Before we jump into what we did Week 18, which was over New Years, here's what we did over Christmas:
Grandpa Jimmy came to visit from Toronto, and read storybooks to the kids all afternoon on the sofa. I loved watching them, and I absolutely adore this picture.
We went out for noodles at Noodlebox with Grandpa too. How could we not share a fave eating spot with a visiting relly?
Ashley, Virginia and Aubrey came to visit, and the cousins bonded.
Alright, back to the regular entry, Week 18.
We had a great family holiday over New Years. We drove down to Port Townsend and met up with Shona and Cynthia's families for a wee sleep over. We rented a house at Fort Warden, the heritage military base maintained by WA State Parks. It was awesome! To give it a cultural context, Fort Warden is where they filmed An Officer and A Gentleman with Debra Winger. It originally housed soldiers and officers and their families and these buildings have been converted to affordable year-round rentals. We stayed in a house on Officer's Row, which faced the parade grounds lawn and the soldiers barracks beyond that. They've maintained all the trademarks of the rinigal era in the decor, and we enjoyed guessing at the servants' quarters which were under lock and key in the attic.
The big draw was the batteries up on the hill. We put headlamps on the kids (see Hannah's pic below) and ran through tunnels, up and down the stairs, stood in old cannon rings and peeked out of bunkers at the ocean. It took us 2 days to see them all. It was incredible and loads of fun.
If you're ever in Port Townsend you MUST stop for pizza at Waterfront Pizza, the oldest pizza joint in P. Town. It was hands-down the BEST pizza I have ever eaten in my life. I mean it dude. Seriously.
After Fort Warden we set out for Portland Oregon. En route we stopped for lunch in Olympia and came across Hannah's latest venture:
It rained every day, but we didn't mind, we're used to it. Here's Ivy studying a downspout in Portland.
Powell's Books is enough reason for me to sneak back to Portland on my own. It is a bookstore that is an entire city block, housing new and used books on every topic imaginable. We each walked away with a great book; Leif - hockey, Hannah - Star Wars, Kit - garden gazebos, Ivy - Goodnight Gorilla and me - scandinavian sewing designs.
Hot chocolate at Powell's:
If you're hungry while you browes at Powell's, you can scoot across the street to Rocco's pizza and order a 19" pizza.
It was absurd, and we could not finish it. But pizza and a movie in bed all together in our hotel made our first night in Portland a lovely one.
We stayed at a fantastic hotel (at which our camera an out of batteries, sorry. but their website has a thorough gallery) that is a converted elementary school from the early 1900's. They have their own brewery, movie theatre (in the old auditorium, complete with sofas and beer/pizza delivery to your seats), all the classrooms were converted into guestrooms, so ours had the old chalkboard and cloakroom. We loved it!
The homeschooling family goes to school:
(When I first joked with Leif that we were 'going to school' because the hotel was in an old school, all he heard was he beginning and got all upset that we were sending him to school. Sigh.)
And you know what else we found and loved in Portland?
SUSHILAND!!!!!
Man oh man it was fantastic. The kids lurved the conveyor-belt delivery style, and the food was cheap so we ate extra. :)
Hannah trying calamari, which she ended up loving, though she found it tough to chew.
We visited the Portland Zoo, which was depressing and grim, even without the rainy weather. Ugh. But the Japanese Gardens was lovely and we all found it very soothing. Leif took lots of nature shots, as he tried to capture the peaceful feeling it gave him, and Hannah looked tirelessly for the Koi that were supposedly in the big pond that ran under all the little bridges. Kit checked out the garden structures and stone pathways, and I found a quiet bench to sit on and knit a few rows.
On our last pass through Portland, we found Leif's future endeavour, maybe.
It was a great week-long holiday. The kids got a sense of geography, history, how to negotiate who gets the coveted Gameboy from the 90's while we drove long distances, and that we can find good eats in any town. I knit stuff and ripped it out again, Kit got to use his Crackberry data package to locate food and maps as we navigated the towns, and we all had a great time.
I'm already planning when we can go back. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment