We had such a good time in Oregon with Aunt Jess and Uncle Derek seeing all that the coast has to offer last year that we had to go back! Jon was sent to Portland for a leadership training in April and he and I were really hoping that the dates would coincide with Jess's Spring Break. Unfortunately they did not. So Jon got to meet up with Jess and Derek for lunch on his last day there and I got to see... pictures... So we immediately started planning a trip around Labor Day before Jess would be teaching again.
We left for Oregon on August 29th. Mia was more than two months at that point and that was comfortable. Earlier than two months and the thought of traveling with her would have stressed me out more than I would have liked. Not to say I wouldn't have done it, but stressful. As it was, she struggled in the car. S T R U G G L E D. We were honestly stopping every hour and a half once we hit the afternoon. The morning stops hadn't been that often and we even visited some friends of ours who live in Meridian (right outside Boise) and she did well for up until then and the visit itself, but our projected arrival time just kept getting pushed back until I was thinking it'd be Sunday sometime before we rolled into the Stott place. And poor little Mia was super upset, just yelling at the top of her lungs in the hopes that we'd help her. Unfortunately these moments always seemed to be when there were no rest stops. We figured out a much better schedule on the return trip, but it was a happy happy day when we arrived at Jess and Derek's. Right around midnight.
We went to church with Jess and Derek and the girls did great without Jon and me in their class, likely due to the fact that they had the best primary teachers ever!! Uncle Derek and Aunt Jess. Lydia came home talking about their lesson, wishing she could be in their class each Sunday. The ward was really friendly and the lessons were great. Jon and I even made a Philippines connection. Not really, but we met a Filipina and ended up talking to her for quite a while. She'd just returned home from visiting her family in the Philippines and loved finding out that we'd served there. My Cebuano is ridiculously rusty, but it was still fun to speak a little bit and know that not all has been forgotten.
Jess made this awesome tomato soup from scratch and we had grilled cheese on her awesome homemade bread. She was getting pretty fancy with the cheeses while we were there. I took note and will try to spice things up a little more in my cooking from here on out. There's something about not planning meals or cooking each one that made eating every meal a real treat. So... forgive me for talking about food so much, but at least now you have been warned. After lunch Mia and I napped while Jon, Derek and the girls went for a walk. They came home so excited to tell Jess and me about how Uncle Derek had saved them from the Evergreen Forest!! Really though, he truly was a hero. Jon said that had he and the girls been walking on their own they would have made it home eventually, but probably not as timely as they did, so thank goodness Uncle Derek was there!
Dinner with Derek's family was like spending time with our family. They're the best. Honestly. They treat us like family when we see them and I love it. Dinner was delicious. Salmon, salad, seasoned potatoes. Derek's Grandma brought over this S'mores cake and Brittany made these peanut butter cookies that I didn't eat nearly enough of. Basically the food was fantastic (it was fantastic the entire trip. Jess even sent me a meal plan outlining breakfast, lunch and dinner for the week that we'd be staying with them. A. I can't believe how organized she is and B. Talk about tasty!!) and the company was even better, which is definitely saying something. Lydia and Sophie had been talking about Raja and Gretchen before we'd even made it to Oregon, and couldn't wait to see them. They were a little disappointed when Raja (the Stott's cat) remained hidden, but watching Gretchen outside from inside the kitchen just about made up for it. Last years introduction to these furry little friends clearly made an impression on them. What a fantastic start to our week!
Monday we went to Tillamook for lunch and a tour. We peered through the windows at the huge bricks of cheese made there, sampled their cheddar, took pics of the girls sitting in the Tillamook bus, and then sat outside enjoying some ice cream. There was a group on the table next to us, obviously watching our girls, and they finally admitted to doing exactly that. "Don't mind us! We think your girls are the cutest and are really enjoying watching them eat their ice cream." We finished up, went to the gift shop for a magnet and headed to the beach. I actually stayed in the car to feed Mia (we found ourselves there did quite often throughout the trip which made for some great bonding and memories), but Jon took Lyds and Soph out to enjoy the sand for a few minutes, which they did. Briefly. Sophie found a stick and decided to "tap" Lydia on the head with it. The beach fun came to an abrupt stop and we decided to head back to Jess and Derek's. Jess whipped together this amazing enchilada bake that was super delish.
