Forest of the Plains

Last week Jacob and I enjoyed Portland while John attended his conference. Jacob made friends with the housekeeping staff and the concierge desk staff. (Since we were there for 6 nights, they started to recognize us...) Our hotel had a mall to the south, a park to the west, and a light rail line to the north. What a location!

When we are at home we are much farther away from things. As a comparison, the closest thing we could buy is two miles away - there's a farmer who sells eggs. We're about 6 miles away from a town with 500 people in it. They do have a grocery store, but no mall.

One cool thing about Portland is that there is no sales tax, and prices at the mall seemed about the same as prices in Wichita. Since Jacob insisted, we did spend a considerable time at the mall. There was a true need to buy a few things as Jacob spit up on several of my shirts and I didn't bring extras.

Last year John went to a conference in Boston. There we met up with some Debian developers for dinner. I made a comment about how funny I found it that people often thinking that Purdue is part of the Ivy League. I mean, Purdue's a good school, but it's not that fancy. A developer's wife commented that really the Ivy League isn't all that impressive either once you've attended one of their schools. We tend to think things are more impressive when we haven't actually experienced them.

Enter my experience at Macy's in Portland. I expected to just look around and not buy anything because such an impressive store would be too expensive for my budget. Honestly, it was just like being at JC Penney store. Same prices, same product lines, same selection. As far as I could tell, the only difference is that Macy's has a Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Jacob mostly enjoyed time we spent at Barnes and Noble's children's section. They had a comfortable reading area where we sat and looked at books for him. Jacob really enjoys books! The problem came when Jacob realized there were so many books and he wanted to see them all. He kept whining and reaching for more!

I was amazed at the number of infant's books that were really written for adults and how expensive books can be. Jacob has received many books as gifts, so we haven't actually had to buy him any. Wow! Thanks to the people who bought those books, because the prices are ridiculous! (And thanks to everyone who has avoided that horrid book, because I honestly would burn it if we got a copy.)

One book series that made me smile was the Raffi series. I was introduced to Raffi videos when I started babysitting for Adrian and Maeven. So, now there are board books that go along with some of the songs that Raffi is best known for! (Sadly, I realized that Jacob has never heard Raffi! We need to rectify that!) Ever since seeing those books, I've been singing...

"Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea,
Swim so wild and you swim so free.
Heaven above, and the sea below,
And a little white whale on the go. "

You can hear the song and read all the lyrics here.