4,879 miles

4,879 miles.
That's the distance between Portland and Cuenca, Ecuador.
That the distance Torcasa, Juan Manuel and little Rafael traveled to visit us.


Of course we took them to the South Park Blocks,

a tasty brew pub,

the Japanese Garden,

and our back yard.

We had a wonderful time with them and this means it's our turn to travel South.

Mid-week quick pic

Time to dance!

A visit to cupcakes

There's nothing like a party to bring people together. With Aurelia at work (and with the car) it was up to the dinnertable and Sylvia to represent the Hidalgo family at our buddy Maya's cake festival (birthday).

We were lucky enough to hitch a ride with our friends Nina, Jake and Akio. Aki and Sylvia did an admirable job sharing the back seat and required only the smallest of fruit snack bribes to maintain a bit of peace.

Upon arrival we greeted the radiant birthday girl and her proud mama and...

mounted the rocking yak for a wild rampage across the steppes.

Once the steppes had been conquered, a visit to the cupcakes was required (no touching please) and then a visit to the backyard for a run about with Aki.

Once the crowd had eaten their fill of a fine brunch Maya made her way to the front, scored a smooch from tata ("papa" in Serbian) and declared the cupcakes open for business.

(No pictures of cupcakes consumption as the
dinnertable was distracted by icing and sweet cake.

As the morning drifted to noon the smallest among us began to fade.
No need for fruit snack bribes for the way home.