And Beaches...

We've only been here two weeks, and already we've been to the coast twice :)  The child, he really likes the beach (especially the collecting bit) and he has been quite taken with the novelty of car rides (we'll see if that bit sticks;)

I skipped out on the first beach run, wanting to get P's room unpacked and settled before too much time slipped past (we'd been here three days;).  So the kid went with Grandpapa and Ethan to some rainforest ribbed coastal spot that E described as unbelievably beautiful.  Unfortunately, there are only a few pics, so I have to take his word for it ;)  

This spot featured a lovely forest hike before hitting the beach.  Apparently, it was very muddy but very beautiful...   And then, the coast.

Bryan, on the beach.

The tidal timing was not to the child's liking. He reported there was not enough collecting to satiate his needs ;)  Nevertheless, he said he "had a ball" :)   Is there anything more wonderful than the sensory superstar sand???

Then, this weekend, when I should have been unpacking other rooms... we decided to zoom to the beach again.  One must prioritize :)

I was impressed that the kid was happy to simply chill in his booster seat for the hour and a half ride.  Granted, its a gorgeous drive.  Hills of green and fields of bright red or popping yellow give way to towering pines as you climb over the low mountains on the way west.  Out the window is a wall of green; ferns, moss covered trunks, sky high trees.  The road narrows and the trees practically touch over the top of the car (which has always meant "vacation" to E and I.  We are getting a great big kick out of the idea that this is actually "home" and not just a week's jaunt:).  The Little Man looked and looked and proclaimed favorite turns, trees or cloud shapes :)

We picked a new beach, somewhere close to someplace called "Gearheart."  It wasn't planned, it just looked like a good turn-off :) The child ran through the dunes to the ocean.  Just a wee bit excited...

With collecting pail.  That was quickly filled.  Thrice over.

A very happy collector.  

There were fabulous structures strewn down the beach.  We didn't snap pics of any of the others, but they were pretty impressive (think drift-wood houses the child could climb into.)  This artfully demarcated hole made P very happy.

Then it was time to grab dinner.  Future, better planned beach runs will feature full picnics, but this one featured a lucky find of fabulous soup.  Which was nice after a windy spring afternoon.

But E's entire hope hinged on a sunset.  He had hoped for it since we hopped in the car earlier in the day and as dinner dragged, he figured we were going to miss our mark.  Still slightly hopeful, we jumped back into the car, zoomed to the awesome beach access (that allows you to drive right onto the beach!!!) and pulled up to the tide, just as the sun slid through its final descent.  Yay!!!  The kid was impressed by how quickly it slipped away in its last moments.  And then he was over it and all about his fabulous crab finds.

So we hung in the car, watching the sunset finish (errr, playing with crab shells), while E stood transfixed by his happy sunset.  As we drove away, we were all silly satisfied with our day.  Getting to drive home under the shadows of the trees looming overhead as the child peacefully zonked in the back was almost too good of an ending to be true.

The mountains...

The settling in process has been so stellar so far.  The child, out of sorts for the last month of NYC living (understandably, the vortex or enormous transition was imminently swirling before him...) has been his most peaceful self since arrival.  Transitions are easier, worries are near none, bedtime is peaceful, food is suddenly scrumptious again.  The list is endless really.  But, bottom line, its good to be on the other side of the hurdle and see that the kid, though rough around the edges during the change, seems to have arrived on the other side, unscathed.  Happier, even.  Ok.  Ecstatic on a lot of days ;)

Like the days his Grandfather stayed with us.  We took to the trails to see the sites - almost immediately upon arriving.  (We have continued this approach since then, thus leaving lots of neglected boxes and piles all about our new abode...  This, of course, can be a bit difficult for my personality (especially combined with this "nesting" business...), but I really want the transition to be fabulous for the kid.  Filled with memories of fun and adventure, not afternoons of ignored un-boxing and organizing.  Plus, we're just really excited to explore all of the newness :)))

Newness like hiking.  At our fingertips!  No schlep to Grand Station, a train ride and a highway hike.  Just a short jaunt and BAM.  Beauty.  We are seriously falling for the Pacific Northwest.  Its just damn pretty.  And sooooo accessible!

