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Took the girls to a Winter Festival tonight. With temps in the low 60s, it wasn’t feeling exactly wintery, but nonetheless we strolled around seeing what was to be seen. It was busy – crowded even – and offered some activities in the way of bouncy houses, cook your own s’mores, etc. It seems nearly all the activities were free, and so as you might expect there were lengthy lines (and waits) for pretty much everything. The girls were pretty easily dissuaded as we passed by the bouncy house and other things – they also didn’t want to wait in line. We made a circuit through the grounds and before deciding our next action, Mallory decided she wanted to go check out ‘one more thing.’ It’s an inflatable bouncy course, with obstacles, crawling, climbing up stairs/ladder and then a steep and tall slide down. Immediately the girls decide they want to do it. They’ll wait in line for this one. So, we get in line. Already I’m thinking, what if they get scared, what if they want to back out, what if… It’s pretty much a closed course so once you go in, you have to finish. As we wait, we talk all these things through with the girls, making sure they understand what they’re getting in to. I’m still a little anxious for them. Especially Mallory, who can have some moments of timidness. I can just imagine her getting to the top of the stairs/slide and deciding it wasn’t for her. But I know my job as a parent is to not allow my anxiety to transfer to them. So we go forth. We see the sign that says you must be 36 inches to ‘ride.’ We figure we’ll just generously round up for Hannah. We get closer, start taking off shoes. And then, they’re in. Adrienne circles around the outside just in case help is needed, while I get ready at the bottom of the slide to take a photo. It’s dark and so I spend some time figuring out how to get the best capture. I’m still mucking with the iPhone when Mallory pops up at the top and without hesitation slides down. Hannah is soon behind her. Here I’m figuring I’ve got time, since they’ve gotta get around the obstacles, etc. But they were so quick I didn’t even get the shot! Of course they had a blast, and we’re back in line to do it again.

(That white blob is Santa. Nearly took out some bystanders with the candy he was throwing.)

And so staring at me under the streetlights at a 60-degree winter festival, was a reminder to let go, to let joy happen.

These kids are the best teachers.

Mal’s birthday was a rather understated affair. In the morning we got some fancy balloons courtesy of Nana and Bapa. Then we drove out to the New Hope, PA children’s museum. Spent a couple hours having fun playing doctor and other things (we’d been there once before), then had a decent lunch at a nearby brewpub. After a scenic drive home along the Delaware river (trying to give kids a chance to nap, though it didn’t work), we got to the important work at hand: frosting the homemade cake and letting the homemade chocolate ice cream soften up a bit. Oh, and presents. Mal loved everything and had a great time. She says it was her best birthday ever. And I suppose that’s true for her. For her parents, maybe it was just a nice reminder of the best birthday ever, 4 years prior, and all the richness we’ve shared since. And the cake and ice cream? Pretty darn good.

Adrienne had to work in the City today, so I had the pleasure of staying home with the girls. It was a great day: zoo in the morning, an ok lunch, Hannah napped well and Mal had fun playing by herself during quiet time. We painted and then went to the playground, where Mal really wanted to show me how she could climb the ‘spider web’. She does a great job, and Hannah’s no slouch either! Then we come home and I start making dinner. They both ask for some granola to tide them over, so I give them a small bit each with milk. I’m in the kitchen making pasta with shrimp and mushrooms (and a butter/Parmesan sauce). Mal loves shrimp, so I figure it should be a good dinner, even if Adrienne isn’t home yet – which I figure she’s running late. No problem. The girls start making some spitting noises and laughing – they are known to do this – so I remind them not to and go on with my prep. They continue making the noises but I don’t think much of it. A minute or two later I go back to the dining room, and there’s Mal, drinking milk out of Hannah’s bottle, then spitting it out – on to the floor and table. After which Hannah takes a cloth and wipes the table. Needless to say, both went to bed immediately with no dinner, about 6:45pm vs. their normal 8pm bedtime. Adrienne still wasn’t home, so I got a dinner alone by myself. Some would be ecstatic about this, but it really made me sad – a bad end to a great day. And I really like eating with and just generally spending time with the girls. Probably because I don’t get to, in the grand scheme of things. And then comes the hard part – sticking to your guns. Hannah screaming from her crib after she’d thrown her pillow and blanket and babydoll out. Mal coming down the stairs and saying she’s hungry. That’s the hard part. The good part is I know I’ll remember the spider web climbing and the carousel ride at the zoo, but the dinner alone will quickly fade.

Yesterday we took a short trip to a county “see the big trucks” event. The weather was chilly but nice.

The hit of the event for Mal was the fire truck.

She went inside twice (once front, once back).

They guy up in the tree truck was taking pictures, so we thought we’d go all meta.

Playing with connectors.

What does this silver guy do?

This weekend we took the girls to the town kid’s spookfest at the town square. Costumes were last-minute pulled from what we’ve gotten from friends, which is to say the choices were either too big or too small. Oh well. Mal had her choice of dressing up as a doctor or a lamb. Hannah… didn’t have a choice. She ended up as a pea pod. We didn’t really get any good photos of Hannah, but Adrienne assures me she’ll be tortured on the real Halloween as well. Despite the serious photo, Mallory actually seemed to like her costume. We spent a little bit of time at the spookfest, but Mallory soon decided that rather than trick or treating, marching in the costume contest or watching the magic show, she’d rather go across the street to the library. So we did. I guess enjoyment of Halloween may be a genetic trait handed down from my parents!

