February Oregon Trip

We once again headed to Oregon for the annual Valentine's party my aunt Sandi hosts for the little cousins and their mommas. And once again, we had a wonderful time visiting, decorating cookies, eating a delicious lunch, and relaxing while my aunt did all the work (she is so kind and hospitable!).

Unfortunately, this year cousin Mandy was not there for the traditional "Mandy, Priscilla and Abby Picture" that we'd been doing since the girls were born (the three are within a month and half in age). But we took pictures of Abby and Priscilla anyway. My, how they've grown since the first picture two years ago!

A note to fellow mothers of 2-year-olds: asking 2-year-olds to hug for a picture is quite cute, but could end up a disaster. Within moments of taking this picture, Abby and Priscilla fell down, bonking their heads on the rocking chair and the metal rocking horse stand, with many tears ensuing.

After the cousins left and we gave up on Abby and Ben napping, we headed outside to see what we could find. Unfortunately, the cows were down the hill, but Abby did find a kitty and had a fun time playing on Aunt Sandi's play set.

Back inside, Abby enjoyed all of Aunt Sandi's toys, especially the little rocking chair. And later, she got to ride in Uncle Paul's pickup down the hill to help feed the cows before dinner. What fun!

We also made two trips to visit my Grandma in the retirement home. After only a few trips to the retirement home over the last half-year, Abby was quick to recognize it and made herself quite at home exploring Grandma's room, climbing the stairs, looking at the parakeets, and saying hi to the adoring little old ladies we passed in the hallways (she's finally starting to not be as shy!). One special highlight was Abby getting to ride in Grandma's wheel chair and getting to see three deer in the parking lot. We also visited my great-uncle Cecil and great-aunt Marilyn who recently moved into the same retirement home from out-of-state. Aunt Marilyn had a great big bag of toys she pulled out for Abby and Ben to play with and they were perfect little visitors.

But all did not go perfect on our trip. During our last night, Abby got sick and threw up three times. Getting to take a bath in Aunt Sandi's pink bathtub is a treat that Abby talks about frequently, but we didn't expect to be taking a bath in the middle of the night, trying to get chunks of vomit out of Abby's long hair. Thankfully, Abby was a real trooper (this was her first time throwing up) and her sickness was over by late morning.

Feeling much better and having her first taste of 7-up to calm her tummy - "It tickles my mouth!" she said. =)

The ride back home went better than our ride down to Oregon and Ben had a blast looking out the car window (instead of nursing like he was supposed to be doing!) when we stopped for a late lunch at Taco Bell.

And you'd think that Abby would have been completely sick of sitting and being in a car seat after the 3 1/2 hour drive, but when we packed in Ben's car seat from my mom's car, Abby climbed right in and "played" in the car seat for 45 minutes just like she did when Ben was a newborn and the car seat was brought into the house all the time. What a silly girl!