Family vacation 2020

My trip with my family went very well.  I enjoyed the time with my family, we didn't actually do a lot, for several reasons.  One, Battle Ground, where we went, is small with nothing to do. And two, my family are not active.  I have one sister that swims (the one I'm close to) and the rest don't do anything.  Oh, and three, my dad's health is not good.

The first day we went to second hand shops, which is really all we do.  I love doing it, but never do outside of this yearly trip.

On Sunday we went to visit Chris's family, whose aunt and uncle live in Battle Ground, and had lunch.  (I have no pictures.)  (If you are looking for a place to eat in Battle Ground, go to the Cervaza Factory, it was amazing.)  After we got done with lunch, we headed to Multnomah Falls which is about an hour south in Oregon.  I haven't been there in years, and I've never been to the top, so I wanted to go.  Sadly, I didn't make it.  It doesn't help that it started hailing halfway up (it didn't last very long).  I kept going, but turned around not very far past the last bridge. 

 It was ridiculously busy and Damian couldn't find parking, so we had to go to the next little pull out/hiking area and had to walk/hike to the falls where my family was.  But we had a good little hike.

Damian turned around when it started hailing, because of Asher, Chris turned around at the bridge, and Maddox and I turned around a little later.

After Multinomah Falls we went to Crown Point, which was not very far away and had a gorgeous view of the Columbia River.

We hung out at the house in the evenings playing games and we left on Monday. 

Four generations

We did not talk about my Mom at all.  I thought about her, but it was a topic that we avoided.  I think that none of us wanted to cry.  My goal was to have a good time, which I did.

I miss her

I was doing so well at posting regularly, and then . . . life. 

My biggest problem is that I lead a very boring life.  I do nothing super interesting and I spend my time at work, doing school work, and running (oh, don't forget the wine).  I'm super tired of my job, but I keep it because I have a lot of freedom and am able to do some schoolwork while at work, which makes my evenings nicer. 

This weekend my family is going to Battle Ground, WA (there's nothing there, but that's where my Dad found a house).  We have been doing a trip for many, many years on President's Day weekend.  We didn't do it last year because we decided to go camping in the summer (and then we ended up on a cruise), and we didn't do it in 2018 because we did go camping (although my Mom was in the hospital during this particular weekend, so we wouldn't have been able to go anyway).  Anyway, that means that this weekend is the first time we have not done this type of trip without my Mom, which I am finding very difficult to think about. 

I thought I was done with firsts without her, but apparently not. I miss her.  Ive shared all these pictures before, but these are all within the last year of her life.  You would not expect that less than a year later she'd be gone.

 She couldn't stand on the paddle board because her balance was so off, but she really wanted to do it.

 The insane inflatable "race" we did.

This was our last trip with my Mom