Week in Sherwood 2019

After the Bubble Run, I ended up staying in Portland to hang out with Carleen. I had been watching Elysia all weekend, and now I would get to see her. It was nice to have "dedicated" time to visit. Although, the week did end up slightly different than I had envisioned I had a blast with Emmett.

It started by some time at Jen's pampering ourself after the Bubble Run. Foot soaks and other fun activities.

Monday, I found out, I was still watching Elysia. She had a few places she needed to go and appointments, but I was told I could kill some time before the appoints...I am not used to teenage girls so I had no idea what to do with her.
I went with the cliche fallback of going to the mall. We headed to Washington square.
We walked around, talked, and bought some starbucks drinks and cake pops.

Then we wandered over to the indoor park. Emmett was obsessed with this merry-go-round. We actually had to take him semi screaming out of the exit right there because he did not want to leave it AT ALL.

Elysia had an orthodontist appointment at my old orthodontist office, so I knew where I was going, but we arrived WAY too early. I guess I expected traffic to be worse. So we found a nearby park (thank you google maps) and spent some time playing.

After some time at the park playing and exploring, we headed to the office. We were still a tad early so we walked over to 7-11 and got some slurpees.

We headed into the waiting room and waited....

It didn't take long and Elysia had her wire fixed. We then headed back to her house and relaxed the rest of the day with her mom and Josh.

The next day we ended up going to the coast with Josh and his girlfriend Bodour.

We decided on Seaside.

Carleen had just got off of her three day rotation working nights, so she was tired and cranky. She slept most of the way in the car.

Emmett was ready for his nap (since we didn't actually head to the coast until noon) and the carried was perfect to get him to sleep too. But first we stopped by Burgerville to feed our faces!

The weather was absolutely PERFECT! I mean this never happens, but this day it did.

Warm, with a SLIGHT breeze. Emmett was so excited he couldn't wait to start playing in the sand.

Emmett and I spent MOST of the time in the water, while the others sat on towels farther away....

It didn't take long before he was soaking wet and in nothing but a diaper.
Notice my companions all laying down sleeping on the beach! Haha

We had a great time chasing waves and digging in wet sand.

Emmett made a friend with a four year old who was also there playing in the sand. We had a giant pile of crab body parts and that intrigued the little boy, whose mother was less-than-impressed with him playing with dead sea life. Still the boys played for a good hour and a half straight before we decided it was time to go find some food.

We ended up eating at a great seafood place there in town. Outdoor seating with a giant fire in the middle of the tables. We sat at an adjoining table with no fire, but the ambiance was nice. Josh treated us all!
We then called it a night and headed back to town.

The next day we went and picked up Elysia from her Dad's and Emmett got to meet his new ducks.

We then went to Fred Meyer to go grocery shopping. I never made it in to the store. Emmett decided to have the BIGGEST blowout of his young life. We walked in with Carleen and Elysia and as soon as he saw there were no CAR shopping carts (you know the ones that are impossible to push and annoying to navigate isles with?) he just could not take it.

He just started screaming. I stood outside and finally Elysia came out with the keys and I took him to the car and got him buckled in. While attempting to buckle him the first time he reached up and grabbed my face so hard, he dug his nails in and took skin off my cheeks, nose, and lip. Those deep scratches that sting and burn were left on my face and I just started to cry. Of course this was the time my sister was walking out of the store and could tell I was upset.

Granted Emmett has been the easiest little thing and even his tantrums are NOTHING compared to what I have dealt with in the past, but in that moment I felt a little defeated and DONE!

I was able to get a good pep talk from Carleen and remember that this was one moment. ONE. In an otherwise amazing journey of parenting. She then told me to pick up my discipline game and I could avoid these moments all together...YUP! She went there. And thank goodness I have people who love me enough to keep it real with me and support me in times like this.

Here is a fun loop photo of him mid meltdown crisis mode. I took a picture because Brent still never understand what I mean when I say the kids throw tantrums. They do not do this for him.

Needless to say when we got back he slept HARD.

We then decided to go on a walk. Anytime I am at Carleen's we go on walks that feel like mini marathons. We keep our heart rates elevated and pound pavement for like 3 miles. She is intense...but we ended up walking through Sherwood High when the sprinklers were on. So we stopped and enjoyed a perfect summer night.

The next morning I let Emmett sleep in as LONG as he needed.

Then we decided to go back to the coast.

This time to Pacific City.

It was one of those days where the wind was blowing so hard it was freezing. The sand was hitting our skin like tiny little knives being thrown at us, and the water was like ice.

Unfortunately we didn't last long.

Poor Emmett was trying to play with the sand and his bucket. His toys kept flying away and he kept getting sand in his eyes.

Carleen threw the ball for Grace FOREVER

This sums up how the WHOLE experience made me feel...

I tried to hike up between the dunes to be shielded by the wind...that did not work.

We kept creeping higher and higher up the hill, but there was no escaping the wind. Emmett kept trying to dig and blowing sand right into his eyes.

We finally were heading to the bathrooms to try and wash the sand out of our eyes. I tried yelling down the dune to tell Carleen I was leaving, but again she had laid out on a towel and couldn't hear through the wind and the waves.

Thankfully I had her truck keys and she was able to meet me at her truck. We headed over to a taco place there on the beach. It was RIDICULOUSLY priced. It was like $15 for two tacos. Nothing else, just tacos. I could not believe it.

I went back an ordered a side of chips and had to wait almost 20 mins. It was crazy.
I was not very impressed, and anyone who knows me, knows that tacos are my thing and it doesn't take much to get me to love a place. Even one with INSANE prices. Still I will not be returning to this establishment.

On the way home we stopped by a creek that ran by the highway in order to let Grace swim and get the sand off of her.

Well, where we parked was rather steep. I volunteered to walk down the steep incline with very thick brush, because Carleen only had flip flops. I felt like a jungle explorer being pulled down the hill by this dog! The brush was almost as tall as me, but we finally made it down to the creek. I could see water snakes leaving the tall grass I just trampled through and slithering into the creek away from Grace and I. Yay!

I threw rocks in to trick Grace into swimming. After a couple minutes we were signaled to come back up. I ran up that hill because I was NOT interested into running into any more snakes, thank you very much. I got Grace in and hopped in the front seat. Carleen reaches over and nonchalantly says, "Oh you brought a friend" and points to my arm.

I honestly don't know what happened. I just went crazy when I looked down and saw this white dime size spider crawling up my arm. I shrieked, slapped at myself, and jumped out of the car with my whole body itching and twitching.

She was laughing so hard and could not believe how bad I over reacted.
I then had to try and find the thing that I swatted onto the floor. It was there under the seat. I tried to take a picture before I took care of it.

It was a monster.

Carleen said I was ridiculous and that it was just a garden spider that I should have gently placed out of the window...I still need time to process and reflect if I would act any different in the future.

The next day I headed home. I had to go to one of August's swim meets!

So thankful for family and the time that I get to spend with them.