I took my mom and daughter on a trip to the Columbia river gorge. Unfortunately the misty weather blocked the scenic views on our drive. But strangely enough, once we got to our first destination, Bonneville Damn, there was a patch of clear sky. We looked around the museum a bit and then went on a guided tour of the facility. The tour was quite interesting, although I missed seeing the fish in the fish ladder. But they kindly had a TV running showing a recording of the ladder during migration season.

One amusing incident was when we were watching a historical movie where Jasmine’s interest was slowly fading until she said “I’m bored, lets move on.” Five seconds later, the movie stopped. I teased her saying “Jasmine, that’s amazing, how did you stop the movie with your words?” Jasmine eyes got big and she said “I don’t know.”

We also visited the nearby hatchery, saying hi to the sturgeons including Mr. Herman who is 10 feet long and 425 lbs. We gawked at the rainbow trout ponds and looked at all the young salmon.

On the way home, we took the historic Columbia gorge drive, stopping at a couple of the beautiful waterfalls.

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Today Jasmine, Grandma Karen and I took advantage of a Build a Bear gift certificate I got from my employer. First up was deciding between the many animals. After a long deliberation, Jasmine selected a pink bear. Next the bear was stuffed with fluff and given a heart. Then Jasmine gave the newly born animal a bath and a brushing. Finally came the hardest decision – what to wear. In the running was a mermaid and a fairy costume. The fairy outfit won out along with a few choice accessories like a pink cellphone.

After so much excitement in the morning, Grandma and Jasmine had some quite time at home playing shape blocks. They made some wonderful colorful patterns.

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Every year the Portland Zoo adorns itself with magical light displays. We have been looking forward to taking Jasmine to Zoolights this year but never seemed to find the perfect time. Well, tonight the stars were in alignment and we finally made it there. Jasmine, grandma and I had a blast… The lights were amazing. Grandma’s favorite were the rotating fish, mine was the inch worm, and Jasmine loved everything.

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Jasmine and I picked up my mom tonight. Jasmine loves the excitement and adventure of going to the airport. She especially enjoys all the moving contraptions: elevators, escalators, baggage claim conveyor belt, and revolving doors.

Jasmine was initially shy about meeting her grandma for the first time, but once we got to Ikea for dinner she started warming up. And then just about every sentence started with “Grandma…” followed by “look at this”, “sit here”, “I have to go the bathroom”…

For dinner, I had the Swedish meatballs (of course), grandma had the salmon, and Jasmine had the chicken strips. For dessert we shared a chocolate mousse pie. We then did a little shopping and then upon Jasmine’s request, we visited the kids area, where Jasmine tried out all the rooms.

You’ll notice Jasmine insisted on wearing her new christmas dress to meet her grandma. Jasmine was also very busy earlier that day “cleaning” the living room so it would “sparkly” for our family.

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So we went to our monthly chiropractor appointment where Jasmine enjoys playing with the box of toys. But not today. Instead she flipped through a bunch of magazines. It was so cute that I had to take a picture. She laughed heartily at the two kitty litter ads with the cats in funny poses and costumes. And of course she had to show me every Taylor Swift photo she came upon. I’m wondering if this sudden interest in magazines is because of Gram Gram’s holiday present of a subscription to Highlights.

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