Oregon: Part 1

Oregon has been on my places to visit list for awhile, and I'm glad I got to get a small taste of it on our trip a few weeks ago. We stayed in Paramount Hotel in downtown Portland for our whole visit. I had heard great things about Portland and the surrounding area, so I had high expectations. I'm not sure the city itself met my expectations (more on that later), but Oregon itself really is a beautiful place. 

Our first night in Portland, we took a short walk to find some dinner and to check out Powell's books. This is the largest new and used bookstore IN THE WORLD. It takes up an entire city block! The inside was amazing too and I wanted to buy ALL the books, but I settled on a giant truck book for Max that I couldn't even find on Amazon. Luckily I had room in my suitcase (I only carried on, but not packing for Max I felt like I had all the space!) If you are in Oregon, stop here and you will not be disappointed. 

The next morning, we got up early, grabbed some food at Starbucks and headed out to do the Columbia River Gorge. I think one of the best things about Portland is just how close it is to amazing, amazing things. Our first stop was Multnomah Falls. This is the view from the bottom...

We decided to do the hike to the top, which is approximately 1 mile up, probably a little more and mostly uphill so it was definitely some effort but fun and worth it at the end! 

This beautiful hike and view was less than 45 minutes from downtown Portland! 

Our next stop was at the Bonneville Lock and Dam, also a cool stop! 

Finally, we ended our day at Cathedral Ridge Winery. Delicious wine, and gorgeous views of Mt. Hood. 

There is honestly so much more you could do in this area, including a visit to Mt. Hood itself, but it involves a lot more driving and we weren't looking to have a crazy long day. This day allowed us some time to relax back at the hotel, which is a must do when on vacation for me! 

For dinner that night, we headed to a place called Sasquatch Brewery, and I got to meet one of my first blog friends! I don't even know for how many years "Sneaker Teacher" and I have been friends, but it's a long time! I always get really nervous to meet blog friends that I really like in real life because what if we just don't get along as well or they don't like me, or I'm just awkward? But, luckily I feel like we could've talked for way longer than we did and I loved meeting her super adorable and really fun girls as well. Also, her restaurant choice was perfect- I loved both my veggie burger and my beer. I only wish that we lived closer or even taught at the same school, because I would learn even more than I already have from her, and have fun too! 

This is getting long so I'm going to do one more post about the trip later this week. I'll talk about the Oregon Coast and more about Portland itself. 

Bainbridge, Poulsbo, and Driving to Oregon

The next stop on our Pacific Northwest trip was Bainbridge Island. Those of you Sarah Jio fans know that she has written at least one (maybe more than one?) book that takes place on this island so I've always wanted to visit. The ferry from Seattle is beyond easy and the view is unbeatable. 

Once we arrived on Bainbridge Island, we headed to lunch at Harbour Public House. Apparently they are close enough to Canada that they spell it the Canadian way. The restaurant had good pub food and even better views, but they don't allow kids so good thing Max was at home. 

After our lunch, we left the island (drove over a bridge) and into Poulsbo. My friend Ryan, who got married, has been many amazing places in the world so I figured he would pick somewhere beautiful to get married but even still he exceeded my expectations. Poulsbo is amazing and I seriously wish we had stayed longer than just one day. Our hotel was called Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort and the wedding was at Kiana Lodge which was down the street (actually down the beach to be exact, ha ha). I cannot say enough good things about this hotel. It was AMAZING. I'm not a big casino person but actually you would NOT know a casino was even there. We had a gorgeous water view for $130 a night and I had no complaints about the room itself either. There was even a fun indoor/outdoor pool that Eric and I killed some time at while waiting to check in. Have I mentioned I really wish we stayed longer? Such a beautiful place! 

 This was our view and I don't feel like this picture does it justice. 

