Glorious Grandparents

Yesterday was grandparents galore at our place. In the morning, the Loebs came and watched the girls so that I could hold a conference call with the office. Then they joined us for swimming lessons at the pool. The girls love learning to swim (or at a minimum, playing in the water). After swimming, the grandparents joined us for lunch. Then last night, the Buck grandparents brought a picnic dinner to us, and we enjoyed a little evening in the park with them.

It's wonderful to live close enough that we can enjoy these visits. The grandparents have been such a huge help to us since the moment we arrived. From watching the girls to househunting to schlepping stuff, they have been amazing.

We stayed with my parents for six weeks while we were first househunting and then waiting for our house to close escrow. After we finally moved into our new house, I missed my parents so much that I kept expecting to see them when I came down for breakfast. Cooking dinner by myself wasn't nearly as enjoyable. Mary and Lucy missed their presence, too, in our day to day routine.

Which makes these visits now all the more special. And the best part? It doesn't require any airplane travel or 12-hour car rides. We are loving it.

Why we love Portland: Reason #189

The "four legged friend waiting area" at our local grocery store.

We love being able to swing by after a jog or walk and pick up groceries....with Greta!

Portlandtopia

We love Portland. We consider it utopia. And as much as we miss (miss miss miss!!!!) our friends in the Bay Area, we are kicking ourselves that we didn't come to Portland sooner.

Call it transplant fever. Call it returning to the mother ship (Heather gets credit for that one). Call it what you may, but we are so in love with the city of roses. People here are so friendly and laid back. When they ask, "How are you today?" as they steam your milk for a latte, they mean it. If you say, "Fine, thanks," they look at you like you have two heads. They actually want to hear how you are.

Our neighborhood is one of the most walkable in the city. Within 10 blocks, we have a hardware store, two grocery stores, the library, the pool, three parks, boutiques, bookstores, coffee shops, furniture stores, yoga studios...you name it. And, because it's walkable, that's what everybody does.

Everywhere we go, people notice that we are new in the neighborhood and introduce themselves. A woman who owns a little shop down the street advised me to just drop in and say hi as I walked by..."all the neighborhood ladies do." A woman I saw at the gelato shop recognized me from an earlier meeting at the park and introduced herself. People at church were so friendly, we were nearly bowled over by them greeting us.

Yesterday, we went to Sundae in the Park, held at our local park to benefit a local charity. There was great music. Tons of young families. They ran out of sundaes, but as you can see by their faces, the girls didn't mind the substitution ice cream bars one bit. As we walked home with another family we met (who live two blocks away, it turns out), we were so blissfully grateful to be in Portland. We walked home along the bluff above Oaks Bottom reservoir, with views of the river and the downtown skyline, and felt like we'd just won the housing lottery of the year.

Now, if we could only convince our Bay Area friends to come join us, life would be perfect.

Nomads No More

As I write this post, I am sitting in my favorite chair in our new house sipping from my favorite coffee mug.... which means a) our moving truck finally arrived with our things, and b) most of those things survived the journey!

The truck arrived on Thursday, and while I stood on the curb marking off the 356 items inside as they were unloaded, I had the chance to meet most of the neighborhood. Everyone was so friendly. Our postal carrier came up with a grin, exclaiming, "Welcome to the neighborhood!" and flashing a dog bone for Greta. Our friends Brian and Becca stopped by with not one but two plates of cookies to sustain us. (By the way, if you are reading this, we want that family recipe!) Many other neighbors poked their heads out to introduce themselves and welcome us to the street. We simply love this neighborhood.

Last night, we spent our first night in the home, after a busy day of unpacking and getting settled (thank you, wonderful parents, for all of the help!!). By 6pm, we declared it was time to wrap up the heavy lifting. We walked three blocks, and were surrounded by a myriad of restaurants. We went with a great little Mexican place, sitting outside on the patio. After dinner, we walked across the street, got gelato to go, walked the three blocks back to our home, and enjoyed our first dessert on our back deck. Heavenly!