Just a titch away from our house.... a sweet little walk...

featuring the local slugs of titanic proportions...

ending in the crisp spray of an awesome waterfall (the pic only shows the tail bit of it!)

Of course, the child wasn't interested in just staying on the trail...

which landed us by a sweet little cave...

A mama-luv pic.  I think he is delicious. 

Then, we hopped in the car and took a little jaunt up a mountain.  Granted, since we were driving up a mountain, this took a bit longer to reach than the waterfall.  But we were so wowed by the fact that we could drive up a mountain, right from our house, that we almost peed ourselves.  Just seeing the huge, snowy peak (over 11,000 feet!) peering through the clouds is wild for those of us that hark from the flat plains :)

P, having been teased by his Grandfather, chases him up the mountain :)

A mountain river + rocks = childhood bliss.

Dude.  I don't know how his feet didn't just fall off.

Add a little balancing act, and the kid could just live there.

Disgusted that we had to head home (it was getting pretty chilly as it grew late, being a mountaintop in early spring and all:), the kid is excited to return to the volcano for more river-rock time.  But first, we had to go to the beach.... (And yes, I get a big 'ol dorky buzz saying "volcano," "mountain" and "beach" all in the same paragraph.  Hey, I come from the midwest, we've got tornadoes and.... well, we've got tornadoes.)

Easy Street

You know that song from Annie?  The one that Miss Hannigan and Rooster crow while scheming their evil plan? Its been playing in my head since we arrived West.  When we got our Portland library cards yesterday, the lady librarian mentioned she also moved here from Brooklyn... 20 years ago.  Her big observation?  Living here is So. Much. Easier.  And so the refrain continues, "move them ever lovin feet, to easy street..."  Ok.  So those are the only lyrics I remember, but the easy street part sure hits (the new) home ;)

To be perfectly honest, it all started just leaving NYC.  It has been unbelievably sweet to watch our little Brooklynite process suburbia and then a smaller urban environment.  In the tiny town of Erie (where we stayed while E and his father drove West), P and I played with dear friends and babysat the sweetest little 8 month old you could get your hands on.  When we went out for a walk, P was absolutely flabbergasted that you could stand in the street.  Safely.  For long minutes.  Its a tiny town on the high plains, a Boulder suburb in the bush, really.  And if a car is coming, you can't miss it. So P pushed his toes into the hot, melty asphalt and called out to BB, "BB!  I'm standing in the street!  Can you believe it?!"  Poor little Brooklynite ;)

But, beyond that, he didn't find the suburbs appealing.  There was a bit of agoraphobia for us both.  Such wide open space that had nothing but row houses.  And our few errands took us on long drives to big box stores that gave us both headaches.  By the end of our week, P lips were cracked open (beyond their usual winter glory) and our skin was a mess from the dry, high desert air.  The large houses and ease of walking out the door, however, was not lost on the child.  Oh, I hoped, please let Portland be the right mix....

He was giddy from the get-go.  Giddy about the size and cleanliness of the airport.  Giddy about the rental car.  Giddy that he could run along the sidewalk, unwatched, to and from the Penske.  Giddy at the yard. The stairs.  The floor upon which he could stomp.  The walls, beside which he could holler.  The super sweet neighbors that popped over - our very first day - and invited him to play in their yard.

