On Tuesday I was still so tired from our trip.
But I did find photographic evidence from this day. Lydia spent much of the day crafting a rocket ship for Ammon, a bus for Mary, and something similar (a boat?) for Clarissa. We were blown away by her creations!
 
We celebrated with a dance party.
On Monday Abe and I were completely exhausted from the trip and had trouble functioning during the day.
We did wake up once the kids were down. It’s funny how that works!
Abe and I did not get a ton of sleep on Saturday night, so we were a little tired on our drive home from Oregon. We did thoroughly enjoy the drive, though. We love road trips as a family. The first bit of the drive was still unimaginably beautiful, but once we got into thoroughly eastern Oregon and Nevada, the landscape became pretty desolate and empty. But honestly, we even enjoyed that! We just love road trips.
Clarissa did make this leg of the trip eventful by puking about four hours away from home. Her puke was bright purple and got over everything. Until that point, Lydia had been sitting between Clarissa and Ammon because she and Mary sometimes fight. However, once Clarissa puked, Lydia announced that she and Mary were best friends and quickly clamored over the seat to sit by Mary. 🙂
Abe and I felt really in love and so happy to be together this weekend. We just thoroughly enjoyed being on this journey of life together with each other and our family. It was a great ending to the trip.
On Saturday we packed up and drove to Slappy Cakes, since our previous trip there seemed to be the highlight of the kids’ Portland experience. Since it was Saturday, there was an HOUR long wait. Candace and her kids played in the restaurant while we took a walk around the nearby neighborhood.
We admired a lot of gardens, and as we were admiring one, a voice replied to one of our comments from the porch. An older lady named Amy came down to us and started chatting. She invited us to her back yard and let the kids hold her chickens, harvest some eggs, and pick some of her vegetables. She was so, so sweet and told us to come back so she could make us omelettes next time!!
Then we went to slappy cakes and had fun there. I had order envy of Candace the last time so this time I ordered her order from our last trip. Everyone else had the greatest time making pancakes. Abe made an amazing dolphin playing in the waves, and he drew a chocolate pancake arrow through a buttermilk heart pancake I made. That was so memorable for me and I wish I had taken a picture.
And obviously, the kids loved every second. Also, Abe made that dolphin. Isn’t it amazing?! Candace also made a great pikachu which we didn’t get a picture of. Everyone except me got so creative!
Then we said goodbye to Candace and her lovely kids and drove to Crater Lake. The drive was beautiful beyond words. Oregon is to the west coast what Maine is to the east coast. It is insanely beautiful. We felt so spoiled by all of the natural beauty at every turn. And much of the way we were not on major roads, so it was extra solitary and gorgeous.
When we got to Crater Lake, Abe wanted to hike a bit on the rim trail. We did this, but there were parts of the trail that were sheer cliffs to the lake with almost no space to navigate. Teensy tiny Mary had to carefully place one foot in front of the other to avoid falling over the cliff. At that point, I suggested we cease and desist. Abe, who had been happily walking along completely oblivious to any sense of danger, realized that our children were inches away from death…and very kindly obliged to turn around. Lydia and I were especially grateful, since Lydia was great at vocalizing her fears throughout the entire hike. Lydia and I scrambled over to the highway as quickly as possible and walked back to the parking lot holding each other’s hands.
The lake was not very blue because the air was smoky from California fires to the south. But we were thrilled to squeeze a national park into the trip.
We ate in a lodge right outside the park and then drove to Klamath Falls, where we spent a very memorable night in the Best Western there.
On Friday we got a late start getting out of our airbnb, so by the time we got to Portland it was lunch time. We ate at Riyadh, the restaurant Abe and I loved from our last trip to Portland. Candace and I accidentally over-ordered, and we did our gosh darn best to eat it ALL up.
I was feeling really tired, and so even though we considered doing more city things after lunch, I asked Candace if it would be okay to just drive to the beach instead. Candace is the best friend to travel with you could possibly imagine and immediately agreed. So after lunch, we packed the kiddies up (I took Cadence with my kids) and drove to Hug Point State Park in Cannon Beach.
The drive was just what the doctor ordered. The kids were strapped down and content in the car, and I was in heaven with the amazing Oregon scenery. It struck me that next time Abe travels and I go on a trip with a friend, I should avoid cities entirely and just retreat into some gorgeous nature. It would be way less stressful and ten times more rejuvenating.
