January 2014 album: Girls (ahem) weekend and an epic hike

   

   

   

Our third semi-annual girls’ weekend happened in Padre Island, and there were a few stowaways, shall we say:   Anthony, my nephew, and my dad.  Which meant that naps were part of the daytime routine, football occasionally blared on the television, and movie options included “Bride of Frankenstein” (What? that’s a chick-flick! my dad insisted…).  On the plus side, we enjoyed afternoon gin and Sonics (mango slushies and gin!  yes!), walked along the beach, and we convinced my dad to take his boat out of winter hibernation to give us all a fantastic ride.  And Anthony, well, he’s adorable.  We bonded over trains. 

During our visit, my sisters and I dug through two tubs of Granny’s quilting fabric that my mom brought.  Since Granny has downsized her 90+ tubs of fabric, we are dealing with a serious surplus.  We came up with a project that we could finish before the weekend was over: party banners!  They are adorable.  We all shared a pattern I had found years ago, but everyone had their own unique touch.  We all teased Megan about her inefficient use of fabric and her unique flowers that all managed to include a divet, and there were many jokes regarding No Floppy Flowers!  which made us all collapse into fits of giggles.  It was hysterical.  Now we each have a creation that can only remind us of what a fun weekend it was.  And Mom, because she is a sewing rock star, made us each aprons.  Thanks, Mom!

 

And I hooked us all up with some Aggie paraphernalia before I left Texas. 

    

Ah… fast forward several days, and I’m back in Portland, where we are wearing jackets and fleece and the sun sometimes shines.  It was Martin Luther King Day - a holiday, but not everyone’s holiday – just the kids and me, because Matt had to work.  Boo.  So I took them on a hike around Reed College, since I had never been there.  It was a lovely day, and a lovely hike.  I parked somewhere on a neighborhood street that was pretty nondescript.  I recorded the street names in my phone so that I could easily remember where it was.

  

We were having such a good time.  The kids made up a play at the amphitheater there, and I just sat and watched.  There were many battle scenes.

And then, after our snacks were gone, and Leo had two “nature pees” (his first ever since potty-training.  Oh, but boys are so much easier when it comes to peeing in the woods…), we were all tired and hungry and ready to get back.  But where was my pesky van?  Dammit, really.  I kept trying to get a signal on my phone so that I could track us through GPS, but alas, we were going in circles.  GPS doesn’t have a good map of trails.  Leo was tired and required me to carry him – and coincidentally, both of my hiking shoes gave out.  Seriously, they opened up hobo style, like two quacking ducks attached to my feet, eating up all the dirt and collecting dust and grime inside my socks and between my toes.  Weighed down by the weight of my two-year old and my shoes’ soil collection, I was desperately reaching my phone up in the air with my other hand to get a signal to try to find the van.  Meanwhile the other two lagged behind, whining and dragging their heels.  Ay yi yi.  We finally tracked down the van.  My first and last ever solo-hike with these three.  And I still haven’t replaced those shoes.  I think I earned another girls’ weekend.  Or two.  Onward. 

  

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. 

September Album: These aren’t the droids you’re looking for

We celebrated Labor Day weekend with my sister and her family, which, by “we”, I mean, my 3 kids and I.  We spent a lot of the weekend watching a Star Wars marathon.  My children are officially hooked.  And I guess I am too.

Other highlights included: preserving Fredericksburg peach jam, hiking around Garden of the Gods, late-night viewing of the Food Network’s  “Chopped” with my sis, and attending the Air Force game on college football opening day. 

The only thing about the game that fascinated Dean was the other team’s drums.  South Dakota’s band let him have a closer look as they were lining up.  Such friendly folks!

Playing at the Garden of the Gods.

   

Can’t catch Fi!

Me and Leo.

My nephews and niece.

Our visit was an entire week – I’m sure that was long enough for all parties, but my sister and I could probably have visited some more.  Sans kiddos.  Time for another Girl’s Weekend? 

the farmer debriefs the flight

So... just a debrief:  it IS possible to fly on an airplane solo with three children - two on either side plus one infant on your lap.  It's pretty tight, and I don't recommend longer than three hours.  But it can be done.  Both flights to and from Denver were uneventful - my two-year-old and four-year-old told me they wanted to get off about an hour and a half into the air both times.  Um, not an option.  But they tolerated the rest of the way each time, mainly eating their way through it.  The key was providing snacks they could play with:  multi-colored goldfish and animal crackers.  And lots of tiny stickers to count and stick on their notebooks.  Also a calm mom with a flight attendant call button.  No problem.  None at all.

Our visit was awesome, too - I'll post some pics soon.

tillamook and cape meares

My lovely sister, Gina, and her three children came to visit us for a whirlwind four days!  Our first adventure was to the Tillamook Cheese Factory, the lighthouse at Cape Meares, and Oceanside for some rock-skipping and being chased by the waves.  This is my new favorite day trip:

 

where our cheese is made… 

ice cream made the perfect lunch!  Oregon strawberry, marionberry, Tillamook mudslide, black cherry, rocky road, and caramel pecan.  mmmmmmmm

For dessert, we sampled some cheese.  Our favorite, by far: garlic chili pepper cheddar cheese.

Cape Meares lighthouse:

beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean:

    

playing at the beach: