Theamainglierstancy

My Baby Wearing Boys!


Yesterday, the little boys and I headed out of the house to give Dan some uninterrupted homework time. Sometimes we're a bit distracting with all our giggles and running around. He just can't stay in his office and do the work. It was 64 degrees and sunny, so we went to the park first. After wearing ourselves out there, we headed back to the vegan mini mall. At Sweetpea, Halen had a wheat free carrot cupcake. I sampled it, strictly for the good of being able to rate it for the blog of course, and it was dee-licious, 5 stars. I had a sesame bagel with caramelized onion creme cheez. For Dan, we got a cinnamon roll to go. Liam, once again, says the mommy's milk version of these foods was simply unbelievable! He's got this idea that I should start marketing my milk to vegans as another vegan milk option. I'm not too keen on the idea, but little Liam is an entrepreneur. Hey, maybe it'll take off and get us out of this trailer park! This time, we got to peruse the other vegan establishments as well. Halen bought a cute 'cow hugger' t-shirt from Herbivore. Food Fight Grocery's new building is much bigger and better. We only went to the old building once, but it was so small and cramped that you kind of felt like you were intruding upon the personal space of whoever was working there. This one didn't have the feel at all. It also had a small fresh produce section, which was lacking at the last one. I got a crisp yummy fuji apple and some frozen samosas. I can never get enough samosas. Dan said that he read that Food Fight recently recalled the seventh generation paper towels they sold because they found out they had whey in it. Huh? Whey in paper towels? I'm confused. I don't use paper towels anyway, dish rags work better and are re-usable. That's completely off the subject, but I've never been good at staying on the subject. Mommy brains work differently, more slowly, and less articulate than other brains. So sorry. Sometimes when big people use big words, I just hear goo goo ga ga. Anyway, we didn't go to the tattoo parlor. We can't afford tattoos right now and Liam and Halen just aren't old enough. Time permitting, I hope to get my Liam tattoo while in Atlanta.
Halen and Liam both slept on the way home. After everyone woke up from naps, we got ready to go back out, this time with daddy. We met up with an old friend of mine who also lives in the glorious city of Portland. Megan and I were BFF way way back in the days of Mississippi livin', kicking ass together on the cross country and track teams. I can't remember which one of us was a better runner, but it was probably me. Go Greyhounds! Anyway, we had been emailing, but hadn't made meet up plans till yesterday. We met up at a burrito spot in her hood, Laughing Planet. The food was delicious and ultra vegan friendly. I had the vegan supreme (vegan sour cream and avocado) spinach and black bean burrito, with tofu. Dan had some fancy bbq burrito with sweet potato in that joint! The atmosphere was kid friendly. Halen really liked playing with the provided dinosaurs. This is a really great thing about many Portland eateries. There are often toys and books to borrow while you're there, in case you forget to bring your own kid distractions. Halen and Megan really hit it off. Liam wasn't as sure. As she held him, he just stared at me with wide eyes and a pouty mouth. He's another momma's boy for sure.
It was good to catch up with Megan, talking about old times, how our families fared in Katrina, and how much we all love Portland. She's been here a few years and is involved with some of the politics and such. I like hearing more of why PDX is so awesome, like that 80% of the businesses have 8 employees or less. Small businesses really thrive here and the powers that be help keep it that way. Apparently, the bike coalition here is an extremely powerful force as well. She's working for the campaign of Sam Adams for mayor. I like how he's riding his bike everywhere in the video, in a suit and tie. What a bad ass.
Dan went snowboarding today. We hung out at home. I wasn't sure how I'd manage getting Halen and sled up hills while wearing Liam. Dan loved it. After he got back, I got all my stuff together to go for a bike ride while the kids napped, and then it started raining. Now I'm in here typing this blog instead. Everyone else is asleep. Sorry there's no pictures representing the story of today's blog, but I've been slacking with the camera lately.
Oh yeah, Theamainglierstancy was the name of the alligator infested marshland clubhouse wood slab on stilts of me, Megan, and another CC runner friend Natalie. It's all our names rolled into one word, pretty clever huh?