Candace went to Haystack Beach because that’s where she assumed I told her to go, so before we got that mix-up clear I spent an hour with my set of kids alone. Hug Point State Park is a great beach. It’s not too big or crowded, and the kids loved playing in the sand. Clarissa kept purposefully collapsing as she crawled, and every time she’d collapse she would stretch out all of her limbs and revel with her fingers and toes wiggling in the sand. It was adorable. The one thing I really hate about the beach, though, is that Clarissa always gets sand in her eyes and all over her face. That part is no fun.
Lydia ended up peeing on a log through her undies and spent the first fifteen minutes crying because she hated being dirty. I was, as usual it seems, too short with her and told her it was her own fault for not going in the bathroom right next to where we parked. (The minute we descended the stairs to the beach with ALL of the kids, Lydia announced she needed to pee. It felt almost impossible to me to round up all of the kids and bring them back up the stairs to the bathroom, so I asked her to just go herself. She refused. That’s when I told her to just pee on a nearby log, and she was so desperate that she had no time to pull down her undies before going.)
Finally Lydia calmed down and we all had a great time. One of the highlights for me was when Ammon came to me, peered down at the imprint of his footsteps in the sand, and cried, “Look! I make TRACKS!!” (The kids watch a lot of nature shows wherein animal tracks are discussed.) Thereafter Ammon had a great time hopping in the sand making “tracks” all over the place. He pretended to be a frog and a kangaroo while he hopped, and then we would examine his tracks trail. He was so over-the-top cute.
Then Candace and I got our locations sorted and Candace joined us with the rest of her kids. We visited and talked a lot about plastic surgery. I love the idea in theory of getting a tummy tuck. It sounds like such an awesome way to immediately lose all of the fat I’ve acquired over the child-bearing years. At the same time, I love feeling physically strong and energetic, and I think plastic surgery would interfere with that because you can’t exercise those muscles for a year afterward. My other main concern is that it’s not compatible with my understanding of Christian discipleship. Plastic surgery requires so much money and is so thoroughly appearances-oriented, and I just don’t see that as being in line with the values Jesus taught. But I indulge the occasional day dream anyway.
Then we caravaned to Tom’s Fish and chips in Cannon Beach. I stayed in the car while Candace kindly ordered for me, and we repeated the exercise at the ice cream shop down the road right after. It is awesome traveling with a friend, especially a friend like Candace.
After we finished up our dinner, we drove to the airport to pick Abe up from his flight. He arrived at 10pm, but it took us a while to find him because he was in departures instead of the arrival area. We kept assuring each other that we were in the same airport, but it was so confusing to keep driving loops and not see Abe. It was great when we finally figured that out.
When we got home, Candace’s crew and our kids were asleep. We transferred all of our kids to bed and then enjoyed some beautiful time outside enjoying the view from the air bnb. It was so great to be with Abe again.
After our wasp attack Wednesday we decided to play it safe on Thursday and spent most of the day indoors. We went to Slappy Cakes for breakfast, and the kids had a marvelous time making pancakes. Mary always ends up with chocolate all over her mouth and is in her element whenever she gets to make a mess. All of the kids loved, loved, loved it. Ammon kept making the same shape over and over: an “egg.” He never quite got the hang of making anything other than a blob with his squeezy bottle, but he prolifically produced “eggs” one after the other.
After Slappy Cakes, we headed over the the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Candace and I both got in for free because we already had memberships to the museum’s affiliated group. That was great. Then we explored one small section, discovered the indoor playground…and let the kids play for three or four hours until dinner. We got to sit around and chat, which is my favorite part of the trip–getting to talk with my friend!
The playground was fun because it had a sand pit in the middle and a guard at the entrance. It was nice to know that should Ammon attempt to escape, there was at least a guard on duty whose job was to not let such an attempt succeed. Clarissa also loved the chance to crawl around and explore. She spent so much of the trip strapped into a car seat or the Boba that this was a real treat.
All of the rest of the kids were beautifully entertained and content for those hours and hours in the playroom. There were enough things for them to do that they never appeared to get bored.
After the museum closed, we went to dinner at the Bollywood Theater, right next to the Eb and Bean. It was the BEST Indian food I had ever eaten in my life! Everything was fresh and delicious. I love Indian food generally, but this was so different than anything I had experienced before. It must have been from a different region or something. But I would go back to Portland just to eat more meals there!
Then we headed next door to the Eb and Bean for dessert. The frozen yogurt was incredible, and I especially loved my topping of the Tom Bumble crumble. The portions were stingy though. I had to go back for seconds since Clarissa ate most of my first cone. She LOVED it.
