My mom's the bomb

When we broke the news of our big Los Angeles-to-Portland move to my mom, I assured her that the flight up here was short -- just a little over two hours versus the three hours it takes to drive from her home in Central California to our old place in Los Angeles. I found her a great flight deal, and my mom found herself here last week.

Despite the miles between them, my mom and Em are a dynamic duo. They crack each other up, and my mom is an eager playmate.

 

  

Her visit was a nice mix of relaxing at home and exploring the city. We visited the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, which had a ton of Em-friendly exhibits.

 

Wildlife 

 

Not-so-wild life

 

Giant frogs

Seriously big!

 

Enjoying snakes from afar

We found a great, new (to us) brunch place, which happened to be around the corner from a tiny Filipino market. My mom went nuts over these two products, and she couldn't buy them for us fast enough.

It's a sweet yam and coconut ice cream, as well as some sweet corn puffs. Both were delicious!

We also took the opportunity to enjoy the re-release of Beauty & The Beast in 3D, which long-time friends might remember is one of my all-time favorite films. I was worried it might be too scary for Em, but home viewings of the DVD proved to be just fine. I was also afraid of how she'd do with having to wear the glasses for the duration of the film, but we'd talked up the "special glasses" for weeks prior. She kept them on the entire time -- the popcorn distraction probably helped.

It meant a lot to share the magic of this film in the theater. When I fell in love with the movie on my very first date when I was a wee 14 years old (shhhhh!), I never would've imagined I'd get to take my daughter to see it on the big screen someday. She loved it, and during the big ballroom dance scene, she popped up out of her seat to give me a kiss and tell me that the dance was "beautiful!"

Another highlight from my mom's visit was her insistence that Brent and I enjoy dinner out not one, but TWO nights. We have a great date night sitter, but it was still nice to have someone watch her free of charge. We had a decadent night out at Portland's popular Beast, and another night at our new favorite Italian restaurant, a Cena. 

Phone calls and the internet help keep us in touch with my mom, but visits like last week keep us close.