ReadySetMom

Missing distant family but glad to be "home, sweet Portland, home"

My husband and I moved to Portland from California's San Francisco Bay Area in the spring of 2000. There were several reasons for the move: impossible housing market, the rush-rush life of Silicon Valley, wanting to start a family and not be tied up by the golden handcuffs of salaries. So we did. We don't really look back.

Not frequently enough, we visit our family in California. It was two years since our last visit when we headed there last Thursday on our Amtrak train adventure to celebrate my husband's parents' 50th wedding anniversary. That's the golden anniversary in case you're wondering. Big stuff. Our two girls got the chance to be first-time flower girls with all of their girl cousins during the Catholic church ceremony where their grandma and grandpa renewed their vows. My husband and I got the chance to get gussied up in traditional Filipino wedding garb (I'm praying the GoFugYourself gals don't get ahold of any of the pictures). The wedding was big. The party afterward even bigger. Our kids dancing the rhumba and Electric Slide with cousins, the cha-cha and tango with aunties and uncles. My husband and I embarrassing ourselves trying to do a waltz (something we probably haven't attempted since our own wedding 12 years ago). The marathon pillow fights the kids got to have with their cousins after the party. Pure joy.

We got home last night, and no question, it's great to be home. We love it here in Portland. This is where we feel it's best to raise our family and live our life. Oh, but it's hard to leave the love and connection with family. The kids both shed some tears over the parting with cousins. Heartbreaking to witness. I know we'd never move back to California. If only we could get them to move here... Or if we could visit more often.

The mom sleepover

I've always been envious of mom friends who arrange getaway weekends and fly to Vegas, or rent a house at the beach, or plan a trip with just their sisters. I'd never been invited to anything like that or had the nerve to plan one on my own. But that all changed this past weekend.

A friend's folks who live west of Portland in the rolling agricultural countryside were out of town. Said friend scrap-books, and invited other friends to join in the scrap-booking while she house-sat for her parents. While I don't scrapbook, I did realize I haven't written a word in my second daughter's baby book since the day she was born, oh, about 4 years ago now. So I brought my baby books, as did others, and another mom brought knitting.

But the real fun was when we all went out and whooped it up dancing on the bar at that tavern on Saturday night. Then those crazy guys we met at the tractor pull. Luckily we sweet-talked our way out of a speeding ticket with the sheriff and didn't end up in the local county slammer.

No, not really. None of that happened (although we did talk about the antics of Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan for a few minutes). Most of us had no more than two glasses of wine while enjoying a lovely pasta meal made with summer squash, tomatoes, capers and olives. We all curled up in easy chairs, talked about our kids and their schools a lot, our hopes and worries, but were in bed by 11pm. How far away those wild days of youth seem. I don't miss them. How delicious to go to sleep knowing neither of my children would try to crawl in my bed at night.

Truly a lovely weekend. Do you get away with your sisters, girlfriends or moms' group on a regular basis?

Getting new passports - how painful is the process?

Have you applied for a passport recently?

We're not planning any trips out of the country anytime soon, but it seems like a good idea for all of us to have valid passports. (What if we happen to win a fabulous vacation to the Caribbean or Europe ... or Canada?) Instead, we have expired passports for my husband, my son and I, and no passport for my daughter.

I've looked into the process of applying for them. It's just not as simple as filling out an application, attaching a check and a photo, and sending it off. I've heard about long lines at the Passport Office, confusion over acceptable documents and lengthy processing times. On top of all that, kids have to appear in person to apply, along with both parents. That means at least one grownup needs to take a day off.

Long lines, stacks of paperwork, kids in tow. Is it any wonder our passports have lapsed?

To those of you who have applied for passports recently, is it as complicated as I imagine it is? Do you have to go to the Passport Office, or are there satellite sites that are less crowded? Can we take our own photos, or do we have to pay for special passport photos?

Flying with kids, the overnight version

Last week, we flew home from Hawaii on a red-eye flight. That was four days ago and my eyes are still red.

I didn't think flying home at night with the kids would be that difficult. We'd all just sleep on the plane, I thought. Get home and be a little groggy for a day, I thought.  The kids were intrigued at the thought of getting to the airport at night, sleeping all night on the plane and having it be morning when we arrived in Portland. A fun adventure, I thought.

