baby chicks and cherry blossoms

We spent Sunday eating, wandering, playing, and talking with the Hoangs. It was a delightful and uneventful Portland day.

We first stopped by their house to check out their chickens: they are the proud owners of three baby chicks, currently living in a little indoor coop, but destined for a (soon to be) nicely fenced outdoor space. Fresh eggs! Liesl was thrilled to hold them (Violet, Lily, and Fluffy) and pet them. Sebastian did not want to touch them at all, but was finally convinced to gently stroke the neck of one while I held it. It's so cool to hold a tiny bird and feel its heartbeat.

Next was Taiwanese food at a noodle shop called Wei Wei. The bao, pork chop, and beef noodle soup were decent, but not amazing. We ate outside at a food cart pod and supplemented our take with some borscht and pierogies, which were pretty tasty; and some Laotian food. We love to eat with the Hoangs - we all love to eat, and love to eat everything, so we share plates. We order collaboratively and then all the food goes in the middle of the table and everyone digs in separately and together, serving children, serving ourselves, tasting it all. Anne remarked today that eating out with Steve is like the wine tasting of food - you get little bites of a lot of different things.

We walked and Seb biked over to Sellwood Park, admiring the spring flowers in bloom - camellias, forsythia, daffodils, crocuses cherry and magnolia trees. The kids played at the playground and then ran around the fields getting increasingly muddy.

After a while we packed ourselves back into the cars and headed down to the waterfront to check out Portland's famous double row of Japanese cherry trees. They were in bloom, and beautiful, and the predicted heavy rain finally arrived at 3:30 and chased all the tourists away, so we had them to ourselves.  Of course, we also got wet and cold, and we were (as previously mentioned) increasingly muddy, so we headed home. Steve and Cuong were still plotting our next meal out at that point and had to be dragged away ... they're a dangerous combination.

A good Sunday, and our usual busy week ahead: gymnastics, dance, piano, swimming, climbing, jazz, work, school. At least I feel like I checked in with and communed with the springtime this weekend, and said hello to my favorite flowers.