 The wedding itself was perfect and it's always a blast to hang out with some of my college friends that I don't see enough in everyday life. The morning after the wedding, we enjoyed one last wedding breakfast with friends and then headed off to Oregon. At breakfast I jokingly asked if anyone knew anything to do on the drive down to Oregon and one of Ryan's other friends mentioned a Mexican restaurant to eat lunch at. On the drive there I definitely thought he might be trying to get us killed in the middle of nowhere, but I swear Washington state has a way of having SUCH good restaurants in the middle of nothing else you'd ever want to see. I'm still thinking about the Thai food I had after a hike on my last trip… But anyway, back to the ridiculously good authentic Mexican food at La Tarasca. I also loved the waitresses who were balancing an entire kids baseball team in a small restaurant and still managed to get us our food quickly and be nice the whole time. 

Last stop on this day was crossing a new state off the list! Oregon :) It has definitely been up on my list for awhile so I was pretty excited to cross the border! 

TStay tuned for our adventures in Oregon! 

They Lie about the Rain in Seattle

It's a few weeks late, but I did want to recap our amazing trip to the Pacific Northwest at the beginning of the summer. The reason for the trip was a wedding of one of my college friends in Poulsbo, Washington. We were especially lucky because my parents were watching Max for the week, so we got to enjoy some *true* relaxation and didn't have to worry about nap times during all our adventures. Don't worry, Max didn't miss us too much- he loves spending time with his grandparents! I think we missed him a lot more than he missed us. 

Our first stop on the trip was Seattle. You may recall we visited Seattle a few years ago as part of the trip to Amber's Wedding! That was the ideal Seattle trip because we were there for a week and had my college roommate who grew up in Seattle showing us around. This time we only had one full day in Seattle, so we didn't even try to replicate the awesomeness of our last trip. Instead, we just enjoyed some time in a city we both really love. 

We stayed at an Air BnB in Belltown, which is a really fun area of Seattle about a 1/2 mile from Pike's Place and right along the waterfront. We loved the apartment and the area, but Seattle was having a heat wave and there was no AC or air flow at all in the apartment so we were happy to only spend two nights there. I have yet to see any of this rain Seattle is so known for...

Our full day in Seattle included a trip to Pike's Place. I know it's a touristy area, but if I lived in Seattle i would visit this place at least weekly. I seriously had a peach from here that cannot be rivaled EVER, it was that good. A few of my favorite views...

We were happy to actually see the famous fish throwing because we visited last time on July 4th so the market was a lot quieter. 

After our market visit, we ate a quick picnic lunch and then took a fun boat cruise. We took a Locks Cruise that started in Lake Union, went through the Ballard Locks, and then ended in Puget Sound. It was a great way to spend a warm day and see some of the fun sights of Seattle. A few highlights were: the house boats from Sleepless in Seattle, Gasworks Park where we watched the fireworks a few years ago, and a few of Mt. Rainier. 

We also ate two delicious meals in Seattle. The first was right near our apartment called Red King Crab. I had delicious crab sushi, it's all about crab on the west coast I'm telling you. The second night we went to a place called The Pink Door. Obviously you know I'd love this place for name alone, but the food was also amazing and the place had AC, so it was a triple win for us. 

Seattle was a win overall, an awesome city to visit! 

*For the record, I'm mostly joking about the title of this post. I get that I would probably see rain if I didn't come in the summer :) 

Currently [July 2015]

I was having some technical difficulties posting but I've resolved them, so I've got some catching up to do. I owe you some posts about my trip to the West Coast, and an 18 month post for Max. So stay tuned :) In the meantime, Currently! 

Currently....

Reading: The Snow Child. I've only just started it but it's good so far, I'm reading it for the Read Harder Challenge. I'm not sure if I will be finishing this challenge. I'm definitely going to do as many challenges as I can because it has helped me read some things I wouldn't had otherwise. But, I also don't want to read anything I know I will hate because reading is supposed to be my happy place :) Oh, and I just finished Love Anthony by Lisa Genova, really good! (not quite as great as Still Alice, but I really liked it!)

