To Salem

I am so glad we've been out in Salem this summer. Even though my mom life is pretty different and can be a little bit of a pain, I've been loving it. Although, I'm remembering, I was feeling a little tired of the 11 hour days and meals on wheels and pushing the swing. It's been a nice change here at my parents' house and I'll be refreshed and ready to do it again when I go back.

I decided one day to take pictures of our walk that we do every day. Literally, every day. It's been such a memorable summer, and I want to remember it!

This is the Union Street Bridge in Salem. It gets you over the Willamette river from downtownish to West Salem. There are parks on either side of the river, after a bit of a walk. I wonder how many miles I walk each day...

This is the progression of the goofy smile Miles has been giving the camera:

Oh Miles.

The view on the bridge:

This way.

That way. A special thanks to that bird for flying by just as I took the picture. I like him in my picture.

On this particular day, there was a group of teenage kids going around one of the parks asking parents if they could tell their child a story about Jesus. At first I told the especially nerdy looking girl "no" in more words ("uhhhh... he's not even 3 and he's playing right now. We're religious. He knows about Jesus."), but then I felt bad, so I took him over to her when he was done playing and he got this neato little felt book out of the deal.

Miles thought it was pretty cool.

Hand crafted. No pictures or words, but the color of each page has something to do with something. Like gold is supposed to be like the streets of heaven. And black is sin. White is perfection? Red is Christ's death on the cross. This concludes your felt book lesson.

Yep, that's the bridge.

This is along the river on the way to one of the parks:

This way.

That way.

I like the way the arches in this bridge line up every time we walk by. When we drive Miles will recognize his surroundings and say, "That's where we walk" when we drive by our library route or this route.

Another place we walk and play is Bush park. I've mentioned it before... it's the one with the wood car and house. This park was so fantastically beautiful with blossoms and flowers when we first got to Salem and I wish I would have taken pictures. I didn't.

It's a big park with lots of walking/running paths and parks.

I love the trees there. They are all moss covered and wiggly and cool looking.

Mr. Miles just hangin' out, patient as ever while I bore him to death and take pictures.

Pretty Bush park. I went here the first few days while I was still learning my way around... it's across the street from the hospital where Dave works so it was pretty easy to find. I walked all around the whole thing and got sore calves from walking the hills and pushing the stroller and being weak.

BFF

I know this tall grass stuff is all over the place, but it makes me think of Salem and this summer.

To Salem. And Amsterdam.