Could you possibly...

Seth, Alicia and P on the beach.

Pack more Joy into one week?  For this six year old, no way. The child basked in the attention and love of his Aunt and Uncle, while having fun adventures, equalling the end all be all of his existence :)

First, the weekend getaways.  (After the previous week's trek to the mountain lake left me so swollen and slightly grumpy, E and I agreed that more than my rock climbing days were over.  Thus, much to my dismay, (but undoubtedly to the comfort of everyone else;) I stayed behind for both road trips...)

Saturday brought blue skies and Mount Hood hiking.  I have no stories for this, but the kid said he had a blast :)

Sunday saw a foggy beach day with the same lovely hike we had conquered the month before and the same solitary beauty of Crescent Beach - but this time with the added bonus of Seth and Alicia :)))

One day, Seth and Alicia escaped for a romantic drive down the coast.  The child was moved to melancholy ;)  But ever the optimist, he grabbed the cat tightly after breakfast and declared, "Well, at least I can cuddle the cat today!"  (Uncle Seth, being highly allergic to our Feline Wonder, can't tussle with the Little Man after he's held the cat.  And the child, loving to tussle, begrudgingly gave the long suffering kitty a week's reprieve... except for that Tuesday;)  He also found solace in his jewelry collection, creating masterpieces of bling...

We hit the river one afternoon.  P quickly found some wood to set sail for BB's boat.  And then took to launching rocks at it.  Uncle Seth aided the attack.

We hiked a little in Forest Park one afternoon, too.  Per usual, the child was consumed with the ginormous slugs (yes, there was one gruesome SPLAT!), the fallen trees and speeeeeeeed (racing Uncle Seth down the trail was a supremely satisfying way to satiate that particular need:)

After Uncle Seth flew away (sob) we had one lucky afternoon left with Aunt Alicia - yay!  We traipsed around the Japanese Gardens, loving the shade on such a sunny day.  Turns out, these gardens have a little sculpture based treasure hunt for their wee-est visitors. They also mentioned the word "prize" for completing said hunt.  Well, the child typically likes to visit gardens just for the joy of the garden, and they certainly screwed that with their ulterior motives and prize!  He was obsessed with finding the next item on his map and checking it off... but he did have fun ;)

 As soon as he discovered a hidden treasure, he'd drop to the ground and mark it ;)

All in all, the child's week was short on sleep and long on fun.  (There were lots of other adventures that... his mommy failed to photograph....)  He awoke (early) every morning, So Very Excited to see his Aunt and Uncle.  And every night he felt sleep a time-wasting curse :)  E and I just hoped and prayed they had a good visit - that he didn't smother them with the intensity of his love (combined with his unbelievably strong need to be physically touching (or squishing, as is often the case...) those he connects with)!  But thank goodness they did visit, because I dont' think the child could have gone much longer without them - the distance from his beloved Uncles (and Aunt:) being the only thing he claims to not LOVE about Oregon.

Drove the Chevy to the levee, Papa, don't let Mama die...

P wanted some beach time last Saturday, but we (I;) wasn't up to the long hike into Crescent.  E hoped we'd hit low tide and sneak into Crescent Beach from Cannon Beach.  It was a perfect plan, if not for the fact that tight timelines aren't really our specialty :)

The Little Man could have cared less.  There was a large dune to run down along with ample sun and surf at Cannon.  But the beauty of leaving a very busy metropolis and furthering our options beyond Coney Island, is not being amongst a lot of people :)  So we found a secret-ish spot just off the main beach and its bustling tiny town, had a great picnic and tried to race across the sand in time to hit that low tide...  My waddle and P's crawl (he was busy being Woof-Woof) may have slowed us a tad bit ;)  As we rounded our hopeful spot, waves sprayed, announcing our lateness.  Whoops.  Well, there was this lovely rock-face we could climb over....

E and I had barely glanced at one another to confer before the child, sensing the solution, was already scaling the wall.

It was steep, but there were plenty of handholds and good footing and the rocks were, ahem, rock solid (har-har), with no slide.  I figured it would be totally doable.  And, really, it was.  But, about half way up, that silly little thing called pregnancy (8 months now!) gave me vertigo (I never really have issues with heights) and I closed my eyes and leaned into the wall to regain equilibrium.  No sweat.  E, who really treats me like an equal, no babying or bothering (which I appreciate) noticed and used his frantic voice (this guy is soooo not cool when worried that its actually funny).  This, alerted the child who, apparently assessing the situation (E was closer to me than he was) shouted out, "Papa!  Don't let Mama die!"

