Portland

After finishing his training for his new job he was asked to go down to Portland to help out for a few days. A few days turned into 3 months and 5 days. These happened to be the worst 3 months of my pregnancy. He went down for 5 days and was off for 3 so he would spend 4-6 hours driving home each time he had his off days. We tried very hard to protect those days. We focused lot's of time on family time, daddy/child time and date time. Due to our shifted priorities and limited time things around the house were put on an indefinite hold.

This was a trip we took up to white rock for the best fish and chips around. And then a visit to an ice cream place that was also amazing. The owner makes all his own ice cream trying out all sorts of new flavors. We had funfetti cake icecream. mmmmmm.. He sang Italian songs with great enthusiasm while serving us.

We got a little nervous at one point when Samuel rode so far ahead of us he could no longer hear us over the rumble of his wheels on the pier. He disappeared into the crowd and out of sight. But can you just picture me 5 months pregnant trying to chase him down. Zach had to go after him.

On the last week of March Zach was a little fed up with having to leave us all the time. So I decided that we would just have to come with him. We hadn't done it so far because we weren't sure if we could manage with the whole family in one room. Since I was getting towards the end of the hardest part of the pregnancy and was starting to see traces of my energy return I was willing to try. We decided at 930 one night and left first thing in the morning the next day. We took two cars in case it didn't work and so I would have the freedom to come and go with the kids during the day.
We checked into our hotel that night, fed the kids and put them and Zach to bed. I tried sitting outside and reading a book but the kids kept getting out of bed. After that first day we settled into a pretty workable routine though.
Zach left for work around midnight. The kids and I got up 8am and went up in our jammies to eat breakfast. Then we would head out for our adventure of the day. We would come home around 3pm when Zach would get home or earlier for naps, he would shower and pack a lunch while I made dinner in our microwave then we would have somewhat early dinner with him. When he headed to bed the kids and I would go up to the pool and play for an hour or so before coming back down to get ready for bed in the bathroom. Then we would sit in the hallway and read stories before bed.

After I got the kids down I tried to sit in the hall and read but quite often got a text asking for help from Zach within a half hour. I started watching movies with my headphones on the laptop sitting on the bed. By the end of our week and a half down there we had the whole routine running smoothly.
Ellie slept in the closet cutout in her playpen and Samuel was under the window on a cot we had brought with us.

Our hotel was in the industrial sector but with all of the many highways we were exactly 9 minutes drive from the Portland Children's Museum and the Zoo. My friend Jen moved about an hour from Portland a couple of years ago so they came down on one of our first days and met us at the Children's Museum. We were able to share a family membership with them. We each would have paid $29 for the day. Instead we paid $45 for Each of us and our 2 kids.

The museum was awesome and it became one of our favorite places to go on our daily adventures. The kids were safely entertained and I could rest and watch as I was still really dragging with that first trimester exhaustion.

On the day daddy was off of work we went to the Zoo. It was a little rainy but it rained every single day we were there so that wasn't going to stop us.

I think there was something seriously wrong with this bear. It would walk forward about 6 feet and then walk backward to the spot he started out at. He did this the entire time we were watching him, and that was a little while since it was pouring rain and we were waiting for it to stop before exiting our cover.

I am thinking I would rather neither of my kids encounter any of these bears. Not even the smallest.

At the very beginning of April Zach came home and said "well I guess today was my last day down here, we go home tomorrow." So we packed up the hotel and left the next day. We have since gone through a number of schedules with this new job. We are finally settled into a somewhat routine even though it is a little more difficult than some others I could think of. It is stable and we get to see daddy, so we will thank God for a stable job and a daddy who works so hard to let mommy stay home with the kiddos.