Tuesday morning we woke up to crepes. Mmmmmm.... Again, amazing. Who is Jess anyway??! Oh, I should mention that our sleeping arrangement were spectacular. Jon, Lydia and Sophie were meant to share the one air mattress that inflated to about two feet off the ground, but Lydia elected to sleep on the floor. Go figure. Surprisingly, she loved it there! Not really surprising, actually, but still... I'm sure it had something to do with keeping the peace with Soph, and bless Lydia's heart, she really is a peacemaker. And then Mia and I shared the other air mattress next to the window. She slept so well that first night. And after the day in the car that she'd had, who could blame her?? Jon read Berenstain Bear books to the girls after scriptures and prayer. I love it so much that these girls love to be read to, even if they choose the same stories night after night after night. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when they don't want us to read to them anymore. For not I'll pretend that that's not going to happen. Ever. Also! Lately Lyds and Soph have been waking up to tell us their latest nightmares. It's actually been going on for a while now and I remember the first nightmares were about dragons and Maleficent. There have been bats and witches and scary bears too. The latest involved a witch, and a curse resulting in Mia being born with an elephant's trunk, ears and feet. I let them watch the beginning of Penelope a little prematurely and sincerely regret it. We've had several discussions about curses and pig faces and gone over the difference between real and imaginary many, many times. This time they dreamt about talking candy monsters. Halloween on the brain, I think.
Once we got going we headed for the city and the Rose gardens. I have great memories of the rose gardens in Spokane and was curious to see how these compared. They were beautiful of course!! There was some filming going on and we were asked to stay away from certain areas, but that didn't stop Jon from taking some great pictures. We enjoyed watching the girls smell the roses and play in the water. They could have gotten soaked but didn't! Strangers commented on Lydia and Sophie's hair and the fact that we have three girls. "Three girls?! Are you going to keep trying for a boy??" It was interesting looking back on the trip to think that we sort of stuck out. Three kids alone was enough to do that which just cracks me up. Three kids, really?? But the fact that we don't have brightly colored hair or tattoos kind of added to that standing out-ness.
Next we'd planned to find the park where there are statues of Ramona, Henry and Ribsy, but we ran out of time. Maybe next year! So we headed back to our home away from home and Jon took Lydia and Sophie to the pool while I took care of Mia. Lydia loved just standing in the hot tub, so pleased that her feet could touch the bottom. Both she and Soph had a great time swimming. These girls love love love the water!! So much! In any form. Taking baths is a delight. Filling up their cups either at the sink or from the fridge is a joy. I don't quite understand it, but I do love seeing the joy on their faces and am glad they enjoy it so much. Anyway, once we gathered for dinner I literally inhaled Jess's mac and cheese. Had to talk myself down from finishing off the entire dish. Then Jon and Derek started playing Mario Cart and the girls got lost in creating some artistic masterpieces. Seriously, crayons and paper keeps these ladies happy and busy. Add to that watching some Mario Cart and it made for a perfect evening.
Wednesday we ate super delicious blueberry muffins and then headed off to find Sea Lion caves. Jon remembers going to these as a boy and was really excited for the girls to have a similar experience. We were hoping to find tide pools full of star fish too, but if nothing else a day at the beach sounded like a dream. It took us a couple of hours to reach the Sea Lion caves only to discover that the sea lions were out at sea and wouldn't be back until November. Apparently the time to catch them is November through April or May. And to top it off, this Sea Lion place was rather isolated. There weren't public restrooms or any place to eat for lunch so we backtracked a bit and got Lydia to a potty before eating. The girls love playing at fast food playgrounds and swimming so any opportunity for that is a win. They were making friends, sort of, with the other kids and having a good time. One of my favorite moments was watching Lydia help Sophie climb up a huge stair that she couldn't tackle on her own so that they could both slide down the slide. They're a pretty good team when they want to be!
We'd spotted a lighthouse from the Sea Lion Caves and decided to check it out. Getting up there required us to hike a bit. Jon carried Mia in the bjorn and he and I took turns carrying Lydia and Sophie for parts of the journey if they needed a break from hiking on their own. Once we made it to the top we had this beautiful view of the beach and the ocean. We were invited to join a tour of the light house and stepped inside to find out all sorts of interesting facts about this structure that was nearly a century and a half old. Parts of it still being made from original materials. It was pretty interesting to find out how they hauled materials up the mountainside after they'd traveled by boat for miles and miles. I really like lighthouses and learning about the keeper of the lighthouse and what was required of him and how much he was paid was rather fascinating.