Well, I thought wrong.

We did arrive at the Honolulu Airport at night after spending a whole bonus day sightseeing. It was indeed morning when we landed at PDX. Did we sleep all night? Hardly.

Actually, my daughter seemed to  -- with her head planted firmly in my lap and her suddenly-too-long-for-a-seat legs causing all sorts of problems. Of course I didn't sleep. Even if I could get comfortable in the coach seat, I had to stay awake to make sure my 5-year-old wasn't kicking our neighbor in the ribs or (when I switched seats with her) that her toes weren't getting bashed by the drinks cart.

My son got a little sleep, slumped over onto my husband's arm. I thought those blow-up neck pillows would make sleeping upright more comfortable, so I bought several. Wrong again.

We landed at 7:15 am, came straight home and all went to bed. I've been in a fog since.

Have you taken a red-eye flight with kids?

Portland area sites to see with children while vacationing

Kat, a reader from Hawaii, will be visiting Portland in the fall. She's looking for the best Portland area sites to visit with her toddler son:

I recently found your awesome blog and wanted to ask you about sites to see (I've been told there are fantastic parks) in and around the Portland, OR area for visitors with children.  I have a nearly-two-year old, and we'll be visiting in early October to visit some friends and check out the area.  Living near the beach in Hawaii, we're outdoor folks, and want to expose our child to a different form of outdoors. If you have time, could you send some suggestions?

Having just been out of state on vacation myself, I returned home to Portland on Saturday and am so happy to be home I feel like kissing our recycling bins! The low humidity, the warm but not overpowering sun, the lush green-ness of it all... Portland, Oregon is paradise to me. Today I sound like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz: There's no place like home! There's no place like home!

I won't go into too many of my personal recommendations as my brain is still fairly fried from jet-lag and over-stimulation (we went to Orlando, Florida on vacation including three hotter than hell, action-packed, expensive days at Walt Disney World). But I will say that trekking outside of Portland and getting to the Columbia River Gorge is well worth the rental car and tank of gas: see Multnomah Falls and the many other lovely waterfalls along that route, the historic highway, the dams along the Columbia, the fish ladders, etc. Heather wrote a great post about taking some of her out-of-town guests on the Columbia Gorge loop to Mt. Hood last summer.  Our beaches are also a far cry from what Hawaii offers, but beautiful and windy and wonderful in their own way.

Please chime in on what you think Kat should visit while in Portland proper and its environs.   

Flying with kids: lowering expectations

My kids love Tessy & Tab, and are always thrilled when one of the magazines shows up in our mailbox. The most recent featured Tessy & Tab "On an Airplane." The timing couldn't have been better, as we are going on a big trip to Disney World in less than two weeks. And yes, it will involve airplane travel. 

Now, I'm not a big fan of flying with kids. We flew everywhere with our first child (my husband and I were both working, had lots o' Frequent Flier miles -- and we just had one kid). Piece of cake. Except for the fact that she didn't learn to pop her ears during ascent/descent until she was 5 and would cry so hard from the pain that she vomited. Those air-sick bags don't hold as much as you'd think. And it's remarkable how kind some flight attendants are and how others treat you as if you might have Ebola if you try to ask for assistance post-upchuck.

So while the kids are wildly excited about getting on a plane, me -- not so much. I read Chelsea Cain's latest Oregonian piece about flying with her one kid -- and it made me want to slash my wrists. Regardless, I find I need to lower the children's expectations a bit. After all, we live in an economic downturn (don't say recession!), so I don't want them to think they're going to wind up with the smorgasbord of snacks that Tessy & Tab enjoy on their little make-believe plane (but it does make me wonder --  are they flying Singapore Air? Looks fairly luxe!!). They've got applesauce, cheese, slices of salami for the meat eaters, crackers, AND drinks!  But get this: empty seats on EITHER SIDE OF THEM!!

