7.21.12
At almost three weeks postpartum, I was feeling pretty good and was wanting to get out for some fresh air and even a little exercise! I asked Brent to find us a little hike...somewhere we've never been before (a challenge!).
Cape Horn:
The Washington side of the Colombia River Gorge...beautiful!
Breastfeeding + hiking = double calorie torcher
most of the trails we have been on in the Gorge are pretty easy, quick jaunts to a waterfall or an overlook. NOT so much with this hike. It is a pretty long, pretty steep, pretty rocky switchback hike...but with GREAT views. NOT what I was expecting for us to do at 3 weeks postpartum. I didn't bring water or diapers or anything!
It ended up being about a three mile hike, which normally would be a great family hike for us...
if we were prepared. But also there was no signage on diverting trails, and so it wouldn't be too difficult to get lost. From what Brent read online, it was supposed to be a loop to an overlook, a waterfall, and then back to our car. We kept hiking and never found the connecting trail back to our car. We could have kept hiking for while and ended up down the busy highway from our car, but we decided to forgo the loop, and just head back to our car the way we came...even though it ended up being longer. At least we knew where we were going and when we were going to get there! Ah! Only stressful for a moment there until we decided to go back the way we came. But overall, a beauty of a hike.
we found the waterfall...almost no water this time of year.
Toby in front of Cape Horn overlook (the actually geological feature)...
I took a few pictures of the kids with my dslr camera...more practice!
Cape Horn
Uh oh! What's going on here? Deep thought? Boredom? Impending adolescence??
I'm a little worried. :)
the toddler is a very determined hiker...but hiking up a talus field is just too much for him.
...so he will ride on Brent's shoulders instead!
another serious shot of our big laddie
and our medium laddie
I really wanted to get a picture of Ollie's big round eyes, long lashes, beautiful lips and baby curls (before they were cut off).
Like I said we had a very lovely time on the hike, despite the moment or two of worry and stress...but the funniest part of this story happened the very next day.
Brent subscribes to this Portland hikers online forum, and the next day there was a review of this hike on the forum...which was obviously done by someone who passed us on the hike because they wrote about US!! Haha! Here's what they had to say:
"But I mentioned this is a new trail, right? Ouch! The rocks are pretty loose. Poles tend to be useless, as they plunge into the cracks with each plant. And some genius even designed one segment with seven or eight switchbacks down one of these slopes. I saw a family coming off that, two kids walking, each parent carrying another, one parent seemingly ready to scream at the other for "getting them into this mess!" "
Here's the link if you want to read it yourself! Which, by the way, I wasn't made at Brent for "getting us into this mess", but I think that either Brent or I may have been worried at that moment that we were not going to find the right trail back to our car. It was shortly thereafter we decided to go back the way we came. Still funny though!
4.4.12
Surprisingly, I'm not sure where what the official name of this hike is. It is somewhere up past Sandy, Oregon...on the way to Mt. Hood. It is a river trail that follows the bank of the river for several miles and you can go as far (or not) as you want. I'll have to ask Brent when he comes home. So we set out on this very rainy day with no particular destination in mind, and hiked for about 2 miles along this wet, muddy trail.
I just had to include this picture of the boys getting their socks on. I thought it was just too cute that Ollie was doing it by himself (or at least trying).
these two pictures are proof of my undying love for Brent. See, I don't have a particular fondness of mud (although I do LOVE hiking and the outdoors and all things green). So the reason that I slosh through these mud pits time and time again is to give Brent the adventures he craves on his days off, year round, rain or shine. Love you Brent!
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nothing brightens up a rainy day hike like those colorful rain slickers and umbrellas!
We were told when we first moved here that we would never be considered true Oregonians if we used umbrellas. I guess we'll never be true Oregonians, despite our love for the place.
Ollie got restless the last little bit of the hike, so Brent let him out and let him finish it on his own.
Apres-hiking restaurant (I have the hardest time spelling that word!) experience was burgers and shakes at Calamity Jane's, which came recommended by many Oregon-native friends (true Oregonians?).
4.3.12
How is it that we've lived in the Portland area for almost 5 years and still haven't been to every botanical garden or park in the area? Well we had another day or two off for spring break (since we had over two weeks total!), so we had the chance to fit in a couple of new adventures. They were cold and rainy adventures...but adventures, nonetheless.
taking a little amble along the swollen Johnson Creek
the bridge was out since the water was so high...we'll have to come finish this walk another time
THANKFULLY they warned us...these guys can get your shoes rather sticky
even though the weather felt like winter, the spring flowers were out in abundance. Here we have the lovely Camilla.
Hellbore...ugly name, but one of my favorite shade-lovely flowers (I meant to write shade-loving, but I guess they are shade-lovely too)...and one of the only actual flowers I've ever seen that comes in a shade of green.
Ollie, smiling with his eyes again
and last of all, the lovely Trillium...which was almost Elsa's middle name.
I like nature names. Trillium, Camilla, Salal, Azalea...hmm, I wonder which of these names are on our baby short list? Definitely NOT Hellbore.
I posted awhile back that it was my birthday...and finally I have uploaded the pictures from the celebratory events. Brent had the weekend off so we could've gone to the coast and stayed in a yurt again like we did
last year, but I was fancying the idea of sleeping in my own bed more a bit more. So as is customary with my birthday (since I was quite young), we went out for breakfast. At the Multnomah Lodge!
It's just such a lovely, old lodge and ever since the very first time we drove through Oregon together I've wanted to eat breakfast there. Brent and I had an anniversary dinner there a few years back, but our kids have never been...and they beg every time we drive past. So we made a day of it, met my sisters' and their families, ate a scrumptious breakfast, and then hiked to the TOP of Multnomah Falls (which we've done once before, but a LONG time ago on our first trip to Oregon. Toby was 18 months).
some pictures from brunch
in the gorgeous dining hall...oh my, I wish I captured the skylight looking up at the waterfall.
The food was pretty good too!
My sisters and I + niece on the platform overlooking the top of the waterfall:
after a 2 mile-ish hike up
I have my 20 week baby belly
and my little baby bear
and all my wonderful boys
what more could I possibly want?
(Besides Elsa with us, which I'm sure she was).
NOW...for some more Instagram fun:
LOVE it! I don't know what I ever did without Instagram.
{I had boringer pictures, that's for sure}
The next day was Sunday and it was my acutal, actual birthday, so Brent made a delicious stir fry for dinner, at my request...and he made some key lime cupcakes from a pinterest recipe, which I also requested. He's seriously the best! We had our friends over for happy birthday dessert:
One year closer to eternity...oh yeah! I LOVE that.