Since February, we have been nomads. Last night, after we tucked the girls into bed and dragged ourselves away from the tempting stacks upon stacks of boxes, we went and sat on the front porch and relished the moment. It feels so good to have a home once again... and to really feel like it is home.

It's all ours...but empty!

A quick update on our house: we have the keys, but we can't move in until our furniture arrives. It was supposed to happen Tuesday, now it might be Thursday or Friday. In the meantime, here's our home-sweet-almost-home.

We had the sewer line from the house to the street replaced last week, and as part of the process, they had to take out a section of the curb. It turns out that section had the "horse hitch" from the early 1900s where the owners tied their horses. Fortunately, they saved the section and will reinstall it for us so that we can keep a piece of the house's history.

I can already imagine one of Mary's toy ponies tied to the hitch.... can't you??

Joyfully gathered

We just got back from a very quick overnight trip to my former roomie Julie's wedding. It was spectacular. We've been to a lot of wonderful weddings over the years, but this one took the cake for being a fun, spirited occasion. The beautiful bride and her charming, witty groom were having the time of their lives. It was crystal clear that they were destined to be together.

Curtis and I left the reception (which officially ended at midnight, but actually ended much, much later) and said to each other, "That was the most fun wedding EVER!"

At one point Rafi mockingly serended Julie with a favorite of her yesteryears, and I was laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face. If the wedding is any indication, these two will have the most joyous life together. Best wishes, Jules and Rafi, and thanks for letting us be part of the magical day.

Blog Neglect

I'm not sure we have much of an audience, but for the two of you who actually read this blog, I apologize for the neglect of late. Life just seems too full these days to manage a few moments to post. Well, wonder no more, because here's the latest on what we crazy Loebs have been doing:

First (because, after all, this is what should come first), we took a wonderful vacation in SunRiver, where bike paths wind around to the village (yum, donuts from Lava Baking Co.!) and to the pool (splash, splash) and to the new club (oooh how nice a hot stone massage is). We had a great time reliving childhood memories with our own brood. We rented bikes for Mary and Lucy, and they had a great time pedaling around. We grown-ups used the cruisers in the rental house's garage, and felt like we were twenty years younger. And Curtis acted like it, too! (Sorry, hon, I couldn't resist....)

For the Fourth of July, we traded in our bikes for our car and drove to downtown Bend for the Annual Pet Parade. After watching for a while, and not seeing any lovely weimaraners in the parade, we decided we had to JOIN the parade for one block so that Greta could make her mark. Following the Pet Parade was the Freedom Parade, a whirly, loud bunch of cyclists taking over the downtown blocks for 20 minutes (for you San Franciscans, think Critical Mass on a small, family scale). Cyclists on all kinds of creative bike, unicycles, and tandems decorated with red, white and blue hooted and hollered, "FREEDOM!" (Curtis want to jump in and join this parade, too, but much to his chagrin, we had no bikes with us.) Afterward, we went to Tom & Amy's house for a delicious bbq. Grandma had so much fun with all three granddaughters.

And second (since I said 'first' above and should stay consistent) now that we are back on the other side of Mt. Hood, we've been busy with all of the details on our new house. Signing papers, hooking up utilities, trying to find preschools that have openings...all of the mundane tasks that go along with buying a new place. We signed papers yesterday, and we should officially go on record and get the keys on Monday. As soon as we are "in," I'll post a few photos so that you can see our little 1915 bungalow which will soon be home.

Before I sign off, I just have to say Happy Birthday to little WillBug, who is turning two on Monday. We so miss not being part of his celebration, but we are sending our best wishes for a rip-roaring, cupcake eating good time. And Lucy is shouting a big, "Happy Bir---day to Will" all the way from Portland (can you hear it? it's LOUD enough to cross state lines!).