And the happiness hasn't let up yet.  Granted, its only been a week and a half :)  But he is in heaven here.  Honestly, so are we :)

The food is phenomenal.  Since we are so close to where things are grown, the flavors are unbelievable.  The freshness is astounding.  And the environmental impact is almost always thought of already, rather than something we have to labor against.  Our wonderful organic grocer is only 5 blocks away and sells local eggs so popping with pasture fed glory that the yolks almost look neon.  Not to mention we somehow keep getting an egg with a double yolk.  Eliciting decrees that "Everything is better in Oregon!" from the kid ;)

Very impressed with our eggs :)

Of course, the yard is such a selling point, I don't even know where to begin.  Its nothing overly sizable.  Just right.  A little grass to roll in, some grape vines to dream about, some space to plant and an area to picnic.  The flush of catmint and irises don't hurt anything, either.  Especially if you are a six year old who has spent the last 4 years dreaming of picking your own bouquets.  There are few things sweeter than being presented with bouquets from moist and muddy little palms...

The yards here, since everything just grows, are so ridiculous it makes me laugh.  You know that one house that would be on the garden tour, the one that has the old lady that spends 800 hours a week in her yard?  Yah, all of the yards here are like that.  I have never seen so many flowers in my entire life.  And since the child has always collected fallen flowers (as his solution to wanting to collect, but not having a place to pick), getting him to go on a walk is cake.  He takes a little satchel and off he goes, collecting fallen blooms till his heart's content.  Where it could be difficult to get him to go out once a day in Brooklyn, it has been easy to do three different jaunts a day here!  He just slides out the door and starts skipping.  Life-changing...

The park down the street... P was sooo happy to try his first teeter totter.

The 15 block schlep to get groceries, uphill, balanced on the back of the scooter, is no more.  The wide aisled, fully stocked with local lovelies New Seasons just 5 blocks away lets you take a wagon home.  Easy street...

They also sell organic heirloom veggies for planting.  The child chose the most logical crop: corn.  Heheh.  He also chose pumpkins, cantaloupe and tomatoes.  And 12 foot tall sunflower seeds.  Apparently, when gardening and six, bigger is better :)

Farmer P, in his raised bed, planting his corn.

As I did laundry (in the full-sized washing machine that does not hook up to my sink and bathtub and block off my toilet) I watched P dance around with two butterflies in the backyard and I had to smile.  And then I realized he was, what, singing? No, that looks like he's calling to someone.  I finished tossing in the load (that could include an entire sheet set all in one load) and went out to listen.  He came running up to me, informing me he had been trying to meet our other neighbors.  Apparently, he had heard someone, in some yard nearby, and called to them "I think I'm your neighbor!"  After a few tries and no reply, he called them a boogerhead or some such beauty and moved on.  Hahahahaha.  He had no idea backyards are thought of as private space.  Not quite like a stoop :)

But that pretty much sums up his feelings about people here.  I mean, the people are friendly.  Not creepy, fake.  Just community building nice.  You try to cross a street, anywhere, and the cars just stop for you.  I'm not kidding.  This town is so dedicated to non-car transportation that we even had a bike stop for us on a little side-street today.  Apparently, pedestrians rule here.  So, soooo different than NYC ;)  And this vibe seems to continue everywhere we go.  And in a week and half, the kid has become a social butterfly.  Chatting with everyone.  Telling them our story.  Asking them questions.  Shouting names at them over the fence...

I dont' mean to smack down Brooklyn.  I luuuurv Brooklyn.  This is just a nice change.  Right about the time those four flights combined with this baby belly was grinding me down ;)

And all of this doesn't even touch on the fact that we sit beneath a snow-capped volcano (holy cow!)  Or that we drove a tiny titch, hiked a waterfall that was crazy beautiful, drove another direction and hiked in the mountains (the volcano, actually;) and then the next day hit the beach.  Its all just too lovely.  I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.  On my freakin' head :)  Nobody gets this easy of an easy street!

Brooklyn: the last bits...

We are officially Oregonians now!  But I want to post a few last pics from Brooklyn, before it fades into the background....

While I packed, P and E played in the park one afternoon.  The kid was so pleased with his dandelion display he called me to come see...

