makes these noises for anyone.

Evan also tries to suck his thumb, with varying success. His technique seems to be modeled after a hockey goalie mask.

This was taken last weekend. Evan was wearing the third outfit of the day. I was ready to throw him in the washing machine with the sheets!

The best part of all is that he's sleeping through the night now, more or less. He usually falls asleep around 11 PM and wakes up to eat around 6:30 AM. This is a little earlier than we would normally get up, but I'm not complaining!

Dinner

When we eat dinner at home Evan has an amazing ability to wake up hungry just when we're sitting down, usually to a plate of delicious BBQ. Even if he just ate an hour prior he still senses dinner time for us. I guess it's a gift. Jeff or I will then give Evan a bottle (we keep one in the fridge for times like these) and we alternate who gets to eat their food while it's still hot. This makes for long, sometimes relaxing, dinners on the deck that have a way of consuming the evening.

But it's a different story when we go out to eat. At restaurants Evan quietly observes the goings-on with eyes wide with curiosity, or more commonly he just lays asleep in his car seat. He likes to order the pizza margherita, ha ha. (It's obvious this picture wasn't taken at Apizza Scholls. Not to worry Louise, we've taken him there too.)


On his first trip to McMenamins Rock Creek Evan decided he also wanted dinner. We deployed Jeff's finger first (it works better than the pacifier) then we graduated to the bottle.



We like this place because its woodsy setting makes you feel like you're at summer camp. They have live music in the evenings and a huge fire pit on the deck where they burn cedar logs that smell fantastic. They use a flame thrower contraption to light the logs. Cool. Sadly, no pictures of the flame thrower but here are some of Evan and me after we ate.