MR. T'S FIRST HAIRCUT: AGE 2 YEARS, 10 MOS.

This place was amazing. Little Clippers had it all -- playhouses, vehicles, a video list longer than Blockbuster, a recumbent hair-washing bed. Truman freaked out when Alex tried to deposit him in a Steve McQueen race car for his cut. He ended up sitting on her lap and watched "The Brave Little Toaster" while St. Melissa did a great job of cutting off his beautiful blonde locks. Good boy, Truman!

BREAKFAST WITH A NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER

The University of Portland bought a table of tickets for a breakfast speech by New York Times environment reporter Andrew Revkin recently. I was offered two tickets, I negotiated for one more so I could take the two students who waned to attend with me. He gave a wonderful "armchair interview" while we ate our bacon and eggs. I was most impressed with his wit and wisdom. "I'm passionate about reality," he told us. He keeps a blog and thinks it's an "unavoidable responsibility" of 21st-century journalists to educate their readership and interact with them. He thinks the old days of a journalist's "concrete authority" is over, and that their job is to help lead us on an exploration of a "question" rather than a "beat."

PORTLAND'S FAMOUS STUMPTOWN COFFEE SHOPS

Stumptown Coffee Company is the most well-known coffee in this city of coffee. The baristas all make these designs like magic when they make our coffee. Rhonda hesitated to drink hers because she didn't want to mess up the design. I want to learn how to do it. I Googled it, and it's called "latte art." I think it may take me awhile.

THE BIGGEST FLATBREAD IN THE WORLD

We ate lunch with our Minneapolis visitors at a hole-in-the-wall Lebanese restaurant (Nicholas Restaurant). Customers are crammed together at tiny tables, and the bread just about takes over, as you can see! Rhonda is dwarfed by it! However, the place is always packed because you can get a delicious, fresh mezza platter for under $10 that easily feeds two. It includes falafel, hummus, cucumber yogurt sauce, kafta kabob, rice and lentils with grilled onions and tabouli salad. Excellent bargain!

WAFFLES TO GO AT BREAD AND INK

We went to brunch one morning with Rhonda and Kim at a wonderful little restaurant in the Hawthorne District called Bread and Ink Cafe. All our food was outstanding, even the homemade ketchup. Mine was the oddest (although delicious) -- an apple, bacon, onion omelet. But Rhonda's was the prizewinner -- banana caramel waffles. And she ate the whole thing! You can also buy waffles to go from their take-out window.

A VISIT TO THE JAPANESE GARDEN

This is probably the least exciting time of year to visit this remarkable Japanese garden, and yet it was still dramatic and enjoyable. It sits on the hillside next to the zoo and the Portland Rose Garden just on the edge of downtown.

A VISIT TO MULTNOMAH FALLS

We had to make a visit to this icon of the Portland area while Rhonda and Kim were visiting. We all made the two-mile hike up to the top of Multnomah Falls, although Truman needed to ride on Uncle Nik's shoulders for awhile. The view was stunning and we felt pretty proud. It's the second-tallest waterfall in the country that flows all year -- 620 feet.