Oregon-Days 4 and 5 The end

I woke up on Saturday in a great mood. It was cozy warm in the tiny room where I was sleeping, and the sun was just barely poking through the curtains and nudging me awake. The air mattress Cali was sleeping on apparently had a leak, because it was mostly deflated and she was tucked down into the middle like it was a giant squishy pillow. I giggled to myself and scooped her warm little body into bed with me, so I could rub my cheek on her silky hair and smell her sweet baby breath. These days are so fleeting. With Emily I was so impatient for her to grow, to change, to start doing big kid things and I thrilled over every milestone. It's changed for me now. My first baby is almost 10, and it sounds cliche to say it, but it goes so so fast. I've learned to treasure the age they are, and soak up moments like these. She came slowly awake and grinned at me, and said "I 'wake mama"
Hehe "Me too! Want to go to the park?"
"Yeah! Hooway!"
After we were all bundled up, we headed out. I was fully prepared for the cold this time, with a sweater AND my down jacket. We strolled right past the little city park which is all made of metal and is really pretty ghetto, and kept on going to check out the cool, big playground at the elementary school. It was still pretty early out and it is a small town, so the streets were pretty empty. We were able to walk right down the middle of the road. By the time we reached the school, the sun was starting to peek out of the gloom and shoot little rays of sunshine all around us. It was truly a blissful Saturday morning. We got to the school and found it completely locked up. We checked. We walked around the entire block, checking every point in the chain link fence. Cali was just pining for that playground the whole time and I even considered climbing us over the fence, but eventually concluded that that would not be the best lesson for my 2 year old. So we consoled ourselves with going to the grocery store for a treat. And just to illustrate for you how city spoiled I am, I stood in front of the grocery store door for a good 10 seconds before I realized that it wasn't going to open by itself. Go ahead and laugh. I did.
Cali got a sucker and I got some Ho-ho's and we headed across the street to the coffee shop. It was a very small town homey sort of place, that doubled as a book shop and a gift shop. They had shelves and shelves of used books, that I could have perused for an hour, but I had to save the tiny tea sets and other antique-ey toys from Caliana's too curious hands. I bought a peppermint patty coffee, and we had a long leisurely stroll back to the city park. The sun was shining beautifully now and I was able to shed my coat. We walked through downtown, with it's tiny little post office, video/gift store, and town gym (which was the size of an apartment complex workout room) and I chuckled to myself. It was a perfect place for my mom to grow old in, and just the type of place I could stand for a week vacation, and no more.
We met up with Patrick and the other kids at the park, and played for a bit before heading back for lunch.
My brother had some work to do the next morning, so Patrick volunteered to drive him home a day early, along with Damien. I pouted over this for a little bit. I missed home too, but I decided one more day of vacation wouldn't kill me. The boys left and the rest of us headed to Grants Pass for some tax free Christmas shopping. I picked up Guitar Hero and Wii Play with an extra controller for the Wii, and some various smaller presents, and was way excited to not have to pay any sales tax. What a great law, we should totally adopt that here in California!
After shopping we headed out for dinner, and my 12 year old brother Noah caused quite a fuss because he wanted to go to a buffet and my mom and I wanted pizza. We followed directions to 3 different places on the GPS, that weren't actually where they were supposed to be, and were all a little frustrated when we finally pulled into a Pizza Hut. It was an empty little place, and the kids were able to run around while we waited for our food. Pizza makes everyone feel better, so after we ate, our moods all improved. We headed back to the house, got cozy in our pajamas, and watched "Born in east L.A."
My mom and I hadn't seen that movie in many years and laughed our asses off. A great last night of vacation.

Sunday was filled with packing, and driving. We ate at Black Bear Diner in Shasta for lunch. It was beautiful there, with the snow covered mountain visible just outside the windows, and coffee and yummy meat filled omelets visible right in front of me.
The car ride was decent as car rides go, we played cards and Apples to Apples, did crossword puzzles, sang Christmas songs, and watched Alvin and the Chipmunks meet Frankenstein....twice.
We got home around 8:00, and I was so happy to see my house, my boys, my heater and my bed. Vacations are nice, but there really is no place like home.