stopping to smell the roses when mom and dad come to town

After all of our zipping around over the weekend, Monday we decided to stick around town and head over to Washington Park to see the roses.  The International Rose Test Garden is there and I knew it would be a must-see for my folks.

The roses were incredible.

"This is what Heaven is like."

The bees were working overtime in this garden.  It was incredible to watch.  I thought it would be so neat to bring students there to observe the bees in action.

Mom took notes and pictures for the few dozen varieties she would like to add to her collection.  She has about thirty varieties as it stands.

I'm always a sucker for a pretty, pale pink pose with a fragrant scent.

The garden has some beautiful archways lined with climbing roses.  Their shade lent itself well for photographs as well as a place to sit while Mom wondered.

Dad and I found a nice spot in some lush green grass to take in the garden.  Green grass is pretty rare around Portland this summer.  We've had a very dry season and most the grass is pretty crunchy.

I was right.  They loved the roses.

Dad had forgot his notebook so we made a make-shift one out of a grocery sack and taped it in later.  He made some lovely sketches in the garden.  My favorite was one of my mother.

Momma and me.

Mom could have stayed in the garden forever but the sun was pretty warm and we were getting hungry so we headed downtown to grab a bite to eat.  I took Mom and Dad to one of my favorite novelties (and one of the first places Rachel took me when I first arrived in Portland)...conveyer-belt sushi.  I'm quite certain there are more delicious sushi places out there but it sure is fun to get to watch the rolls being made and snatch my selections off of the belt.

We most definitely ate too much, but boy was it yummy.

After sushi, we went to my other favorite spot downtown, Powell's.  We spent a good amount of time just wandering around the stacks of books and I picked up another book for Eury's collection.

Eury and her Great-Auntie enjoying the new book in my reading chair.