On Saturday Anthony, Malika, Emile, and Amalia came over for the afternoon. Ever since I saw this on our calendar I have been looking forward to it. We get to see them so rarely and it feels like a luxurious treat to have lots of time to just be together with these beautiful souls.
We played games with the kids, chatted, ate bagel sandwiches, and just enjoyed each other’s company. After they pulled away I turned to Abe and said, “Oh my gosh, we didn’t get a single picture!!” I felt SO sad and for a minute contemplated a last minute trip to Salt Lake just to catch up with them and get a picture.
They did invite us to join them in Hawaii for Christmas, so here’s hoping Abe bills a TON between now and Christmas so we can–and we can hopefully remember to take a picture if we do!!!
This evening we were lounging in the backyard when Mary marched out and announced, “There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is,” she grinned widely, “I killed a fly. It was gross!” She was so obviously proud of herself. It was adorable. “The good news is that I drew this!” and she proudly handed me several drawings cut and taped into a birthday cake shape, with the word, “Mary!” colorfully drawn on the top layer. It was too cute.
Abe and I were really tired today. Clarissa was up for HOURS last night. It was the first night since the trip that we didn’t go to her with milk in the night when she cried. And boy, can she express her feelings. She has such great lungs. Maybe she’ll grow up to be an opera singer or professional candle blower or something.
The evening was gorgeous out and Lydia and I spent it reading her new series, The School of Good and Evil. The woman who worked at Powell’s highly recommended it and Lydia is obsessed and wants me to read it, so I, with great effort, set aside Erling Kegge’s book, Walking, and picked it up instead. It’s not half bad.
Thursday was our first day back, and thank goodness Abe didn’t have to work. We arrived home at 1am, which we were actually thrilled about considering we started on the Oregon Coast, stopped at Powell’s books on the way, and managed the potty needs of six people en route. Well, actually, we were pretty bad about the potty needs of everyone in pull-ups or diapers (half of our family!). We didn’t stop for those folks, and poor Ammon was basically dripping pee everywhere by the time we arrived home. Ammon, I am so sorry. We love you so much, and you were such a trooper to never complain.
Actually, Ammon was a STAR traveler. He made it this whole month sitting for countless hours in his car seat without any access to any type of screen and entertained himself–quietly!!!–99% of the time. I should just make a rule no more screen time during Clarissa’s nap times at home. He can totally do it. Ok, maybe we’ll try that out tomorrow…
Also, Abe did the vast majority of driving. We had to stop to pick up his car at the airport and if it hadn’t been for that, we would have been home before midnight. It was an incredible feat!
At 5:15 in the morning Lily woke up with a ton of energy. I, on the other hand, was exhausted out of my mind. Since Lily has had her horrible foot problems, I have been doing the night work for Clarissa, and on the trip her sleep training went out the window, so she usually had one night waking. I really wanted to keep sleeping.
But, Lily was awake and ready for the day. I grumbled, but having woken up, I couldn’t really get back to sleep anyway.
Then, I caught Lily’s vision. We were up early enough that we could drive home in a single day and have a whole day at home on Thursday before I had to go back to work and before Lily had to go back into her normal grind. Once the fog of sleepiness left my mind, I was completely on board, and super grateful Lily had woken up so early.
We packed, got ready, and loaded the kids in about two hours and we hit the road a little after 8:00. I loved that little cottage that we stayed in. It was so charming. Here is a picture of the kid’s beds:
Lily drove the first leg and we stopped through Portland so she could buy some more books at Powell’s books, which is the most amazing bookstore on the planet. Lily said she almost cried when she saw the religion section because of all the books on faith crisis and faith transition. She is so happy and at home at Powell’s. Her heart was pounding the whole time. I wish she could have had a whole week there.
After Lily’s turn driving, I took over around noon. I enjoy driving, and I especially enjoyed driving through Idaho, because it reminded me of Guardsmark and I always enjoy a trip down memory lane.
Clarissa was so cute in the car. She loves Baby Beluga by Gerry Raferti, and when she wants to listen to it, she says, “Baby Ga.” I’ve been reflecting on how much I love having a baby in the family, even though it is so hard some times. She is so adorable, and I can’t imagine what it will be like to not have all these cute baby things happening when she gets older because we are not planning on having more children.
On the way home, Lily and I talked a lot. I love connecting with her so much. We talked about religion and faith, a topic on both of our hearts recently. Also, Lily read me passages from Marilyn Robinson’s The Givenness of Things. I love it when she reads to me and shares her wonderful ideas with me. Being married to her is so heart and mind expanding.
I was really in the zone with driving. We skipped lunch because I wanted to keep things going. We had dinner in Boise, and then I powered all the way home. Lily helped keep me awake with good conversation and letting me listen to Gerry Raferti, who I’m sure she’s very tired of listening to by now.