Vegan Brunch

We had sunday morning vegan brunch buffet at Portland's vegan mini mall (the building behind Halen, it needs a serious vegan mural for better signage). It was awesome. $10 for all the OJ, coffee, tofu scramble, tators, kale, biscuits, gravy, tvp, and pancakes we could stuff in our mouths. The vegan mini mall consists of Sweet Pea Vegan Bakery ,Food Fight Vegan Grocery, and Herbivore magazine's new all vegan goodies store! Oh wait, I forgot Scape Goat Tattoo , where all the artists and all the inks are 100% vegan! Holy crap, we win. Portland not only has affordable living, but it's affordable for a bunch of vegan kids to start businesses and make this an amazingly awesome vegan friendly city. I am so happy to be raising my kids here, where veganism is so very normal. There were tons of people there, including other babies and toddlers. Halen had on his little 'go vegan' button. He was showing everyone, not because he even knew what it meant, but because it was this new little thing he got on his jacket and was excited about. Everyone thought it was awesome though, so he was excited that everyone else was as excited as he was and pointed it out to people. We will definitely be going back for Sunday brunch buffets. Dan had to work, so we had to hurry and leave after we ate. Next time, we'll visit the other stores and report. Dan and I both want to get tattoos. It's not necessarily in the budget right now though. Oh well.

Papa G's Vegan Deli

We tried Papa G's Vegan Deli last night and it was dee-lectable! It's cafeteria style, so if you want to try a spoonful of everything, then you can! Dan had some nut loaf and other stuff (I'll never have a successful food description blog, just a 'look at my cute kids' site). I had mushroom stroggonof, mac and cheez, creamed greens, and mashed potatos and gravy. It was all yummy. Halen had some Dahl soup that he devoured. Halen taught Dan a lesson in why he needs to clean up his potty mouth. The first spoonful of soup Halen took out of the bowl went straight to the table, totally on purpose. Halen really likes playing with his food. Dan says, "what the" and then refrained from the obvious next word, because he's been working on it. So, Halen filled in the blank and yelled "F*CK." He then said, "that's a f*ck daddy, it's a f*ck." He wanted to make sure Dan knew what word he had obviously forgotten went there. I was laughing my arse off.
On another note, there was another vegan family of 4 there! The other mom and I kept eying each other and smiling shy little smiles. It was obvious that we both just wanted to say, "hey, you're awesome, let's get our families together, what's your number?" Of course, neither of us did. I'm such a chicken. Kerry, move here so you can get me talking to other mommies. You're so good at that. Once again, I couldn't find the camera before going out, so there's no pictures from Papa G's. So, I'll just put a cute picture of Liam up. He didn't eat any of the food at Papa G's, but he says it made for some yummy mommy's milk.

Tough Guys

What's tougher than matching onesies and tattoos???

Bro's Fo Life

No Fish! Go Fish

Dan and I decided that it was time for us to stop going to our old favorites and to start exploring more vegan friendly spots. I found this great website, stumptown vegans . On there, I found a restaurant with these cute little 'no fish' sandwiches that I just had to try. The restaurant is No Fish! Go Fish! . I couldn't find our camera before going out, so there are no pics. The menu mostly consists of yummy soups (always one or two of them vegan) and these cute fish shaped sandwiches. They are made with a cornmeal batter and many different fillings, poured into a fish shaped mold and cooked over an open flame. I had the mushroom pate and olives with garlic and basil sandwiches and a minestrone soup. Halen has split pea soup and an apple and cinnamon sandwich. Dan had curry vegetable and the olive sandwich, also with the split pea soup. After tasting a bite of Halen's apple sandwich, we both had to have one of those too. It was super cheap and super yummy. It's also right smack next door to our Doctor's office. That's where we'll be eating after our check ups from now on!
After eating, we spent a lovely afternoon back at Mt. Tabor park. It's such a wonderful spot. We brought a blanket and had a family lay down in the grass session. I love Portland.

