When you have little kids, sometimes you have to weigh the pros and cons of driving a long distance to do something fun. Will it really be worth it--all the planning, packing, and cleaning up afterwards? Will the favorite part of your child's trip be something you could've simply done at home? If you've been reading our blog, you know that something like that happened to us when we drove to Austin with the kids.
So while we were in Portland, we didn't know if Elina would truly enjoy an experience in the Columbia Gorge or at Mount Hood. We decided to try out Multnomah Falls (in the Gorge) first since it's closer than Hood. Turns out, Elina loved the experience. She loved walking up the path to the tall waterfall. Then we even did a short hike to Bridal Veil Falls, which is less than a mile. But it's mostly downhill to the falls which means it's uphill back. Surprisingly, Elina was great. She was slow and wanted to stop to pick up every single branch, leaf and pinecone, but we all made it. We even saw 2 caterpillars on the hike, which made it even better.
After that, I told B that Elina was ready to go up to Mt. Hood. She had been pointing out the mountain all week (since you can see it while driving around Portland), so she was definitely excited to go. However, B is not into driving long distances, so he was rather reluctant. After all, it was a 90 minute drive and there was no guarantee that Elina would appreciate the trip. B gave in and we drove up there on a beautiful sunny Saturday morning.
We went up to Timberline Lodge and we even took the chair lift up to 7000 feet so that Elina could see and touch snow. She was in heaven. She was slipping and sliding everywhere in her Converse sneakers, but she didn't care. She could see the peak of Mt. Hood, so she kept saying, "I want to go all the way to the mountain!" She couldn't grasp the concept that we were already on the mountain. It was really cute though. We told her that we wouldn't be able to make it to the top of the mountain and that she should just go by herself. She gazed at the peak and said, "Ok, I'll go," and continued marching up through the snow.
Here is a video of Elina playing on the snow with the grandparents--
In this video, Elina is trying to go to the top of the mountain by herself--
And this short video is just cute because Elina is hugging her Daddy's leg--
She really had such a wonderful time up on the mountain. I'm glad that she's reaching an age where she can appreciate new and different things. It makes it more worth it.
Unfortunately, it all ended on a sour note. Because she had used so much energy slipping, sliding, and walking on the snow, she was pretty tired when we went back down to the lodge. And when little kids start to get tired, they lose the ability to walk properly. They seem to just trip over thin air or their own feet. It also didn't help that the concrete around the lodge was really uneven and cracked. The first time Elina tripped, she rubbed her knees a little and said that she was ok. Then the second time she totally face-planted in front of a wedding party getting their photos taken. She hit the concrete hard and scraped her hands and got a little cut on her knee. She cried hard, but she was calm by the time we started to walk towards the parking lot. When you walk from the lodge to the parking lot, the road is inclined so you have to walk down to the car. I was holding Elina's hand and she tripped (of course). I pulled on her arm trying to save her knees and hands from more scrapes, but because of the incline I had to take one extra step to keep my balance. As I took my extra step, I bashed Elina's cheek with my shin. She started wailing after that. Poor thing. In trying to save her hands and knees, I knocked her in the face. (And I must've hit her hard because the next day there was a bruise on her cheek!)
She wouldn't stop crying even after we put her in the car seat, so I gave her a red Starburst to chew on. She put it in her mouth and 2 minutes later, she was passed out with the candy still sitting in her mouth. Both Elina and Eli were completely out for the entire drive home. Talk about tired kids! So when Elina finally woke up, she had pink gooey saliva all over her cheek and lips. Yikes.
So was it all worth it? Definitely.
1 comment:
...two words. child services. :)
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