Happy President's Day!

I don't usually post "Merry Christmas!", "Happy Halloween!" type posts on either my blog or Facebook because EVERYONE does, and I don't want to be one more exclamation clogging up someone's wall or reader list.  =)  But, so far I haven't seen any "Happy President's Day" posts today, and, since I had a pretty good one, I thought I'd share!  =)

For the last week or so my goal for today was to make a beach run.  The beach is my "happy place" and, as I haven't been feeling too "happy" lately, I felt like I really needed to get away.  My plan was to leave when Emily went down for her nap, which would have me arriving right around the time that she would be waking up, then explore and play in the sand for a few hours, heading home when she would be going down for her afternoon nap.  Brilliant, right?  Unfortunately, the weather gods were not in my favor.  As last week progressed, the weather forecast for Seaside got more and more grim.  In the end, I decided not to risk getting there in a down pour and not wanting to actually be outside.  So, instead, I decided to take Emily somewhere local to explore.

While she was down for her morning nap, I tried to decide between the Zoo, Children's Museum, or the new aquarium.  We have a zoo membership (=free admission), but the Children's Museum and aquarium are both indoors (assuming it was going to rain, in true Oregon fashion whenever I have something fantastic planned).  In the end, I decided to check out the Children's Museum.  When Emily woke up, I packed her up and headed across town.  It took us about 15 minutes to get to the museum... after driving around for 20 trying to find parking, I decided to drive back downtown, park, and take the MAX (light rail) in.  Emily has never been on the train before, so it would be one more first for her.  =)

The museum was pretty crowded today, with it being a public school holiday and all, but the baby room was less populated and Emily got to crawl/walk around and explore the different "obstacles".  =)  (P.S... she's WALKING now!  More about this later!).  We hung out in the play room for about an hour, then used the restroom before heading back to our car... I only mention this because the restroom in this place was a first for me... the first time that I've ever had to stand in line for a changing table! lol

We took the MAX back into downtown, and then went to a little cafe by Jeld-Wen field for lunch.  It was kind of a cool feeling to be sitting in this little place with my daughter on my lap, her eating an applesauce and crackers and me with a Panini.  =)  I look forward to many more Portland adventures with my daughter!

Waiting for the train!