Spring fling
With the coming of spring, so does the influx of things-to-do.
Alexis is in the beginning phase for the Portland Opera production of "Albert Herring" - and experiencing the time drain of rehersals. Such was the case this past weekend - as she spent the better part of her time preparing for...waiting on...and eventually being called to perform.
Which left Greer and I with a weekend distract ourselves.
Normally, in these situations I hunker down in the homestead, looking to address the pile of home improvement projects that go unaddressed during the workweek.
Laundry...laundry...laundry....
Cleaning the basement of eternal clutter...
Hacking through the dead foliage and detritus that fall and winter have deposited...
Evacuating the mouldering pile of junk under the carport/in the garage...
Gahhh....
This usually means that Greer gets to play inside - or immerse himself in the vast collection of 4-year old friendly movies that Dad has on file. "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad", "Veggietales" and anything by Hayao Miyazki or Pixar are the usual suspects. Still....as much as I enjoy seeing him get into certain films, the notion of him not being active and using his little mind to explore outside of the projected image bugs me.
So...we decided to go all out this time. Swimming, OMSI and visiting his Great-Grandmother.
Wanting to squeeze in a little industry on a Saturday morning, Greer accompianed me to Mt. Scott Fuel - a longtime resident on Foster Rd. where he helped load six Presto-logs into the back of the Beetle. My Papa visited this place back in the day, had a small pile of these in the basement that he would use for holiday fires...but we've been using both of our fireplaces this winter, so the Presto-log is back in fashion.
Greer hasn't been by our other Mt. Scott namesake - the community center/pool - for what seemed like ages. He was so jazzed to get back in the water, that he had a hard time waiting for me to check in. An hour or so of splashing around, circling the vortex and riding a waterslide with Dad, he was pruned up and ready to hit the adjacent playground - where he demonstrated his proficiency at sliding down a circular pole attached the big toy. Energy wasn't a problem....
Next up, OMSI and their latest exhibition of Chinese dinosaurs! We had visited here about a month earlier to check out the OmniMax Sea Monsters show. Greer had promised to himself "not to be afraid" of be seabeasties on screen...but he did clutch my arm a few times on that visit. ;-) As for the Chinese dinosaurs this time, I didn't think there would be problem - until Greer noticed an animatronic cousin of the T-Rex on display. One look at that roaring monster - almost killed the deal. Forget all the bones...that moving dino might as well have been real.
"That big dinosaur will bite my head!" he said, not moving from his spot. It took almost 20 minutes of coaxing and comforting to get him to enter the room, but even after that - he wouldn't get anywhere near Cousin Rex. I can relate somewhat. My Papa used to talk about my early fascination with horses....and how I would see one at a distance, and yell "Horse! Horse!" - wanting to get close. Of course, as soon as he picked me up and carried me over to the fence, I would crawl out of my skin trying to get away.
That was Saturday.
On Sunday, Greer and I headed out to Bridgeport - where he was content to draw and craft, while I took in the service upstairs. After church, we hit the road for St. Helens and a surprise visit with Nana - Greer's only great-grandparent - at an assisted living facility on the edge of town. Having skipped lunch, we nabbed Burgerville - where Greer wolfed a cheesburger and apple slices with relish. After a brief reminder on "visiting manners" - we headed over and checked in. After a little searching, we found Nana in her room with her feet propped up -
reading a book in her easy chair. Since she is almost 90, with memory decline and all that, I was happy that she recognized us both. Greer quickly had her reading some of the books he had brought and we shared photos and some of Greer's artwork as well. He was perfect gentleman all throughout. He even drew up a perfect rendering of his family while balancing his drawing pad on Nana's lap.
It was a good day.
Alexis is in the beginning phase for the Portland Opera production of "Albert Herring" - and experiencing the time drain of rehersals. Such was the case this past weekend - as she spent the better part of her time preparing for...waiting on...and eventually being called to perform.
Which left Greer and I with a weekend distract ourselves.
Normally, in these situations I hunker down in the homestead, looking to address the pile of home improvement projects that go unaddressed during the workweek.
Laundry...laundry...laundry....
Cleaning the basement of eternal clutter...
Hacking through the dead foliage and detritus that fall and winter have deposited...
Evacuating the mouldering pile of junk under the carport/in the garage...
Gahhh....
This usually means that Greer gets to play inside - or immerse himself in the vast collection of 4-year old friendly movies that Dad has on file. "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad", "Veggietales" and anything by Hayao Miyazki or Pixar are the usual suspects. Still....as much as I enjoy seeing him get into certain films, the notion of him not being active and using his little mind to explore outside of the projected image bugs me.
So...we decided to go all out this time. Swimming, OMSI and visiting his Great-Grandmother.
Wanting to squeeze in a little industry on a Saturday morning, Greer accompianed me to Mt. Scott Fuel - a longtime resident on Foster Rd. where he helped load six Presto-logs into the back of the Beetle. My Papa visited this place back in the day, had a small pile of these in the basement that he would use for holiday fires...but we've been using both of our fireplaces this winter, so the Presto-log is back in fashion.
Greer hasn't been by our other Mt. Scott namesake - the community center/pool - for what seemed like ages. He was so jazzed to get back in the water, that he had a hard time waiting for me to check in. An hour or so of splashing around, circling the vortex and riding a waterslide with Dad, he was pruned up and ready to hit the adjacent playground - where he demonstrated his proficiency at sliding down a circular pole attached the big toy. Energy wasn't a problem....Next up, OMSI and their latest exhibition of Chinese dinosaurs! We had visited here about a month earlier to check out the OmniMax Sea Monsters show. Greer had promised to himself "not to be afraid" of be seabeasties on screen...but he did clutch my arm a few times on that visit. ;-) As for the Chinese dinosaurs this time, I didn't think there would be problem - until Greer noticed an animatronic cousin of the T-Rex on display. One look at that roaring monster - almost killed the deal. Forget all the bones...that moving dino might as well have been real.
"That big dinosaur will bite my head!" he said, not moving from his spot. It took almost 20 minutes of coaxing and comforting to get him to enter the room, but even after that - he wouldn't get anywhere near Cousin Rex. I can relate somewhat. My Papa used to talk about my early fascination with horses....and how I would see one at a distance, and yell "Horse! Horse!" - wanting to get close. Of course, as soon as he picked me up and carried me over to the fence, I would crawl out of my skin trying to get away.That was Saturday.
On Sunday, Greer and I headed out to Bridgeport - where he was content to draw and craft, while I took in the service upstairs. After church, we hit the road for St. Helens and a surprise visit with Nana - Greer's only great-grandparent - at an assisted living facility on the edge of town. Having skipped lunch, we nabbed Burgerville - where Greer wolfed a cheesburger and apple slices with relish. After a brief reminder on "visiting manners" - we headed over and checked in. After a little searching, we found Nana in her room with her feet propped up -
reading a book in her easy chair. Since she is almost 90, with memory decline and all that, I was happy that she recognized us both. Greer quickly had her reading some of the books he had brought and we shared photos and some of Greer's artwork as well. He was perfect gentleman all throughout. He even drew up a perfect rendering of his family while balancing his drawing pad on Nana's lap.It was a good day.
