10 years? A life sentence is even better!

What a day today is! It's our 10th Wedding Anniversary!!!

We're having a holiday in beautiful San Francisco to celebrate - yesterday we toured the amazing cells of Alcatraz prison - now a National Park. But that's a subject for a entirely different post.

Today marks a fantastic decade of happiness, love and adventure. We're so incredibly happy to be celebrating our big day with our big fella Anthony.

What a happy day and a wonderful ten years!

Saturday Morning

A great day for a Buddy Walk!

The weatherman says it's the last 80-degree day for a while, so it made for a wonderful day for this year's Buddy Walk! We loaded up our team signs and headed out to meet our gang!

What a turnout we had! Friends and coworkers and family who walked in spirit from across the country! It turns out we had one of the largest teams this year - what a showing!

Oh, man, our parents are going to try and get us all to sit still for a photo again...this could take hours, guys...

Mom and Dad are ready to get walking!

Hey, I think we're getting ready to start - hear there's ice cream after.

The amazing group Supervisor played for their second year in a row. Without a doubt, the best band in Portland.

No matter where daddy goes, he always seems to meet up with some of his friends.

Several members of Portland's Cloud City Garrison were on hand to delight to crowd!

What a great walk! It was so fantastic to see our amazing community come together to celebrate and have some fun! We sure had a lot of friends turn out with us! We are pretty lucky! Now a post-Buddy Walk tradition is to splash around in the Rose Quarter fountains...

We all had fun. But on a hot day, your mood can turn on a dime...

So it's time to walk on home!

Thanks, everyone, for all your friendship and support!

"Antonio's Big Walk"

That's what Anthony's friend Chloe has been calling the Buddy Walk.  We're all ready and looking forward to a fun day.  Team Anthony has raised $870 for the NWDSA so far!  Thank you, everyone!

Team Anthony!

What to do on a rainy day

1. Put all your Legos in a laundry basket.

2. Climb in with them.

3. Throw them out of the basket. Repeat. Repeat again.

Watch out where you land, though!



At the Roulette Table

Anthony and Kenney took a quick trip to Vegas last weekend.

Back to School (Well, back to daycare)

(Note to self: Paint those steps before next September- yikes!)

Thinking of the city and all the hearts who live there...

Emcee Dad.E

Today Paul did his best Borscht Belt shtick in front of thousands of people at Pioneer Courthouse Square...and he didn't get arrested!  He was the emcee at his company's Volunteer Expo. 

There were over 100 non-profit organizations in attendance promoting opportunities for people to get involved by volunteering.  One group was the PHAME Academy, a performing arts organization for adults with developmental disabilities.  They were the first performers of the day and Daddy did a great job introducing them.  One guy did an absolutely kick-ass version of Neil Young's "Heart of Gold".

Daddy's best line of the day?  "Today we all come together in a spirit of cooperation.  For example, we have the Feral Cat coalition right across from Guide Dogs for the Blind."

As part of the volunteer promotion, Daddy was also interviewed about his favorite non-profit, and was able to take the opportunity to give a shout-out to the Northwest Down Syndrome Association!

    Our Hero!

Macleay Park

Went on a family hike at Macleay Park yesterday.

It's hard to get a good picture of everyone!

 

We had 3 interesting encounters in just 2 hours on the trail. 

First, we talked to a lady who may or may not have been Ursula K. Le Guin.  Then we made a new friend named Yoshi-- he is 17 months old and a member of the T21 club!  Finally, we ran into an actual Storm Trooper from the Cloud City Garrison. 
We should get out more- you never know who you'll meet!

Laurelhurst Park

We had an end-of-summer picnic at Laurelhurst Park yesterday.   (Unfortunately, we only took one picture.)

There was lots of ball throwing and badminton playing, wrestling with daddies, and duck-watching at the pond.  Gyan even climbed a tree!  It was a great way to kick off the Labor Day weekend.  Our friends are growing up and doing so well!  Harry and Claire have started preschool, Anant is up and walking like a pro, Archer is gearing up to become a big brother next month, and Kenney turns 2 next week.

Happy long weekend!

Closed Daycare + Daddy = Zoo!

Daycare was closed a couple of days this week, so mommy and daddy took turns taking days off to be with Anthony! Daddy doesn't get too many solo days, so it was a real treat!!! What else could two fellas do on a sunny day but head for the zoo?! Check out those bears!

You can't go to the zoo and not take a ride on the zoo train. It was a wonderful run through the beautiful, shady forests above Portland. Daddy, this is awesome!

But you did kind of time this around nap time...

Anthony just loved discovering all the animals - they were all very active today! There was a Zebra...

A regal and powerful looking lion - he's almost as cool as daddy!

Anthony loved the baby elephant!!! And who wouldn't?!

After lunch, we checked out the Northwest Birds of Prey show! A Bald Eagle flew about three inches over daddy's head!

Then we went for a walk on the "Dino Path," a really cool area where big animatronic dinosaurs move around and roar at you. Anthony LOVED these guys! He was laughing so hard!

I guess dinosaurs = comedy...?

By mid afternoon, even the wolves were ready for a nap...

They weren't the only ones! We had the best time ever! There is nothing in the world better than being a daddy!