Once we wrapped things up at the lighthouse it was pretty evident by the looks on Lydia and Sophie's faces that they'd reached their limit. Why weren't we at the beach digging in the sand already??!! So we drove along the coast for a few minutes, found a beach that wasn't experiencing high tide and dug to our hearts content. I wasn't too involved in the digging, but Mia and I enjoyed watching Jon and her big sisters race out to the water, wade for a minute, and then race back to dry land before the waves tried to snatch them. They really are incredibly entertaining and I can see why Mia is content to watch these girls for hours and hours. We couldn't actually stay for hours because we had such a long drive ahead of us, but we'd be back for more sand and more water another day. Like tomorrow.
Thursday we went to see Jess's school. It was so great to check out where she spends her days and get an idea of what that's like for her and her students. We met some of her coworkers and then Lydia and Sophie took turns spinning on a swivel chair and chasing each other around the classroom trying to avoid the chairs that were scattered around. It was the perfect obstacle course. I love watching them play together and especially can't get enough of the giggles! The school holds staff meetings in Jess's room. That would have been so intimidating for me, but Jess was putting up a bulletin board while we were there and things were looking fabulous!
After that we headed off to Cannon Beach. Sigh! We could have spent our entire trip here based on how much fun the girls had last year. I say girls, but let's be honest. I mean Jon. ;) He definitely didn't get enough time at the beach last year so we headed out this year knowing that if all we did was go to the beach our trip would be a success! We loved spending every minute she was able to join us with Jess and understood that Derek had to work during the day and couldn't join in our fun like last year. The girls thought that Jon was going to work with Derek since that's what he does all day! And it was a little surprising (or should I say ridiculously awesome!) for them to get to spend all their time with him. Anyway, we made it to Cannon Beach and pulled out our double BOB. I strapped Mia to me in the bjorn and the girls took turns riding in the stroller and running on the sidewalk. We found a place to eat and enjoyed our sea food before heading to the beach. And that is when the beach fun really began! The shovels and pails were put to good use. Between that and the water these girls were in heaven. They'd run from the waves with either Jon or me, loved "almost" getting wet (they were actually pretty soaked after running from some of the waves) and the squeaky noises their feet made when they ran on the wet sand never got old. They even made sand angels! Mia and I joined in as much as we could and Jess took turns taking pictures with Jon and me. Way too soon it was time to go home, but not before finding the Crepe shop and sharing one filled with strawberries, bananas, Nutella and cream. It took us probably an entire half hour to clean the girls off and realize that we should have brought an extra set of clothes for them to change into after all that sand and water. Tomorrow! We'd remember to do that tomorrow!!
Once we were back in the car they were out pretty quickly. They'd played hard, so that was no surprise, and letting them rest before our fun night plans was probably for the best. Jon and Derek were going to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner so that they could see the Utes play Michigan while we ladies ate at home and then shopped. Jess made this scrumptious spinach artichoke dip and then this guy came to the door selling vacuums. Jess is the sweetest!! I think this guy was sure he was about to make a sale simply because Jess is the epitome of friendly. She was so nice to him but finally let him know that we were about to head out. He really wanted to clean something and offered to do our dishes really quick (I'm sure it counted for something if he did) but we told him that we had a sleeping baby and sorry, but no. Anyway, we did leave pretty quickly after that and arrived at Kohl's shortly. Lydia and Sophie were really excited to see the stuffed animals and books that they've seen at our local Kohl's at that store as well. They also really enjoyed running around and hiding in the clothing racks. We'd been there maybe five minutes when Lydia needed to go to the bathroom, so we rushed to the back of the store and she went. Not five minutes after we'd returned to Jess, Soph and Mia, Lydia realized she had to go again, so we raced to the back of the store again and she went again. We returned to shopping when Lyds realized she hadn't finished taking care of business so, once again we found ourselves hustling to the back of the store. When we exited the restroom for the third time Sophie was there (with Aunt Jess and Mia) requesting to use the potty. So basically we spent the majority of our girls night out in the restroom. No matter. It was still a fun night and an adventure and Jess is a fabulous shopping buddy. We left with some good finds and when we returned to our home away from home we found out that Utah had defeated Michigan, so Jon especially had had a good night. Lydia and Sophie asked Aunt Jess for some more paper and crayons and drew some beautiful pictures before watching Jon and Derek play Mario Cart and finally falling asleep. Lots of rainbows and snowmen. Two of their specialties.
