Road Trip To Oregon

Road Trip to Oregon

Tyler wanted a trip to Portland for his birthday and I was happy to oblige. We really love Portland. It is one of our favorite cities. Plus, who doesn't love a road trip!! We also needed to go there for a buying trip for Sisters Creed. We kind of decided to go at the last minute and it worked out great! Two birds...one stone.

I tell you what...one of the most delightful feelings is heading out on an adventure with your spouse. This stage of life has its perks. Date nights, overnights, travel!! It's awesome. Big thanks to Kameron for holding down the fort, Kelley for being on-call, driving carpool, and hosting Sunday dinner at her house. We were able to enjoy our trip without worry.

We left Friday morning after taking the kids to school. We were giddy with joy as we rolled out of town. We stopped all along the route and found some awesome merchandise for Sisters Creed. Yay! (Farm Chicks is just around the corner.) We listened to good music, had great conversation, a lot of laughs, and even little danger!! We stopped at a small town in Oregon and walked into a thrift store that had a bunch of furniture for cheap. We barely got in the door when the power went out and all the customers were asked to leave. We were puzzled because it didn't seem stormy or that anything was amiss. As we sat in the truck wondering what the heck was going on...all of a sudden a huge gust of wind hit. The entire truck and trailer were shaking. Garbage and tumbleweeds were blowing and we looked up at the sky and there was even debris up in the air flying around. We were parked right next to a movie theater when suddenly the entire gigantic HVAC system blew off the roof and landed near us. We were freaking out! Don't forget that we have windstorm PTSD. I was yelling, "Are we in a tornado?!" But there wasn't a funnel shaped cloud or anything that we could recognize. Most likely a crazy microburst.

(Of course I have been in a tornado and failed to recognize it...Kansas girl that I am. Remember the big tornado that hit Salt Lake City in the late 90s? Tyler and I had just been driving downtown with baby Reilly in the car when things started to get really windy and weird looking. I remember craning my neck to look up out of the window at the sky and uttering these now infamous words..."Those clouds are really swirling..." Hello! It was a tornado nearly on top of us!! I don't think I will ever live that down!! The girl from Kansas who couldn't recognize a tornado right on top of her!!)

Anyway back to Oregon...we decided to get the heck out of there. As we drove out of town we saw roofs ripped off of out buildings, power outages, and debris everywhere. Craziness. Not a FAN of wind!!

After that things simmered down and we enjoyed the rest of our leisurely drive through Oregon...stopping here and there...and finding cool vintage goods. We got into Portland around 7 pm. We checked into our hotel and went to dinner. First stop was our favorite CAFE YUMM.

They have the most amazing vegetarian food (and non vegetarian too). So delicious!! The yumm bowls and tempeh were extraordinary!! I drank a bottle of water that was legit collected rain from a rain farm in Oregon. You've gotta love Oregon!! Then it was back to enjoy our hotel...kid free!! Woot woot!!

The next morning we got up bright and early and headed out to check out some furniture and other items for Sisters Creed. We again found some awesome merchandise. At around 10 am we met up with my cousin Paul, his wife Whitney, and their daughter Zoey for a day of fun in Portland. WE HAD THE BEST TIME!! Paul and Whitney had several vintage stores that they had found that they wanted to show us. They were awesome and we all bought stuff. We walked all over in this really cool district. We went to lunch at the most fabulous restaurant (remember that Paul is a Cordon Bleu trained chef and he knows all the good places!!) The restaurant that we went to was one that Paul and Whitney had taken Tyler to last year. but that I missed out on, because I was working.

If you go to Portland you must try Pok Pok:

It looks like a little Thai dive but it actually won the James Beard Foundation award for excellence and the chef is the renowned Andy Ricker who has won the Best Chef of the Northwest award. They serve creative Thai street food and unique beverages. We just told Paul to order for us. We got several amazing dishes that we ordered family style and most of it is eaten with your hands. Oh. My. Gosh. It was divine.

We had boar collar in a chili lime garlic sauce. Kai Yaang,... which was a whole roasted chicken stuffed with lemongrass, garlic, pepper, cilantro, and served with tamarind dipping sauces. We also had Sii Khrong Muu Yaang which were ribs marinated in lao jiin, soy, honey, ginger, Thai spices also with two kinds of dipping sauce. We had a couple of orders of chilled mustard greens which they literally serve covered with snow (plain shaved ice) served on top. Plus, sticky rice...which came in balls that we also ate with our hands. It was awesome!!

