A Wedding and The Flu

We just returned from a week-long trip to Portland for B's best friend's wedding.

It was quite the trip with 4 kids! But seeing how 3 out of the 4 kids were in the wedding itself (plus, B was a groomsman), this was a mandatory trip!

Even though we both love Portland, we actually haven't been back to Portland since September 2008.  Plane tickets are usually pricey and since we keep having kids, the costs add up!

The plane rides went smoothly.  The flight there felt long because from Houston to Portland took 4 hours and 15 minutes.  The novelty really wore off halfway through the flight.  Both Eli and Elina were whining, "This is a lot longer than we thought it would be."  Ha!  But other than that, the kids were great.  On the way to Portland, I would just nurse Eulee whenever she got antsy.  She also wouldn't sleep unless I was nursing her.  So that part made for a very long flight for me and B.  It's difficult at this age because she doesn't eat snacks and doesn't really play with toys...so what do you do??  It wasn't until the very last 30 minutes that Eulee decided to fall asleep on her own.  But on the flight back home, she must've been really tired because we managed to get an hour of sleep out of her (without nursing!).  That definitely made the flight time go by quicker.

Since we had lots of wedding things to do and the Portland winter weather wasn't cooperating, we weren't able to do as much on this trip.  But here are some fun things we were still able to get to--

1. The Oregon Zoo
B and his mom took the kids to the zoo on the ONE unrainy day during our visit.  
They all had a blast!  B kept saying, "This zoo is awesome!" after he got back.  It was so cute.  They (including B) absolutely loved seeing the polar bears, sea lions, and the otters.

2. The Children's Museum
We met my friend at the museum so the kids could play.  It was kind of crazy busy there, but the kids still managed to have fun exploring.

Their all-time favorite thing to play with was the life-sized light brite set.  We told B that he should build one for our house.

3. Tubing on Mt. Hood
This was the highlight of the entire trip.  Before we even got to Oregon, the kids were all talking about how much they wanted to see snow and to play in snow.  Elina's actually been talking about it since we went to Mt. Hood in 2008!  When we headed up to Mt. Hood this time, it was actually snowing.  Eli kept saying, "It's snowing?...In real life??"  It was the most adorable thing!  Even though it was snowing, it wasn't bitterly cold or anything because there was no breeze...so it was just beautiful and wonderful to walk around in the snow that day.

Then the kids, B, J, and V all tubed at Ski Bowl.  They used a lot of double tubes and even the 4-person tube.  They had so much fun going down the hill and then taking the rope tow back up.

Here they are coming down the hill...
Here is footage that B took on his way down the hill...

I was a mere spectator since I was on baby duty so I tried my best to take pictures and videos.  It was tough to take decent pics wearing a winter coat, in the snow, carrying a 15 pound baby and trying to keep her warm at the same time!  After a while, I had to head into the lodge to sit by the fire to warm Eulee up.  Then we just all ended up in the lodge warming ourselves up by the fire.

The kids really tried to maximize their time in the snow.  After tubing, they made snow angels and made a snowman.  They wanted to stay all night, but it was getting too dark for us.  We'll definitely have to take them to see snow more often!

Besides these things, we mainly had wedding duties.  B was a groomsman, Elina and Evie were flower girls, and Eli was a ring bearer.  Everyone looked so dashing and adorable.

We were most concerned about Evie since she tends to be clingy in new situations and she also tends to do whatever she wants to do.  Initially at the rehearsal, she cried and wouldn't walk down the aisle.  But then she warmed up...and on the day of the wedding, she sped down the aisle flinging all the petals.  I really mean "flinging."  She did not do it gracefully at all.  She literally just chucked those petals while she did a "walk-run" down the aisle.  It was so funny!

Luckily, Elina and Eli remained calm and continued down the aisle at a moderate pace.

(I love that Elina and Evie both have similar expressions on their faces...a certain excitement and giddiness.)

Eli was really rocking his outfit at the reception.  J decided to do a little photo shoot for him...


It was a long day, but definitely a lot of fun for everyone!
So after the wedding is where everything went downhill.  That night I started to get a sore throat and then at home I realized I had a fever.  The next day was Mt. Hood, so I just took some Tylenol and tagged along up the mountain.  I really paid for it when we returned from Mt. Hood though.  I had a high fever (103) and was feeling terrible.  So on our last day in Portland, I spent the day in bed.  That morning Elina had a low-grade fever as well, so we both stayed in while B took the kids to ride the lightrail (MAX train).

Once Elina and I both had fevers and B started developing a cough, I knew we were in for it.  I was really dreading the flight back.  Luckily, it was uneventful and ALL the kids were perfect.  Phew!

After we got home, unpacked essentials, and put the kids to bed, I went to an immediate/urgent care office to get myself checked out.  I was just miserable...the most painful sore throat in the world (I felt like I was swallowing glass), a fever I couldn't lower, and a terrible cough.  The doc told me I had the flu...so we were all getting the flu!  So I got home, took a shower and crawled into bed for 2 days.  B was nice enough to work from home so he could help me with the kids.  He would bring Eulee into my room so I could nurse her, then he'd take her so that I could sleep.  I just slept and slept and slept.

I was the only person who didn't get a flu shot this year and I really paid for it.  We were fortunate enough to get the flu that was covered in the kids' flu mist, so the kids barely looked sick.  B and the kids all had low-grade fevers and coughs, but other than that they were acting normal.  I couldn't believe the difference!  Even though I know it's not a guarantee, I am definitely getting the flu shot next year.  This was just absolutely miserable!

Now we are all better and things are getting back to normal.  This was a really fun trip, just not a fun return.