Old Wive's Tale Restaurant

We had the rare treat of seeing Imago Theater's Biglittlethings this past weekend, a great show for those who like glowing floatingthings (who doesn't?). For a bite to eat close by, we went to Old Wive's Tale, a laid back vegan/vegetarian joint (fish and meat are on the menu, but there aren't too many places with soy souffles, try it) with large dining rooms and a bonus playroom. The kid's menu is extensive, cheap, and won't leave your toddler cranky from over-fried over-sweet junk that you find at most spots. We'll be back.

PARK BLOCKS

If you find yourself this fall needing an outing but not knowing where to go, walk the park blocks. With plenty of attractions along the way for your kids to crawl on including the Portland Art Museum's particularly climbable sculpture, the Museum for Contemporary Craft (free, but plenty of breakables), a playground close to Powell's, and a path right through the middle which makes it easy to allow the kids to run and play with plenty of room to spare away from traffic. Beautiful statuary, leaves, water fountains and benches, what more do you need (besides a bagel break?)

FULLER'S COFFEE SHOP

Real story: we recently visited Fuller's ( 136 NW 9th, in the Pearl) for lunch. It was lunch time, so we naturally ordered lunch fare. The hamburgers are are similar to In and Out Burger, the type of sandwich which we are very fond of ($3.95, pretty good deal). The fries are solid. The reuben? A little off. As we were settling the bill the waitress said, "You had lunch? Well, come back for breakfast, it's really good."

Apparently everyone knows you only go to Fuller's for breakfast, even the staff. But we enjoyed it despite, and the kids loved the counter-only seating. They both sat still and ate their entire lunch without screaming, squirming or sassing. Rare treat.

GREEN SPROUTS ORGANIC BABY & FAMILY FEST

While partying at the Avalon is good times, it was good to clean up at the cleanest gig in town -- the Green Sprouts Organic Baby & Family Fest, held at beautiful Peninsula Park. Sponsored by the local ReDirect Guide, it was basically a "green" product fair with terrific food booths by Proper Eats and Peanut Butter & Ellies, but it was still a fun, varied time. There was free music (we liked this guy, who also sings at PB & Ellies and the Portland Children's Museum) and Ladybug Walks around the park every hour! What fun. The masks won't stay on, but what could be cuter?

Bonus Organic List: The 10 Worst Foods for Pesticide.

AVALON THEATRE -- ELECTRIC CASTLES WONDERLAND

Located in the historic Belmont District, one would be forgiven if one thought this place was a little, um, saucier than it is, what with the clicking lights, and garish signs (it reminded us a little bit of a pre-Guliani Times Square), but inside is a siezure-inducing good time. The Avalon Theatre part of the place is just a standard-issue second-run theater, like the Academy or the Laurelhurst, with good theaters (Ratatouille is coming up) with not-too-beat-up seats and very fair concession prices, but the other part? An eye-glazingly-fun 5-cent arcade that sent me back to summer days on the jersey shore, pumping nickels into machines trying to win tickets to get some junk for the kiddies. Ruth and Geo liked the driving games (the Big Rig one was best) and, as long as you keep their little eyes from the zombie shoot-'em-ups, you're good to go. If you have a 10-year-old? Nirvana. Bring some singles (or rolls of the aforementioned nickles) and you're good to go, as they say.

IKEA

Certainly we're not the first to sing the hosannas of the Swedish retailer, but let us join the fray -- Ikea's a great way to spend a day, with decent grub, a magical children's playroom and lots and lots and lots of cheap, well-designed furnishings.

The aforementioned playroom, called Smaland by the Swedes for some reason, is a supervised, free daycare-type place. Be ready to wait in line with your potty-trained child from 37" to 54", you're handed a beeper (in case of meltdowns) and your critter is allowed in a truly cool-looking kiddie wonderland. But even if that wasn't there, the kids furniture section -- with its tunnels between the various display dream rooms -- is a playground all of its own. The food, including the retailers famed Swedish meatballs, is decent, inexpensive cafeteria fare. Oh, and I almost forgot the excellent restrooms, with kid-sized sinks and easy chairs for nursing mamas. Parents, they want your business. We kept on thinking how cool it would be if all retailers courted our dollars so fervently.

Take the MAX Red line on out to Cascade Station and make a day of it. Even if you just get a lamp and some candles (like us) an excellent day can be had by all.

SWIFT WATCH 2007

This is something truly to behold. Every September, the Vaux's Swifts come to Chapman Elementary School in NW to roost on their way to Guatemala. Big deal right? Come and see. The birds begin to gather around dusk, thousands of them. In the meantime, kids are sliding down the dried autumn grass hillside on cardboard (fun, really really fun). As the sun begins to set, the birds begin to funnel in tornado formation and drop down into the defunct chimney on the back of the school. It is amazing! They will show up for a couple more weeks, and the school is attached to Wallace Park where you will find two playgrounds and plenty of space to picinc before walking to the back of the school to sled down the hill and be awed by these cigar-shaped bat birds on their way to warmer parts. Fall is truly here.