Mustard Greens and Boar Collar

I also tried a drink that all the hipsters are drinking. Drinking vinegar. Sounds dreadful but it is totally fabulous. Paul ordered a pomegranate one and I was intrigued. Then he delighted me by saying..."They aren't alcoholic. You can try mine." Heck yeah. You should know by now that I am an adventurous eater. I will pretty much try anything once. I took a big swig of Paul's. The verdict was "weird but I like it". So, even though I had already ordered a lemonade...and I couldn't convince Tyler to order one...he was excited about his fizzy Thai limeade that was coming. I ordered a drinking vinegar of my own...the tamarind. People!! People!! This was one of the highlights of the trip. It was fabulous and interesting and I am craving one right this minute. The bummer is that even though the hipsters of Portland are drinking it a mere 5 1/2 hours away...it will probably be a good 30 years before it arrives in Spokane. That's how things work around here. In case it will be that long before it arrives in your area too, I will describe it. A fruit flavored vinegar layered in a tall glass with ice and filled the rest of the way with soda water. You stir and enjoy. I think sometimes people make it into a cocktail too. Salt and Straw of the ice cream fame make drinking vinegars into milkshakes. Paul said that you can buy the drinking vinegars online. I am so doing it!

After that we walked all over and stopped in here for some ice cream:

We tried most of the flavors. I really liked the strawberry balsamic with black pepper, the olive oil, and the snickerdoodle. Tyler ordered the pear and blue cheese and the almond brittle with salted ganache. We bummed around downtown and had a such great time. We also stopped in to this French Bakery. It was amazing.

And...bought a few things!!

(No, I did not lose weight on this trip...but we also did a ton of walking...but probably not nearly enough.)

We went to Powell's bookstore. It is several floors and takes up a whole city block!! I could live in that place!! It was a book lovers paradise. Then we all went to dinner at this awesome Hawaiian place that Paul and Whitney like. Yes, it was delish. We topped off the night with authentic Hawaiian Shave Ice drizzled with sweetened condensed milk. Whoa. It was good.. It was such a great visit with Paul, Whitney, and Zoey. We had an amazing time. They are so much fun to hang out with.  It was a treat to have a whole day with them!!

The next morning we did a bit more buying for Sisters Creed and then headed for the coast and Cannon Beach. It was raining when we left Portland but by the time we got to the beach the sun was shining and the temps where in the high 50's. It was windy but still absolutely stunningly beautiful. Prepare for a picture overload...

We started down at the very end of Cannon Beach and walked 2.5 miles down the beach to Mo's for some delicious clam chowder and fish and chips and walked back.

When we were done eating, the tide had gone out enough so that we could explore all the tide pools.  So cool!! Can't wait to come back with the kids. Ailey really wants go here for her birthday this year.

Ailey and Bryn REALLY REALLY wanted us to find them some sand dollars. We looked and looked. There were many broken ones but no whole sand dollars. We kept searching. After we had walked about 4 miles (literally...Tyler was tracking us) I looked down and found this purplish one.

Tyler and I were  like...man...we just need one more. Tyler looked down at his feet and boom! Another one...

Those were the only two whole sand dollars that we found all day and trekking the beach for 5 plus miles. Pretty miraculous. We also found a complete whole beautiful shell as well. We were pretty excited and so were the girls.

We saw some hardcore Pacific Northwest surfers out doing their thing. Take that SoCal!! You haven't surfed until you have surfed the Oregon Coast in February!! Everywhere people were wading in the ocean, walking, and enjoying the beautiful sunshine.

 It was the most magical day!! There is something so peaceful and rejuvenating about the sea. We walked, talked, took pictures, facetimed with the kids (including Reilly), and explored. It really was a perfect day!

The next day we slept in, shopped, and took our time heading home. We stopped for lunch at that same delicious french bakery but a different location. Just fabulous!!

We had quiche, croquet monsieur, eclairs, passion fruit macarons, and strawberry millefeuille. It doesn't get much better than that!!

Then we stopped at Multnomah Falls on the way home. Tyler got virtual reality goggles for his birthday so we filmed all kinds of things on this trip. Cannon Beach and Multnomah Falls turned out really cool!! The kids got to experience it all virtually. Technology is amazing!!

This place looks like it is out of a Grimm's Fairytale. The mossy trees, the dark woods, the stone "manor house", the spectacular falls. So much gorgeousness. See below!! :)

We stopped here and there all the way home, had dinner in the Tri-Cities, and made it home just in time to tuck our kids into bed. It was such a fun trip in every possible way!! I am so glad that we jumped at the chance to go. Can't wait for our next travel adventure!!

Valentine's Day 2016

Valentine's Day 2016

I sure love my Valentine!!

We had a great Valentine's Day(s). Don't you think that Valentine's Day stretches for days now? Just like Halloween. It's crazy... but that is how it is around here. Plus it was weird having Valentine's Day on a Sunday. Valentine's Day began for us on Friday with the school parties.