Loving: Summer! 

 

Frustrated: That I still sometimes struggle with sleeping even in the summer, insomnia is so annoying!

Feeling: a little bit stronger, Eric has been kicking my butt with the workouts lately

Thinking: about whether or not Max will be our only child or not. I told myself I wouldn't even think about this in 2015, but I still think about it. Can someone else just make this decision for me and/or give me a nice crystal ball? (PS. Even if we decide to try for a second kiddo it will be no time soon, I'm just really bad at leaving things like this undecided ha ha)

Anticipating: Taking Max to another splash pad tomorrow, he LOVES sprinklers and hanging out with BFF Teddy :)  

Watching: videos of Max, because that is his favorite thing to do! 

 

Sad: That 2 of my good friends are moving and their new houses are farther away from my house. Of course I'm super happy for both of them and it's really not about me at all, but it has made me start really thinking about how hard it is to get together with kids and their nap schedules, and how it will only get harder as they all start doing sports and birthday parties etc. Just life, I suppose. (In a lot of ways, the kids have made us get together more often too, so it's not really the kids I blame- I just wish I could live in a nice little neighborhood of my friends is all, too much to ask?)

Listening to: podcasts, podcasts, podcasts. I love The Longest Shortest Time (if you have kids, or are just interested in parenting topics, listen to this! it's way better than other parenting podcasts out there and I really think even people without kids could find the stories interesting!). I also shamelessly listen to Undisclosed, the podcast that is investigating the case that was on Serial last year. I'm obsessed I admit it. 

Working: I'm taking a really stupid online class. I recently listened to Gretchen Rubin (author of Happiness Project) talk on the Jess Lively podcast. She just wrote a book about how personality types influence habits. After taking the quiz to see my type, I learned I am a questioner, which essentially means that I am willing to do basically anything for myself or others as long as I think it's worthwhile according to my own reasons. Well, this online class is NOT worthwhile at all, which is why I basically have been procrastinating it but occasionally I actually work on it because the pay raise involved in earning more credits is worthwhile to me…. ha. 

Grateful: for the village that has helped us with Max these last 18 months, for summer vacation, for my family, for the Cape… for so many things I could not name them all

Wondering: How I will be as a parent of a child in school. Max starts daycare in September. He will love it and be fine, but I will be constantly worried that I am one of "those" parents that have driven me crazy the last 9 years! 

 

Wishing: Still would love someone to invent teleportation… 

 

What are you listening to, reading and watching these days? 

TGIF

Shamelessly stole this post idea from Lisa. I know others have used this template as well and I enjoy reading them on Friday, so hopefully you will too :) If not, I did add a few photos of Max for good measure. 

The high of my week was celebrating Mother's Day with my mom and mother in law, and of course Eric and Max. I also had a former student as a "Secret Reader" today in my class. I love seeing my former students read to my class!

The low of my week was kindergarten kids with spring fever, and not having invented teleportation yet… I want to be able to beam myself to BFF Katie's house to help her juggle her newborn and toddler, though I'm not sure how helpful I would be if I add Max into the mix. 

A book I am reading is Anne Frank Diary of a Young Girl. I am technically re-reading this since I read it in 7th grade. 

A podcast episode I loved was um… a lot. I have a podcast problem. I think my favorite podcast at the moment is Dear Sugar. It's SO good. I am stupidly wasting any moments of my life listening to the Undisclosed podcast, aka podcast about the same case as Season 1 of Serial. It's so incredibly biased but fascinating nonetheless. I am also currently in love with the Starr Struck Radio podcast (thanks Caroline for the recommendation) and even though I have heard probably 17 different podcast episodes about the book The Fringe Hours, I still enjoyed Jess Lively's take on it this week. I should probably actually read the book now. 

