I’ve been meaning to finish this post for about two weeks now. But with all of the changes going on in our lives lately, it got away form me. A couple of weeks ago, Lindsay had the opportunity to work with Ergobaby at Babyfest Northwest. Which meant it was time for Daddy Daughter day! With me working through the week, weekends are usually time for the whole family to spend together. And while I do spend a lot of time one-on-one with Edith, it usually comes in short spurts with trips to the park or walks to the park to see the ducks. I was excited to get some quality time with her heading into our summer of transition (staring a new job, having a new baby, etc.) as I hadn’t gotten to do that as much since her swimming lessons ended a couple of months ago.
Our morning started early with a family breakfast before we dropped Lindsay off at Leftbank Esplanade, where the event was being held. Lindsay had bought me a “Superpass” to attend the event, but admission was at over an hour out from when Lindsay had to start working. So, Edith and I drove around the Lloyd District and North Portland to find a park to pass time and burn a little energy. Despite the stern look in the photo below, Edith had a great time sliding down the slides with me and made friends with a really chatty boy who wanted to show us his toy trains and tell us his entire life story!
After the park, we had a pretty full schedule to manage. We headed to Babyfest Northwest to get in early with our Superpasses, but ended up having to wait in line for over an hour because of how poorly planned the event was and the fact that they oversold the passes for the event. There was no ramp or elevator access available for those with strollers (it was an event aimed at new mothers/parents, so you can only imagine the amount of strollers) and the staff wouldn’t even acknowledge my request for assistance to get the stroller and Edith up the stairs. So I had to take E out, collapse the stroller and shuttle everything/one up the stairs on my own. We wandered around the event for about an hour, visiting with Lindsay and checking out some of the exhibitors. At that point, Edith and I were both starting to get hungry and restless (they had a cafe at the event, but that was inaccessible seeing as it was on the second floor with no stroller friendly access).
I decided it was time to head out and take a trip to the Operation Kind Kids event put on by KIND and Sprout at OMSI. We said our goodbyes and made our way back to the car. Of course, as soon as we started to make the trek across town Edith fell fast asleep. When we got to OMSI, I spent an hour or so reading my book in the car while Edith napped. Once she woke up, we headed in to check out the Operation Kind Kids table. They had a great little interactive display/exhibit set up to help teach the importance of kindness to children (and I’m sure some adults, too!) There was a station where children could draw a picture of what kindness means to them (Edith drew a heart!); a fun sheet to count for the kind things you do for your friends, family and the community; and my favourite part, flowers that you could pick form to pass on to someone you care for. Edith took very special care to pick out the flower below to bring back to her mama. I thought this was a great little event and a great way to reach out to the community.
We were also pretty excited to be at OMSI while the Dinosaur Exhibit was open. Ever since we took her to Laughing Planet for the first time (they have plastic dinosaurs at their tables), Edith’s been obsessed with dinosaurs. For a while she insisted on having temporary dinosaur tattoos on her arms and chest every day. (Dinosaurs and tattoos like daddy’s!) The dinosaurs were animated and made noises and Edith had a blast. The loud noises and flashing lights didn’t bother her at all, she loved every minute of it!
Of course we had to head to another park after picking up Lindsay to get a little bit of family time before the day was out!
What did you do this weekend? What does kindness mean to you?
