Juan who?

Living in Portland has been awesome for many reasons, but a major benefit right now is that we are geographically located between my extended family in Washington, and Joe's extended family in California.  During her Christmas break, Joe's sister and her cousin road-tripped up to us and stayed for a few days.  Shortly after that, my cousin and his wife stopped for the night on their way to Washington.  Shortly after that, my other cousin came down from Washington to hang out for the weekend JUST BECAUSE!  It's been such a treat to have so many visitors!  I just want to hang a sign outside that says "Cousins Welcome Here".

When my latest visitor, cousin Kristina, was here we spent Saturday together exploring without kids.  We visited historic Oregon City and the Oregon Trail Museum.

We had an awesome little lunch at Singer Hill Cafe and I finally had my Stumptown latte!

And it was good.  

And then we went to a historic (and obviously haunted) cemetery.  It was cold, drizzly, and foggy.  And beautiful.  The oldest graves date back to the 1840s.   We are not creepy or morbid, just enthusiastic history buffs (or I am, at least).  

Moss had grown into the engraving on this headstone. 

Pretty neat. 

And lastly, I'll leave you with a funny comparison.  

Joe reports that today his students (particularly the 8th grade girls) were calling him "Juan Pablo" which he didn't get.  Eventually they explained that they think he looks like the new "Bachelor".  

So we looked him up.

Juan plays soccer with LA Galaxy.  Joe plays soccer with local club.

Juan has an adorable daughter.  Joe has three of 'em.  

Juan rocks the scruffy facial hair.  Joe does too.

Juan's baby-momma is a Venezualan actress.  Joe's baby-momma is an American midwife.

Joe accused ole Juan of stealing his "look".

Then we both had a nice chuckle.

I already landed my bachelor and he's a keeper.

Chasing Waterfalls

When we were first new to Oregon, we enjoyed a different outdoor activity almost every weekend, but then life happened!  We got busy and it got cold outside and we haven't explored much.  So...

Last Sunday I laced up my hiking boots and announced that I was going to find a waterfall!   Mia was instantly at my side.  Then Eva grabbed her coat and joined us.  Then Ali.  And then Dad.  We headed east to the Columbia River Gorge and found something spectacular!

  Multnomah Falls

620 ft waterfall with two tiers, the tallest waterfall in Oregon!

We hiked up to the footbridge built in the 1920s.

It was worth the anxiety of having my three precious babies standing on a vintage bridge 90 feet above a waterfall.  Continuing up the icy trail along the sheer face of Multnomah Mt. (Eva's idea) was not worth it however, and I quickly insisted that we all turn around and get to an elevation where Mom can breath.  

And quit crushing Evelyn's hand.

Half a mile away was Wahkeena Falls.

242 ft waterfall.

We really liked this one because instead of plunging straight down, it sorta cascades down the mountain to the Columbia River.  It was very pretty.

Another vintage footbridge....

We all wanted our picture taken in front of the waterfall.

I had to tuck my camera into my jacket to keep it safe from all the spray!

It was very wet!

Daddy and his bundled up explorers.

Go Big Red! 

(We met another native Nebraskan up there! Ha!)

In typical 4 year old fashion, Eva's legs became paralyzed on the hike up to the second waterfall and I had to pack her up the quarter mile hike on my back....

Where she fell asleep and went limp.  

Of course, she woke up at the falls and miraculously gained the use of her legs on the hike down...

I'm such a sucker.

And very colorful apparently.

Now we can add "chasing waterfalls" to our list of Oregon sights seen!

Christmas and Updates

1.  Auntie Vanessa and cousin Felicia came to visit.  We drove them around to foggy wooded locations to make art.

Then they took the girls to Christmas Zoolights and gave Mom and Dad the night off.  And then, unfortunately, they had to leave.  

2.  We found Santa at a working dairy farm and waited 3 hours to see him.  Eva refused to speak to him after all that waiting and asked her sisters to tell him that she'd be sending him a letter instead.  But the pic was worth it.  

3.   This happened a lot.

4.  We watched Dad win his Division 1 Soccer Championship!  We were 4 very excited fans!

5.  Our beautiful neighbor Samantha made us Christmas Eve dinner and we all took turns holding her 2 month old baby, Brody.  Then we decorated gingerbread castles!