We pulled in around 1AM and Georgia had waited up to greet us. I was tired out of my mind, as I’m sure Lily was to, and we were so grateful to hit the sack. All in all we had about 12.5 hours of driving and 1.5 hours of stopping
Today was our designated beach day that Lydia had been begging for over and over and over. She insisted that she wanted tons of beach time and to be there the entire day.
We started the day with breakfast at a lovely restaurant called the Osprey Cafe.
When Clarissa got fussy, I took her to the Sea Side beach two blocks away and snapped this photo:
Afterwards we stopped back at the place and then did some shopping. Then we went on a very long drive with the sole purpose of letting Clarissa get her beauty sleep in so she could be fresh for all of the time at the beach.
We drove all the way from Sea Side to Tillamook. Lydia and I went in to check out their new visitor’s center which is huge and amazing. Here are some pictures below:
If this looks like the biggest smile Lydia has ever had in a photo, it is because I had just tickled her when I wasn’t getting the smile I wanted.
Clarissa slept so long that Lily started to get nervous we would not have the beach time that Lydia wanted so badly, but finally Clarissa did wake up. We went to our first beach in Manzanita. For lunch we delicious fish and chips (from Big Wave Cafe) on the beach. Lily said they were the best she’s ever had.
Manzanita beach was beautiful and we got to fly all the kites we bought the day before. Just like the man at the kite shop predicted for today, the wind was perfect for kite flying. I especially loved the tails an Lydia and Mary’s kites. It was very fun to fly kites with them.
After playing at the beach for a while it started to rain, so we headed North to another beach. We pulled into a beach (I forgot the name), and were contemplating staying, but Lily happened to bump into a ranger on her way back from the background and he emphatically told her to visit Ecola State Park and that Indian Beach in Ecola State Park was the most beautiful beach in the world. This was such a tender mercy from God for us to get this tip, and great scouting by Lily! We of course headed straight to Ecola State Park.
Our jaws were dropping even before we got the the beach. There was a 4 mile or so ride through the state park to get to Indian Beach and the scenery was unbelievable. There were beautiful mossy trees towering over head, with ferns covering the ground. Below are some pictures that attempt to capture the beauty.
At Ecola Beach the kids played more and Lily took a bunch of photos. I built an awesome sandcastle with the kids the was on the edge of a small ocean inlet and had a log bridge leading to its entrance. We then all looked at tide pools. There were tons of creatures that Ammon loved poking. I also saw a sizable sand crab. Then we all stood in the ocean and let the incoming tide waves splash us. Clarissa was beside herself with glee until she got too wet from a big wave and then she was not happy.
After that, we spent some time at the overlook. Lily and I both gazed out for a solid five minutes just taking in the view. Lily loved the expansiveness and purity of the view on the right. I loved the motion and features of the view on the left. I loved it so much. We were riveted for 5 minutes straight.
With everyone wet, we headed home, getting pizza and candy (from Phillip’s candies) on the way. The sea foam from the candy store was amazing. They made it themselves.
After carefully cleaning everyone and dealing with sandy clothes (our air BNB host was super particular about not getting sand anywhere in the house, tub, washing machine or hot-tub), we got everyone to bed and got some rest.
In the morning we got everyone ready and went over to Pig ‘n Pancake for breakfast.
After breakfast, we headed over to the Seaside carousel. I had read that one of the first things Seaside did to attract tourists back in the day was install a carousel and an arcade. That was really smart because there’s a lot of rain on the Oregon Coast!
After the carousel we did laser tag. We had the whole room to ourselves, which was great. Ammon, who was too little for a vest, ran around tackling Abe. Clarissa was terrified and needed me to hold her most of the time.
Abe and the girls came up with funny names for their laser-tag personas. Abe was “Toeface,” Lydia was “Something,” and Mary was “Deadflower.” Deadflower is very competitive and won both games. Later when we were remembering laser tag, Mary said nostalgically, “Remember when I won laser tag BOTH times!” …and smiled widely at such a happy thought.
Afterwards we went to the arcade. Of course, at one point we lost Ammon. Abe had gone to tell him we were done, and Ammon ran out of the mall while Abe walked to the entrance of the arcade in the other aisle. We ran around the mall frantically looking for Ammon until some sweet Grandma entered from the street holding his hand. Ammon was sobbing about how his daddy ran away from him and lost him. The grandma was saying soothingly, “It’s okay, honey, we’ll find your family.” Sigh. This is how life with three-year-old Ammon goes. We honestly don’t need arcades or laser tags in our lives–just keeping him alive is an emotional roller coaster!
