Kitchen Renovation

When we awoke in our Portland Airbnb Ern got back to the important work of rearranging all of the contents of the kitchen cabinets he could reach.

This being Oregon and me being an achievement addict, we continued our quest to complete the McMenamins Passport. Some of the locations that you need to get your passport stamped at are concert venues or movie theaters. Those present a bit more of a challenge especially to us out-of-towners because we need to be free at certain dates and times to even enter the building. WELL the beneficent geniuses at McMenamins understand that sucks because they host tours of some of the buildings where you get to check stuff out without necessarily having a ticket to a show. And thus it was at the McMenamins Bagdad Theater & Pub. 

Ern did some exploring while we listened to the history of the joint. I extremely like the way these guys seem to really care about the history of the buildings they buy and preserve it in fun ways.

Ernie got complimented on his Jordans today. They knew the model number and everything.

The Bagdad originally opened in 1927 and cost Universal Studios $100,000 to build. It was the site of the gala premiere of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975, with Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, and Michael Douglas in attendance.

They played a reel of movie previews. I think this was Ern's first cinema experience,

Afterward we hit the McMenamins Backstage Bar at the Bagdad Theater.

Everybody knows the best place to go after a McMenamins is another McMenamins. We popped into McMenamins Hillsdale Brewery & Public House for refreshments.

I had a blue beer.

We popped into McMenamins Fulton Pub & Brewery but I don't think we sat down.

To the victor go the spoils.

Ern insisted we return to the Airbnb so that he could work on his projects.

He worked up an appetite though, and then requested we visit McMenamins Sunnyside.

It's funny like 95% of their locations are in amazing and historically significant buildings that you feel lucky are being preserved. The other 5% are for some reason in ugly strip malls.

Ern likes to unwind at night by putting on his jamjams and then violently reimagining a stranger's kitchen.

Playing Remotely

Ernie saw some big kids playing basketball at the park and wanted to investigate

We drove to Portland, OR and rented an Airbnb.

Ernie was pretty excited about jamming all of the buttons on their variety of remotes.

Exploring a new living space is an important project anytime we go anywhere.

STL Gang in Town

Ern's old school would send us updates throughout the day. One of the few downsides of this new school is that they only send one update at the end of the day. I'm left hours waiting to hear what he ate for breakfast.

A bunch of Zoe's friends were in town visiting. They stopped by the apartment.

Ernie showed up his cheersing ability.

We ate dinner at the confusingly named Dumpling The Noodle.

Playing in the Sink

Lydia had a genius way of keeping Ern corralled and entertained while she took a shower.

We learned some important life skills at KidsQuest Children's Museum in Bellevue, WA.

Reading Ernie books is fun but I also like to just sit and watch him flip through the pages of a book on his own. Most of the reading I do these days is on digital devices so having a kid has been a giant leap back into the analog book experience,

We mounted up and explored Bellevue Botanical Garden.

I think I may have missed my true calling in early childhood game design. Ernie recently got a zillion plastic balls for his ball pit. Well I chucked a few of those in the kitchen sink then turned the faucet on... it's been literally hours of fun.