The Fun Never Stops

Jon's nephew, Eric, and his wife, Cindy, spent the weekend in Portland. Their visit from Seattle had two purposes - Eric had a 20 year high school reunion in Vancouver, and they wanted to visit Leola, Eric's grandmother. (I think they wanted to see us, too!) Jon and I always have fun with Eric and Cindy, and although there is an age difference between the cousins, my kids always enjoy them, too. We told Leola that Eric was coming to see her, but weren't sure she remembered who he was. I pointed out his high school graduation picture on the shelf in her room as well as pictures she had of he and his sister as little kids. "He's your grandson," I told her, "Gary's son". "Well it's been a long time since I've seen them, I'm glad they are coming. I guess I won't go home today then." Right.

They arrived and brought gorgeous flowers for my birthday (thanks again, guys), then we all piled in the car to go out to lunch. Eric is a craft beer affectionato so we took him to Deschutes Brew Pub in the Pearl since he hadn't been there before. Leola couldn't hear a thing in the pub packed with people and little kids. (I had trouble, too), but we all scarfed down burgers and pints of Deschutes ales. I noticed Leola had added five packets of sugar to her iced tea which she claimed tasted "like water". She hadn't stirred it as was evident by the inch-thick layer of sugar at the bottom of the glass. With time on our hands, we decided to check out the new Full Sail brewpub down on the waterfront at Riverplace. We found a table outside by the marina, ordered more beers (coffee for Jon and Leola) and watched the parade of people. The weather, although cloudy, was a pleasant 75 degrees and we wiled away the afternoon watching the amazing variety of dogs people had. After we got back home, Leola wasn't sure what had happened. As Eric and Cindy said their goodbyes, she said, "I'm glad I decided not to go home today or I would have missed seeing you!"