Ailey and Bryn had their Valentine's Day outfits picked out the night before. They are festive girls!! They had tulips to give their teachers and Ailey even had special valentines for previous teachers. I didn't send them to school with red lunch this year because Valentine's Day was on Sunday. We had enough going on anyway.

It was a little sad that this was Ailey's last school party before she heads off to middle school. That is really freaking me out. Ailey is so tiny and innocent. Middle school may eat her alive. Reilly had a terrible time in middle school and she was much more outgoing. Kameron did okay though. He just stuck close with his core group of friends from elementary school and did great. Hopefully Ailey will do the same. Anyway... I digress. I have middle school on the brain since the open house is tonight.

Kelley and I volunteered in Elle and Bryn's class which was a lot of fun. It has been nice to have them in the same class for the last two years but I am sure it won't last so we enjoyed it. We were in charge of the big tic-tac-toe game.

First grade is so darn cute!!

It was impossible to get them to stand still for a picture! They are a wild bunch!

Then I ran upstairs to Ailey's class to hang out with her at her party for awhile. They were having a lot of fun too!!

The 6th graders had much better party food!! Ailey was happy that her last elementary V day party was a good one!!

Back at home checking out all her loot and reading all her valentines.

This was legit five minutes later!!

Bryn was pooped...and so was I!! I don't know how elementary school teachers do it?! I fell asleep with her on the couch too until Tyler got home.

Ailey was busy as a little bee after school with her service club. The 6th graders at her school can join the service club and they do all kinds of amazing things in our community. Ailey adores it! At Christmas they threw a huge Christmas party for disadvantaged kids at one of the community centers with gifts, crafts, treats, and entertainment. It was awesome. They also regularly visit the residents at a local assisted living place. Ailey left school right after the party with her club and they went to an assisted living center and handed out handmade valentines, flowers, and candy. They sang songs and visited with the residents. Ailey LOVES to go and visit with the elderly. She loved doing that when Reilly was a CNA. She just sat right down and chit chatted with all the residents and hugged and kissed them. She is so good with Granny and it really has helped her to relate to other elderly people. She is such a little nurturer and so kind hearted. I love that our school has this awesome club.

That night Tyler and I headed out for our own Valentine's dinner and date. We ate at our favorite sushi restaurant and bummed around downtown and had a blast together. So fun!

Sunday night we had our family Valentine's dinner and celebration. This was the first holiday that I really felt Reilly's absence. It sucked. Halloween Reilly was always busy doing her own thing so it didn't seem so strange that she wasn't there this year and then Thanksgiving was completely different in that we didn't gather with family, had just survived the windstorm, and headed to the Davenport Hotel for dinner so it didn't hit me as hard. Then Reilly was home for Christmas. But Valentine's Day... was definitely weird. Last year she even had Justin come to our house to celebrate rather than go on a special date. (FYI--They just broke up. Hallelujah. Hope it lasts.) This year we REALLY missed her.

Reilly requested that I still send her red lunch. Not possible. But I did send her a big care package full of red foods (and pinks) and red items and fun things for Valentines. We also sent her her "love note" the papers that we write to each other about what we love about each other. She texted hers to us and I wrote them on the individual papers. (She texted mine to Tyler and he had to write mine down so that I would be surprised.) We also facetimed with her which was nice. Still, it was very weird having her so far away.

We made homemade pizzas, strawberry jello pretzel salad, and had cherry floats. The kids get so excited to make their pizzas. I hate pizza so we rarely make it or order it but I can get behind a homemade pizza once in awhile and they love it. I should let them do it more often but it is never on my radar when planning meals. They can count on pizza on Valentine's Day and when they hang out with their Aunt Kelley. She never disappoints.

My Valentines were super sweet and generous. The love notes were the best! We go around the table and read aloud what everyone writes about us. I cry from word one and even more so while listening to what they write about each other. I always have to have Reilly read mine for me and when I looked to hand it off to her and she wasn't there I cried some more. Luckily Kam stepped in and did the honors.

Crazy Side Note:

(Lately I have been thinking about how strange parenting is...When I first started having kids I really thought that parenting was raising your children. But REALLY...the majority of parenting is done AFTER your children grow up and move out. You really only parent your child in your home for 18 years. But you parent your children outside of your home for another 50-60 plus years. Why is there no emphasis on this??  (My Grandma is still alive and my mom is in her late 60s.) Where are all the books and seminars and classes for parenting adult children? THAT IS THE REAL CHALLENGE. I am fascinated by this topic. There are tons of books on parenting small children...teenagers...what about the young adult? The 20-something? The 30-something? The 40-something? I think my mom has her hands just as full with the five of us now as she did when we were all living at home. I love talking to my friends farther down the line than me and getting their insights. It is an area that they all want to excel at but most struggle with...)

Things I think about...Anyway...back to Valentine's Day. It was lovely and I am blessed. Hope yours was too!!