HAYRIDES!

Hey everyone, it is almost time to pick your pumpkin at Sauvie Island.

LAUGHING PLANET

Laughing Planet is expanding, with a new location opening up in Woodstock to join the NW, Belmont and Mississippi stores as the empire of Laughing. Great food, especially if you are a vegetarian, their burritos are creative and delicious. Cheap and healthy kid's menu. They have dinosaurs in their stores, and for some reason this fact didn't seem strange until the recording of it right now. Wait, are carnivores on their way to extinction? Are we all on our laughing way to extinction? The aliens are coming? They just like toys? Ruth likes them, whatever the deeper meaning.

OVERLOOK PARK

Unless you live in N Portland, or happen to have Kaiser as your health insurance carrier, you may have overlooked this park (who could resist a terrible pun!). Two reasons to visit: brand new play structure complete with climbing wall; two gargantuan mature walnut trees. We will be back in October just to see the progress of the nuts.

JOE'S CELLAR CAFE

It's Sunday. You want to go out to breakfast, but you don't want your strollers to tangle with the hip, young singles waiting for a table at Besaw's, fifteenth on the list, and you might not even get the booth that you want, nay need. You want some good breakfast grub, but you don't want everyone to hate you, you just don't want strangers to hate you this morning, is that too much to ask? No, it is not. Come down to Joe's Cellar Cafe on 21st and Overton, just off of the Conway campus, a block from DoveLewis. A clean, nice, throwback of a diner, offering simple greasy spoon-type grub (though, for the record, not that greasy, really), get the critters some silver dollar pancakes, get yourself a delicious plate of biscuits and gravy, some standard diner coffee, and everyone will leave happy. And the waitress was a classic, friendly and helpful. And, you know, you won't drop $50, like at some other places in the Northwest. Go Joe's Cellar!

PORTLAND PARKS SUMMER CONCERTS

For the past three weeks every Thursday night we have been taking the girls on an evening stroll after dinner to the park to listen to free music. Not only is there music (do we have to mention again how embarassed we are at the riches of Portland Parks?) but each week there has been a craft table for the kiddies to make a little bobble. The summer nights are long, the days are hot, the shows start at a family friendly 6:30. At locations all over the city, go while you still have the chance.

Good Sam's Lovejoy Station

It is hard to sell this without sounding weird, but there is no other way of selling it. The best family dinner deal in all of NW is at the cafeteria at the Good Samaritan hospital. We heard about it from some other blog post for cheap eats in NW, so we gave it a shot, and, indeed, it is.

If you enter through the garden off of 22nd ave., then you can deny the hospital-ity of the place, and, once inside, you're in a standard issue cafeteria with delicious grub at great prices. They have daily specials (the last one was prime rib with mashed potatoes and roasted corn and peppers, mmmm) as well as a stir fry station (my personal recommendation, where they make a stir fry from scratch) pizza bar, salad bar, mexi-station and burgers, fries and the like. And no one is ever there (well, not many) and there's space to roam and run (within reason, of course) while munching the tasty treats. Add on frozen yogurt for 30 cents an ounce, you've got the deal of the century. Or at least the neighborhood, for sure. Our last dinner bill, two full entrees, which included the aforementioned prime rib, really delicious chicken enchaladas, spaghetti for ruth and dessert for four totalled less than $17. (desert and milk and lemonade included).

Which, you know, is something, when you're eating out 5 nights a week because it's too freaking hot to boil water in the kitchen. We have even had full dinners for less than $10, if you just opt for the veggies and rice for three bucks.

SAUVIE ISLAND BERRIES

We have been out berry picking several times this summer, and each time we are always glad we made the trip. This weekend we gathered the last of the rasberries at Pumpkin Patch, our default farm for their friendly faces, excellent prices and homemade cobbler that is a steal at $3.50 (ice cream included). An organic farm (or, orgainc practices, rather) is right next door where you can stock up on blueberries, but for those with little ones, Pumpkin Patch has the ammenities you really need --bathrooms, snacks, gazebo, pigs goats and chickens. To be fair, Kruger's produced the most amazing strawberries earlier in the season and they sponsor concerts each Thursday all summer long for the low price of $5 a car. Wherever you go, go to Sauvie Island and enjoy the summer.