Don't get your hopes up kids. Here's what you can expect: your CHOICE of 3 peanuts or 3 mini pretzels (I do mean individual tiny peanuts -- not whole packages). And there will be one can of six-ounce apple juice circulating among all the members of coach. They'll have one of those clorox wipes so that you can take a swig of juice, wipe your mouth germs off the can and pass it on to the passenger next to you -- because, believe it, there will be someone next to you. 

They don't believe me. Silly old mom. But we know who's going to have the last laugh, now don't we?

Travel game: spot the impractical shoe

One of the games my husband and I always play when we travel is: spot the impractical shoes. It's classic. You will always find someone wearing highly impractical shoes no matter where you go. In Paris, impractical shoes are everywhere you look, despite the cobble-stone streets and dog-poop covered sidewalks. In Amsterdam, it was the unforgettable transvestite tottering on 5-inch heels and little else, coming just a wee bit close to one of that city's famous canals.

Now that we have children, our travels don't take us nearly so far. But the game is just as fun. With the kids, it's: "spot the clicky-clocks" (their word for any high-heeled shoe). Like many little girls, ours have a natural bent for dressing up and wearing the most glam shoes whenever possible. My mom is a favorite visitor of theirs, because heels are the only kind of shoes she wears. Hers are mostly sandals, since she lives in Hawaii, and they come in rainbow colors. It's not surprising that they ooh and aah over these shoes, try them on and help my mom decide which ones to wear. The only shoes my husband and I own are very drab earth tones: brown, black, black and brown, and brown and black. All with sensible, athletic-type supportive soles. Merrells, Keens, Clarks. Our feet truly belong in Portland.

So while out hiking on our weekend getaway, after what we thought was going to be fairly painless 2.2 mile loop of Wahkeena Falls to Multnomah Falls, but what actually turned out the be 5.6 miles of lots of up, down, up, down, up, down and switchbacks, what do we spot? Yes, you guessed it: impractical shoes. In the form of flip flops. If you've ever hiked the trails up and over the Multnomah Falls lookout, especially after you get past the 1.1 mile paved path to the overlook, you will know that the trails are steep, rocky, often wet and muddy, sometimes mossy and always a bit beyond the abilities of the flip flop. Even the old running shoes that I was wearing were a bit lacking in the foot support department after 5 miles.

I was happy to see that the majority of the people in extremely impractical shoes seemed aware of their limitations and never made it past the "Kodak Moment" spot just beyond the parking lot on the Multnomah Falls foot bridge. As for the hiker in flip-flops. I can only imagine that his dogs were barking at the end of the day, but I do thank him for allowing us to play our special travel game.

Does your family play any fun travel games?

A trip to San Francisco is full of challenges

I just got back from a fun weekend in San Francisco, my first trip with just my 4-year-old. We had a great mommy/daughter excursion to attend a friend's birthday party and visit with family and friends.

Traveling is never without its challenges. What do you think was our biggest challenge?

Let's see, was it the five hours we spent at PDX on Friday, waiting for the huge storms in Northern California to clear? Actually, no. It was a long wait but bearable (thanks, in small part, to the Coffee People near our gate). We had books, magnet paper dolls, crayons and food. We spent some time on the play structure near the security checkpoint and wandered through the stores. Luckily, we didn't have to be in San Francisco by any particular time because we didn't arrive until 7:30 pm.

How about maneuvering through the security checkpoint? You know how it goes: Wait in line, get boarding passes checked while keeping daughter close, grab bins, put in purse, backpack, my coat, daughter's coat, get shoes off, help daughter get her shoes off, push bins through while keeping eye on daughter, follow her through the detector, head back to take off a bracelet that set off the detector, go back through the detector, gather up backpack, purse, two coats and two pairs of shoes while keeping eye on daughter, find a seat, put shoes back on while keeping an eye on belongings.

Believe it or not, this was not the most challenging part of the trip. Because our flight was way delayed, we didn't have to rush through security, and my 4-year-old seems to have the drill down for the most part. Answering her questions about the whole process was more challenging. "Why can't I bring my juice in? Why do they want us to take off our shoes? Why is that man taking his pants off?!" (He was just removing his belt.)

The #1 most challenging part of our mommy/daughter trip?

