thoughts on a page: miss elodie's first birthday party (a few months late)

Birthday Girl:
Miss Elodie Clementine

Miss Elodie turned one two months ago and yet I haven't updated this blog. Sad, I know. I thought I'd be so much more on top of things and keep up more with my second; in fact I vowed not to let her pictures be so few and far between and neglect all of her milestones. It is crazy how fast time goes and how demanding life can be and how little free time seems left at the end of the day.

The birthday trek story:

Having a birthday 9 days before Christmas makes things hard and I'm sure it won't get any easier throughout the years. I should know having a birthday 12 days after Christmas how hard the logistics can be. For Elodie's first birthday, we didn't want it to be overshadowed by Christmas or passed over just since it was so close to the holiday. So, we planned (albeit a bit last minute) to celebrate again in Portland by renting a house and getting the family together to celebrate the one year mark. My Mom and her husband, my Dad, Abe's parents and my brother and sister and law were all able to come help us celebrate. We rented a cute little place (4 bedrooms and 2 baths) in the Alberta Arts District of Portland, Or. It was a great little spot with walking to so many cute shops and wonderful restaurants and coffee shops. We arrived Friday night after a full week and got the kids to bed after a bit of snoozing in the car along the way.

We started our celebration on Saturday morning with fruit, my favorite (and Elodie's too) cottage cheese pancakes, bacon and morning star sausages and coffee. It was nice to just hang out and spend time together and not have to worry about the logistics of a large group of people eating out (see Sunday ahead….). After breakfast we walked to nearby coffee shop (awesome) Extracto Coffeehouse. We then attempted to drive to Beaverton for some indoor, blacklight mini golfing (agreed upon by the group). After a drive and some wandering around, we discovered our location….well…didn't exist. So, on to the next plan? We drove back to Portland with plans to do the same activity. Along the way people got a bit grumpy and a bit hungry so we delayed the activity in lieu of eating lunch. Abe voted for Lucky Lab brewery but we chose the location closest to downtown. After caravanning there and parking, we realized this location was cool….but no pizza (the agreed upon lunch). Aven fell asleep in the car and then subsequently slept on the bench in the restaurant. Plans were falling apart but we were determined to have a good time :) After lunch the day had gotten away from us already so we opted to head back to the house and give the baby a nap and hang out for awhile. After such a late lunch, we decided against going out to dinner and planned on viewing the Christmas lights at the Portland race tracks. We watched Elodie open her birthday presents (with help from big sister) and then had some snacks before heading out.

Well, I guess it wouldn't make a good story if everything went as planned (in life it rarely does) so here goes. We headed out to see the Christmas lights. An affordable activity that we could all do regardless of weather. By the time we waited in the insanely long line snaking around the entrance to the race tracks (1+hours later) Elodie, Aven and even my Dad fell asleep. We were able to rouse everyone but the baby to enjoy the lights though. Sunday morning we gathered our things and got ready to head out to breakfast. Well, as Abe says, "a failure to plan is a plan to fail." Which sort of happened with our breakfast. We wandered around the restaurants searching for one where we wouldn't have to wait an hour and who could accommodate our large group only to end up back at the first place (Petite Provence) which although the food was amazing, we were all eating split up throughout the restaurant. The baby was getting exhausted and breaking down, people were a bit grumpy from wandering around waiting to find breakfast and some parents (Abe and I) were a bit exhausted from lack of sleep (we were all 4 sleeping in the same room; or sharing the same room I should say).

Overall it was a good time mostly because we were all together. That was really the point and I am always so thankful when we get to spend time together as a family whether it is eating, wandering aimlessly around a neighborhood looking for food or going on a wild goose chase looking for indoor black light mini golf.