Rainy Sunday Parkways

16 weeks

Today was the last Sunday Parkways of the season. Parkways are one of our favorite events in Portland, as the city closes streets in a designated neighborhood to allow for bicycle and pedestrian traffic to take over for several hours. Our participation has been quite limited this year as Nathan is not old enough for bicycle carriers. When he was about three weeks old, we walked part of the North Portland route. Today, the Parkways came to our neighborhood and Jennifer, Nathan and I set out in the fall weather (blustery and cool followed by total downpour and drenched). To prepare for the cooler weather, I finally put Nathan into his first pair of jeans. I love how they look on, but are significantly more work to put on and take off compared to the sweats he usually wears.

Since Nathan is growing, I adjusted his stroller so he is no longer lying flat, but reclined slightly. He didn't seem to notice the difference much and didn't pay any more attention to his surroundings. Bundled with a warm lap quilt, we headed toward the nearest park to find food for Jennifer and myself first. After eating, we began to walk the Parkways route when the skies truly opened and we were stuck in the first real downpour of the season. We hid out under the cover of trees while the storm passed and then I decided I was ready to go home again. Nathan, of course, slept through the entire storm. Once home, Jennifer grabbed her bike and went back to the parkways, while Nathan enjoyed a little tummy time at home.

Comments

Tradition

At no other time of the year do I think about "tradition" more than during the holidays, from Thanksgiving through Christmas. I do like the sense of timelessness that traditions afford, reminding us of past Christmases and the people or places we cherish most. As much as I love the traditions of years past and years to come, I think it's healthy to miss or change traditions every now and then. My own childhood was filled with traditions for Thanksgiving and Christmas, as was Jeff's, but I also recall the experiences when traditions were put on hold or changed, sometimes intentionally, and sometimes for reasons beyond our control. I suppose it's the same for all of us as we grow, move, lose, and gain. Not that I go out of my way to disrupt any plans for my family now, but rather, to remind us that life doesn't always go the way it has before and we can enjoy the time together no matter what. Having our own family caused Jeff and I to decide on what would be...

Christmas 2020

Have yourself a merry little Christmas Let your heart be light From now on Our troubles will be out of sight As a result of the pandemic, the model train festival we typically enjoy this time of year was canceled (thus no pictures with Santa). We missed family and friends this year. The fun energy of the last few school days before Winter Break was not quite the same over Zoom. I missed singing carols in church during month of December. As the season progressed, I couldn't help but reflect on other times in history where celebrations were small and often just a nuclear family. Times and places where travel was too difficult or too expensive to justify leaving home. For those generations of families, the traditions were as simple as reading the Christmas story together or baking a special bread. In so many ways that was our Christmas this year and by seeking the joy in each moment, we found our hearts lighter. We visited our favorite local tree farm to find THE TREE. We...

Raising Boys

I absolutely love having two boys. There is an energy and excitement that definitely keeps me young. When meeting other parents with all boys there is always an unacknowledged kinship and assumption that we deal with the same rowdiness, crudeness and overall chaos that is a house of young boys. For six years now I have always said I am so thankful to have all boys rather than girls. There is this assumption that boys are so much easier than girls. That as a father girls are so much scarier. That things like braiding hair, princesses and unicorns, teenage love, menstrual cycles, and protecting sexual innocence are so much harder for a father to navigate as a parent of a female. But what if this assumption that boys are easier, that they are less work, that boys are not as high maintenance to parent as girls is partly responsible for toxic masculinity and so many of our societal problems that can be traced back to the patriarchy? I think about...

The Davolts

Search This Blog