Black Butte Summer Vacation

When I think back on my childhood and remember traditions, memories, and significant moments, Black Butte Ranch is on my list.  Julie and I spent time there every summer up until junior high with our parents.  It seems that we were often with friends (the Moretons, Homolkas, and Lockards come to mind), and I have a ton of photos in our old albums.   Bike rides, swimming, the Big Meadow, the bumpy bridge, playing on the golf course at night, miniature golf at the KOA campground, shopping in Sisters...the memories are vast.

The last time I was there was when Julie and I planned a getaway for my dad and a few of his friends in August 2005 for his 60th birthday.  The plan was for the guys to surprise my dad, take him to Black Butte to golf and drink, and then my mom, sister and I would meet him a few days later.  What we didn't know when we planned this trip was that my mom would not be doing well and travelling would be quite difficult.  My dad was FURIOUS with us when his friends came to get him and nearly refused to go because he was uncomfortable with leaving my mom alone.  We got him to go and he had a few days of respite of taking care of my mom, but he was NOT happy.  A few days later, as planned, Julie, Tim, and I drove over with my mom (for some reason Randy came later which we think was work related) and had our last family trip all together.  It was a melancholy trip since my mom could not walk and was not talking much, but it was nice to all be together for my dad's birthday (my mom passed away 6 weeks later).  Just the smell of Black Butte brings back the memories of being there with my family, and as I rode my bike or walked on the paths, I felt such peace thinking of our good times there.  

We have had this trip planned for a really long time, and I was SO EXCITED to go there for a week with Randy and Trey. My dad and Sandy and Julie, Tim, and Grady came for the first half of the week, and the Kopplins and the Johnsons (Sarah Brown and Sarah Long for those of you who know them from Willamette) came for the second half of the week.  

We stopped at Camp Sherman to show Trey the Metolius River for the first time.  This is one of our favorite places to go, and it was so fun to introduce it to Trey.  We stopped by the store to grab him a snack.  You can see the Sesame Street bus which will make an appearance in several other photos because Trey would rarely let go of it.  See if you can count how many times you see the bus in the photos.  And if the bus isn't in sight, there is likely an Ernie, Elmo, or Cookie Monster doll in its place.

My dad with Trey and Grady

Yes, Trey still drinks from a bottle.  I tried to get him off it by the time he was 2 since that's what you're supposed to do, but it didn't work and I'm weak.  I've decided that he's not going to drink from a bottle forever, and since he won't nap for me this summer I am not going to worry about the bottle until he goes back to full time daycare in September.  I just don't want to deal with the whining and the crying.  However, as a mom who doesn't want to be judged but also is guilty of judging, I feel the need to make the Feifers Disclaimer every time someone sees him with a bottle.

My dad and Trey at the park

This green swing is one of the only things Trey would do at the park, 

much to the chagrin of his mother and the other children.
(Don't worry: I made him take turns.)

Trey is a little obsessed with "the guys" and "the street" right now.  He wakes in the morning asking for "Count?  Bus?" and often had the Grover and Ernie characters in his hands while he was in the pool.  (Note: Ernie floats.  Grover sinks.)  We started keeping the figures and "the street" in the bedroom so that when he woke at 5:30am asking for them we could roll over and grab them without having to even get out of bed.

Our routine at Black Butte went like this:  wake up early, play with "the guys", eat (or not eat as in the case of Trey) breakfast, go swimming, Randy would bring him home to nap, eat (or not eat) lunch, play, swim again, play some more or relax and watch some Blue's Clues, eat dinner, put Trey to bed, and then have some adult conversation.  It was a pretty sweet schedule.

Notice the bus?

Randy, Trey and Tim relaxing post pool and watching some Blue's Clues

We spent an afternoon at the Lodge when our A/C wasn't working and we were all melting at the house.  I love the views there and the mountains are gorgeous.  

This may be one of my favorite pictures of all time.

Playing with the bus, of course

Trey fell in love with the bike trailer.

One morning he was outside wandering around and I went in to grab something.  I came back out and couldn't find him.  I knew he hadn't gone far and quickly found him sitting in the bike trailer asking to go on a ride.  

Wednesday the family left and the friends came.  We had some good times with the kids, and it was such a special thing to have a family vacation with Sarah and Sarah, two of my favorite people.  

Randy taking all the kids on a bike ride

Anna at the park

Trey had a thing for Anna and would often chase after her on the 

bike path calling "Ann-nie!  Ann-nie!"  

Zander and Trey in the trailer

The kids were highly amused by taking turns getting rides in this trailer 

up and down the driveway.  I was not so amused.  

