Portland overnighter

Sean was on Spring Break a couple weeks ago and since we didn't have enough time for another 3 day/2 night trip up to Seattle, we opted for an overnighter in Portland. We played Priceline roulette and ended up with a nice room at the Doubletree Hotel by Lloyd Center - not the 4 stars we were hoping for, but we really wanted to keep our bid low, plus we discovered that none of the 4 star hotels in Portland have a pool! So our bid was accepted and we looked at the hotel's website and were excited to see that they had a pool... until we noticed it was an outdoor, seasonal pool. Boo! Either way, we still ended up with a $175/night room for {drumroll, please.....} $50!!! Yeah, baby!

Upon check-in we were each greeted with a warm cookie - nice touch.
Normally, we would've got a room with a king bed to all share, but they only had this double queen room available, so Ethan got one whole bed to himself. Pretty sure he slept diagonally.After we dropped off our bags, we headed out for dinner. That was an adventure. Sean and I wanted Panda Express and we knew where it was and that it was "close", but the Lloyd Center was in the way. We decided to walk and it wasn't until we were already on our way around the Lloyd Center that I realized it was a mall! I don't know why I didn't remember that, but it has been years since I have been. I had it in my head that the Lloyd Center was some sort of convention center and I felt pretty silly when we walked past the ice rink and it finally dawned on me where we were! So Sean and I got Panda Express and we took Ethan through the food court to see what sounded good. He was desperate for some juice, so we got an apple juice for him to sip on and then he finally decided on some pizza. We got back to the hotel close to 8pm and were all starving by then, so we chowed down.We let Ethan watch "Arthur" while we ate dinner because within about 30 seconds of walking into the room, Ethan had navigated his way through the options on the TV and ordered an on-demand episode of "Arthur"! Luckily it only set us back $3 but we made sure to set up all the parental controls after that. He was so quick, we didn't even realize he had the remote in his hand!

After dinner, Ethan kept himself busy watching a movie on the portable DVD player and stealing the camera to take random pictures.Oh, and some dancing. Sean caught this video of Ethan dancing around the room.

At a quarter to 11pm, Sean and I realized we both had a craving for something sweet and stealing fruit snacks from Ethan just wasn't going to cut it. So Sean flipped through the room service menu and noticed the prices actually weren't too high. He got to the dessert section and read the description for their signature dessert: Doubletree Cookie Crumb Bread Pudding with Grand Marnier Custard Sauce. Uhh... Yum! Neither of us had ever ordered room service and it was only $6 so we went for it and called room service just 10 minutes before they closed for the night. Less than 10 minutes later there was a knock on the door and the server was there with our tray.We signed the bill, included his tip and then opened the lid and found this:Oh... My... Heavens!! It was so, so good!! The bread pudding was fabulous, the warm custard sauce was fabulous, the addition of the fresh strawberries was fabulous and I am drooling just looking at that picture and writing about it! I think we inhaled it.

Oh, and sometime in between dinner and dessert, Sean and Ethan went to get some ice. Only my husband would notice something wrong with the braille sign on the ice maker. He looked at it, read it and was completely confused - it was just random letters and symbols. And then he figured out the problem... it was upside down! I couldn't get a very good picture, but here it is after Sean turned it right-side up. Any ideas what it says?!?
The beds were comfy on the surface - as in, very plush and comfy when you lounged on them or were sitting up to watch TV - but for some reason not very comfy for actually sleeping. Sean and I both slept ok, but the black-out curtains were nice because we all slept in! We got ready for the day, munched on snacks we brought for breakfast and then gathered our stuff to check-out. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Lloyd Center where we had lunch at a 50s style diner and then walked around and window shopped.We got to the "rides" and of course, Ethan wanted to stop, so we let him play a little but Sean and I didn't have any change. And then... we found the magic nickel! Ethan took it and put it in the machine and we warned him that it wouldn't work because we needed 3 quarters. Imagine our surprise when it started right up and gave Ethan back his nickel!!We split up after that and I went to check out the deals at Old Navy. I swear, everything was on sale or clearance there!! Well, almost everything. The new white cardigan I wanted was NOT on sale. I resisted the urge to buy anything for Ethan because I knew he'd be getting new clothes for his birthday and instead got Sean 2 new polos and me 3 new nice/casual tees (the dark blue one has flowers on it and the white one has a cool embellishment on the neckline) - all for $25!!Just as we were getting ready to leave Old Navy, we realized Ethan had been pretty quiet. We knew he'd been playing with the toys by the check-out, but didn't realize it hadn't gotten so serious!For the record, that is every mini construction truck they had in the bin out on the floor!

It was a quick trip, but we had fun and it was so nice to get away for a day! :)