A Fig in Sweden Portland

big sky country. and some bigtime spontaneity, too.

We did it. We took a road trip that went well beyond the 3-hour trek to Sunriver, we slept on 3-inch pads on the ground and ate ramen for dinner. And we had one of our best vacations ever.

We drove 10+ hours to Montana, where we spent two nights at a horse ranch sleeping in tipis in Polson, two nights camping at Whitefish Lake State Park and two nights at a KOA in West Glacier, just a couple of miles outside Glacier National Park. (We were supposed to spend the first two nights in Missoula, but a group of rowdy bikers there for a "testicle festival" convinced us to rethink our lodging reservation.)

And that became the theme of the whole trip: go with the flow, go with our gut, just go and do whatever we wanted.

We had made lodging reservations for 7 nights, and we didn't keep any of them. When we saw kayaks and SUPs for rent at Whitefish Lake, we did it. When we realized that the view at Bowman Lake was so much better than what we were seeing on the trail we were hiking, we ditched our hike and went back to relax at the edge of the lake instead. When we saw they had rowboats for fishing in Lake MacDonald, we did that, too. We were suddenly the most spontaneous family ever, and it was awesome. Deciding everything on a whim turned out so much better than any preconceived plans we had for the week. 

Staying at the horse ranch led us to a community rodeo in Ronan, Montana, where we were captivated for 2-3 hours and felt lucky to be part of this small town's big event of the year. It also led us to the art festival in Bigfork and the National Bison Range. And just being at the horse ranch was magical. The kids had free run of the place, with about 20 horses to interact with (Pickle was their fave), and we sat and watched the amazing sunsets and ate breakfast with the other guests at Gaynor Ranch.

In Whitefish, we found ourselves face to face with a big black bear and didn't get much sleep those 2 nights, but the kids thought the whole camping thing was so exciting (especially with a bear!). The campfire on our 2nd night was listed as a highlight. Sophie kayaked solo for the first time and also went to the bathroom by herself in the middle of the night with a flashlight ("I can go by myself!").

Glacier deserves a full post in itself and definitely a repeat visit. Words and pictures can't do the beauty of this place justice. On day one, we drove up to Polebridge and onto Bowman Lake, where the kids frolicked in their undies since we didn't bring bathing suits (because who knew we would be splashing in a lake). On day two, we checked out Lake MacDonald and took Mathis out with his new fishing rod. The lake had white caps by the time we had to row in, making it quite a workout for Lewis. And then on our last day, we drove up the Going to the Sun Road to Logan Pass and a breathtakingly beautiful alpine meadow. Just amazing. It was too cold and rainy to hike it. Next time. 

Back at the West Glacier KOA, we enjoyed soaks in the hot tub and roasting marshmallows in our campfire. 

On the really long drive home, we already starting thinking about where we'll go for next summer's spontaneously awesome camping road trip. Sun Valley area? Olympic National Park?

We'll keep our plans open. 

 

silver falls and a reminder that we've got it really good

I don't know when my last blog post was. I'm afraid to look.

But I felt compelled to stay up and add one tonight, even though setting our clocks forward this weekend means it will be hard to wake up tomorrow. So I'll make it quick.

We've been here 4.5 years now, and I think Portland — as weird and wonderful as it is — feels pretty normal now. Oh, I'll still chuckle when someone posts about losing their kale on the way home from the grocery store or I see the guy dressed up as Darth Vader riding a unicycle while playing a bagpipe. But this weekend stopped me in my tracks.

We took a 1-hour journey down to Sublimity, Oregon (love the name), near Silverton, to hike in Silver Falls State Park. The pictures don't do it justice. This place is the Oregon version of a Hawaiian waterfall hike. There are 10 waterfalls along a 7 mile hike. We saw 2 along a 2+ mile hike. The kids were superstar hikers and never complained. We got to walk behind the waterfalls, which was just about the coolest thing for all of us. 

Almost five years here, and Oregon is still knocking our socks off. 

 

the mother of all mother's days

I had to explain to Sophie today that sometimes people cry because they are really, really happy.  

 

she's the bee's knees

One of our neighbors is a backyard beekeeper. He has 5 colonies. One of those colonies decided to escape to the top of another neighbor's tree. It was big news on our block yesterday.

Sophie got to see the swarm up close through some fancy binoculars/telescope that a neighbor set up, and she tasted honey straight from their honeycomb. We had to leave the excitement to go pick up Mathis from preschool. When we got back, Sophie said she had to do something important in the house. I thought she had to go to the bathroom.

While I showed Mathis the bees, Sophie came running out of the house with this very simple drawing that showed how the problem needed to be solved (the bees flying back into their bee hive box). She held it up to the tree so the bees could see it. Such a simple little thing, but it made it one of those my-daughter-is-amazing-and-our-neighbors-are-awesome kind of days.

Also, sunny summer weather is magic.

**Update: Our neighbor gave Sophie a piece of honeycomb to bring into class, and she gave a presentation about the bees. Sophie said her classmates had lots of questions at the end. I told her that was a sign she gave a great talk. :)

lei it on us anytime, Hawaii

I get it now. Why everyone around here has been to Hawaii (and Maui in particular) and keeps going back. Now that we're West Coasters, we decided to do what West Coasters do and get a taste of paradise ourselves. So, right in the middle of a wicked ice storm, and Portland's biggest snowstorm in 10 years or something, we escaped!

Escape indeed. It was 10 days of wonderfulness on Maui's southern coast. With 500 pictures taken and many memorable moments, I'll spare you ALL the details and boil it down to 20-something pictures and a top 10 list:

1. It was like a sibling hugfest the whole time. I love how much they bonded.

2. It is warm enough to wear nothing more than a bathing suit from dawn to dusk.

3. A mama and baby whale hung out right by the side of our whale watching boat. Brought tears to my eyes.

4. Lewis and I took turns stand-up paddle boarding out over the reef. We looked down to see fish swimming around the coral, and we both ran into sea turtles swimming on the surface. No sharks, thank goodness. (We found out later that a shark had bitten into a paddle board the day we arrived.)

5. Hearing the ocean while we slept. Eating dinner on our lanai while watching whales jump was pretty awesome, too.

6. Plumeria. It's my new favorite flower. Leis smell even more amazing than they look.

7. Makena Beach and Golf Resort swept us off our feet the moment we arrived. The nicest place we've ever stayed (we loved the whole Wailea area, too). My favorite beach was Keawakapu because it was beautiful and the waves were mellow. We spent the majority of our vacation at a condo in Kihei, but we continued to spend our days in Makena/Wailea. Can we retire there?!

8. Mango daiquiris. What a wonderful treat at Pacific 'O in Lahaina. I waited until our last day in Hawaii to have one. Why did I want so long?!

9. Splashing in the waves with Sophie. It was nice to be "fun mom." I don't think I ever turned down an invitation from her to play in the water. Well, maybe once when I just wanted a few minutes to bask in the sun. :)

10. Knowing we'll be back. 

Oh, and 1 more ... THAT PARROT. Baaaahhhh!* 

* inside family joke