Anna and Zander at the park

Trey and I giving our serious look

Trey napping with his bus, again 

My boy loves swimming!

Zander and Kai

The only family shot we got the whole week!

I'm reading my book and the kids are watching Blue.  

I think Neil is in process of making me a drink.  

Not too shabby of a vacation, huh?  

Trey learned how to pedal Kai's trike really quickly.  He had more trouble with steering.  I can't wait for Kai to grow out of his trike because Sarah said Trey might get it next.  Yay! 

Overall, we had a great week.  I value my family and friends more than anything, and when you mix that with sunshine, bike rides, and swimming, it doesn't get much better.  Throw in a good book (I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb), and it is pretty much paradise.

P.S.  I count 9 bus photos with two more with his dolls.  Wow.  

Summer Goals

I've been gone for two weeks and have had some great times, but now I'm ready to tackle my summer goals.  

1. Organize basement and shed.  The clutter is killing me.

2. Work on yard.  It's so trashy right now it's embarrassing.

3. Catch up on my magazines.   

I will post about our trip to Black Butte soon. By some miracle my son just went down for a nap, and I don't feel like using the computer when I have some peace and quiet.

"Grandma's house? Grandma's house!"

An unexpected email arrived two weeks ago from Doug, Randy's dad, that Carmen, Randy's mom, had fallen and broken her wrist.  She was walking in her neighborhood and was being chased by a dog.  As she tried to calmly walk away, the dog ran between her legs and tripped her, causing her to fall on all fours and break her wrist in two places as well as chip a bone.  Soon we found out that Carmen would be having surgery on her wrist the following Thursday (a week ago) to repair her wrist.  The unspoken concern through all of this was that Doug was leaving the country on the Monday prior to the surgery to go to Jordan for the summer.  

Maybe it's because of what I went through with my mom, but my first instinct was "Trey and I are going to California."  There was no way I could think of Carmen alone during her surgery and her recovery.  She argued, I insisted, and Trey and I were on our way.  

Before we left, we spent our last morning with Tango.  

As you can imagine, flying alone with Trey caused me a fair amount of anxiety.  You all know how hard it is to keep a toddler entertained for five minutes, let alone two and a half hours in a small confined space.  Trey did better than I thought he would and only had a screaming fit when he had to sit in his own seat with his seatbelt on during takeoff.  

My sweet boy 

Requirements for a happy flight 

After we arrived at Carmen's house, we made a trip to the store to stock up.  I was excited to try some new recipes for Carmen, and I was especially looking forward to cooking some of the vegetarian and seafood dishes that Randy won't particularly enjoy.  I will say that this grocery trip (and the one that followed the next day) were possibly the worst grocery trips I have ever had with Trey.  He didn't want to be in the cart, didn't want to be in my arms, and only wanted to be on the ground.  He wanted to pull things off the shelves and screamed whenever I picked him up.  A little tired, maybe?  

Running from me in the store

(I let him get a little farther than normal so I could take this picture.  

One might call this shot slightly posed.)

Thursday morning was Carmen's surgery, so we packed up in the car to take Grandma to the doctor's office.  The surgeon came out to talk to me afterwards and showed me these pictures.  

pre-surgery 

post-surgery 

Carmen handled her recovery like a champ and was a pretty good patient.   I had to be a bit bossy with her at times because she was trying to do too much (i.e. unload the dishwasher), but I was also able to get her to rest, elevate, and ice for a fair amount of time.

Grandma and Grandpa have a hot tub in their backyard that they have turned into a koi pond.  It may be one of Trey's favorite things.  Each day when we went outside, it was the first thing he went to.  

"Whatcha lookin' at, mama?" 

I bought Trey an inflatable pool that he spent A LOT of time in during the week we were there.  It gets pretty hot in Riverside (90's each day), so we would sit outside and Trey would swim and I would put my feet in the water.

As you know by now, Trey is not a great napper for me.  While we were at Grandma's house, we either went on a car ride for a nap (not super fun for Mama when it's so hot that you can't stop/turn off the car like you can in Portland), or I would take Trey on a walk in the HOT weather up and down the hills of Grandma's neighborhood until he fell asleep and then park him under their upstairs deck in the shade with the nice breeze.  I would sit next to him in their reclining lawn chair and read my book.

On Friday we went on a brief outing to Barnes and Noble to escape the heat and get Carmen out of the house for a little bit.  Trey was very happy to find his "guys" again and spent the whole time playing with them.

