memorial day road trip

for the long weekend we headed south to eugene, oregon, for noah's cousin kate's first birthday party. the party was a potluck at a park on a river, which was exactly the right way to redeem spending all day in a car. kate hosted with pigtailed pizazz. she is fantastic at opening presents and pretty good at eating cupcakes. (though, like noah, she focused on the frosting.)

it was fun to see the cousins interact again (meaning noah trying to poke kate's eyes out) and to sweat a bit in the inland heat. (i'm serious! i loved it! it really felt like summer!) we camped out in john and jess's backyard, in our fantastic new tent. noah slept like a champ and we all enjoyed the cozyness of being outside. we also ate lots of delicious tofu, which seems to be noah's new favorite food.

noah commandeered kate's new "all terrain" wagon for the purpose of walking around the yard. he loves to walk behind wheeled things now, like the wagon, his mack truck and the stroller. unfortunately his steering skills haven't caught up to his pushing skills, and aaron and i must constantly reposition his vehicles to avoid crashes. but don't try to help him walk, or he'll bat away your arm like he's plagued by a fly.

on our drive out of town we noticed a biofuel station--the first i've ever seen. it made me really wish that we had a diesel car. jess o. says that the convenience store part of the gas station is filled with organic snacks. pretty cool!

on our drive home we enjoyed an extended lunch break in portland with jay and jen. they overwhelmed us with hospitality, including, but not limited to: fresh brewed coffee immediately upon arrival; a giant pasta/avocado/chickpea/tomato/etc. salad; a crystallized and crunchy upside down pear cake; a giant bottle of home-brewed beer; a fresh-baked loaf of olive bread; a to-go bag of homemade nutty biscotti; a lovely walk in the park; great jokes; a garage tour... et cetera. the rest of the long drive home wasn't so bad after that.

more pictures here.