Thomas left for Camp Baldwin on Sunday and will be gone for a week with Troop 820. Tina and Graham just got back last week from three days at Gilbert Ranch with his den in Pack 4. Tina blogged extensively about the latter starting here. While she was there, she twisted her ankle again but I think it’s been healing pretty well since.
I hurt my back while at our neighbor’s BBQ over the weekend and spend all day Sunday laying flat on my back hoping for the best. It no longer hurt to stand up on Monday morning but it still feels a little “tight” at times. I have to be careful not to strain it any further. As I’ve mentioned before I heal much more slowly since I turned forty.
After the BBQ on Saturday, we drove downtown to see the annual Sand in the City sand sculpture contest at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Last year we arrived as they were cleaning up and Graham got to drop the bucket from a large skidloader onto one of the sculptures. This year was considerably less exciting but we enjoyed walking around looking at all the sculptures. After we had seen them all, the boys wanted to try their hand at a sandbox that had been set up nearby with some simple molds and wet sand. Tina and I sat on the steps nearby, talked and enjoyed the ambiance of “Portland’s living room.” We were only there a few minutes before Tina jumped up and yelled excitedly, “Grammy!” She had spotted some friends in the crowd whom she hadn’t seen for quite some time. They came over and talked for awhile and their daughter, who is almost exactly the same age as Thomas, joined the boys in their molding endeavors. After they left a little girl came over and said “Graham?” She recognized him from school and also tried her hand with the sand for a little while.
As the sun started to set, Tina and I convinced the boys to leave by promising them a Hawaiian ice. Although the sign promised “real Hawaiian shaved ice”, the vendor could only offer finely ground ice. We ate them on the steps while we soaked in a few more minutes of quintessential Portland before departing for home. It was a good day.