After the arcade we went home for a potty break and then I popped into the nearby outlet to get Clarissa some clothes and shoes. She has one pair of shoes that fit and we were in constant danger of losing one or both the whole trip long. Having another pair just gave me peace of mind. (And while I was there I bought her a dress because none of those fit either. She’s just growing so fast!)
After that we rented a pram bike and biked along the coast. Oh my gosh, it was so fun! I was worried that Clarissa would announce she was “done” and spend the whole ride trying to climb out, but she actually stayed put until the last ten minutes of the ride. Abe and I both held her down to keep her safe, and we all got back in one piece.
On our bike ride, we stopped at Lewis and Clark’s salt works. This is where they sent a party to make salt to preserve fish and meat for the winter.
After the bike ride we were all hungry since we had skipped lunch. We went to Nonni’s Italian restaurant for dinner. Abe and I took turns chasing Clarissa down the street while the other ate.
Then we walked down to the beach and got some Tillamook ice cream en route. I learned that I should never waste calories on flavors that aren’t chocolate, caramel, or lemon.
Afterward we let the kids play at the beach until bed time. It was a perfect day.
On Sunday we packed up from our airbnb in Beaverton and drove to Slappy Cakes in Portland. We discovered Slappy Cakes last year and love it.
Abe was very proud of his spiral pancake:
Lydia did the dog and Mary wrote “Love.”
After breakfast we drove to the Portland Art Museum. Ammon was asleep in the car, so I stayed in the car enjoying the fresh morning air and daydreaming while he slept for two hours. Abe took Clarissa in the carrier, and she slept on him while he and the girls explored the museum. The girls did their assignment of sketching and writing about their favorite pieces of art. Abe said they wanted to sketch and write about everything, so he had to start drawing boundaries about how much they could do so that he could actually move through the museum. The museum fed his soul (and mine, when it was my turn).
When it was my turn to go in, I felt so alive and happy and grateful. Portland has the best art museum we’ve seen in a long time. It was certainly better than Seattle and Vancouver! It felt like a feast. I took pictures of waaaayy yy too much art… I won’t post them all, but here are just a few:
This is Kehinda Wiley’s “Indio Cuauhtemoc (The World Stage, Brazil)” painting. He paints people of the African diaspora in grand poses from the European Renaissance. This was the first painting I stopped in front of, and it alone could probably occupy someone without kids waiting for them for at least an hour.Dutch art. If I HAD to pick my favorite type of art, I might cheat and just say “everything the Dutch paint.” I love it all.IT’S CLARISSA!!!!! I didn’t realize that until I was showing everyone the pictures I took in the car. When I showed them this photo, Abe exclaimed that both girls had stopped in front of this painting and said it was Clarissa!!! (This is “Nature’s Fan” by William Adolphe Bouguereau. He lived at the same time as the impressionists but was doing this instead.This tree by Swiss artist Alexander Calame took my breath away. When I showed it to Abe he said this one stopped him in his tracks, too.“Marine,” by American artist William Trost Richards, caught my eye. I know this is a painting of the sea, but I grew up by Lake Michigan and spent many hours sitting on the rocks by the lake looking at scenes that looked a lot like this. Light, water, horizon and clouds all together feel very familiar and deeply resonant to me.This painting, “Peanuts,” by De Scott Evans was another one that caught my eye and that Abe exclaimed had caught his too when I showed it to him later. It’s not that big of a painting, but it’s very striking.This painting is very large. It was so colorful and vibrant that I almost cried looking at it. And then I wanted to laugh because I found out it’s an American still life (painted by Severin Roesen, born in Germany but labeled “American”), and upon second examination, it was obviously Americanized–at least it looked like it to me. I feel like a Dutch painter would have painted something a little more restrained and elegant, whereas the still life with an American sensibility is ebullient, gregarious, dripping with so much dew that the flowers are practically sweating to grab attention, and overall completely in your face.There was a huge exhibition on Paris during the Belle Epoque, and most of the paintings were full of fashion, parties, and industry. This painting was sobering in contrast. (“A Martyr: The Violet Seller” by Fernand Pelez.)
A few more things from the Paris exhibition:
It was a glorious experience. When I tore myself away, we drove to the World Forestry Museum.
They had a wild rapids “ride” :
The back of their museum was a water feature, which the kids loved.
My honest thoughts were that the forestry museum was interesting and had some great information, but it also had a slightly dated-feeling. On the other hand, we had the place almost to ourselves, so it was very peaceful.
After the museum, we caught a shuttle to the rose garden. We wanted to rewrite everyone’s memories of it after the wasp disaster there last year. To do that, I gave the girls my phone and told them they could each take pictures of the roses. They traded off and took pictures of each other whenever they switched so we would know later who took what. Here are some of Lydia’s photos (and poses to show these are hers):
And Mary’s:
Then we took the shuttle back, with Ammon chatting with the whole shuttle again (as he did the on the way up), and then drove to a restaurant I enjoyed last year, the Indian Bollywood Theater next to Eb and Bean. We ate soft serve at Eb and Bean afterward.