After that we drove home and put the kids to bed. While I put Clarissa down, Ammon decided to escape to the forest on the edge of the property. While Candace relaxed on the porch outside, she saw this figure running toward her in the dark. She was startled because it looked like an animal in the dark, but it was too big for a dog…and as it got nearer and nearer, it turns out the animal was Ammon running full speed at her from the woods! That boy.
Also, Mary was thrilled to be able to sleep on the top bunk again. She had been talking all day about sleeping up there again, but I told her not to count on it because the original plan was to let everyone have turns sleeping in all the different beds, but it turns out people just went to the beds they’d chosen from before, and she got to be right where she wanted.
After the kids were in bed, Candace and I hung out outside looking at the view and chatting for hours. I love Candace. She is a perfect friend. I love talking to her about church stuff because we see eye to eye on so much. She has solved her issues by leaving, which is not my choice, but I completely and totally respect her for hers.
On Wednesday morning we headed to Portland to take the Pink Trolley tour. The kids were very excited at the prospect of riding a pink trolley. I had, however, underestimated how complicated this part of the trip would be. Our San Diego trolley ride was a smashing success–but that was probably because Clarissa slept on me the whole time and Abe had the task of keeping Ammon from jumping out of the trolley window. Also, people were much more kid friendly in San Diego.
On the pink trolley, there was a woman who yelled at the kids for being too loud and since I was two rows behind Mary and Lydia, I couldn’t pre-empt her by doing my own loud shushing. Anyway, I was busy hushing a fussy Clarissa AND physically restraining Ammon from trying to run up and down the aisle and jump out of the trolley. We got off at the first stop.
Getting off of the trolley initially felt like a relief, but then once we had descended into the rose garden in Washington Park, Lydia announced she needed to pee. There was no restroom for miles, as far as I could tell. She said she HAD to pee, so I gave her permission to pee in the rose garden. She retreated behind some bushes and let it go. I sincerely hoped no one saw, but since there were hundreds of people milling around, my hopes were most likely in vain.
After Lydia peed, she caught up with the other kids while I limped behind with Clarissa in the carrier and Ammon in the stroller. When we caught up to the kids, I took pictures of them all.
The minute I stopped taking pictures, Lydia decided to explore the hydrangea bushes, with Mary close behind. Unbeknownst to them, the hydrangea bushes were home to a wasp nest. The minute they touched the bushes, a swarm of wasps attacked Mary and Lydia. I turned around to the sounds of their piercing screams and shrieks as they ran out of the bushes hysterically. The wasps chased them out and by the time I got to the girls, they had wasps in their pants and crawling on their heads. There were some in Mary’s braids.
Candace, at this point, was truly a lifesaver. She stayed calm and used humor to help deflect their hysteria. I, in the meantime, felt angry that they had left the path, but I did my best to shoo and kill the wasps. Thank goodness Candace saw one wasp crawling in between Clarissa and me, heading for Clarissa’s bare leg. I smashed that wasp immediately, and Clarissa never got stung.
Aria calmed Mary down by telling her it was okay and that she could be quiet now, and Mary was so brave. Even though she broke out on her shoulder into a rash from the bites, she stopped crying quickly. The only evidence of the trauma she was experiencing was the occasional lip quiver, and also she did not want anyone to touch her skin or examine her rash.
Lydia, on the other hand, lost her mind. She reminded me strongly of myself upon an encounter with mice or rats. I am honestly the exact same way she is, and I know where she got whatever gene or instinct was manifesting itself while she freaked out. Lydia screamed hysterically and even when we took of her shorts, retreated to a wasp free area, and made sure there were no wasps anywhere near her, she still kept imagining she was getting attacked by wasps.
It was at this point that our situation, which felt truly awful, morphed into the lowest hour of my parenting experience. We retreated to the line in front of the Japanese Garden, and Candace kindly called me an Uber while I attempted to calm Lydia down.
The Uber took one hour to come.
During that hour, I stood with all four of my kids, all of whom took turns crying for various reasons while Lydia continually screamed about being attacked by wasps. She was in her underwear because she refused to wear her shorts, and line after line of people passed right next to our crisis and stared on unhelpfully. Ammon was hungry, Mary was thirsty, Clarissa was hot and tired, and Lydia was out of her mind.
It was then that I learned this rule, which I will never again disobey. ALWAYS KEEP YOUR CAR AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE WHEN YOU HAVE YOUNG CHILDREN. I will never again take a trolley or public transportation when Abe is not around. I will always, always make sure we are within walking distance of my car.
Finally, I figured out that the Uber was waiting around the corner from us, and we hightailed it outta there. The driver was nice and tried to calm the kids down by asking them silly questions.
