Father's Day Fun

You know, parenthood so far is really pretty awesome. Every day is a celebration when you're the parent of a fantastic kiddo like Gracie, so it seems downright indulgent to observe the two days devoted to mothers and fathers. But... that didn't stop us from enjoying the heck out of each other during Father's Day weekend this year!

We woke up Saturday morning and decided to head off to Sauvie Island for the Strawberry Festival. Don't ask me why, but we did not take any pictures at the festival itself. Isn't that craziness? It took place at a big farm on the island, and there was live music, lots of delish food (including fresh-grilled corn on the cob, which Grace thoroughly enjoyed), and a hayride out to the fields to pick your own berries. Well... it started to drizzle right as we were heading to the berry fields, so we opted out of picking our own and bought some from the farm stand instead.

Afterwards, we explored the island a bit and came across a little lavender farm.

Of course, there were hundreds of fuzzy, buzzy bumblebees feasting on the lavender pollen, but that did not deter us one bit. Gracie was positively intoxicated by the glorious scent of the flowers:



GG found this little lady having tea in the middle of the garden and decided to say hi:



Elsewhere on the farm, Gracie discovered a blackberry patch; however, the berries weren't quite ripe. She sure was cute, though.







Gracie also found this pear tree, which bore a striking resemblance to the one we have at home. We had to remind her that the pears weren't ready to be picked, despite the temptation.



Just as we were leaving, we stumbled upon a berry... tree? Turns out it was a mulberry bush! We had never seen one before, so Chad and Gracie had a closer look. BTW: We didn't see a monkey or a weasel, but we did see a lot of happy birds with bellies full of berries.



On Father's Day itself, we headed out to the Astoria Scandinavian Midsummer Festival. Chad, being of Norwegian descent, has always wanted to go, so this was the year. Grace slept for much of the drive, but right as she awoke we found this incredible playground.



Here's Chad peeking out of a tower. Notice the river in the background. Isn't it a pretty view?



Daddy was having too much fun up there, so G decided to join him.



Of course, Gracie LOVED all the slides. This was just one of many:



But Grace's favorite part of that playground was this little trolley. She kept going in that thing and just chillin'. It was too funny.





No trip to the playground is complete without a ride on a giant turtle:



Grace could've stayed at that playground all day, but the festival (and lunchtime) was beckoning.



On the way from the parking lot to the festival itself, we crossed this bridge with all the Scandinavian flags waving from it. I thought they looked pretty against those big, fluffy clouds.



Once inside, we listened to a live polka band and watched some traditional Scandinavian dancers. I particularly admired this lady's beautifully embroidered dress.



We also listened to this man play his accordion and yodel. He was really talented!



We sat on some bleachers while we watched one of the performances, and Grace could not resist the temptation to climb. Luckily, there weren't a lot of people sitting near us at the time.



This man was making wooden shoes... by hand! I thought wooden shoes were a Dutch thing, but I guess not.



Gracie decided to make herself at home in one of the gigantic shoes.





Here we are in front of some big painted signs:



And here's a shot of the Midsommarstang (Midsummer Pole) outside the welcome booth.



On our way back to our car, we spotted a pretty little garden area with a gazebo.



Someone left this little wind-up zebra toy, so Grace had fun playing with it for awhile.



Out of the blue, G began dancing around the gazebo. She was cracking us up! She just ran around and shimmied to her own little beat.

On the drive home, we made a quick stop at the beach. In this shot, Grace was in awe of a HUGE flock of pelicans landing in the water. It was a pretty amazing sight, but I was more interested in capturing Grace's reaction to it.



Here, you can kind of see some of the pelicans.



We definitely had a fun-filled weekend exploring some nearby areas, making happy family memories, and celebrating the gift of parenthood. We are so grateful for our blessings!