Then we drove to Powell’s books. I have not been to Powell’s since Mary was a baby. On that occasion, I vowed to spend more time there on the next trip. Last year I didn’t want to do it with four kids, so we skipped it. But this time was, um, heaven. It was pure bliss. Abe and the babies waited in the car while the two older girls and I explored and basically went bananas inside.
I spent waaaaayyy too much money on books that were deeply discounted (and a couple that were for the, er, heck of it.) I also took pictures of books I didn’t buy but wanted to add to my Goodreads To Read list so I can remember for the future. (It worked because I just added them now!)
And then we drove to Seaside! There was still light out enough to enjoy the Oregon countryside for a while before it got dark. It was so cozy to pull up to the darling Airbnb that we reserved months ago. It was adorable.
I have to end by saying how much I LOVED this day. It had books, flowers, art, museums, and nature. Can I do this day again every day????
On Saturday morning we packed up the tent, ate breakfast with the Grants, took a picture, and left Newhalem to drive to Portland.
Oh my goodness, the Grants were SO good to us!! They fed us every meal, let us use their kayak, took us on the good hikes, and were endlessly patient with how ill equipped we were for this camping trip. (Since the van was full of a month’s worth of stuff, we only had room in our van for the BARE essentials, like the tent, sleeping bags, and tarps.) Also, all of our kids got along so beautifully. It was so fun to see them all play together.
On our way home we stopped by the Cascadian Farms roadside stand. It is a tiny little store, but we had to stop because I get their granola and cereal, and it felt a little like meeting a celebrity. I bought two smoothies with fresh berries from their farm.
Then we headed to Clark and Swathi’s for a little lunch and visit. Clarissa walked around naked and then, while we were visiting, squatted behind their bench and pooped a GIANT poop. We were all in awe that such a specimen could emerge from her body. We hosed her down, and Clark and Swathi put the poop in their compost. They are SUCH troopers.
Then we drove to Beaverton, which is a suburb of Portland. We stayed in an adorable house with lots of toys for the kids. They played for hours in the house and the yard while Abe and I had a rather intense discussion.
On Friday morning we woke up early with the kids and drove to Newhalem to get some breakfast from the store. We ate in the parks near the store and let the kids play for two hours on the playgrounds and the fire engine.
Clarissa climbed up a curved ladder with enormous spaces between the rings. We were all shocked. Abe and I were poised to catch her if she fell, but she made it!
Then we hooked up with the Grants and drove to Diablo Lake. I think Diablo Lake is like a less touristy version of Lake Lorraine in Canada. It is gorgeous glacial water with alpine snow-peaked mountains all around.
The Grants were soooooo nice and let us use their kayaks to take the kids out on the lake. Well, I am SUPER motion sickness-prone, so I didn’t go out on it, but Abe and the kids did a bunch.
Making lunch with Julie.
After the lake, we drove up the road to see more of the park. Wow, was it stunning!
We loved these green tipped evergreens.
In the evening Abe took Clarissa to see the lighted waterfalls while the rest of us visited in the campground. All of the kids loved playing with Ashley’s dog, Charlie. And it was so fun to have Jean back.
Also, Julie cooked DELICIOUS tinfoil dinners for everyone. I can still taste them now. Yum!
On Thursday we drove to Newhalem and met up with the Grants. We met up with Jean and Ashley too later that evening.
We made a stop at the National Park visitor center (right next to our campground) before setting up tent. We didn’t put the rainfly on our tent and every single night we had the most beautiful views of the trees, stars, and dark night sky. It was glorious.
After we were all set up, we went on a little hike with the Grants to see some ancient Native American sites.
When we were at Point Defiance Zoo, the kids all lined up on the benches and called out for cotton candy. They found a bench on the trail and did the same thing. They all thought it was so funny!Julie made us chili and baked potatoes for dinner. It was delicious.
After dinner Abe tried to get Clarissa asleep while I took the other kids with the Grants to look at the lit up waterfalls behind the Newhalem power plant (which is shockingly beautiful!).
I was taking one handed pictures because the other was holding Ammon firmly so he wouldn’t throw himself into the waterfall.
In this next shot, I was holding Ammon so he is not in the picture. I could only take one because I was terrified that if I let Ammon’s hand go, he would dart into the dark woods behind. So I snapped this shot, readjusted my grip on Ammon, and marched on.
After the falls, we went back to the tent and everyone slept quickly and well. Our tent ceiling and walls are almost all mesh under the rain fly. Since there was no rain fly, I spent a lot of time reveling in the open air, the night sounds, and the gorgeous view of lacey pines and sky above me.