OAKS AMUSEMENT PARK

Every Tuesday and Wednesday all summer, Oaks Park hosts Preschool hours that invite your toddlers to come and enjoy all the kiddie rides they can stand, plus storytime and milk and cookies, for $5.50 a kid. We have gone several times and love it. For those who want to go on the "big" rides, (OK, so this throw back Americana park which thrills us with its genuine real-time retro groove is not really good for kids over 14) they have two for Tuesday deals that last until school starts. Located in Sellwood, you have to check this place out.

FIRST THURSDAYS IN THE PEARL

It's hot. It's really really hot. To escape the two hours between dinner and bath time that has been finding us arguing and cranky (after which falls the hour and a half of sweaty sleepless babies, which makes us even crankier) we have been packing picnics and taking the girls to nearby parks for dinner al fresco followed by walks through the neighborhood. Everybody cools off, enjoys the outdoors while the sun is more forgiving, and nobody fights. This strategy worked for first Thursday as well. After having our ham sandwiches and melon at Jamison Beach, where the kids enjoyed an evening splash, we walked home and stopped at the open galleries on the way to take a gander at what Portland is creating these days. The galleries have snacks and wine, the baby is contained in a stroller and Ruth is now old enough that we can tell her not to touch, and she doesn't. (OK, mostly) Ruth's edict on Portland's art scene: "These are nice decorations."

DAILY CAFE IN THE PEARL

Boy did we have a good turkey sandwich here. The hummus plate is always satisfying with the salty greek salad and eggplant. What may be best about a place we might not otherwise go because it is just a dollar or two our of comfortable lunch price range is the fact that it is a cafe. Open seating, you order at the counter and pick a table and wait for your food to show up which makes for a comfortable spot to split something that will keep the kids from going crazy from hunger (which is about every 2 hours). Good coffee, good sweets, good food. They don't have a bucket of toys, but you don't need them here.

BALLET CLASSES AND PLAYDOUGH

Although we have already featured Laurelhurst Dance Studio, we failed to mention that with the official open of summer, Portland Parks and Rec are once again staffing the playgrounds with sweet teenagers who lay out games, organize art activities, and generally show the kids a good time. After ballet class Ruthie made purple playdough. Why would the city go to such lengths? Although we have not contacted the proper authorities for the official answer, we suspect several likely reasons. Summer employment for local kids, good healthy play for the kids they teach who might otherwise spend the beautiful weather indoors in front of some the boob tube or whatever iteration of handheld video game is currently the rage. Many of the parks also offer free lunch for any kid who shows up. That bears repeating; free lunch for any kid, ages 1-18 from June 21st-August 16th at locations throughout the east side. No paperwork, no stigma, no food stamps, no sermon, nothing but a good healthy lunch.

MOUNT TABOR RESERVOIR

Mt. Tabor is stunning. There is a playground, hiking trails, roads that go up and up and up the mountain for those looking to bust thighs. We went to join a ladybug walk but were thwarted by a 5K run that cruely sent participants straight up the mountain. We made our own nature walk by deciding to find something blue, a spider, three flowers and bonus treasures. We found a blue flower, plenty of other flowers, the bonus of a duct taped sword abandoned by a live action role playing game, and plenty of imaginary dragons (sadly, no spiders were evident). If you find yourself in a park with a bored kid who just wants to go to the slide, try this: fairy houses. Go to the base of a tree and "build" with the sticks and stones you find around a little village for the local faries. Ruth amended this fairy house that we found already established, giving us hope that others are participating in this very good work to house our fairy population.

SW COMMUNITY CENTER POOL

For father's day we decided to get in the car and take a day trip to Gabriel Park's SW Community Center to check out their fancy pool. Was it ever fancy. A giant slide (much faster and longer than you will be prepared for, so be prepared) is the main attraction but the toddler area itself is genius. A big colorful pipe feature has wheels and levers for the kids to manipulate that directs sprays, buckets and splashes. Jets spray up as well in the adjacent area, which is less than 2 feet deep, making it an extremely comfortable play area for babies and new swimmers. It is pricey, which is why we left the trip for a special occasion. Geo was free, but for two adults and one child it was nearly $15. We don't begrudge, this is a really fun place.

SWEETS, ETC., MULTNOMAH VILLAGE

We have been looking (OK, as much as parents of toddlers really "look" for opportunities of sugar crankiness) for a real old fashioned candy store in Portland just for the occasional shock and awe that they inspire in kids. We finally found one on our day trip to Multnomah Village. Sweets etc. fit the bill. You walk in to stacks and rows and baskets of candy. Not the drug store variety Hershey Bar extravaganza, but real crafted candy of the kind that sends you into false nostalgia for the candies we never really found at our 7-eleven's of yore. Georgia was sleeping, Ruth was in heaven.

OMSI SCIENCE PLAYGROUND

(Ruth as a chipmunk, casually nibbling on an acorn)

When it's hot out, or raining, or you're just tired of taking something sharp out of someone's tightly clenched mitts, it's nice to go somewhere groovy and, well, controllable.

