We went to our friend Eli’s birthday party. A two step process.

Step 1: eat lots of pizza, play with balloons, try to wrestle until parents say no, try to wrestle again, sing, eat cake, open presents

Step 2: drive to nearby nickle arcade, play lots of games, run out of nickles, beg others for more nickles, play with water fountain, go home

The bicycle game was great, you actually petal a bike. I took a video of Jasmine going crazy on the thing.

Oh, on a non-related topic. I have an iphone now, so I used its photo and video capture features. Not impressed. Much harder to get non-blurry photos. I must have shaky hands.

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You better look quick. Jasmine’s room is actually clean and organized.

Nope. You waited too long. It is a total mess again.

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I challenged Emily to surprise us by picking a new place for lunch. Challenge accepted!

After our outing to the zoo, she gave me directions for downtown Portland. Our destination was Goose Hallow Inn – voted best reuben. And that is what we ordered. They were very yummy. The sides were also good – potato salad, sliced carrots, and a giant pickle.

Jasmine got cheesy bread, which she didn’t really like. But she helped us with our carrots and pickles.

We dined out on the deck. A relaxing vibe with ample people watching. There was soccer game starting up at the nearby stadium so there was some hustle and bustle out there.

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Another great Portland day for a nice family trip to the zoo.

The reclusive sun bears were actually out and about today. For 90% of our visits they have been hiding or sleeping. They look so cuddly – except for the giant reaper claws that is – I’m sure they are only for climbing trees. Right?

We always enjoy watching the otters. The video shows the critter doing relaxing laps. For some reason, I crave shellfish after visiting these guys.

The elephants put on quite a show today. It was feeding time, and we got to watch him pick up snacks of popcorn and hay located around the enclosure. We visited the elephant museum for the first time, for some reason we have always missed this place. It was interesting seeing the relationship between humans over history.

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Yeah! It’s parade time. This year we tried a new spot. It was much less crowded, but Jasmine still scored a nice load of candy.

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