family outing

Yesterday we all went over to the Japanese Garden here in Portland. It was beautiful in its springtime glory. They were also having a paper festival, which was very cool. We visited there last time, too, in October when the whole family was here. We thought we might go to Multnomah Falls, but in the end, the allure of early blossoms and mossy bonsais won.

The boys were only 10 weeks old when my parents and brother were last here, so they spent the whole trip to the garden wrapped up in pouches, sleeping. I'm guessing they were still less than 8 pounds at the time! Just look at how tiny they were:

shoghi drinking his bottle at the garden with Memmae.
look at how big that hat was - it barely fits now!

sleepy, sleepy babies

On this visit, of course, we had two entirely different babies. How can "baby" even apply to them at both of these times? Now they are interactive, smiling, playing, moving creatures who express what they want (and don't want)! Our visit to the garden was so nice - and we got a bunch of great photos to prove it. We had to ditch the stroller when it kept getting stuck in the gravel, and boy, who can live without a good baby carrier? We only had the meitai with us, so Laurie carried Shoghi on her back while I hefted Max in my arms. He may be the lighter one right now (maybe 17.5 lbs?) but jeez, he felt so heavy!

shoghi checking out the blossoms

max playing with memmae and popi

shoghi in the meitai

max having a little snuggle with mama

Last night we had to say goodbye to my parents, which was heart breaking for all of us who are no longer babies. They're flying back home at dawn tomorrow, across the 3,000 miles that separate our homes. As a child, I remember quite vividly always being at the door, tears streaming as I watched my grandparents pull away after a visit, and now I find myself in a similar position as I watch my sons' grandparents leave. The quality of relationship they bring to us all is unmatched, and more unique and precious than I imagined. I just love the feeling of being together, and sometimes I wonder how it is that I didn't know what I was giving up by moving so far away while I was pregnant. I can't imagine living in Massachusetts, but I also feel full of grief at not being closer to the majority of my family. How things have changed that we are all so spread out now, with me and my sister out here in Oregon, our brother, uncle and aunt in New Mexico, and the rest of our family in Massachusetts and New York (aside from cousins, of course). I wish I could just gather up everyone I love into one place to share this life with.

look at how unbelievably big shoghi looks on his grandfather's lap!
how did this happen???

Anyway, it was a perfect visit. I loved having my parents here and watching them with the boys. It will be a long three months before we head back East to spend a month with them, but we can't wait. Mom and Dad flew out this morning, and we all miss them already.

auntie laurie took this photo of the 5 of us
on the bridge at the japanese garden.