Day 1: Multnomah Falls

Well our adventure began Thursday, June 30th – I believe we left within 30 minutes of my desired start time of 8:30am. I woke up feeling like I needed a morning in the bathroom praying to the porcelain god, so I was really looking forward to a day in the car (especially when I seem to have had a motion sickness problem ever since being pregnant). :P Dogs had been dropped off the night before (we always owe a big thanks to Rick - Loren's dad - when we travel) so after we picked my mom up in Star we hit the road. Made it to Durkee before we needed gas (hadn’t filled up) and then stopped in La Grande for lunch and played at the rest area. Made another pitstop in The Dalles for a playground and ice cream break. We were fortunate to catch a period of long naps for the kids, so we actually made pretty good time (I am still amazed at how well they did! Daytime driving is def the way to go for us.). After that was Multnomah Falls, a standard stop for us on the way to Portland. I was still feeling crummy, but hiking to the top was on my 30 Before 30 list – and Loren pushed me to check it off.

"You want to do what? I'm taking a nap."

My cheeseball.

That's where we were headed. Yes, I was sick to my stomach, had hardly eaten, and was carrying an extra 30 lbs on my back...

An absolutely adorable 30 lbs!

We decided we’d give it a shot and at least go as far as we could. I was packing Hayden when we got to the bridge, and we decided to move on. As long as I kept some momentum I did pretty good. However, once we made it to the ½ mile mark (which, btw, I thought was the halfway mark -- no, it's actually a 1.25 mile hike, not 1 -- false advertising!), I decided I just couldn’t do it while carrying him, so I passed him off to Loren (which was actually the first time Loren has ever packed either kid in a backpack). Addie walked with Ba ("Ba" has somehow become my mom’s name for the kids – I think Addie just couldn’t say Grandma, so she started saying Ba and it has stuck) behind us, catching some breaks while Ba packed her every so often (poor Ba!). We kept pushing forward and each time we thought of turning back, we’d see a sign to signal we were that much closer and forged on. I think Addie’s favorite part was the snail we found on our way up (that we of course had to find again on our way back down – to show Dad). I actually hadn’t felt like throwing up since that morning – until we got to about the ¾ mile mark. After many breaks and pleas to the toddler to walk, we finally made it up. We admired the view, took some pics, and then headed back down – which felt about as long as the hike up!

It's not very impressive here, but take a look at how tiny those cars are.

My little hiker.

Heading back down...

Petting her snail.

But by the time we got to the bottom it actually felt pretty darn good. I was so proud of Addie who actually walked almost the entire way down – and still had energy to play at the bottom! We got some popcorn to snack on and let Hayden out to cause some trouble before we loaded up and headed in to Portland.

Usually when we go to Portland we stay downtown, but I had procrastinated on getting a room long enough that many weren’t available, and it was less expensive to stay out towards the airport. It wasn’t the nicest area, but we got continental breakfast (had a pool too, but I never did make it there to enjoy it) and were just a few minutes away (walking) from the MAX lightrail. We were all exhausted from our day of travel and hiking, so we just grabbed some Chinese food and settled in for the night... until about 11:30pm when we were awoken to Addie puking. On the bed, the heater, the floor, herself, Loren – yay vacation! :) After cleaning up she laid down with Ba, but we were all so on edge, we all jumped at every move she made – in hopes of either catching the puke in the garbage can or saving her from falling off the bed. Sleeping in hotels can be a bit of a challenge with the kids. At home we all crash in our nice big king bed, that is on the ground and up against the wall – a decent amount of room (although we still get squished) and few places to fall off (and if they do, it’s a short fall). The hotel, on the other hand, was a queen bed with high edges and furniture to hit on the way down. Addie actually ended up sleeping through the rest of the night and I think I finally got some sleep around 3am. Not the best way to rest up for our day at the zoo…