April Album II: Girls’ Weekend

On my birthday this year, my dear esposo took the kids down to Oklahoma to celebrate my father-in-law’s retirement while I hosted our second girls’ weekend here in Portland.  I had some initial mixed emotions, since my birthday was spent without my crew – plus I was missing out on a big celebration for my husband’s dad.  But it was a wonderful way to enjoy my birthday –  hanging out and spending some much needed time with my mom and sisters sans kiddos.  My sister Gina couldn’t make it, sadly – she was on bedrest at the hospital awaiting “cuatro” – their fourth child, who was due to arrive in a few weeks (spoiler alert: Baby Anthony Thomas arrived on Mother’s Day and wow, is he a cutie!  Mommy and baby are both doing well…).  My mom arrived a couple of days early, so she could visit with the kiddos before their trip. 

Mom and I also celebrated my birthday before Rita and Meg arrived – a day of shopping and organizing.  I took her to Mother’s Bistro downtown, which was lovely.  Unfortunately, we don’t get to spend quality time like this very often.

  

Girls weekend began with the arrival of Rita and Meghan!  The next morning we started off with some yoga and my famous “smoovy”.

We spent that morning on the historic Columbia River highway, catching a glimpse and a kiss of mist from the beautiful falls there:  Latourell, Shepard’s Dell, and of course the crown jewel, Multnomah Falls.  The weather was cool but beautiful and slightly damp – a perfectly lovely Oregon day.

   

Rita, Mom, and I stood in front of the scenic Columbia River, at the Crown Point Vista House.

  

   

   

        

The area is so incredibly scenic; it just speaks for itself.  We left a spot for Gina in the bottom right photo, since Mom has been known for her fancy and artful “photoshopping” of portraits. We really missed Gina.

    

After all that hiking, we needed some pedicures.

The next day, I took them to two Portland markets: the Portland Farmers Market at PSU and the Saturday Market (which runs on Sunday, too, just to be confusing).  There were many colorful artists and musicians to take in.  I am a sucker for live music, especially when the musicians are barefoot or play washboards.  It’s true. 

We had lunch at the Farmer’s Market from a booth that was making its own corn tortillas.  Oh yum.

The Saturday Market was pretty packed also.  It was a good excuse for me to go, since I hadn’t seen the new (not-so-new anymore) fountain or permanent structure for the market booths.

I handpicked this spot to make sure that the tie-dye made it into the photo.

Girls’ weekend is usually about creativity, so I busted out my sewing machine for the first time since the day before Leo was born.  I was pretty happy to be sewing again.  I have projects galore, and my new rule is: no new fabric until I get some projects finished!  Then my lovely sister-in-law gifted me with some great fabric scraps (which doesn’t count at all).  Yay.

Rita and Meg got creative in the kitchen for some salmon, polenta cakes, salad and a delicious strawberry rhubarb pie to celebrate my birthday.

    

The next day we went out to brunch on my birthday before Rita had to catch her plane (boo hoo!), and thus began my process of winding down after such a fun weekend.  I always have a hard time saying good-bye to my mom and sisters.  This kind of weekend is too scarce (my sisters and I have each been pregnant since the last one!).  I guess with such young families, we’re lucky to sneak in some time to ourselves, but here’s to many more girls’ weekends and with fewer intervals between them. 

 

Luckily, my crew came home soon after everyone left, so I didn’t have too much time to sit on my pity pot.  Happy 35 to me. 

February Album: Staying warm!

This February, we were preoccupied with keeping warm.  Though it didn’t rain for much of the month, brrrrr!!!  We had lots of ideas for staying warm.  Nani and Gramps also came to see us this month!

Valentine’s card-making!

Nani and Gramps visit!  We head to Oregon Museum of Science and Industry – Egypt exhibit.

Fiona’s favorite: the earthquake generator.  I stayed out.

We took Nani and Gramps to the Smith and Bybee Wetland Recreation area.  It was chilly!

  
After Nani and Gramps left, Dean and Fiona pretended they were also on a long road trip…

It snowed!

   
Curious George exhibit at the Portland Children’s Museum!

   
Keeping busy with floor puzzles! 

41 years

Every year, I marvel that my parents are two people that have been happily married for so long.  It is such a reason to celebrate!

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for setting the bar so high for a healthy, happy, and long-lasting marriage.  Happy anniversary.

April Album

Live from Utah!  A snapshot of the last few days in April… including the big 33 for me.

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Mama-cation

Returning from an extended weekend with my sisters and mom (and baby nephew), to celebrate my sister's 40th birthday, which, yes, involved deluxe pedis, I started to wallow a little bit.  It is my pattern after a family visit.  It's especially difficult for me when I don't have a clear sense of when I'll see each of them again.  Then I start thinking about how to relocate la casa close to family (which is a stretch, since we're spread from St. Louis to Salt Lake City, but maybe Texas would cover a lot of ground)...  This time my wallowing was met in the airplane by a friendly woman and her husband who just spent their weekend in Denver celebrating her sister's 70TH birthday!  She is one of 4 siblings in all, and when everyone literally "left the farm" in South Dakota and started having children, they decided to make it a priority to gather together every other year.  She said they were faithful to this, and all the cousins did get to know each other, because they learned the value of being around family.  Those were special times for them.  And look!  They still make it a point to gather together and celebrate special occasions.  It was perfect timing for me and my wallowing to hear her story.  Okay, okay, very reassuring, so I won't relocate la casa just yet.  I guess this is just what people do in these circumstances, and my struggle isn't new or unique.  But still.

Spending time with the girls was such a needed getaway aside from our every-other-year gathering that is starting to occur with the larger group (our families together total 20 people now!), and since each of us has returned to our daily routines, plans are in motion to make this Mamacation (?vacation for the mamas?) an annual event, Including the deluxe pedis.  phew.