We took one last trip to the Botanical Gardens with our dear friends.  It was shockingly busy, even for Brooklyn, but unbelievably beautiful.

P and his buddy playing in an artist's display.

And then, a few pics that the child asked me to take.  I don't have a clue what he was doing in this first one...

Here, he is busying himself with his tiny bowl of sand (lugged home by his little muscles from Coney Island) and his treasured crab claws.  He basically created a zen sand garden, replete with rake and rock :)

 He called me away from packing one afternoon, asking me to snap some pics of his scary faces.  He was practicing in the bathroom mirror, perched atop the tub :)

Head West Young Man...

P and I walked out our door and flew away from Brooklyn today.

This followed a frenzy filled weekend of packing (so much for starting early;)during which the poor child felt massively ignored. After, of course, getting over a day of misery and fever:). And despite this, and a few tears concerning trash vs packable , the kid was a super champ. Under-nourished by our empty fridge, under-rested with the flurry of it all, and seriously lacking in toys and time... the child rearranged ratchet sets, shredded miles of paper bills and just generally toughed it out. He was so happy to see his extended family for a bit Sunday night for some attention that I'm guessing he was... a disaster while they hung out... but I was busy boxing, so I'll just pretend it went well :)

And after weeks of looking forward to this day, I found our last hectic moments and final cab ride through our hood bittersweet. I loved living in Brooklyn. And loved our friends and neighbors. Fortunately, the child seemed solid, even unconcerned, and has settled in nicely tonight at our intermittent home. Here's hoping E's exodus tomorrow is painless :)

And last but not least, to all of our dear friends who have written in the last few days... I'll save my typing of replies until my computer is up and running again- cuz this bit of phone pecking just officily ran me towards the loony bin ;)

Tick-tock

As I walked up our block the other day, P called to me, "Mama, look!  I'm a mushroom!"  Kids are awesome :)

Moving with kids, maybe not so much ;)  Nah, its a great adventure.  I just hope it isn't too tough on the Little Man.  E and I have moved about a billion times before, each time realizing we didn't start packing quite early enough in the game...  So I swore to do better this time.  Especially since I didn't want to spend more than just a titch of time on it each day, so that the child's world wouldn't be too upended.  So I started crazy early.  Like, a month ago crazy.  With the stuff that, you know, you would give away, were it not for the six year old collector that just couldn't bear it...  But slowly, I started grabbing the "good" stuff, to fill a hole in a box, stuff we don't use often...  And then, of course, the child would all of a sudden need that object.  Desperately.

But as of this weekend, we're definitely living amongst boxes.  Something I'd tried to relegate to our one of two closets and behind doorways.  Now we're at the bare lightbulbs and boxes in each corner stage.  And when the child walked in Saturday evening, after playing out and about with E so that I could really pack, he looked about the space (that is usually mood lit with lamps but was now shining under the glare of the overhead) and said, "Wow, this place is really starting to look like a crapper."

Hahahahahahahaha!  I didn't even realize he knew the phrase "look like a crapper."

And I don't know if its seasonal allergies, growth spurt, normal developmental craziness or... watching his life get packed into cardboard, but the child has been having a rough time of it of late.  Transitions are hell.  Listening to other's needs is a laughable affair.  "Bedtime" suddenly got dicey.  Leaving the house, well, hah.  So the last week has been, erm, interesting.  (I've shed tears.)

But on an upward note, P felt the baby kick his hand and he was beyond delighted. (I was surprised tonight to see my stomach bump out with a tiny body part punches, three big bumps.  Despite my quickly growing girth, I am still having trouble trusting that we're actually gonna get another kid out of this whole deal, making visual proof a lot harder to explain away as "could be gas" ;)  Cuz gas often gets the hiccups....)  Now that the child has physical proof (above and beyond the big belly), he is pleased to put his little mouth to my middle and sing, um, loudly, to try and wake the baby for more bumps.  Part ornery, part excitement :)