Friday Jess made this awesome French toast, that once again I inhaled, before we headed off for another, and final, fun filled day at Cannon Beach. We saw a family that made me feel right at home. The dad was on his bike with a toddler sitting behind him. The mom had a baby in a front carrier and there was an older child riding around on his bike not far beyond his parents. We saw them once we arrived and then again at the beach, and I realized that even though they stuck out there, I'd expect to see a family just like them riding through our neighborhood at home.
The girls got right into playing in the sand. They chased any bird that was brave enough to come within 30 feet of us. I'm not sure who was more frightened, Sophie or the birds, despite both Lydia and Sophie chasing them. Lydia claimed to want to pet them, but I'm pretty sure she would have hightailed it away if any of the birds had given her an opportunity to reach out to them. Jon made a sweet sand castle that was demolished just after I captured a picture of it; and perhaps part of it was hit hard before then. It was more of the same glorious day we'd spent there Thursday. Lots of jumping in the water and running from waves, digging in the sand and people watching while Jess and I chatted. Mia was content to sleep for the most part, but when she was awake she appeared to enjoy watching her sisters run around. I must admit, they are incredibly entertaining. And once again, far too soon, it was time to leave the beach. Both Jon and I remembered the delicious taffy we enjoyed all the way home last year and for weeks after our return home, so we made a stop at the candy store and bought some. We'd actually remembered to bring an extra set of clean clothes this time and de-sanded the girls the best we could before helping them change. I think the ride home was more pleasant for them this time around, but maybe not. They slept again and were probably so tired that it wouldn't have mattered how wet, dry or sandy they were; they were fast asleep in dreamland.
The girls got to play around in more water when we got back to Jess and Derek's because A. We wanted them relatively clean for the long car ride home the following day, B. Despite our best efforts to rid them of the sand and ocean they were still a bit beachy, and C. They love playing in the water! Have I mentioned that yet? So this bath time was a win for everyone. Jon and I worked on packing up as much as we could so that we'd at least have a little bit of a head start the next day. Jess and I talked long after the girls went to bed which wasn't nearly long enough and I finally forced myself to turn in so that I wouldn't be a complete wreck when it was time to wake up, pack up and head out in the morning.
We woke up at a decent time on Saturday, but still left later than planned. The week went by much much too quickly and saying goodbye to Aunt Jess and Uncle Derek wasn't very fun. They were so good to us and staying at their place was the best. We waved and waved and waved to them and hope to see them soon! We had better plans for helping Mia enjoy the car ride this time around and found that feeding her immediately once we stopped and then again right before we got back on the road was just what she needed. She'd sleep really well or just be content enough to look out the window if we did things right. This worked especially well at meal times. No matter how hard we tried to make lunch or dinner a quick stop it always took at least an hour. I don't know how Jon manages to drive these long distances so well. Especially since the second I'm in the car I seem to be in danger of falling asleep, but I sure appreciate him for it. We were driving along sometime in the afternoon when Jon opened a taffy and popped it in his mouth. Lydia, from the back of the van, was suddenly exclaiming, "what is that delicious smell I'm smelling??" Jon told her it was a taffy. Her response? "It smells so good!! It really smells amazing!" This might have continued a little bit longer until Jon finally asked, "Lydia, would you like a taffy?" "YES! YES!!" Which led Jon to saying that she was being such a girl. I didn't teach her that. Totally inherent... The rest of the trip went rather smoothly other than it taking a long long time. We rolled in after midnight, but we did make it home.
Soph's big regret was not painting her nails with Aunt Jess. She has mentioned it multiple times since coming home and has talked of returning to Oregon to do just that. As we were walking through our neighbors backyard one morning to pick Lydia up from preschool she asked me if that was where Jess and Derek lived. I wish sweetheart. I wish. Jess, you are officially invited to paint nails with us the next time we're together. Let us know if you're in. :)
I asked Lydia what she liked about Oregon. She replied, "that was fun fun fun. We drew pictures and pictures and pictures."
Sophie said, "I liked the cheese factory and I liked drawing at Jess and Derek's, sleeping at Jess and Derek's and eating at Jess and Derek's and I liked driving to their house. And I liked the carousel and I liked the beach."
Not sure I remember going to the Carousel, but aside from that I liked all of those things too!
