Grandma Pat and Dahlias

Grandma Pat came to town for a visit last weekend!

The first night we celebrated August birthdays for Grandma Pat and Daddy. Brielle, of course, helped to open gifts. But whereas in the past she would assume any gift is for her, this time she understood who the gifts belonged to. She handed gifts to Grandma and Daddy, saying "Open!"

But Brielle did get gifts from Grandma Pat, including a Caillou backpack!

It's kind of sad, but Brielle isn't really into the Caillou show anymore. She's moved on to Dora the Explorer. However, she really enjoyed playing with all the little Caillou characters that came with the backpack, and she has been wanting a backpack for a while because Dora wears one.

Brielle remembered Grandma Pat (who she calls "Pat") and was immediately drawn to her. She played with her and copied what she was doing. In one funny moment, Brielle was imitating Grandma Pat while she was stretching. Grandma was planning to lift up her leg for a stretch and she set up a low block for Brielle to put her leg on. Brielle helped her put the block in place but then immediately threw her leg up onto the high ottoman in almost a complete split position. She's wearing "monster" legs that came with a "Boogie Monster" dance set that Grandma gave her.

Grandma timed her visit right to catch some really perfect Portland weather. One day we went on a walk around the neighborhood and stopped to pick some wild blackberries.

Brielle always enjoys visiting the stop sign along the nature path. "Bye bye, stop it sign" she says when she leaves it.

The highlight of the walk was running into a friendly neighborhood cat. We think she's going to ask us for a pet soon...

Our most exciting outing was a trip to the annual Dahlia Festival just south of Portland.

In the Portland area you can find all sorts of flower, fruit, and vegetable festivals. The Dahlia Festival is remarkable in the diversity of flowers. I see dahlias as "the dogs of the flower world" since they all look so different.

Grandma Pat really liked the "pom pom" varieties.

I liked the large ones with a variety of incredibly vivid colors.

Brielle enjoyed running down the pathways wearing her cool sunglasses.

Here's Grandma Pat standing in front of her namesake (Patricia Ann's Sunset dahlias).
The flower sizes range from just a couple inches to a foot wide.
On Grandma's last night in town, Brielle helped us make a stepping stone with her feet on it.
We also made a couple butterfly molds. She's been working on painting them so we can display them in the backyard.
On the way to the airport, Grandma Pat and Mommy enjoyed a wonderful lunch at a Portland restaurant on the 30th floor of a downtown building with a fantastic city view.
"Thanks for a fun visit, Pat!"