Earlier this summer we took a family trip to Oregon. We'd planned to go last summer, but luckily didn't have anything non-cancellable scheduled when the pandemic began. And then we ended up selling our house and moving, so it was all for the best anyway!
But this year…I knew it might be THE LAST YEAR our whole family could all take a trip together! Which is almost too sad to think about, and I tried NOT to think much about it, but it did feel important to make sure we had something planned so the summer wouldn't just slip away in a moment the way it always feels like it does. Thankfully Sam and the older boys were able to arrange time off work so we could go!
It is always a long drive, but we have trip bags and trip toys that the kids look forward to, and by some providence even the youngest kids are pretty good travelers! The drive was almost miraculous this time—our oldest boys sat up front and we talked and talked and talked for hours while the younger kids played semi-quietly together in back. It was amazing. When in normal life do you ever have time for those kinds of long conversations with your teenagers? I wanted it to last forever.
We stopped and got donuts for breakfast and Gus was very pleased to sit and eat his own donut in the parking lot. And then we found a nice tree-shaded rest stop to have our picnic lunch (it was SO HOT everywhere—Oregon was having record 110-degree heat, so the shade felt essential!). Ziggy said as we drove up, matter-of-factly, "This is the worst pwace in the wo-wold." We were quite taken aback and asked him what was so bad about it, and all we could get out of him was that there were "so many long, long twees." Well! It was worth taking a picture of the worst place in the world, so we did:
(He's taking it pretty well, I think).And here we all are later that night at a Mexican restaurant in Woodburn. We remembered eating here last time we came, and how there were places for us all to sit without taking up the entire restaurant (no mean feat in some of these little towns!). Sam and I sat at our own table and let the kids fend for themselves. (In this picture Seb and Ziggy are watching a train go by, and Gus is attempting to spill his water.) Poor Malachi had his food forgotten, but other than that it was a great dinner!
This time, and last time
Oh look, I was pregnant last time too. With Ziggy, it must have been. (Nice snarl, Seb.)
And then we were finally "home" to our Hazelnut House! It's funny that it really does almost feel like home. This is our third time staying there! We love it. Ziggy was SO happy to find "another baby Ikea" to go with his own dog, Baby Ikea. Look how much alike they are! (The dog he brought from home on his right; the dog we found at this house on his left.) I was worried that he wouldn't want to leave the other dog at the house when we left, but it was fine—he does remember it fondly when I show him these pictures, though!
And Gus discovered/adopted this big brown bear. I remember little Abe playing with this same bear the first time we stayed here! Gus loved it, but couldn't really carry it very well, which made for some very sad and whiny bouts of him trying to walk around with the bear and falling down and tripping over it repeatedly.
I should explain that—basically—the whole reason we come and stay at this house is to eat fresh Oregon strawberries. They are the best strawberries ever, and there are several berry farms nearby. We talk about them repeatedly and longingly in between our visits here. But this time, because of the heat wave, we were worried that the strawberries might be adversely affected. The first day we went to pick, they were a little dry and shriveled, but thankfully by the next day and then even more the next (we picked strawberries every day!) the heat was less intense and they had recovered and were perfect and red and sweet again! Thank goodness!
We made crepes with strawberries and whipped cream for two different meals. It's the ultimate way to eat these strawberries—simple perfection. But we also made pancakes and cinnamon breakfast cake and strawberry milkshakes.
Scary biter!
It may be, now that I think about it, that a strawberry milkshake is the actually ultimate way to eat these strawberries. Hmm. Hard to say.
At any rate, sitting out in the backyard overlooking the hazelnut orchard and drinking strawberry shakes together is one of the best things ever.
There was a Rubik's Cube at the house, and for some reason it seems to figure prominently in these pictures. I suppose it spurred a renewed interest in Rubik's Cubing. Abe and Seb have known how to solve one for quite some time, but Malachi and Daisy had refresher courses from Abe and then Daisy taught Junie too. Any time the unsolved cube was sitting around, someone would immediately find it and solve it (and then someone else would get mad because they'd been in the middle of solving it).
This time most of the children were old enough to remember being here last time we came (in 2017). We re-created some of the pictures we had from back then. Look how much bigger Goldie and Junie are!
Abe in his hammock, now and then.
Goldie, now and in 2017, playing some game with sticks in the backyard.
Shakes then and now
Teddy sleeping (and Ziggy wide awake!)
Daisy in the little rocking chair. It looks like someone put her on a rack and stretched her legs out!
The children took turns sleeping outside in the hazelnut orchard in hammocks. We had only brought some of our hammocks, or they all would have liked to sleep in them!
One morning I came back from running to see Junie and Daisy sleeping together in one hammock, like two little peas in a pod.
The next day they had hung their hammocks together like this. :)
But they were pretty happy all snuggled up inside too! This room had its own wall air-conditioning unit and it was the COOLEST room in the house. It felt so good in there! I commandeered it for Sam and me after I realized.
Daisy was the only one that consented to go for a sunset walk with me in the orchard. But when it got dark we all went out and played night games together. It was SO FUN. It was downright spooky to be out all alone in the silent darkness…and know that one of your children might leap out and catch you any minute! I tried to stay close to Sam so I wouldn't be too scared. Though he scared me himself a few times!
There are some places that just feel like heaven on earth…and this is one of them.
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