For my workouts, I completed  1 run (after Max went to bed on Monday night! aka… I ran at night, this is unheard of for me) and 1 leg lifting session. I'm going to run again tomorrow. I've been aiming for 2 runs and 2 lifts a week, a little behind this week due to Mother's Day but slow and steady wins the race

The best money I spent was I finally bought a jogging stroller and it arrives tomorrow!!! I am seriously hoping it was the best money I spent this month because it was not cheap. But, this will help me squeeze in my two runs a week and make it easier to take beach walks this summer. Also, I justified it because I finally got reimbursed for the new car seat I had to buy after I was rear ended in December. Yes, I realize that I originally spent this money but since it took so long to get it back it's basically forgotten money. #greatlogic

My plans this weekend include celebrating my brother's graduation (he got his MBA!), and  visiting a huge kids consignment sale at my old high school

What podcast did you love this week? What are you reading? 

Currently

I think about this blog a lot. I have lots of post ideas. But then, it's 8PM and I've been with kids from sun up to sun down I am just so exhausted I can't make sense in writing. Since I'm on vacation this week (which only involves one kid from sun up to sun down), you'll get a Currently post. It's better than nothing, right? 

Reading: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. I had a really hard time getting into this book and I've been reading it for almost three weeks now which is almost unheard of for me. I'm pretty into it now though, so I think I'll finish it pretty soon. It's a good book, though a tough read. I'm appreciating that it's giving me yet another perspective on World War II. I don't think I've read another WWII book that takes place in Japan. Wait a sec, isn't one of the Read Harder Challenges to read a book that takes place in Asia? Need to go consult the spreadsheet!

Loving: My DSLR camera. I bought it 4 years (?) ago now. Ironically, I bought it mainly because it takes such good photos of kids (at work) but since Max was born I've barely used it at all because carrying around a big camera and actually taking the time to put the pictures on my computer seemed like a big hassle. But, now that he is more mobile if I don't want every picture to be one big blur, I need to get it out again. Now that I have, I've fallen back in love. 

Thinking: about whether that adorable child above will be an oldest or an only… nothing is going to happen either way for at least a year, but I think about it a lot and I don't know what I want. It must be nice to be a person who does not overanalyze everything. 

Frustrated: You can tell I am on vacation because I can't think of one single thing I am frustrated about right now. Oh wait, that's a lie… toddler eating is SO frustrating. I try to subscribe to philosophy of I provide a healthy meal and if he eats it, he eats it, if he doesn't, he doesn't. But honestly it is really annoying when you make a whole meal for someone and they dramatically yell and throw it on the floor. This is what I imagine going through Max's mind on a daily basis. Apples are my favorite. I HATE APPLES I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD GIVE ME THAT DISGUSTING FOOD. I want some milk. No I don't want milk. MILK NOW! GET THAT MILK OUT OF MY FACE. I want some waffles. NO, NOT WAFFLES. Waffles! Hmm, do I want waffles? What do they have on them? NO!! I HATE WAFFLES. etc. Can I have some waffles please? 

Feeling: proud and in awe of my sister and my college roommate who both ran the Boston marathon this past Monday. Not only did they run it, but they had fun and finished happy. They both inspire me to make more time in my life for exercise even if it feels impossible some days. Caroline trained for this marathon while basically working two full time jobs and Ashley works 80 hours a week as a doctor. Clearly, these two do not make excuses. 

Anticipating: In a few weeks we will start the ABC Countdown (to the end of the school) in kindergarten. Each day we celebrate a letter with something special, for example A is Art Day, B is Beach Day, C is Career Day. It's a ton of fun and obviously ends up with the best part of the year, SUMMER. So, yeah, anticipating all of that. 

Watching: The Goldbergs. HILARIOUS show based on a true family growing up in the 80s. If you haven't watched it, you should. 

Sad: That vacation is almost over. I have enjoyed spending every day with Eric and Max. 

Working: On proving I'm a good teacher… have to upload evidence that I am meeting all the standards for my evaluation. Good times. 