Today we visited the Goldendale Community Pool and Mal went for a swim.

Mostly photos here, I’m going to type much less! We forgot to pack Mallory’s hip shades, so we picked up another (different) pair at Target when we got into Portland. Hannah started the morning out by trying them on.

Had to edit in this photo – we also spent the morning just hanging out and playing.

We spent the afternoon at Maryhill State Park down by the Columbia River. Adrienne worked there one summer, cleaning toilets and such – and sneaking away to read books in her “spare” time. We didn’t clean any toilets, but some baby butts did need some cleaning while we were there. Thankfully there’s a beach, so not only did Mal spend an extensive amount of time in the water (and going deeper than the older kids!), but Hannah was blessed with the chilly waters of the Columbia.

We ate lunch and spent more time with Grandpa Tom.

Here’s a panoramic of the beach, click on it for a biggie version.

From there we took the “scenic” route back to Elaine and Mike’s, to give the girls some nap time. Scenic meaning 12 or so miles of washboard gravel roads that snake up the side of the Columbia River Gorge. Definitely a nice view. The road, not so much. Upon our arrival, Hannah got to partying.

Which is a good thing, because an impromptu birthday celebration for Mallory was being called. Mallory helped decorate cupcakes with her cousins.

There was singing, delicious treats and even presents!

A nice day well spent with family. They say getting there is half the fun. So far with this trip it wasn’t, and that’s a good thing.

Declaration, interrogative or exclamatory. We shall see.

Almost 48 hours ago we began our first vacation as a family of four. Perhaps not so wisely, this meant getting up at 4am after not enough sleep for the parental units and hopping on a 7am flight. Across the country. And because we’re frugal (the nice way to say we’re cheap!), we took advantage that it’s still a couple days prior to Mallory’s 2nd birthday and thus she can be a lap child on the airplane. Which means 4 people sitting in 2 seats. For five and a half hours. Woof.

Things go pretty smoothly getting to and on the airplane. We paid extra to get two bulkhead seats together, so we’d have room for Mal to sit on the floor and generally stretch out. We had fairly good luck with doing this a year ago with just Mal and a trip out West. We had timed it to make it to the flight just in time, which we did, and so we were some of the last people to sit down. We get our bags in overhead storage (the drawback of bulkhead seats is you don’t have any under-seat storage available) and sit down. Very quickly a stewardess comes and announces that we can’t sit there. What? We paid for these tickets, thank you very much. She says FAA rules state you can’t have more people sitting in a row than there are oxygen masks. There are 4 masks available, apparently. And 5 of us in the three-across row for that side.

The stewardess asks a person in the opposite side if they’d move. Ok. But here’s the problem: due to the layout of the seats (and the bathroom taking up space in front of ‘our’ row), the opposite row is not a bulkhead seat. I ask: you’re going to force me to sit in a non-bulkhead row when I paid extra for this? After some back and forth, the stewardess got a person in the opposite bulkhead row – which is one row up – to switch. Better, but we’re still not together. Not ideal, but we’re on the plane and committed, what are you going to do?

Adrienne has Hannah in a window seat. Her new neighbor (the switcher) turns out to be a heavy snorer. Mal and I are in the middle seat one row up, but still a bulkhead seat. My window seat neighbor is an almost-9 year old girl traveling unaccompanied. And her name: Mallory.

Airplane Mallory (as I’ve deemed her now) turns out to be a great neighbor. One of the first things she says to me after we discover the name similarity: would Mallory like some candy? Keep in mind this is at 7am. Airplane Mallory is already sucking on a cherry/chocolate Chupa Chupps sucker, her favorite. Airplane Mallory’s mother also really likes them, apparently. I tell her we haven’t had breakfast yet, but after breakfast Mallory can have some. Airplane Mallory is quite an outgoing and smart girl. And Mallory seems to bond with her pretty quickly. Airplane Mallory turns out to be a seasoned unaccompanied traveler. She’s returning to Portland after visiting her grandparents in Staten Island, but her mother and almost three-year-old sister Autumn are still there. She was born in Las Vegas but her family moved to Portland when she was three. She races BMX bikes, as did her Dad until he hurt himself in competition. Her parents let her choose Autumn’s middle name. It was going to be “eyeball” but then she decided to make it the same as her’s, Lynn. She thinks Mallory likes her more than Autumn. She knows what a palindrome is and was able to list several after I pointed out that “Hannah” is one. Airplane Mallory likes cream cheese on her bagels, which she shared with Mallory. I could go on…

By the end of the flight, the Mallories had shared seats, Mallory Jr. had napped in the arms of Mallory Sr. (this is how Airplane Mallory requested I address them, so to avoid confusion), Airplane Mallory read books to Mallory, they colored together, and Airplane Mallory shared her stuffed bear, Hearts. Needless to say it took a lot of pressure off me, though in some sense I was now watching two children and not one! On the other side of the aisle Hannah dealt fairly well with the flight but Adrienne didn’t get much of a chance to nap either. So we were both glad to be on terra firma. Especially after the same stewardess that originally gave us the bad seating news, gave us trouble after I had Adrienne hold both Mallory and Hannah as I packed up our bags and put them back in overhead seating. She told us we couldn’t have two children in Adrienne’s lap (again due to the FAA oxygen mask rule), but did not offer to help us gather our belongings and replace them to the bins. I was going to have a word with her on my way out, but she was not in the front of the plane. Oh well. (Life lesson: if you want/need someone to do something, don’t tell them what they can’t do; rather, help them do what they can towards that thing that needs to be done.)