Going to the bathroom, of course. During our 5-hour wait, we made at least a couple of trips to the restroom. Normally, we'd leave our stuff with Dad at the gate. This time we had to haul it all into the stall with us. How do they expect you to hang the above mentioned backpack, purse and two heavy coats on one little hook without something falling to the floor (eeeewwwww)? How do you help your kid get an adequate amount of toilet paper when it keeps ripping off one sheet at a time? How do you lift your kid up to wash her hands while also holding backpack, purse and two coats, then wash and dry your own hands? And did I mention we also had to go on the plane? Even without our gear, we both barely fit into the lavatory -- and that was with one of us sitting and doing our business.

Will going to the bathroom ever be a topic we don't discuss on a regular basis?

Walt Disney World vacation tips?

This July, we will be traveling to Orlando, Florida for a family reunion. My maternal grandmother will turn 90 while we are all gathered together. We just bit the bullet and bought plane tickets for 4 this weekend. Orlando in summertime: pricey! And that's just the plane tickets.

Now I am starting to think about park tickets to Disney World, character breakfasts, etc. It's seems ironic to be asking, since I worked at Walt Disney World for 5 years, but that was way back in the '90s, and I do really need your tips on this kind of vacation with kids. When I worked there, I was foot-loose and fancy-free. Not married. No kids. And of course, I worked there, so park entrance was free!!

So here's my questions:

• How many days do we spend going to the parks for a week-long visit? My kids will be 6 and 4 next summer.
• Do you think the Character Breakfasts are worth it? If so, which is your favorite? (My girls both are enamored of princesses).
• Do you do the themed water parks, or take a day trip and head to one of the coasts for a beach day? If so, which beach?
• What should I feed my shrimpy 3-year-old now so that she'll be tall enough to ride the good rides next summer?
• Bring a stroller? Rent? Make 'em walk?

Looking forward to learning all the Disney World family travel tips you might have!

Taking the Gorge-Hood loop: why don't we do this more often?

My dad and his girlfriend are visiting from Indiana, so yesterday the kids and I took them on the gorgeous Mt. Hood loop tour. We had originally planned to just go to Multnomah Falls, but once we got there we decided to keep on going. I wondered if it would be too long for the kids to handle, but we made so many stops and saw some pretty cool stuff, that they just had a blast. It made me wonder why we don't go to these places more often. I mean, Hood River is not that far away, and Multnomah Falls is so beautiful! We're so lucky to live so close to all this bounty of natural wonders -- why wait for out-of-town visitors to enjoy it? Here's what we did:

• Went to Multnomah Falls and hiked up to the bridge, which is very easy for little ones to manage. We stopped at the little visitors center and the kids just went nuts over the displays of native wildlife: slugs, chipmunks, blue herons. To get to the Falls and visitor center from the parking lot, you cross a little footbridge over a stream. The stream was filled with these tiny fish, and I think the kids could have spent the day watching them. I'm always surprised at how much joy they get from the smallest, unexpected surprises.
• From there we visited the fish hatchery at the Bonneville Dam. From the kids' perspective, this was one of the coolest things they'd ever seen. There's an observation building where you can get an underwater view of immense sturgeon and gorgeous Rainbow Trout floating around a pond. The sturgeon were really ugly, but fascinating. I wondered why we'd never been to the hatchery before. The gardens and ponds were just lovely.
• Then we headed into Cascade Locks in search of fresh-caught salmon, per my husband's orders. This is apparently the time of year when Native Americans tribes can fish for Chinook Salmon in the Columbia, and then they sell it roadside out of coolers. We got ourselves a beauty, asked them to fillet it for us, and put it on ice in our own cooler. Ate lunch at the Char-Burger!
• On to Hood River, where we hung out down at the rocky beach and watched windsurfers and  kite boarders. Very cool; made me want to try kite boarding. Could have explored the town a little, but didn't want to take our chances with the kids, because so far they were having a blast.
• Next stop was Timberline Lodge, which is always worth a visit. My daughter begged to be taken skiing in the winter (yeah, right), primarily to ride on the ski lift. Mt. Jefferson in the distance. Beautiful day. I think the trip took about 8 hours with all of the stops, and there was very little whining. We'll be going back to the fish hatchery again soon, and maybe try our luck kite-boarding. (Or not.)