Oregon Weekend

March 23, 2018

Oregon Weekend

Last weekend we surprised the girls with a weekend trip. I was able to pack everything, without them noticing. When it came time to get in the car and go, we gave Indie this sign and told the girls the news. I thought it’d be fun to capture their reaction. True to form, Indie had little reaction and a lot of questions & Stella had all the reaction, although I’m pretty sure she has no idea what’s going on.

Indie has always been an amazing travel buddy. It's so easy to take her places. Stella is following suite. They both did amazing in the car.

Finn is not following the pattern. We've taken all our babies on longer road trips at this age and while Finn did better than we expected, he still had some pretty awesome stretches of despair. We took lots of breaks to give drool face a rest from his car seat.

We stopped at this rest area along the way. An abandoned barn and a swift stream sat tucked away in the tree line. The kids got a big kick out of throwing pebbles into the water and playing ‘house’ in the cobweb infested room.

We stopped and threw some more rocks into the river along the Columbia gorge, because water is Stella's favorite right now. And also Finn needed boobs.

Exploring at this rest point was heightened by all the beautiful graffiti, broken glass, discarded cigarettes, and used tampons.

We had been at Papa Davids and within seconds the girls were ready to play in the hot tub. Real talk though. This trip had a lot more poop involved than we had bargained for. Stella had a blow out in her car seat. Poop everywhere. We cleaned her up, bathed her, and she pooped in the tub again. For the rest of the trip, Stella proceeded to poop every. single. time. we put her in water.

Papa David's the best!

We got one full day in Oregon, and wanted to take in as much beauty as possible while we were there. I love how much beauty, activity and community Oregon has.

It was cold! Finn and I snugged to keep warm. He loved being in his carrier.

We forgot to bring Indie's coat. So she used Damon's second coat. It didn't drag on the floor, so that was a win.

Stella was hilarious during our hike, baby bossing everyone. She loved to stay right next to Papa David for the first half of the hike.

Indie was all about being the leader, and turning our hike into an imagination adventure. She's so freaking creative. One of her favorite activities right now is to listen to The Piano Guys with me and discussing what kind of story line the music makes her think of. She's also been making 'abstract art' to help illustrate what the music makes her feel. So precious. Indie wanted to draw her music inspired story line but was discouraged that she wouldn't be able to translate her vision correctly into drawing. She told me, 'I'll do it when I'm older Mom. I can't draw things right, right now.' That broke my heart. So, we had a quick lesson on realism art and abstract art. Hearing her declare she's going to go make some abstract art, in her little 4 year old voice, is probably my favorite.

Indie was all about the 'deep dark forest', she told us all to whisper and step carefully lest we be overtaken by bad guys. I'm really soaking her up lately. So fun, vibrant, kind, caring and just a joy to be around. She seems like such a big kid to me. Which I realize is so relative, but still.

Our progress through the 'deep dark forest' was greatly hindered by Stella. She discovered the floor was littered with 'baby pine cones', and had to stop every second to bend over and pick one up. She'd cushion it in her chubby little hands, kiss it, rock it, shush it, hug it, and take just enough steps forward to stumble on another baby. At first it was ridiculously precious. After 5 mins of only moving forward 20 toddler steps it moved on to mostly just being ridiculous.

This big hollowed out stump was our favorite! SO much fun.

Indie was adamant that she wanted to go to the beach. Despite the cold and lack of sand toys. So, we did.

Our first stop was Lunch at Mo's. I love this moment between Finn and his Papa. He's looking at him with so much adoration.

The girls could have stayed out there for hours and hours. They loved the sand. So much!

Finn's first trip to the beach

I love these two so much!

Indie wanted so badly to be buried. In the freezing cold, wet sand. When she couldn't stop shivering is when we finally had to but a stop to all her fun.