We left the store with one of the Ernie dolls, and I don't think Trey let go of him for at least 24 hours. 

Grandma and Trey cooling down

 Running back and forth on Grandma's deck

Don't you just love the blue sky?

I was driving around on the day of Carmen's surgery and all of a sudden remembered that Darlene, the school counselor from my school in Woodburn, lived nearby.  I pulled over right where I was driving and sent her an email to see if we could get together.  Carmen, Trey, and I drove to Idyllwild on Saturday to visit Darlene and Paul, and I was SO EXCITED!  I haven't seen her in six years since she retired and moved to New Mexico (where they lived prior to CA).  I love her spirit, and I was so happy to catch up.  It honestly felt like not a day had passed since we were sitting in her office talking and bonding about something.

 In Darlene's backyard looking out on amazing landscape

Even after we left, I couldn't get this viewpoint out of my head.  

How perfect would it be to sit in these chairs at the end of a day with a glass of wine and a great book? 

Paul (who Trey kept calling "Pa...funny!"), Darlene, Trey and me 

Carmen and Trey during our delicious lunch in Idyllwild 

Paul and Darlene

A week straight with my boy and my mother in law is something special, and we had some good times.  Below are some pictures of some of the fun things we did:

Bathtime, California style 

Checking out the animals at Tom's Farms 

First train ride 

(if you can call a three minute loop around the property a train ride)

Lunch in the shade 

Relaxing with his crayons 

Around nap time, Trey started saying "sleep" and "nap".  I thought, "you've got to be kidding me."  But what he meant was that his guys had to take a nap.

At Irvine Spectrum waiting for Kim and Kaili

Pre-lunch with Kim and Kaili

Trey wasn't too sure about sharing his "guys" with Kaili.

Lunch was delicious and it was great to catch up with Kim.  

I'm bummed we won't be in London with them to watch Dave compete this year, but I look forward to (and will be jealous of) hearing about their adventures at the Paralympics in August.

Lunch at Randy's cousin Melissa's house on the fourth of July.  

Trey was really into Kainoa's trike, but unfortunately his legs are a little too short. 

We flew home on the evening of the fourth of July.  Ontario airport is one of the worst ever.  Randy and I have flown through there numerous times, and everything is ALWAYS closed.  I honestly can't figure out when anything is open.  The upside to this is that Trey had plenty of room to run.  We made it home safely with minimal fussing on the flight.  The attendants were super nice to me on the flight back (as opposed to the way there), and I pulled an Elaine (my mom) and called Alaska Air today to tell them how awesome the attendants were and how much they helped me with my boy.  

Now we are home for two days before we head to Black Butte for a week.  I've been looking forward to this vacation for several months, and I can't wait to spend a week in the sun with my family and friends.  

Goodbye, Old Friend

Randy, Trey, and I had to say goodbye to Tango last week. He has been in a steady decline since spring break, and once he stopped eating, continued to throw up daily, and became very lethargic, we decided it was time. Trey and I left for California on Wednesday afternoon, and then Randy came home and said goodbye to Tango.

For those of you who have either a) known me for a long time and/or b) know me well, you know I'm not a dog person. However, I love Tango. I love him a lot. Before Trey was born, Tango used to sleep inbetween Randy and I in bed while I read my book (and then I kicked him off), and lately we have been bringing him up on to the bed to give him some extra cuddles. I have loved going hiking with Tango, and I loved it when Tango would race off up the trail and then come charging back to make sure Randy was still there before he would turn around and race off again.

It's funny how while I'm sitting here thinking about Tango and remembering some of his traits, even the annoying ones (i.e. begging at the table, pulling my arm out of the socket while chasing a squirrel, and the clicking of his nails on the wood floor) seem endearing now that he is gone.

Most of all, Tango was Randy's best friend. They have been together since Tango was eight weeks old, and Tango was so loyal to Randy. When we would go places, Tango would not let Randy out of his sight for very long. Tango was often by Randy's side, and he often slept closer to Randy every night. Randy has spent most of his adulthood with Tango in his life, and it has been devastating for Randy to say goodbye.

One thing I am most thankful for is how sweet Tango was to Trey. I could not ask for a better dog to have while we raise our boy. Tango has been sweet to Trey since we brought him home, and he was often right by Trey's side. Tango lost a lot of our attention when Trey arrived, but the payoff really came when Trey started to eat real food. I have a bazillion photos I could post of Tango and Trey together from the very beginning. I will just post a few, and I think the love is obvious.

The house is so quiet without Tango. I am so proud he was our dog, and I will miss him immensely.