I found myself with a travel-free, meeting-light week a couple of weeks ago, so Juliette and I packed our bags on a Thursday, kissed Shane good-bye (he was hanging back for work and house stuff), and headed south for a few days with the beloved cousins.
I don’t usually undertake a three-hour car ride on my own with Juliette, so I packed extra activities and snacks and planned a couple of stops along the way. Turns out this girl is an easy-peasy co-pilot – we collaborated on some travel Bingo, me scanning the road for a blue truck and a motorcycle while Juliette ticked off boxes from the back seat, then she watched a show on the iPad, colored for awhile, and asked if we could blow right past our first planned stop and keep on trucking! I coaxed her out of the car at the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, though, as we’ve driven past this place dozens of times and I was curious about the animal scene there. We strolled the boardwalks for a few minutes, spotted a couple of herons, and checked “barn†off our Bingo card.
Girly still loves these ridiculous party-favor lens-less glasses…
We burned rubber the rest of the way to Portland, stopping for a quick coffee and a cookie at the edge of town. We earned it.Â
Juliette and the cousins picked up right where they left off at Christmas, dashing from one end of the yard to the other over and over and over again, tagging and racing and laughing like crazy all the while.
Juliette was so deliriously happy – after weeks of counting down the days, we had arrived.
The girls had school on Friday, which meant Juliette and I were left to paint the town red on our own. She dressed the part.
We started with donuts at Blue Star, because, well, that passionfruit glaze.
Then we headed over to Tilikum Crossing for a post-donut walk/scooter. This bridge is one of Portland’s finest.
I love boppin’ around with this kid…
We drove over to Powells afterward to pick out a birthday present for Elise rest our feet at the kids’ reading table.
And then, we went back to the house and TOOK A NAP! Best day ever.
Post-dinner park action:
Mitch and Kathryn set up a mini gymnastics studio for Elise in the basement, and Juliette dashed downstairs to hang from the ceiling every chance she got.
Jules came down with a fever late Friday night (that nap should have tipped me off!), and while I thought about high-tailing it back to Seattle, Juliette was insistent on Saturday morning that she felt way better and wanted to head to the zoo. I ended up renting a stroller, though, as soon as I saw her energy begin to wane.
Still, these girls had fun!
And we got killer views of the sweetest cheetahs ever.
Juliette and I settled in for another nap on Saturday afternoon and she woke up feeling right as rain. She spent most of the afternoon running around the backyard with Morgan, Bina and Mitch.
We toasted to Elise’s upcoming 11th birthday that night. She opened her presents and then darted to her room to put in her new earrings and read by the task lamp that Grandma and Grandpa had sent to her. She has never looked more pre-teen.
Morgan, ever the fashionista, accessorized with the packing materials.
We squeezed in one last playground romp on Sunday morning with Mitch and Morgan…
And grabbed one last PDX coffee on Mississippi Ave. The sight of this big girl perched at a cafe table with a hot chocolate and book breaks my heart a little, but also makes me incredibly giddy.
(For the record, she can’t really read yet, but Morgan let her borrow the latest Dork Diaries and Juliette wants to intensely to be just like her cousin that she’ll fake-read for several minutes at a time!)
This getaway was so good for both our souls. Even in the midst of that restless, fever-filled night, there was joy in holding Juliette close, rubbing her back and being the fully-present mama that it’s been hard for me to be these past few hectic months. We should skip town more often. But probably bring Dad along, too – we missed him!Â
Now, cue Dixie Chicks and let’s hit the road, little buddy.
