When you are hanging with a six-month old you pretty much live according to his schedule. Jurgen had a nice 1 1/2 hour nap in the morning; after he ate we bundled all of us up in our winter gear and went out for a walk.
It was about 30° so it took us awhile to get ready.
Our neighborhood in Beaverton, Oregon really goes all out with the Christmas decorations. All the houses wrap the street tree trunks in miniature green lights with strands of white lights in the canopies. They don’t do much in Riverside. We did see one house where the owners put out some effort.
Riverside is an awesome place to catch trains – much better than home – so I can’t pass up the opportunity.
Then I caught up with Jurgen and the girls at the local bakery, Fiore.
I wanted to get some pictures of them outside in front of the Riverside Tower but I missed them.
We got back home and I headed out to the grocery stores from some dinner supplies. Jurgen was laying down but didn’t rally nap. Henriët was prepping for the holiday concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (we are going Saturday afternoon!). Carla watched over Juren while I walked to the post office to mail a few Christmas packages. The post office is right next to …. wait for it … the railroad tracks. I got a couple more trains passing by before it turned definitely colder.
The westbound Amtrak is really moving as it passes Riverside
When I got home Carla was making a salad for dinner and Jurgen was getting a kick out of his Ouma and Oupa (Afrikaans for Old Ma and Old Pa). He is starting to warm up with us and spent a good bit of time giggling.
Andrew came home with a couple of friends: Matt and James. Matt worked with Andrew at Disney World and the Ray Charles tour. They are in town for the annual musician educators’ conference in Chicago. They brought home some delicious empanadas from a local store. We put together a quick black bean dish and the salad Carla prepared. After giving Jurgen a bath, Andrew fed him. He’ll complain a bit before he falls asleep.