Grateful: That the weather is getting ever so slightly better so that we can spend a lot more time outside. The week before vacation both of my aides were out sick with pneumonia. Let's just say that some extra recess was had. Also, it's been SO nice to be able to take Max outside in the morning when he wakes up at the crack of dawn and nothing fun to do is actually open at that hour. 

Listening: To country music, as usual… current favorites: Diamond Rings and Old Barstools (Tim McGraw) and Homegrown (Zac Brown Band). I've also been listening to Undisclosed, the new podcast about the same story that Serial was about. I totally know it's biased but I am not over the story yet I suppose. I also love "Dear Sugar" and the "Sarah R. Bagley podcast" at the moment. 

Wishing: That it was standard procedure to work for 3 weeks a month and then have a week off. I'd argue we would be almost as productive as we are now with this nice break… just sayin' 

What is current in your life these days? 

Max: 15 Months Old

Max will be 15 months old this week! 

Max has been busy these last few months. It's been cold and incredibly snowy up here in Boston. In fact, we broke the record for snowiest winter on record, which might be cooler when it's history but at the moment is just…miserable. We discovered Max does not love snow days as much as we don't- he loves to get out of the house and see interesting people and things. Some of the places Max like to go include: to visit family and friends, walks around the neighborhood, the mall, swimming at the Y, inside playgrounds and to restaurants (though he is mostly done sitting at restaurants so that will mean less visits ha ha). 

Max also took another big trip, where he turned 13 months. Our trip to Savannah was much easier than our trip to Florida had been only a month earlier. There were a combination of factors that contributed to this, mostly the fact that Max wasn't sick, one of our flights wasn't delayed (that's 1 out of the 4 flights Max has been on) and Max had a nice walk in closet to sleep in. 

Max LOVES big kids. He plays with his BFF Teddy (photo above) and he loved visiting me at work a few weeks ago. The kids were all crowded around him and he thought it was the best thing ever. He even stole the basketball from a few of my kids who were playing. 

Some of the things we love about Max have remained the same for many months. He still continues to love music. When the music comes on, he still dances, now while standing up. Music also calms him down when he is upset. He also continues to love books. He has expanded his favorites a bit, but he still loves listening to the same book over and over again. The other day he got impatient with my Home Goods shopping, but when I gave him a book to look at, he was fine with cruising around for awhile longer. He continues to be obsessed with lights and wants nothing more than to spend hours turning on and off every single light in the house. 

But there is a lot new in Max land too. He talks a bit more now, says Mama, Dada, Nonna, Nana, dog, and bye-bye. He also waves to everyone, and uses sign language for "down" and "more" (though more is a bit more like "I want" but close enough). Max understands much of what we say now. If we say it's time to eat, he heads right to his high chair. "It's time to go upstairs!" = run right over to the gate and attempt to open it himself. He also shows signs that he is a toddler these days, throwing a mini tantrum if he doesn't get his way. Things that get him particularly angry: having to stop running around for 5 seconds to get changed or put on his jacket, not being allowed to open a door or gate that he wants to open, being taken away from something he wants to do. 

He continues to be a pretty good eater most days. He loves yogurt, cheese, crackers, bread, waffles, peanut butter and almond butter, oatmeal, pears, peas, ground turkey, pasta with tomato sauce, rice, and cookies. We regularly give him what we are eating for dinner- last week he enjoyed a Thai curry dish that Eric made. But of course, he has his times (also regularly) where he wants nothing to do with the food on his tray and food ends up everywhere. He definitely does not like bananas, but other than that he mostly just randomly doesn't like things that he just liked the day before. He's just not in the mood I suppose! He seems to be texturally influenced and will often play with his food and determine that he doesn't like the feel of it before even trying it. Oh well!

Last week, my mom taught him how to "give hugs" which has now replaced dancing to the music as my favorite thing Max can do. I think starting around 6 months, every month I declare to be my favorite age so far. So here's to my new favorite age :)