Broke. My. Heart.  And made me chuckle :)  But, lesson learned.  We're done climbing until this baby comes out.  There is no more denying it, I am very pregnant :)

Atop the rocky face was a lovely incline of wildflowers.  The boys, full of hope, raced to the top... only to find a sheer drop off on the far side.  No Crescent Beach for us!  And no wonder it was so vacant when we were there the other weekend.  Its a wee challenge to get to.

The view was lovely.

Back down we went.  P figured any beach was still a beach :)

He chanced upon a tidal pool and went into discovery mode.

Then, sand play.  Poor BB, he was buried.  Alive.  A feather was used to mark his grave.  P malevolently chuckled as he bounced and danced above the buried monster, saying the sand, mysteriously, was extra sproingy...  BB, where are you?  Check out this bouncy sand!  BB?  Mwahahaha.

Per request, Ethan dug P another huge hole.  The child wanted to check it out and was lowered in. 

Right side up, he wasn't as impressed with its depth....(though the dedicated father had dug till he hit water)

The poor pink monster was eventually unearthed and taken for a nice dunking, er, swim...

P bouldered for a bit after his sand and water needs were met.  Then we had another picnic and headed home for an early evening.  En route, P discovered his other new favorite song (since E required a brief break from Akufen's "Train to Barcelona":), Don McLean's "American Pie."  The child sang the chorus over and over and over this week, trying to work it out.  Not knowing what a lot of the words meant, he filled in what he could with repetition.  So, for the first few days, it went something like this, "drove the levee to the levee but the levee was dry.  And good ol' boys, whisky whisky and die, this will be the day that I diiiiiiiieeee."  Now, he's also become really interested in foreign languages in the last couple of months, requesting tutors and the whole nine yards.  He spends inordinate amounts of time speaking in "foreign tongues", trilling his letters and rhyming (he typically sounds very Italian).  So he incorporated this into McLean's work with the bestest rolled "r" in the world in "dry."  E and I had to work overtime not to chuckle at the cuteness, as this is highly insulting to the child.  Finally, around Wednesday, he nailed the lyrics and told me he was proud of himself :)  Now, if I could only find a way to catch a performance on a video....

Crescent Beach

We totally hit the beach jack-pot this weekend!  I was less swollen, the kid was psyched, the picnic cooler was packed and we were ready to roll...

To a dead halt.  We're guessing now it was an accident.  But the highway to the beach came to a stand-still for a bit and we crawled across the countryside.  Not wanting to plant worried seeds in little minds, E and I just exchanged "this does not bode well - holiday weekend" glances.  Then, just like that we were zooming through the mountains...  Phew.

We're (in our limited experience;) used to empty Oregon beaches.  And while it was reassuring that we could easily find a place to park on the July 4th weekend, I dreaded our quiet escape had converted into Coney Island for the summer.  The smaller lot we had planned to visit was full and there were actual other humans mulling about...

So, we picnicked and tried to put together our new plan.  We spied a trail sign for Crescent Beach, warning hikers that it was an advanced trail, muddy and steep.  Hmmm, this seems like just the sort of thing that would send the flip-flopped tourists another direction...  I suggested we do it.  It was only a mile and a half in.  The kid was game.  E reminded me I sometimes have trouble walking these days :)

The scenic overlook.  The big bag?  Almost entirely dedicated to digging toys and water...  The beach beyond the lookout?  Our destination...   P's bag?  BB of course!  With his favorite (real) dog (his imaginary one, Woof-Woof, is always with us...) Poodlena.

 The hike was gorgeous.  It alternated between canopied forest and little meadows with breathtaking views. 

The high cliffs both called to P and made him a wee bit nervous.

(Belly shot, Dina!;)

The child has been hiking on his own two heels really well lately, but this one tuckered him out.  Super Papa carried him some.  And the bag :)  Super stud.

 The final downhill run of switchbacks.  The child sprinted through them.  Here, we passed one family, leaving the beach.  

