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So this goes to show you how behind I am in getting photos into the library. (And digital was supposed to make is so easy, right?!) So here is a set of photos that Adrienne took in the beginning of August. But I thought you’d enjoy them, so here they are. More to come as I do more sorting!

Some of you may have heard me refer to #2 kid as Hannah Houdini. There’s good reason: she’s proven very adept at breaking out of sleep swaddles. While impressive, it does create a problem when she manages to get herself free at 3am, because she is sure to announce her accomplishment. Some time ago we thought we’d developed a fool-proof method: a two swaddle, miracle blanket then overlay normal swaddle technique. She got wise to us, so we went back to the drawing board and I think we’ve now hit on a superior method. The key, we’ve learned, is not only to be wrapped as tight as possible but also to have full arm AND hand coverage. And so I present the unwrapping of the super swaddle (TM) V2 (patent pending) technique:

Has it been six years already?

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.

Knowing it’s like chasing the rabbit on the dog race track…

This is the first night that Hannah is sleeping in the crib upstairs. Upstairs meaning the former attic, because it doesn’t quite feel right to call it the attic when it’s only partially being used as such right now. And anyway, I think “upstairs” is legal: if you’re in Manhattan and you’re on Canal street and say you’re going “uptown” that could mean you’re going to midtown or you’re actually going farther. And you could be in the 70s and be headed to Harlem and still say you’re going “uptown.” So upstairs is what I’ll call it for now.

With Hannah in the crib upstairs, we can disassemble the portable pack and play that has twice served as a bassinet and also move the chair back into Mal’s room (only in our room because there wasn’t room in Mal’s room when both crib and bed were there). And so we have our room back! That means we can hang out past 8pm, which really means Adrienne can fold clothes in there and then we can watch The Daily Show on the laptop on the bed before we both conk out. It’s the little things.

For those curious, we’re hoping to (sooner than later) move Mal upstairs as well, and it will be a shared bedroom for them. While we already have a cheap Ikea bed frame for Mal that came with the house, it’s too tall to ideally fit upstairs (I almost typed attic there). Luckily I browsed craigslist today and found a frame that was suitable (both aesthetically and because it was free), so we went and picked that up. It does need some paint though.

Ok, gotta wrap up and go do something crazy.

Of course I will never compare Mallory and Hannah… but here you go.*

* Since we’ve gotten the question of, “do they look alike?” Above Mallory on the left is 2.5 months and Hannah is right about two months.