Portland

Last weekend, Gram and Cole and I drove up to Portland to see Auntie Meg and Uncle Stu.  I really waffled about going, but I'm glad we went!

On Friday, we had a great time at IKEA (my FAVORITE place!):

We enjoyed the IKEA food court, too:

Saturday, we headed to the mall - it was a rough day.  It was just too much to ask of Cole to be inside, in a stroller, with all those people, shopping all day.  He had several meltdowns (which is so rare for him) and generally made life difficult.  Oh well, lesson learned.  As much as I miss being able to spend a whole day shopping, it's just not feasible with a two year old.

We did had a lovely lunch at Cheesecake Factory:

And then Auntie Meg made Cole's year by patiently helping him smell every.single.candle in Bath and Body Works.  Seriously, every SINGLE candle.  He was thrilled - and several of the employees thought it was pretty hysterical too.

Sunday, we helped Meg paint some rooms, then took Cole to the park.  It was a MUCH better day - running around outside seems to be the cure for just about every single problem in Cole's little life.

In between, we had lots of eating out, lots of running through Auntie Meg's and Uncle Stu's new big empty house, and lots of reading!

Cole really fell in love with Auntie Meg this trip - or, as he calls her, "An' Mae! An' Mae!"  Yes, it is as cute as it sounds!

And seriously, this little guy of mine is THE BEST car traveler ever.  He just chills in his car seat, sucking on his bink, reading books to his Bunny.  It's adorable.  He handled the 5 hours up and the 5 hours back pretty much no problem.

My little world traveler! :)