Decorating for St. Patrick's Day

I have not really decorated my house for holidays in the past (some years I would decorate for Christmas). This year I totally decked out the apartment in Christmas decorations. Cohen LOVED it! He was upset when I took them down. I left the little paper light garland up to make him happy. Well, it's almost March, so I decided I would make another garland to put up so Cohen wouldn't be upset. I make a rainbow chain with shamrocks. Cohen helped me cut and staple the chain. He was so excited to help and now I'm totally inspired to do more crafts with him. He was thrilled beyond reason in the morning when he discovered the finished product hanging up in the windows. Makes me want to work on other St. Patricks Day decorations with him.

Washington Trip January 2017: Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

After Burgerville we headed to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge for a little walk. I lived in La Center for over 5 years and never once went to this park. It was so fun taking Cohen and walking around. There was a big bridge at the very beginning that went over some train tracks. Since Cohen is obsessed with trains, we spent some time there waiting for a train. Luckily a really long train with some oil cars went by when we were leaving. Cohen was one happy little guy.

While walking my dad would walk ahead and hide behind a tree. Cohen would then say, "Where's Grandpa" and then go and try and find him by walking around the tree. It was really cute and I think both Grandpa and Cohen enjoyed it.

You will notice that Cohen has a sticker on on his forehead. My cousin Jamie gave him a Good Dinosaur book for Christmas and it had a bunch of stickers in it. Cohen LOVES dinosaurs and decided to put one of the stickers from the book on his forehead. Well, it was on there for over 24 hours. He bathed and slept with it on and refused to take it off. We luckily go most of it off on the second day in the second bath. Kids are so much fun!

Washington Trip January 2017: Burgerville!

A trip to Washington would not be complete without lunch at Burgerville! Even better that I got to go with the fam! :) Before we left I told Cohen we were going to go get "the best burger in Vancouver." Jeff of course perked up and asked where we were going. When I told him we were going to Burgerville he was deflated. Of course he jumped on his computer and started the quest to find the best burger in Vancouver. After some research he found Crave Grille. So, we had Burgerville for lunch and Crave Grille for dinner. We all LOVED Crave Grille! It was a really good burger. 

 Two burgers in one day!

Washington Trip January 2017: Can I have a s'more please!

Grandma always has fun activity for Cohen to do while we are visiting. After our long day at the zoo Grandma had Grandpa :) set up his camp stove so we could make s'mores. Cohen really got into the whole fire thing (luckily auntie Harmizzle gave Cohen a proper lesson on how to be a pyro the night before). I don't think Cohen even ate a s'more, but he did have a lot of chocolate.

Washington Trip January 2017: Trip to Oregon Zoo with the fam

It wouldn't be a trip to visit my family without going to the Oregon Zoo! This time my cousins joined us, which made it even more fun!

First Oregon Zoo Trip
Second Oregon Zoo Trip
Third Oregon Zoo Trip

 

Washington Trip January 2017: Blue Star Donuts

Ok, last food post...

Last Friday Jeff and I picked up some donuts before meeting the fam for a trip at the Oregon Zoo. We have gone to Voodoo Doughnuts before and Jeff wasn't a fan, so my dad recommend we try Blue Star donuts. After doing a little research we discovered that the Voodoo Doughnuts was for tourist and Blue Star Donuts was the real deal! Of course that meant that Jeff and I needed to try them! We picked up a dozen and to say that Jeff liked them would be an understatement. Jeff thought they were way better than Voodoo Doughnuts. They were a little dense for me, but I totally liked them!

I think the real test would be to get a maple/bacon donut from both Voodoo Doughnuts and Blue Star Donuts and do a taste off! I will make sure to do this analysis next time I'm in Washington. It's important to see which one is better, right?

 

Washington Trip January 2017: Date Night in Portland - Little Bird

Another food post!

After Jeff and I saw the movie Lion, we headed to a nice little French restaurant called Little Bird. We both really enjoyed what we ate. It wasn't the best place we have ever eaten, but we would both totally recommend it (for a special celebratory dinner, since it was a little expensive). I'm assuming we will never go back (unless Jeff succumbs to his desire to have their Double Brie Burger), but not because we didn't like it, but because in doing research to find out where we should eat, we found a tone of awesome places we would love to try! Love Portland.

I had the Fried Chicken “Coq au Vin.” Jeff said it wasn't a real Chicken "Coq au Vin," but I really liked it! The wine sauce was a little strong, but the crispy chicken and mushrooms were divine!

Jeff had the Hanger Steak Au Poivre with a side of Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Dijon Butter, Black Pepper Walnuts. I'm not a huge brussel sprouts fan, but we both LOVED them!

I didn't get a picture of the dessert (because we started eating it too quickly), but we actually thought it was the best thing we had. 

Washington Trip January 2017: Date Night in Portland - Pearl Bakery

My mom and Kari were kind enough to watch Cohen while Jeff and I spent an evening in Portland for our date night. I've always enjoyed visiting downtown Portland, but after this trip I've decided thatI love it.  It has an amazing atmosphere and both Jeff and I really enjoyed ourselves.

We met Kari at PSU for lunch before heading to Pearl Bakery. Those of you that know us well,  know that we are all about the food. We always do research before heading out to try new places. Pearl Bakery was one of the bakery's in the area that had good reviews and it wasn't a far walk from our hotel. We weren't blown away, but it was definitely good.

I had the Gibassier. I loved the texture (totally fluffy) and the sugar on top, but it had a black licorice aftertaste that I wasn't a fan of.

I also had the Chocolate Hazelnut Croissant. This isn't your traditional chocolate croissant (you know the one with just two small strips of chocolate in the middle). It was full of chocolate and hazelnuts! It was amazingly rich, but I enjoyed it.

Washington Trip January 2017: Playing with Grandma and Grandpa in the yard

Instead of flying home for Christmas we decided to wait until the end of January (cheeper prices) to go visit Grandma and Grandpa Anderson and Auntie Harmizzle in Washington state.  Cohen loves his Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Harmizzle and asked us for weeks when we would be going to visit them. We made sure to get there before January 25th, so we could celebrate Grandpas birthday!

On Friday Grandma and Harmizzle volunteered to watch Cohen while Jeff and I had a date night in Portland. Before we left I ran out and took a few pictures of Cohen playing outside with Grandma and Grandpa. He sure loves being outside and I'm grateful that Grandma always has an outside activity planned for him. Cohen was mostly interested in splashing in the mud puddles but supposedly he really got into the bonfire Grandpa made :)