An Exciting Few Days...

Angus and I are on our own this week, as Christopher, Abbey, and Molly headed to Fort Lauderdale for spring break. I have about negative 40 days of vacation, so I wasn't able to go with, but Angus and I have been jamming on in DC by ourselves. That's not to say it hasn't been an interesting few days.

Monday morning, I received a text that no parent ever wants to see - in essence, that there had been gunfire in the backyard of our daycare provider's neighbor's house. According to our provider, the police were there, the kids were safe, and she would keep us updated as to when we could pick them up. Suffice it to say, I was a bit stressed until I received the follow up text saying things were clearing up. I picked up Angus and we had an unexpected afternoon together, which was nice. And it turns out that the gunfire was someone "practicing shooting" inside a neighboring house that's currently under construction. The whole thing was VERY bizarre, but Angus is safe and it wasn't a gunman bent on destruction, so I'll not look that gift horse in the mouth (though I will continue to wonder what is WRONG with people???).

We also thought Maya was a goner for a few days. She hadn't been seen since Saturday, so I reported her missing and was set to prowl the neighborhood posting signs. Low and behold, when we got home, I heard a faint mewing coming from the shed. Dummy hadn't bothered to make a peep when I'd been calling her name in the back yard before, but long story short, she was fine. Hungry after 4+ days trapped in the shed, but fine. I know all readers of this blog were very stressed about the possible disappearance of Maya.

Anyway, a few pictures to round things off.

Angus is now able to crawl...backward. No real forward movement other than a bit of shuffling, but the kid can go backward pretty quickly now!

I'm sure Maya's VERY happy to be back within reach of Angus.

I'm not sure that book is quite up his alley, but hey, if my kid shows an interest in reading, who am I to judge?

Just a cute grin :).

Rainy, Rainy Portland

I once again had occasion to head to the West Coast last week, as I was attending a conference for work. As my dad has friends not far from there, he met me in Portland to further develop his babysitting (and diaper changing) skills. The hotel we stayed at was just a few blocks from the conference center, and pretty centrally-located (or so we were told) for downtown Portland. The room itself was probably the worst-arranged room I've ever stayed in, as there was about 2 feet of spare space once you got past the bed and the crib, but it was clean and there was free coffee. So obviously Dad and I were happy.

Angus was his typical happy-go-lucky self most of the time, and Dad's help was MUCH appreciated. Unfortunately, it rained for about 99.4% of the time we were there - and not just light, sprinkling rain...I'm talking DOWNPOURS - which put a damper (no pun intended) on our extracurricular activities. We did still manage to get out to a few good restaurants, however, and Dad frequented the nearby Starbucks "drive-through".

After my conference ended, we drove over to the Oregon coast for the day/night. After a brief stop at the Tillamook cheese/ice cream factory that I would prefer not to ever speak of again, we arrived in Pacific City, a scenic little town my parents have frequented in the past. While the weather still left much to be desired, we were able to walk on the beaches during a few precious lulls in the rain, and Angus showed his true adventurer spirit. Despite the wind, rain, and cold, that kid was smiling ear-to-ear the entire time. I think we have a little outdoorsman on our hands!

We won't talk about how early we went to bed (only because of Angus, of course), or how many "classic" movies my dad watched, or how much food I purchased for the one-day trip to and from the coast. But Angus was well-behaved, he and Grandpa got some quality one-on-one time, and we arrived back in DC late Sunday night in once piece. Can hardly ask for more than that!

Beautiful Oregon coast.

Pictures a bit out of order, but Angus jazzed up for the final leg of our trip (Chicago to DC).

He's a big fan of riding in shopping carts now. As evidenced by the legs.

Happy with Grandpa.

At lunch. An increasingly common face he makes - often accompanied by a whole lot of jabbering.

At a pizza place in Portland. It was absolutely pouring as we waited for the bus there. And it stopped, of course, once we were inside. Regardless, the pizza was very tasty!

Rainbow on the drive back from the coast.

Big strong Angus! Guess we're going to have to get this kid some shoes before too long.

That water bottle was his absolute favorite thing ever for a few days.

Angus and mommy.