The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry's Science Playground is just your place. Most of OMSI is geared towards older kids -- they have a submarine docked that you can explore and, currently, there's the wildly popular and somewhat gross Body Worlds 3 showing right now -- but they toss parents of toddlers and bebes a bone with the Science Playground.

And it is a juicy bone. The entire enterprise is near-total kid safe without seeming dull for the three-year-old and with tons of stuff to do, even if it's "just" one room. There's the kid-size eagles' nest, a wet salmon run (with smocks to keep 'em dry), and even a "project" room with crafts set up for you and the little ones to work on (we made a bug headdress the day we were there). It can be a little pricey, but memberships are somewhat reasonable and it just might be the perfect meeting place for your next playgroup.

LADYBUG NATURE WALKS

Yet another reason we like living in Portland -- the parks. If they were just tended as is, green and abundant, we would be happy, but the services on top of their mere presence almost embarasses us in their generosity and breadth. Ladybug nature walks, for example are held all year rain or shine in parks across the city. You show up with your toddlers and babies, strap on a ladybug backpack filled with nature tools as varied as paint brushes and magnifying glasses, and explore the dirt, bugs and flowers in the park. The ladybug walk pictured was held at Pennisula Park with it's fully mature formal rose garden that was in full June glory. The guides are sweet and gentle, the kids toddle around in a pack with those fuzzy bugs strapped on their backs, who wouldn't feel better about everything after you spend an hour and a half amidst that? We looked at trees, found spiders, examined colors of leaves and grasses, felt rose petals. For two dollars, it is the best outing deal in town.

LAURELHURST DANCE STUDIO

As many who parent little girls will relate to, we have a ballerina in the house. She wants to play dress up, she wants tea parties, she wants twirl skirts and tiny doll things. She also wants to build tree houses and climb rocks so we don't worry and try our best to accomodate all things pink without gagging. At Laurelhurst Dance Studio she will be introduced to her fantasy, Pre-ballet: Where Dreams Begin. I would sign up just for the name of the class to be honest, especially given the modest $18 fee for five classes. Laurelhurst Park itself is a gem, worth the trip even if you don't strap on slippers.

Stepping Stone Cafe

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Our new hood has no shortage of restaurants, but a recent visit to Stepping Stone Cafe merited a mention of a place to go with kids. Reason no. 1: they had a bucket of toys that had just been put through the dishwasher -- squeaky clean (you may not be this lucky). Reason no. 2: good eats made with clean, local food, lots of organics but plenty of fried treats if you want them. We had the wilted spinach salad and a chicken dinner with mashed potatoes both dishes were good if a bit salty (one of us loves salt). Reason no. 3: they were really very nice, even with our kids vacillating at top speed between pout and party (dinner time sugar level plummet). We will be back for their happy hour specials that coincide perfectly with afternoon snack time (3-6) and feature half price appetisers including black bean chili cheese fries, quesadilla, and homemade hummus. (all under $3.50)

It is funky, old-style black and white with red and chrome, interesting art on the walls and be warned, they sell thong bikinis and stay open till the wee hours serving drinks. But if you are ever in the alphabet blocks and reach Q, stop.

JAMISON BEACH

With the sunshine back, anyone looking for a quiet respite at Jamison Park better keep on stepping four blocks up to the bioswail park (Tanner Springs) where they may quietly contemplate pebbles and flowing grasses. Whenever the sun is shining and the fountain flowing, Jamison "Beach" is anything but serene. Packed with kids and strollers, nannies and grannies screams and cries, it is a literal hot spot in PDX early childhood. Last time we went, the fountain was broken. It still runs, but was no longer filling and emptying in the way that made it such a unique and attractive swimming spot. Apparently, all the babies and toddlers were yanking up the nearby monkey grass and throwing it in the water to watch it float, gumming up the entire works. Ah, youth.

OAKS PARK ROLLER RINK

There are only a couple more weeks to wend your way south to Sellwood's Oaks Amusement Park to take advantage of their preschool skate hour. For the next couple of Tuesdays and Wednesdays (until June 13), bring your toddlers and babies to the roller rink for an hour and a half of truly old fashioned fun. Sure, we had the same hesitation about letting loose a three year-old on wheels, but they tighten the lugs to prevent the otherwise inevitable spills. You are allowed to bring your stroller on the floor, you are allowed to wear your shoes as well, they do a brief lesson, the hokey-pokey, choo-choo train, some sort of funky chicken thing, and they you have milk and cookies. Big hit all around, and for a paltry $4.50. (did we mention that they also bring out their thread worn mascot, Chipper? he is a squirrel, which we only mention because it isn't really clear that the squat fuzzy brown thing with the big head really is.)