The Little Man immediately set to collecting, talking to himself and the objects he found.

E planted our stuff behind a rock, ran in the water, and then pointed out his plan.  He thought he spied some tidal pools (P's favorite) just beyond the only other family on the entire beach.   The hike was worth it;)

A lovely waterfall fed a small stream that ran into the ocean.  Tiny fish skirted around our ankles.  P was so alive it was adorable.

The tidal pool promising rocks in the distance, with lighthouse!

Bingo!  

Then we rounded bend after bend, fortunate for the low tides, and found a series of caves.  That connected to one another!  E mentioned the Count of Monte Cristo :)

Examining cave walls.

Checking out starfish and crabs

Playing with the tide and Papa

And finally, it was evening.  Fortunately, the one other family had mentioned a, erm, shortcut.  The hike back would have been pretty arduous, and definitely cut into our beach time, so we were excited to see about this trail that supposedly led straight up to the parking lot.  Well, come to find out, it wasn't really a trail.  This family had basically bushwacked through a protected area to make it down to the beach that morning :)  But it was really too late for us to attempt the other hike and chance getting caught in the dark woods, not to mention that once we'd made it up the super steep, sandy embankment and realized the folly, I had no idea how I'd backtrack back down!  I believe Ethan's exact words, as he hovered behind me as we climbed almost straight up were, "If your mother could see you right now, she'd tar and feather me."

All I could think was how happy I was that the child was so sprightly and I could comfortably let him climb ahead of us.  And the view was unbelievable.  Not to mention how great it felt to feel capable again for the day.  But I didn't stop to take any pictorial evidence, knowing my mother is coming for a visit ;)

P takes it all in before we start our return climb.

We picnicked again, watched some elk walk around and then took off into the sunset, supremely happy.  And listening to, of course, "Train to Barcelona"...    The child, he's nothing if not consistently obsessive ;)

luuuuuv

I really love my boys.  I can spend every moment with them from breakfast to bedtime and... still be really excited to see them the next morning ;)   And, come to find out, I think we're all head over heels in love with Oregon, too.  Especially the beach we happened upon today....  It feels kinda sick for life to give you such nice days, what, with all the troubles out there and all :)

Sand, strawberries and sun

P seems to really love the beach access here.  I mean, he always talked about going to Coney Island back in Brooklyn (and we did go quite a bit), but when push came to shove, he often didn't "feel like it."  I'm not sure what it is here that is making the difference, but he pretty much always feels like it these days.  And after a loooong first trimester of hibernating and a looong, cold Spring, all of this activity is a welcome reprieve!  I just need to do better with remembering to sit down during the day to keep all of this swelling down.  I think I'm a little nervous that learning a new city with a new baby will be overwhelming to me, so I'm trying to get it all figured out in the next two months :)

Sauvie Island is definitely something I want to be able to do, sleep deprived or whatnot.  Its close and lovely and a real afternoon getaway.  P and I hit the organic strawberry U-pick for an afternoon of harvesting last week en route to the beach.

Walking the fields

Down to business

The kid picked a couple pounds of berries.  By the time they made it home that night, I figured they'd probably had a little more rough treatment than most store bought berries ;), so we washed and worked them into a bunch of jam.  Yu-u-um.

But before heading home, we headed around the corner to the beach.  It was the official first day of summer and people were definitely out to celebrate.  We're used to empty Oregon beaches and I was startled to see someone else :)  But it was still a pretty calm scene compared to Coney Island, and the little New Yorker didn't bat an eye.

The water felt amazing 

Silly Mama forgot the sand toys, so the kid busied himself with a plastic sack.  He was really tickled that he could cart water with it.

Then things turned serious and he started his sand collecting.  He had big plans on biggering his crab abode with more sand...

Where we parked, the beach was over a tall embankment... with no stairs down one side.  After climbing up and then sliding down (yah, a lot of people got a good show - look at the idiot pregnant lady sliding down the concrete embankment...) to cart sand to the car a couple times, I told him I was all out.  Last trip.  He decided he better make it a good one. Hohohohoh!  That plastic bag was so full I thought it would burst!  But the kid carried it up the hill, down the stairs and to the car...  Determined :)  He just needed a couple breaks....

He was quite pleased with himself.  In fact, he figures we should go back and get some more :)