moms' weekend trip to Bend

Anne, Adrienne, Mary, and I took a weekend trip to Bend. We drove out Friday morning and rented a small house in town for a couple of nights. We talked, we laughed, we ate good food, we hiked, we snowshoed, we shopped... it was wonderful. I felt like I got to know them better as people and friends, and it was great to feel free of responsibilities for a few days.*

On Friday morning, we drove on Hwy 26 past Mt. Hood and through the high desert, heading to Smith Rock State Park, a mecca for rock climbers. We hiked Misery Ridge trail up and over the rock face, and then came around past Monkey Face, and then back along the Crooked River.  It was about 3.5 miles and absolutely gorgeous - warm, sunny, stunning red/orange/greenish rocks.

 Love this picture of Adrienne in front of Misery Ridge trail sign. Up up and over the top!

 You can see a rock climber working his way up this cliff face.

Looking back down on the trail that we hiked up. Steep and winding.

Mt. Bachelor and the Three Sisters.

Standing in front of Monkey Face, an iconic monolith.

There was a small cave, with a hole in the side. I had to scramble up the side and then crawl through it, channeling my dad.

The Crooked River - we saw a coyote carrying what looked like a rabbit on the far side, and a pack of deer, and a bald eagle soaring overhead, as well as the usual ducks, geese, and falcons.

We drove to Bend and settled into our house before heading out to a casual restaurant called Spork for dinner. We had posole with pulled pork, Korean short ribs over rice, and green coconut curry with catfish between us, and then headed home to sleep.

On Saturday morning we woke up early and ate a quick breakfast of fruit and eggs before piling back into the car and going out in search of an alpine adventure. We found plenty of snow across from Mt. Bachelor, and headed up to the top of Tumalo Mountain. We snowshoed about 2 miles straight up to the top of the hill, most of it in brilliantly cold sunshine. The views of Bachelor and the Three Sisters were amazing and the trek was really fun. We reached a clearing which we thought was the peak, but turned out to be false - the actual summit was a steep little hill another 20 minutes up.  And then when we reached the peak and peered over the other side, it was covered in black stormy clouds and the wind was gusting across the top - it looked like the abyss. So we didn't stay long, fearing snow might be on its way.

 

 

We had a long and decadent lunch at Chow in Bend and then showered and changed before heading out for some window/actual shopping in Bend. We spent an hour in a bookstore; we browsed clothes, knickknacks, house-wares, jewelry - everyone bought a few trinkets and outfits.  We intended to go to a Spanish place for dinner, but the wait was too long and we ended up at a cozy lounge place, drinking fun cocktails and eating bar food for dinner instead.

On Sunday we packed up, breakfasted at Chow, and hit the road. We came back along a different road, from Hwy 20 to 22 to I5, making time for a short hike to see Sahalie and Koosah Falls in the Santiam Forest.  The McKenzie River was incredibly fast and deep, and the trail was a beautiful forest walk alongside the banks.

 The frost on the moss and lichen was really beautiful.

 Rainbow!

 

 

 Looking down over the second waterfall to the gorge below.

These next icicle pictures were taken from above Sahalie Falls looking down, and the spray had created gorgeous icicle patterns. I can't decide which one I like best.

 

*That being said, I was a little homesick for my family, especially in the evenings. I missed talking to Steve and getting hugs and kisses from my kiddos. I wished I could share the beautiful views and hikes with them and am excited to return to Bend as a family!

FC Ronin

And now for something completely different: Steve decided that he wanted to play some recreational soccer again, in an adult league. It's been years since he played competitively or intramurally, on any sort of team, although we certainly do a lot of soccer-playing with Sebastian. He started, shockingly (:)) with some research: he visited a number of indoor soccer places to check out the fields and watch the level of play, and looked up the times and days of each facility's games and leagues. He decided that the best fit was to join a coed rec league at Indoor Goals, in Beaverton, that plays on Saturday afternoons and evenings. 

And then, and it was this part that amazed me the most, he started organizing. He emailed all the people in my moms group; he emailed the dads and moms whose children have played sports with Sebastian at school or in soccer leagues; he talked to people we've met casually at the school field; he posted a Craigslist ad... I've never seen him spend so much time in his gmail account.  And like magic, with one week of networking and persuading, he's managed to put together a team of 8 men and 5 women, with possibly more people to come.  He registered the team as FC Ronin, told everyone to wear blue, and is collecting team fees.  Their first game is this Saturday at 4:20.

I know that in past moments of his life, he's left behind his introverted self to become a leader of groups and friends and teams and colleagues, but I've never been privy to it.  And it's great. I'm delighted that he's going to get to play some soccer again, but I'm even more delighted that he's created this social network for himself of great people.  I hope it goes well and the team continues to play, either indoors or out, and is a good space for him to have casual, fun, non-parent and non-work interactions.  I've been so lucky with my mom friends here in Portland and am so very happy that he might develop his own group. 

Go Team Ronin!  So exciting!!

"suffocake"

Liesl: "Mommy, what does suffocake mean?"
me, thinking she's just making a cute error: "I don't know, sweetie, what do you think?"
Liesl: "It's when you stuff your face into chocolate cake and eat so much you suffocate!"

I laughed so hard. I couldn't stop. It was adorable.  She was delighted with herself.
I guess when you have love treats as much as our sweet-tooth girl, suffocaking is a real concern.

dinner and a show!

We met up with friends to see a puppet show - Zen Shorts - at the Imago Theatre.  Zen Shorts is a book by Jon Muth that introduces basic concepts of Zen Buddhism through a series of stories within a story. It's a lovely book about sibling rivalry and some of the parables are very well done. We felt the show was very good, albeit with some minor issues mostly relating to the characterization of the siblings, and are glad we went.

After the performance, we were able to go up and meet the puppets and actors - Liesl loved saying hello to them and giving high fives to each puppet.

One thing we did love about the show was that it showed a diverse range of puppetry possibilities - big plush puppets, two-dimensional puppets, shadow puppets - and that was neat to see.

After the show, we went out to dinner to celebrate the upcoming Lunar New Year.  We went to a Thai restaurant called Paadee, and ate fish and noodles, green curry with chicken, eggplant, dumplings, pork skewers, and various other delicious things.

Sebastian read story books out loud to entertain Camille, Rowan, and Liesl. So cute.

Oh, and in other news, it was Valentine's Day. My kids got heart-shaped cookies, heart-shaped buttermilk biscuits, and a double chocolate banana bread. Yum.

Sunday morning hike

We had a wonderful morning hike at one of our favorite Forest Park places today - parked at the tire-swing turnoff (Springville Rd), down Firelane 7, taking a left turn along the Ridge trail, right turn onto the Wildwood trail, and then the long way back up Firelane 7A to the parking lot. About three miles. The kids played jumping games, made stick tunnels for each other to run under, played hide and seek, drummed sticks against one another, carried logs together, climbed trees, slid down muddy banks, squished in mud puddles, and most joyously of all, discovered a fallen tree that could be a makeshift teeter-totter. It was grand.

the gang's all here

With the return of warmer weather and later sunsets, our local neighborhood gaggle of children has returned to playing outside regularly in the afternoons. It's a great group - Oscar and Nadine next door, Anna at one end of the street and Ray at the other, Stella around one corner, Zoe on the next street, and Steele, Morgan, and Katie from the other half of the development. They range from 5th-graders to 4 years old and are not noticeably similar in many of their interests. But they manage to play, usually right outside our house, for hours on end.

We had some enormous cardboard boxes that were put to good use, first as makeshift rollers, and then as a giant house.