A Fig in Sweden Portland

vaux, pronounced like hawks

On a Tuesday night in September, we stepped out with what seemed like every other person in Portland to do a little bird watching. And by little I mean roughly 9,000 Vaux's Swifts. These migrating birds take a month-long break in Portland to roost in the Chapman Elementary School chimney en route to Central America and Venezuela. 

Every night in September, the birds gather just before dusk and then swarm and swoop for a while before they funnel into the chimney. 

It was one of those "nature is amazing" moments. But I think I was equally in awe of how many people came out to watch the birds. It was packed! I told Lewis that I think Portlanders just like to be out and have an excuse to throw down a picnic blanket for dinner. At least until the rainy season comes.

Mathis was probably more into the birds than any of us (we went with Sophie's classmate Henry and his family). Sophie was preoccupied with mastering her cardboard box sliding techniques, until a hawk or falcon decided it was dinner time. She was very aware of what happened and was not happy about it. We had to convince her that her Tweety bird (the little birds that come into our yard) was sleeping at home and was not a hawk snack to make the tears stop. Oh our sweet little girl.

a nice little vacay, eh?

Ever since we moved to the Pacific Northwest, there has been one destination at the top of my travel wishlist. I have just been waiting for the right three-day weekend to check it out. That weekend was last weekend. And that destination was Vancouver, British Columbia, less than six hours away from Portland by car.

It was the first time we've pulled out the passports in two years. Kind of strange after all the international traveling we did while living in Sweden. (Mathis doesn't have a passport and didn't need one. Birth certificates suffice for babies. Phew.)

What were our expectations for this neighboring non-U.S. city? Beautiful and not that different from the U.S.

What did we find? Incredibly beautiful and definitely different from the U.S. It felt a little bit like an Asian Barcelona. A more down-to-earth Barcelona.

We hit gastown, Granville Island (twice!), TaiwanFest, Museum of Anthropology, Stanley Park and Sophie's Cosmic Cafe. And we did all that in just 1.5 days. My favorite moment was sitting in a small courtyard on Granville Island listening to a guy playing Parisian cafe tunes on his guitar. Meanwhile, Sophie's eyes got wide with excitement when we stumbled on a Taiwanese girl band playing a free concert as we walked back to the hotel one night. 

And what were Mathis' impressions? Judging from the crying, he hates sleeping in fancy hotels and doesn't like being in his car seat for more than 2 hours. (In his defense, he had a cold and a little fever.)