Mt. Tabor

The weather has been gorgeous lately. Yesterday, it was sunny and 60. We spent much of the day hiking around Mt Tabor. It is a phenomenal park, and also an old volcano! Portland is one of only two cities with a volcano in it's city limits, the other is Bend, OR. The dog park was huge, had hiking trails throughout it, and a big open play area. Bruce was one happy canine! We had a picnic on the playground's old school merry go round. We then walked to the top and hung out in the sun some more, admiring the endless views offered in every direction. Mt. Tabor also has history for me. Many years ago, when I rode my bike across the country, I started in Portland. The night before I left, I was hanging out with all the local bike couriers. They were planning a 'Critical Ass' ride that night, a naked full moon version of critical mass. I thought it would be a good memorable thing to do before my big ride. We rode up to the top of Mt. Tabor, stripped down, put our clothes in our bags, and rode down the mountain and beyond into the surrounding neighborhood, cruising by all the bars. We got quite a wave of cheers.
When we got home from the park, I had to motor to make a golden bowl casserole (yummy tofu, rice, and nutritional yeast vegan cheese gravy) for the NW Veg monthly potluck. I recently joined a vegan meetup group. They were meeting at this potluck. I was excited to go because there were several families with kids that were members of this group. Dan ended up not being able to go because of homework obligations. I swallowed my nervous social skills problems and went without him. It turned out better than I had hoped. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. I had a baby strapped to me, two casserole dishes in one hand, and Halen's hand in the other hand, so I kinda needed the help. There were tons of people there, of all ages and scenes. All but two dishes (and there were alot of dishes) were vegan. There was a play room next to the dining room. All the kids, 10 total, went in there to play after we were done eating. I went in there and conversed with other parents, all vegan, while the kids all played. Once again, Portland proves to be the best city on earth, for our family at least!
I'm having trouble with blogger and pics right now, so pics from this endeavor will have to come later.

Sled Day Deux

We spent another day on good ole Mt. Hood . I made sure to include Liam in some of the photos, even though he slept through the photo shoot.

Happy Valentine's Day

Here are some pics from this year's vday photo shoot. In the spirit of valentine's day, Halen just gave Liam a hug and said, "I love you Liam." HOW CUTE!!!

??Sushi??

I've been craving some sushi (no fish please). It's such a fun thing to make, I thought Halen would like it too.

First some super yummy sticky rice...


A few carrots...


Next some avocado...


Then the tofu...


Looks deeeeelicious...


The verdict?

MudSlide

Today we went to a park with some geese and ducks. Halen was being good, staying close to me near the dry ground. Then we got near some mud on a hill and he decided to take off, despite my yelling at him to stop. He was doing his running skip jump toward some geese when he fell on his butt and slid down the hill some. Then he turned over and tried to get up, slipping more and landing on his chest. It didn't phase his fun. The best part is that we were really far from home, waiting for Dan to get out of class. We couldn't go home and come back in time to get him. I stripped him down to the diaper, put him in my hoodie, plopped him in a shopping cart, and bought him a new outfit at Old Navy. As I was looking for the perfect outfit, he was unzipping the hoodie and climbing out. People were definitely wondering why I had a 2 year old in nothing but a diaper in a suburban old navy.





this duck had some weird feathery 'updo' going on.

Dr. Cool

We found the perfect family doctor for our boys, this pic is his office. He works here. There's a zen garden behind the building, out by the yoga studio. Can you imagine going to a yoga class at your doctor's office? He's great with the boys. He's totally into preventative medicine and naturopathic remedies. Halen loved him. He gave him a hug AND a kiss when we left. It was really cute.