We did a lot of fun things in Pacific City to celebrate the little guys birthday, which I will write about in another post, but I have to mention his gifts. He is a spoiled kid, I’ll be the first to admit it.
He got a new bike and helmet at the beach on Saturday; a wagon full of new sand toys on Sunday; a watch, clothes, and a book the morning of his birthday; some train set buildings, a golf set, and a soccer ball and net the night of his birthday.
Wouldn’t you know it, but the “gift” that he played with all weekend (and it is still keeping him busy today) was a white golf ball and a Sponge Bob golf ball that the boys next door gave him on Friday morning as they were going golfing before we left for the beach. I told them how much he liked them and they came over on Monday night with a 6-pack of Sponge Bob golf balls for his birthday.
He still wanted to take all eight golf balls with us to Stroller strides this morning (which I let him do, of course).
Sometimes three year olds are really good at reminding us that it’s the simple things, right?

Our family spent four days in Pacific City, Oregon over the Fourth of July. I am pretty sure the vacation and celebration was the beginning of a new family tradition!

Thank you to all of our friends and neighbors in Tigard, on Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere for your help today! 

Odyssey found a warm place to get out of the rain today.  He walked into a garage in our neighborhood and found a friend (Grace the chocolate lab) and her dog loving owners.  They took him in for 6 hours, fed him (I told you he was skinny), kept him dry, and gave him a playmate!  Once there was a break in the weather, they were able to walk around the neighborhood and came across the flyers that we put up throughout the neighborhood. I got a call,  and we were reunited!!

Thank you to all of you who shared my tweets and facebook posts…the world is a better place because all of you are in it!

Thank you to all of our friends and neighbors in Tigard, on Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere for your help today! 

Odyssey found a warm place to get out of the rain today.  He walked into a garage in our neighborhood and found a friend (Grace the chocolate lab) and her dog loving owners.  They took him in for 6 hours, fed him (I told you he was skinny), kept him dry, and gave him a playmate!  Once there was a break in the weather, they were able to walk around the neighborhood and came across the flyers that we put up throughout the neighborhood. I got a call,  and we were reunited!!

Thank you to all of you who shared my tweets and facebook posts…the world is a better place because all of you are in it!

Our 6 year old black lab got out of our garage around 8am this morning (Sunday, June 6th).  We have been searching for him in the pouring rain for over 3 hours now!

He is a tall and skinny, intact male.  He is not wearing a collar, but does have a microchip! 

We live in Tigard bordered by SW Hall Blvd, Durham Road, 79th Ave, and Bonita.  If you have seen him, please e-mail me lostdog@stephanytaddeo.com! 

Our 6 year old black lab got out of our garage around 8am this morning (Sunday, June 6th).  We have been searching for him in the pouring rain for over 3 hours now!

He is a tall and skinny, intact male.  He is not wearing a collar, but does have a microchip! 

We live in Tigard bordered by SW Hall Blvd, Durham Road, 79th Ave, and Bonita.  If you have seen him, please e-mail me lostdog@stephanytaddeo.com! 

Last Friday, the kids and I took a roadtrip to meet Poppa for 24 hours in Seattle. 

After we crossed the bridge into Washington, the little guy said, “Mommy, where are we?”

I replied, “We are in Washington, now.”

The little guy said, “Where Poppa lives!”

I guess so.  Poppa’s home away from home has been Hotel 1000 in Seattle.  So, that is where we were headed…where Poppa lives in Washington!

We made good time.  The kids were awesome travelers.  Poppa was running a bit behind and was going to meet us at the hotel.  I pulled up to the valet at Hotel 1000 at 1 pm on a beautiful, sunny afternoon in Seattle.  The valet opened my door and said, “Welcome, Mrs. Taddeo!”  They unloaded all of our bags, and as I was getting baby girl out of the car, Poppa showed up to help get the little guy…and our 24 hours in Seattle began!

The little guy was so excited to see Poppa and wanted to go through the “round door” at the front of the hotel…his 1st adventure.  Poppa got our key to the room (they moved his bags to a new room to accommodate all four of us) and we headed up to the 12th floor of the hotel.  This was the little guys next adventure…the elevator.  Pushing the buttons put a huge smile on his face and the ride put tickles in his tummy!

We arrived in our room to see cookies and milk for the little guy and a glass of Pinot Noir and chocolate covered strawberries for me!  We also had a fabulous view of the water.  The little guy had his own bed, which he jumped right up on and snuggled up with puppy and blankie.  That was short lived, however, and he started exploring his new digs while Poppa got changed into his play clothes and I fed baby girl.  Of course, the little guy also had to have a cookie before we went to eat lunch!

We took a ride down the elevator and headed over to get some lunch on the pier.  On the way, we saw a horse, a firehouse, boats, birds, a stuffed penguin…the little guy was having a blast already!  After a quick lunch, we headed over to the Seattle Aquarium where we saw all kinds of fish, octopus, starfish, and seals.  We enjoyed a walk down near the water and headed back to the hotel where a massage was scheduled for…me!

Shortly after we returned to our room, the bell rang and a bottle of wine was delivered!  Poppa took the little guy down to the basement to play a little golf (hit the ball a couple of times) while I fed baby girl and tried, unsuccessfully, to get her to nap.  Poppa watched the kids while I got a massage at the Spaahh where they had champagne and chocolates waiting for me after the relaxing massage.  I was feeling VERY spoiled at this point and was thinking, “I like Poppa’s home away from home!”

Poppa ordered room service for dinner and the boys went downstairs to hit the golf ball a few more times while baby girl and I got ready for dinner.  We ate a quick (notice how all the meals are QUICK?) dinner and headed out for another walk along the water.  After the walk we tried, unsuccessfully, to get the little guy to sleep (baby girl went to sleep with no problem, but kept being woken up by her brothers antics).  Eventually, we gave in and ordered a movie and watched ‘Curious George 2’ until the little guy fell asleep.  Lesson learned:  Order the movie 1st, then try getting the little guy to bed…would have made for a much earlier (and possibly easier) bedtime.

Saturday morning came quicker and earlier than I would have liked, but we got up and headed over to Pike Place Market for breakfast.  The sun was shining and I could totally understand why somebody would want to live in Seattle.  A quick (again) breakfast at Starbucks and then a walk through the market as it was ‘waking up’.  Of course, being Mothers Day weekend, it was the biggest flower market of the year…beautiful flowers everywhere. 

Our next stop was the Ride the Ducks of Seattle tour.  This was the adventure that the little guy was really looking forward to since I showed him the website.  We got on the Duck and were off on our tour…quackers and all!  Poppa and I found the tour to be fun and informational.  We also had perfect weather…sun, sun, sun!  Both kids fell asleep about 60 minutes into the 90 minute tour.  Of course, this was right before we were to go into the water…which was what the little guy was most looking forward to!  We knew we had to wake him up or we would have to go on the tour again.  Check out the YouTube video of our tour.

We wrapped up our 24 hours in Seattle back at Hotel 1000 where the last adventure was watching the bathtub get filled from the ceiling!  We loaded up the cars at 1 pm and hit the road.  As we drove down I-5, Poppa called me and said the little guy kept saying. “I don’t want to go home!” 

The first thing the  little guy asked me this morning was, “Can we go to Seattle?”

While it wasn’t our HOME, Hotel 1000 did everything to make us feel at home for our 24 hours in Seattle.