Lady Who Lunches

On Tuesday, we took Bridget into downtown Portland to have lunch with Nathan's mom and sister. We ate at a great deli and after lunch Nathan, Kara and Bridget branched off and went to visit Powell's Books. Powell's is one of the world's largest independent new and used book stores in the world.


A rare shot of Bridget and Kara (since Mom is usually BEHIND the camera).


Bridget and Kara explored the Children's Literature section, where Bridget scored 1 used and 3 new books, while Nathan looked for some books of his own.


The bookstore's entrance is unassuming, but it actually takes up an entire City Block, with many levels filled to excess. It's a book-lover's paradise.

OMSI Outing

Bridget got to experience OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) yesterday. It was a fun outing and there was a play and exploration area just for kids her size. It is so fun to watch her curiosity come out.



In the kids area she got to walk under a tree, and she also learned how a squirrel gathers and stores nuts for the winter.




She got to be silly and play with balls and other kids in the baby area. There was also a big fish tank and she had fun pointing out all the fish.


She even enjoyed seeing some of the exhibits, including this skeleton of a saber tooth cat. She thought it was a dog.

Off Her Rocker

One of the most special gifts Bridget received this year is a beautiful rocking chair from Grandma (Carol) Foley. The rocker belonged to Carol as a child. Carol has held on to it all these years and she recently had it completely restored and brought back to life.



When the chair was taken apart, they found the original purchase slip from 1930, from the "Spokane Furniture Company." It was discovered that the chair was originally purchased by Carol's aunt, before she was even born. The chair, like a lot of furniture from that time, had been stained very dark. During restoration the wood was stripped and polished and is now more beautiful than ever. The original needle point seat was removed and replaced by a more updated and versatile Mother Rabbit (from the Peter Rabbit series).

Bridget already loves her new rocker and she has spent the last few days climbing in and on it, and letting her "babies" sit in it too. It is truly a family heirloom and we hope Bridget is able to pass it down to her own child one day.

A Foley Christmas - Part II

We woke up on Christmas morning and everyone was in good spirits. We opened stockings, opened a few more of Bridget's gifts, and ate brunch. We good an amazing new camera (a Nikon D40) as a gift from Jim and Carol, so most of the morning was spent capturing shots of Bridget.


We lined all of the stockings up in the kitchen before opening them. Bridget had so many stocking gifts that many of them ended up on the counter.


Here is a nice shot of Bridget with her Grandma and Papa.


We had a great brunch, with Omelets, fruit, and toast. Yum.


Did we mention that we're having a White Christmas?! Bridget loves looking at all the snow outside.

A Foley Christmas - Part I

Merry Christmas! Nathan, Kara, and Bridget made the trip from San Rafael to Portland on Tuesday. What normally would be an 11 hour drive ended up being 16 hours, but well worth it to be with Nathan's parents, Jim and Carol, and his sister Polina this Christmas.

In typical Foley tradition we opened our gifts on Christmas Eve. We only made it through a few of Bridget's gifts before she needed to call it a night. Once she was tucked in bed we opened the rest of the family gifts and retired for the eventing. The rest of Bridget's gifts were set aside to be opened throughout the day on Christmas Day.



Nathan was very happy with his Star Wars trivia book. He was very proud of his first score - 5 out of 5.


Here is a shot of Bridget surrounded by her gifts. Hey Carol and Jim, what happened to the "1 gift per person rule"?!

Roommate Dinner

This post is more about the Foley family in general, rather than just about Bridget. This weekend was our annual "Roommate Christmas Dinner." It is a tradition that started four years ago when Kara shared a condo in San Francisco with Sonya and Brett and Sara McGinness. It was just the four of us that first year. By the second year we were all living separately, and Nathan and Levi had joined the mix. Since then we have continued to get together, all six of us (7 now that Bridget has come on the scene). It is a great tradition that we hope to continue for many years to come.


When Brett and Sara arrived Bridget was all cuddles.


Here is a great shot of us all in action. You can see Bridget was very busy chatting on Levi's iPhone, while Levi was entertained by Bridget's toy.


Before dinner we managed to gather everyone for a real group photo. Even Brett and Sara's dogs Sam and Maggie made the shot (unfortunately Maggie decided to be a camera hog and blocked Sara). Panzer was the only one missing, but there was no way the cat was going to share the photo with the dogs.


After the organized chaos of the group picture we all sat down to eat dinner. Polenta Lasagna was the highlight of the menu this year.


Since Brett and Sara were in town from Reno, they stayed the night. In the morning we made a McGinness specialty – Bacon Pancakes.

We wrapped the weekend up with the annual SF Chronicle Geography Quiz. This tradition is too sacred to document with photos. In case you were wondering, Brett had the top score on the quiz this year (and all years). Nathan and I are already studying for next year's quiz.

Bridget Gives Thanks

Sorry this post is a little late. On Thanksgiving we went down to the south bay to be with family and friends. Bridget had fun meeting and playing with a new friend, 8 year old Sophie, who graciously shared some of her old toys. She even let Bridget keep a "baby" and carrier, and a few new books. It was also the first time we've put Bridget in a dress and she seemed to enjoy being "girly" for the evening.

Bridget showed Sophie how you are supposed to properly transport a "baby."

Bridget also got to play in Sophie's room.

Bridget got to sit at the adult table! She sampled everything but especially liked the pomegranite seeds on the salad.

Bridget was not ready to let go of her new "baby" on the way home and sleptwith her clutched in her arms the whole time.

Stick a Fork in it

We went to brunch with Bridget today and she surprised us with her dexterity and coordination. She was able to grab the scrambled eggs with her fork, put them in her mouth, AND give us a cute face.

Basketcase

Bridget went to visit mom's office last week. She had fun meeting some of Kara's coworkers, and walking up and down the rows. She stumbled upon a few empty baskets (remnants of vendor holiday gifts). Having one in each hand seemed to balance her out, never mind that they were each almost the same size as her.

We captured this shot last weekend when Bridget pulled out one of the baskets in her closet. It makes a good chair don't you think??