Look at this!  I have found the best neighbors in the world and you can't have them!! 

6.   Santa Claus came!  And for the last time for a certain Cutie, I'm afraid.  

 

7.   We did some more snuggling. 

8.    Even Mouder the cat got lots of extra lovin'.  

9.  We found someone "on the inside" and got invited to shop at the Nike Company Store (or The Holy Land, as Joe calls it).  

I've rarely seen the Daddy so excited to go shopping!  We all left with new running shoes and workout gear.  

10.   You have to know my husband and kids to find this next one amusing... Joe is an all out jock and his girls take after him.  Ali was assigned 2miles/day over Christmas break for soccer, so I invited her (and tagalong sis) to the gym with me.  

While I do my usual thing, my 7 year old pumps out 2.5 miles on the treadmill and then proceeds to do 1 handed push-ups on the floor while 10 year old sister cranks the treadmill to max speed and whips out 3.5 miles.  They are apparently used to working out with their Dad and have been advised to tone it down and quit making Mom look like a wuss.  

And that's our break in a nutshell!  Tomorrow's plans include a lazy morning of coffee, smoothies, hot chocolate and Planes the movie.  

Happy New Years!!  

Off Call

My first month "off-call" is coming to an end and what an amazing month it was!  I thought about blogging my adventures as they happened, but ended up spending the weeks pretty much "unplugged" from the outside world and focused on my own little world.  No regrets about that!  So I'll recap some of the highlights, in case you're interested.

1. My Mom and Dad in law came from California and spent some time at the first of the month.  I was still waiting on the births of two sweet babes, so it was a little crazy, but Joe's Mom and Dad just jumped right in and made life so much easier.  Until they had to go home.

We rode the air tram through Portland and saw a double rainbow!

2.  My Mom came from Texas and both her little sisters drove down from Washington.  We had ourselves a party.

I crocheted each grandma-auntie a headband to match each grand-niece.  The grandma-aunties shooed Joe and I away for an entire day and we got to do WHATEVER WE WANTED.  Of course when presented with all that freedom, we couldn't think of a thing to do.  So we went downtown and wandered in and out of shops, had brunch and got a tour of Joe's school (I am in love with his school and am praying that the girls get in next year).  Then we ended up at the same vintage 1940s theater we visited a year ago when we flew out to Portland and watched Thor.  We just love that old theater, doesn't matter what's playing.  Then I surprised Joe with a dinner cruise on the Portland Spirit.

We had dinner and a lovely tour of the city at night along the river.  Yeah, he was impressed.

We took Grandma to the coast and explored caves and tide pools, too!

 It was the best weather we've ever experienced at the Oregon coast.  I always take way too many pictures when we go, but I can't help myself.  It's so pretty.

3.  I signed Eva up for a month-long session of swim lessons because I knew I could get her there consistently!

4.  Joe took a trip to Omaha to visit his BFF and go to a Husker football game.  Go Big Red!!  He stayed up all night drinking and playing playstation.  I know because his BFF's wife told on him and sent me incriminating photos!  The daddy needs a break sometimes too and I was very glad he went because I got all the girls to myself for 4 days (no school).  We painted our nails, went shopping, ate pizza, went swimming, did crafts, did more crafts and rented Barbie movies.  It was awesome.

5.  I got EVERYONE in to see the dentist.

6.  I kept the house cleaner than usual and made dinner more often than usual.  It was exhausting.

7.  I made it to every gymnastics practice and every soccer game.

8.  I crocheted hats, flowers, earbands and scarves.  I caught up on several movies I've been wanting to see.

9. I volunteered at the girls' school!

10.  We traveled to Washington and had Thanksgiving with my newly wedded cousin Kristina and helped her put all her expensive wedding gifts to use making dinner.

It was a great break and great family time.  I loved all the time with Joe and the girls.  I'm mentally prepping myself for the craziness that is creeping back into our lives a day at a time as I get back into the groove of "midwifing" but am reminded of what a blessing it is to have work that I love, a beautiful place to live, healthy children, and a supportive spouse.  Very blessed.  And very grateful.  God bless all you blog-readers this holiday season!