(The girls post-airplane ride. Mal was actually just having fun running around and randomly laying down. Kids need to move after being cooped up for 6 hours!)

Adrienne’s Mom picked us up at the airport and we drove to the east side of Portland, where we’d have potluck lunch picnic with family and then check in at one of the local institutions, McMennamin’s Edgefield. McMennamin’s is a locally-based (and only in OR and WA) restaurant/hotel/entertainment business that’s made their name by taking unique real estate and making it something… funky. In the case of the one we stayed, it is a century-old work farm and then nursing home that now has rooms, a couple restaurants, a (movie) theater, outdoor concert space and more. This one is also unique in that most of the rooms do not have a bathroom but rather share common bathroom space. Also, no TVs or phones in the rooms. And barely any internet – Adrienne could get wifi on her iPad but I had no such luck with wifi, so I stuck with the data connection on the phone. It’s an experience, and I think it could be fun in the right circumstances. But those circumstances are probably not the ones we experienced just prior to arriving. Regardless, it was nice to see family both at the picnic and later at the restaurant, and it was nice to be able to crash without having to schlep it out to Goldendale.

I must also note before I forget that we’re very thankful to all family here that have helped make this trip possible, from lending beds and showers and cars to pack’n’plays and car seats. The girls and I appreciate it!

The next morning we grabbed a tasty breakfast at the McMennamin’s restaurant and hopped in the soaking pool before hitting the road.

(Here Mal is blowing bubbles, showing off her skills acquired in swim lessons. Or the bathtub.)

We took the Historic Columbia River Highway eastward and stopped at what Adrienne calls the million-dollar-toilet (otherwise known as Vista Point at Crown Point State Park) to get a view and… use the toilet. Adrienne reports they don’t look like a million bucks. Apparently renovating this particular rest stop was fraught with politics and over spending and every thing else you might imagine. Note the beautiful Columbia River and all the green.

We continued on our way, eventually driving east on I-84 to The Dalles (Airplane Mallory always thought it was pronounced “Dallas” with no “the”), where Adrienne knew the exit by number to get to the Burgerville, another local chain known for using local ingredients. The Marionberry shake was a hit with all.

By now we’re on the east side of the Cascade Range and out of the rain shadow of the mountains. As one who didn’t grow up in the area, the stark contrast between one side of the mountains and the other is always interesting to me. We crossed over to the Washington side and stopped at the Maryhill Winery to pick up some gifts. Note the terrain now:

Soon we cut north on Route 97 and made our way north of Goldendale, where Adrienne’s sister (and thus our lodging for the next few nights) is. I couldn’t help but point out the Goldendale convertible (a pickup truck with the back of the cab chopped off) we trailed:

Ok, so I just made that up. The moniker, that is. The picture is real.

One of the last orders of business was a bath for Mal, where she was happily joined by older cousin Jocelyn.

In many ways it’s always comforting to return home and today was no exception.

Wanted to include this in the prior post of photos, but didn’t get to it.

Friday we decided to take a little drive and do a little exploring, so we pointed the car towards the north west corner of NJ. Just a few miles from the border (with NY and PA) is Highpoint State Park, which not only has a high point in it, but in fact as the highest point in NJ at about 1800 feet. It’s about an hour’s drive (yes, NJ is a small state!), and I was hoping we might have some nice scenic terrain to go through on the way there. There were some nice bits, but it was a quick reminder that when you live in the most densely populated state, there’re pretty much people everywhere. The park and surrounding areas were nice. They’ve even built a monument at the peak:

We parked at the top and explored.

The monument is about 220 feet high with stairs to the top. Mal was interested in going up. I played along, though I knew I’d be carrying her all the way. We made it about half way when Mal chickened out and wanted to go back down. I was already feeling it, so I agreed. It was a bit scarier than other stair climbing efforts we’ve done, because the stairs were very open. The monument is about 30 feet at its base and 19 at the tip.

The view from the base was still nice. (click on picture to embiggen it!)

Then we went on a bit of a hike down to the lake. Selfies were captured.

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Then it was time to get lunch, so we drove on to Port Jervis, NY and ate at Tom and Arlene’s Diner. I’d recommend it (as much for the atmosphere and experience as for the food), but I’m not sure I’d order the meatloaf sandwich again. From there we took a lazy drive back through the beautiful Delaware Water Gap and home via I-80 and Cliff’s Dairy Maid – check out their flavors! A nice day out.