Portland: The Farewell Tour

We took a little trip a few weekends ago in order to celebrate my birthday. Cora, Ally, and I drove out to Portland on a Thursday. That night we ate dinner at IKEA (Ally's choice) and wandered around the store. We went swimming in the hotel pool and then tucked ourselves into bed. The next morning we took a ride on the MAX train and spent the day at the zoo. I had Ally and Cora wear their new backpacks (thanks Jess!) stuffed with their jackets 'cause they're just so gosh darn cute. It became an easy way of identifying my girls and keeping track of their every move; people smiled and pointed whenever they saw them wander past.

Because I didn't bring the stroller and didn't want to carry any children, we took our time wandering around. We skipped some animals, but Ally insisted on seeing her new favorite-- the bats. We also saw the beavers, polar bears, orangutans, penguins, zebras, giraffes, elephants, and eagles. The girls climbed on some sculptures and even shared their drinks with a bronze squirrel. Ally almost spent as much time reading the signs as she did watching the animals. I knew she was able to read some, but I was amazed at how many unfamiliar, long words she was able to decipher. How do you know if an elephant is about to give birth? Ally read all about it.

Both Ally and Cora passed out on the 40 minute MAX ride back. I had to wake Ally up to get her off the train. She walked off under her own power, but then she laid down in the center island after we crossed one direction of traffic. She perked up enough to walk the rest of the way across the street once I promised dinner at Red Robin. She got mac and cheese AND a balloon, so she was a happy camper. We then crashed in our beds at the hotel. Chris finally joined us around 11:30 that night once his plane landed.

On Saturday we had breakfast at the hotel with Ally's new friends who served on the USS Rotanin back in WWII. (About 12 men and their wives were having a reunion. One of the men had been at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed. One of the wives had been an acrobat in the circus and had almost danced with Gene Kelly.) Then Chris drove us down to OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) for the day. We saw a planetarium show, and Ally enjoyed watching the man play connect-the-dots with the stars. We also wandered through the various rooms and exhibits.

We pretended to go into space, shot water bottle rockets in the air, made some stop-animation movies, experienced an "earthquake" in a shaking house, played on the computers, built sailboats, dried our hands, solved some brain-teaser puzzles, saw some fetuses in various developmental stages, avoided the skeletons, and road a few elevators. We also played in the ball and tube area, where Cora spent most her time trying to clean up the balls that were flying everywhere.

We ended the day in the children's room. They had a craft section where kids could work on projects and play with flubber. They also had a grocery store with all sorts of food, a miniature forest where you could be a squirrel and gather nuts (and hibernate, too), building blocks and plastic construction pieces, a puppet stage, a mini ball pit, and a large sand area.
We had a hard time pulling Ally away from that sand box, but we had to leave OMSI and head to our next destination: VooDoo Donuts. We opted for the larger location since it was closer and quicker then going to the downtown original one as before. Their shop was crowded (we arrived just after someone's wedding ceremony, so they were in the midst of their reception) but we got our donuts within 5 minutes. And we didn't have to wait in line in the rain for an hour. Cora's a VooDoo addict. Here she is freaking out 'cause we told her she had to wait until after our Indian dinner to eat her Fruit Loop-covered donut:


On Sunday we made a quick trip to the Grotto of Our Sorrowful Mother. It's an outdoor catholic sanctuary with gardens and sculptures surrounding the area. It is beautiful with a towering stone rock surrounded by lush green trees. I wanted to see it because of the name.
On the drive home we stopped at Multnomah Falls. Chris and Cora went as far as the bridge; Ally wanted to hike a little further up the path, so I went with her. We had to run the quarter mile back to the bottom when she decided she needed a potty "really bad". (Yes, we were faster than her pee.)

While on the bridge, Ally insisted I take a video of her dancing, so here it is. I took this about 15 minutes before we had to sprint for the bathroom. As I watch it now, I can't help but see great similarities between these "spontaneous" dance moves and her usual pee-pee dance.


Now, some of you may ask why this was the "Farewell Tour". Well, in case you haven't heard yet, we are moving back to NC soon. Which also means I'll probably be an official North Carolina resident again before I even finish blogging about our last vacation there. Oh well.

September Synopsis

We attended our one and only Dust Devils game for the season. We left early 'cause Ally refused to sit still, we were tired, and they were playing horribly. I think Chris is still trying to figure out how they let one guy basically walk from third base to score a run. Short season minor league baseball just isn't the same as watching the Durham Bulls or the Phillies play.

At the beginning of September, Cora started screaming bloody murder whenever we'd put her in the crib at night. This intense fear/hatred of the crib and/or going to sleep seemed to come out of nowhere. On the third night of hour-long crying spells, I decided to try a new sleeping arrangement. I pulled out Ally's princess couch and tucked Cora into her new "bed". Ally was super-excited to have Cora sleep in her room. She told me she was happy to not be by herself anymore (because she had been having nightmares), and that Cora could stay as long as she'd like. Ally even talked to Cora that first night to calm her down, and then sang songs to her until she fell asleep.
I was a little concerned that Cora would wake up in the middle of the night and wander. That hasn't been an issue; she stays put 'cause she has unlimited, unsupervised, instant access to the bookshelf. What can I say, the girl loves books. Ally's nightmares have diminished, and Cora again goes happily to bed each night, so the girls are now sharing a room. And I supposed we'll eventually get Cora a real bed.

Chris, Ally, Cora, and I went to the park for a music festival. We saw some Chinese dances, some Scottish dances, and a few local bands. We also got to share a bubble gum snow cone and play outside. Ally and Cora both wanted to wear their Eagles clothing. Chris says that's a sign of good parenting.

Ally started attending a preschool co-op that my friend Jenn hooked me into. Some women that she knows were starting a group up, and we were invited to join them. Ally is very excited to go, although she keeps referring to it as "pretend school" or "not real school" when people ask if she goes to preschool. Class is only once a week for 2 hours, and we rotate houses and who's teaching. She's had fun being with Ashlyn and getting to know the four other kids. I think her favorite part has been figuring out what to bring for Show-And-Tell.
The first day I dropped her off and came home with Cora, it was eerily quiet. I mean, Cora was talking plenty-- constantly asking "Where's Ally?" and giving me a play-by-play of what we were doing --but I'm used to constantly hearing Ally's voice, too. I think it's been nice so far for them to have a little separation and for Cora and I to have some one-on-one time, although I know Cora would rather be at preschool with her big sis.
Two weeks ago we took a preschool trip out to the country, aka Benton City. Little siblings got to tag along, so Cora was thrilled. We saw some steer and some horses, some grapes and some apples, and some fake giraffes too. The concord grapes get picked and then processed by Welch's, which would explain why the air all around the fields smelled like their grape jelly. Cora took to heart the owner's invitation to "pick as many as you'd like"; she stood in the same spot for 10 minutes and shoved those grapes in her mouth while Ally ran up and down the aisles of the vineyard. Ally loved harvesting her dozen apples from the trees and putting them in her bag; Cora chose one off the ground and spent the remainder of the trip contently eating it to the core.


The last weekend in September, we took a trip out to Portland to celebrate my birthday. But I'm going to save the blogging of that adventure for later since the weekend spilled into October. And, truthfully, I think I should go to bed.