DAMN it's cold. Yes. I swore. That's cuz it's cold. Really cold. So cold we considered having Lilly sleep in her snowsuit.
We didn't, mind you, but maybe we should have. Both girls slept like champs on the trip from North Bend to Portland Thursday night. Heck, even I did. So did Tokul. Amy didn't, but that's a good thing since she had to drive. We left home at about 8pm and arrived in Portland just before 11pm.
Clara transfered without a problem. She always does. Lilly decided she'd had enough sleep to recharge and she was awake. That lasted until 1:30am when she finally went down. Clara woke up at about 2:30am and was awake until 5:30am. Lilly woke again at 3:30 and was up and down until 5am. Amy and I tried every trick we knew, but had little luck. The last thing I remember was sleeping with Clara on the floor in front of the fire in the living room. I'd had Lilly for a while out there, but that didn't work too well so Amy took her back. The only one who got any good sleep was Tokul who was locked away in the garage.
Friday we headed across town to see Goggi and the new house Paul and Rose had built. Goggi was in fine spirits and the girls immediately took over her space as their own. Clara sang and danced and generally caused trouble. Lilly crawled around finding all the non-child-proofed things in the living room. Toby, Goggi's dog, was a perfect gentleman once he realized we belonged there and stopped barking.
After lunch (and a quick trip to the Nike employee store) we headed upstairs from Goggi's apartment to Paul and Rose's place. Amy's aunt and uncle finally succeeded in building their dream house after owning the property for years and years. The house they wound up with is gorgeous and probably way bigger than the two of them will need once their girls go off to school. (And yes, before Laurel sighs again, that will be in the fall for her.)
We did dinner upstairs while watching the sun set over the Coast Range and allowing more play time for Clara and Lilly. Poor Aubrey bore the brunt of most of Clara's attention as she either followed her older cousin (X times removed or whatever) or searched her out when she wasn't around. We headed back to the east side of Portland as the girls started winding down figuring that after an action-packed day like this they'd have no trouble sleeping.
Yeah. Right.
Lilly was in for another up and down night. Still, it was better than the previous night so maybe it was getting better. The major action on Saturday was a trip to Fabric Depot that I opted out of. (Yeah, big surprise, I know.) Lilly and I watched a bunch of the Olympics with Gramps before the girls got home. Amy and I took the girls to Gresham for some shopping and a visit to the cool little toy store there. After dinner the girls played ball with Grams and went down for an early night. Those of us slightly older played cards for a while if not late into the night.
I woke up with Lilly at 5:30am and headed to Starbucks. Ugh. This is getting to be a bad tradition. I did the same when back in Belchertown, but at least this time they were open when I arrived. I remembered seeing Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens on the horizon and tried to find a spot to watch the sun rise with them, but came up empty. I settled for a wifi connection from the parking lot outside Starbucks while Lilly slept in her carseat.
Our main activity for the day was the Portland Children's Museum on the west side of Portland by the zoo. The space is divided into a bunch of different areas including water toys, a mini grocery and town thing, and a place to make noises. The main attraction was a Sesame Street exhibit. I mentioned it was next to the zoo? This place was a zoo. Kids ran everywhere and parents did their best to keep up. Most of the kids were between Clara's age and six years old. I don't think it'd be very good for anyone older, but the kids were all fascinated.
Although Sesame Street was supposed to be the highlight, I think Clara actually liked the water works area better. She got to fire hoses and touch a waterfall. The museum thoughtfully provided waterproof smocks and hand driers so the damage wasn't too great, though Clara was pretty moist when she and Amy left the area.
The Sesame Street exhibit was more of a tribute than a play area, though there were plenty of things for kids to do there. Clara particularly liked watching herself on TV in a couple of areas as well as banging on some steel drums underneath a sign that partially read, "Quiet." Hmph.
After the museum we went way east to McMenamins Power Station for dinner. We had way too much to eat, but since both girls were playing along and behaving themselves we felt in no hurry to leave. Back at the house we put the kids to bed and played cards before crashing ourselves.
I was up at 5:30 again. I might as well have set an alarm so punctual was Lilly. This time, however, I knew where to go to watch the sun rise. There were a few clouds in the sky, but just the sort that enhance a sunrise rather than those that obscure it. After stopping for coffee I spiraled up Rocky Butte to the summit a few hundred feet above the rest of Portland. There's a park at the top, but I didn't want to wake sleeping Lilly for fear she wouldn't fall asleep again. Instead, I found a spot where I could stare out the window at Mt. Hood and the brilliant colors developing behind it.
I stepped out occasionally to snap pictures and nearly fell down the mountain when a racoon scurried out of the blackberries. I tried to scare it away, but instead got scared back into the truck. An owl watched with an amused look on its face (if you can imagine that) and the sun rose without noticing any of us. Once the sun was too bright to look at I retreated to the still-shadowy lowlands and found my network outside Starbucks until Amy called to tell me the rest of the family was awake.
Amy made another trip to Fabric Depot before we packed up and headed out. Clara and Lilly slept until Federal Way or so, missing the snow in southern Washington, but Lilly woke and screamed pretty much non-stop until we got home at which point she was happy as could be. The girls played for an hour or so while we did laundry and dishes before going to bed, if not sleep. Lilly woke several times throughout the night, but with her finally in another room we had the option of letting her cry it out... not that we did. But we had the option.