A Really Good Day

Mom, Dad, Kaia and I all went down to Silver Falls and I ran 7 miles in 1hr. 10 min. Yae for me! It felt good, but now my knee hurts a little. We had so much snow the last few days and today was the first really warm, sunny day since so there was a LOT of water. I counted 20 waterfalls of 20 ft or more. The falls that always have water coming down were spectacular and Dad and I got drenched. It was great. I felt like Marty from the movie Madagascar when he realizes that the picture he was imagining while on his treadmill back at the zoo was real! SPECTACULAR!!!

Once we got back to town, we decided to get cleaned up and go downtown. It was a great trip! Kaia was mesmerized by a man painted silver and pretending to be a statue. A little boy gave him a dollar and he came to life scarring the little boy half to death. Kaia was so confused by the entire episode, but continued fixated on the man throughout his whole performance. He juggled and did some other kind of wierd stuff, but Kaia liked it and I tipped him a buck.

We also saw the max train and some musicians and a group of hackysack players down at Pioneer Square. They had a stereo there and were kicking around those sacks like mad, pretty impressive stuff. Dad and I both agreed that if we even attempted such tricks, we would end up on our faces. As we were discussing this, I set Kaia down to watch them. She must have thought they were dancing and began to mimic their spastic maneuvers with the music. I wish I had the video camera.

We then went to a fantastic restaurant named Tadai. It is a seafood place and quickly became my new favorite in PDX. I had the best Sushi, the freshest salads and the most amazing desserts in tiny perfect bite size pieces. Kaia had fun turning a soft-serve ice cream cone in-side out and got a kick out of learning to eat with chop sticks. She actually holds them both in one hand and then stabs something gooey... my Crème Brule was her favorite "chop-sticks" food.

She also got a funky balloon hat from a clown who surprisingly didn't scare her, but she refused to wear it... I think she understands that it is a ridiculous thing to do and thinks that she is too sophisticated for that. Overall, it was a really good day. I enjoyed my favorite trail, ate shrimp and crab and a million other crazy new delicacies, and got to spend memorable time with Kaia and my folks.