When we finally got to our van, we drove back to our lovely air bnb and watched Mulan. I lay on the futon and daydreamed about napping while Clarissa crawled around. During the course of this quiet time, Lydia finally transitioned out of her panic and started to function normally again.
After a couple hours, we had courage to go back into Portland to meet my Aunt Pam and Uncle Steve at Boke Bowl. It was delicious, but I was so busy talking that I hardly got to eat anything. It was wonderful to see my aunt and uncle after the crazy day, and Candace was great and sat with the older kids so we could visit.
We originally considered going to the Eb and Bean afterward, but I was totally spent. We went home, gave everyone baths, and put those tired kiddos to bed. It was a crazy day.
On Tuesday we left Ben’s townhouse and started our drive to Portland. We were originally going to caravan with Candace, but she had a hair appointment, so we just went on ahead. We listened to audiobooks and music and had, as I recall, an easy, uneventful drive. We did stop at Multnomah Falls enroute.
Then we met up with Candace and her crew at a little restaurant in Washougal, five minutes from our air bnb. I ate most of my meal standing up while watching Ammon and Clarissa out of the window. Ammon was crazy after the drive and unable to sit still at the table, so to keep him from running around the restaurant in circles, venturing into the back kitchen and attempting to break the soda machine, I strapped him into his seat. I did the same with Clarissa, who was very fussy.
Then we went to our air bnb and met our lovely host, Rene. The apartment was PERFECT for kids. There was a pool table, a ton of beds, and an enormous yard for the kids to play. Plus the view of the Columbia River was breath taking. It was truly magical.
We explored the beautiful yard and let the kids get their wiggles out. They played for an hour or so before baths and bed. It was a lovely start to the trip.
On Monday morning my mom accompanied me on some errands before our trip. She sat with the kids while I ran into Target, the library, and Einstein’s Bagels. It was so wonderful to have her help, because those errands would have taken FOREVER and been really un-fun if I had had to take the kids in with me at every stop. I love my mom.
Then we said goodbye, headed over to the FedEx parking lot where Abe was just finishing some last minute copies before his drive to the airport. We said goodbye to Abe one more time and then started our drive to Boise.
It was such a happy leg of the trip. I will say our first rest stop was a little tricky. I peed with Clarissa on my lap and Ammon in the stall. He threatened to open the door at every moment, and when I finally let him out he immediately busted his lip open jumping against the sinks repeatedly. Since I had my hands full with Clarissa, I handed him a towel for his lip and hightailed it back to the car with everyone. Thereafter at rest areas I would send the girls in first and then lock everyone in the car with the air conditioner running full blast while I hurried in to pee. That turned out to work much better.
When we arrived in Boise, my car, which had been sparkling clean at the start of the trip just hours before, was trashed. The kids had poured cheerios over Clarissa every time she cried in their attempts to calm her down, so there were cheerios everywhere. There was trash from meals and snacks everywhere, even though I had repeatedly instructed the kids to put trash in the trash bag. And the car was just so jam packed with stuff that there was no room to navigate through the mess.
So instead of saying hello to Candace, I sent my kids into her house to play with her kids while I cleaned the car. Then I went in, said hi to Ben and Candace, and ate dinner with everyone. They made some delicious grilled kebabs for everyone. The kids loved holding the Martineaus’ chickens, jumping on their trampoline, and playing with their kids.
Then Ben gave us the keys to his apartment, and we drove there for the night. I bathed the kids and we all slept in the same room. I loved cuddling with Ammon, and all three girls were PERFECT the minute I turned off the lights. I told them that when the lights went off they would have to go to sleep, and all three girls (even Clarissa!!!) followed instructions perfectly. Ammon, who was in bed with me, did a lot of whispering songs and stories for an hour before he finally drifted off. It was so cute.
Today not much happened. I painted the girls’ nails and groomed everyone before church. I also packed for our Portland trip. I am so grateful to be going to Portland because I will miss Abe too much while he’s traveling this week. If I were staying home, I would spend all day pining away probably.
I didn’t take any pictures today, so I’ll just post our upcoming itinerary instead.
Monday, July 23: Drive to Boise. Overnight with Candace.
Tuesday, July 24: Drive to Washougal.
Wednesday, July 25:
Cereal (Cheerios), milk, yogurt and bananas at home.
Thursday:
I am thinking that after our day of touring, a beach day would be nice. What about Cannon Beach? Cannon Beach is 1 hour and 44 minutes away from Portland.
Friday:
Abe arrives in an uber!!!
Saturday: Breakfast at 8 am at Sweedee.
Sunday: Finish the drive Home.