Bahrman Bulletin

My dear aunt Suzanne is constantly spoiling us. Just this week, we received a package from her. Not only did I get two absolutely perfect birthday gifts (bringing back floods of fond memories of Ireland), but Becca received a beautiful pair of earrings and Chiara got a new shirt–one just like her cousins have! Chiara was so excited that she immediately had to try it on. She loved posing it! Becca donned her earrings and the two sisters sat together for the photo. Thank you, Aunt Suzanne!

I know that I’ve had all summer to get used to the reality of Becca leaving for University of Portland, but it is still somewhat shocking. As I looked at this picture of our two girls, I realized that what is now a typical evening of dinner together and the girls having each other to play with (or harass!) is soon going to be an atypical event. We will all miss Becca a lot while she is off studying, but I will also miss seeing the two sisters together. Once again, I’m glad Portland isn’t too far away!

Earlier this summer, Chiara took a music class called Zoo Train. We sang about all different zoo animals, listened to the sounds they made, and sang about riding the train at the zoo. I was anxious to take Chiara to see the real thing, and last weekend ended up being perfect!

We met at our friend Tami, Madelyn and Katelyn’s house so that we could ride the “train” (AKA Max) to the zoo. At the zoo, we met up with Kate, Ben and Lila. Us moms got to talk (well, a little bit) and the kids had a great time running through the zoo. Ben encouraged us to see the Dinosaur exhibit, offering to hold Chiara’s hand in case she got too scared! I’m glad he suggested it, too, because it was a lot of fun to explore animals we typically don’t see.

While I love living in Bend, it was too short of a visit back to Portland. I miss our friends and family dearly, wish I could be there more often to see my friends’ children growing up so quickly! And Portland has so many activities, like the zoo (and shopping and dining!). For an early birthday dinner, Tom took me to our favorite Italian restaurant, Alba Osteria. The food and wine were amazing as ever! Such a fast weekend with so many fun activities. It is a good thing Portland is only 3 hours (or so) away so that we can go back soon!