Mom Life in the PNW

Family Trip to Mount Hood, Oregon

Family Trip to Mount Hood, Oregon

A few weeks ago, we stayed at Mt. Hood in a lodge thanks to my husbands boss. He opens up his home at Government Camp on Mount Hood for his employees in the office since he can’t rent it out. It’s a nice way of saying thanks for working hard.

We enjoyed every bit of our 3 day mountain vacation, because being outdoors and spending time with each other is what we love best.

Government camp mount hood

We were hoping there would be snow in the forecast so we could go tubing, but our wishes were not granted. And even though there wasn’t much snow at all, we did get to enjoy the beauty of the mountain and be outside breathing in the fresh, crisp mountain air as we strolled through the woods.

Mount hood

We heard running water and found a little Creek running through the area.

Government camp mount hood

My daughter loved being outside seeing new things and exploring, but what child doesn’t? She’s been kind of dependent on TV and the tablet a little too much, so it was a nice change of scenery for her, and us as well.

wp-image-2108144758jpg.jpg

Mt hood

Mt Hood Nov 2016

We love the smell and the freshness of the outdoors so much that we were asked to try out thymes frasier fir candles, and let me tell you, it brought me back to when we were staying up at the mountain a few weeks ago. Like the crispness of pine trees and the wood burning in the cozy fireplace. We only have a gas fireplace so the smell of fresh wood burning in a big ol’ log cabin was amazing.

frasier fir candles

I don’t celebrate Christmas now, but when I did, I loved the smell of the fresh cut tree in our home. We never did a fake one for this very reason, despite having to clean up and water it frequently.  Just something about a real tree to make the holidays seem real and magical. Frasier Fir candles also remind me a little of my past when I did holidays, because they smell like the outdoors have been brought inside!

frasier fir candles

They’re the perfect gift any time of year (not just holidays) for absolutely everyone! No need to package it up real nice either. They come elegantly packaged and ready-to-gift.

frasier fir candles

I also love the fact that they plant a tree when you buy a candle for their buy one, plant one campaign. That’s super important, because without trees, we wouldn’t be able to survive because we rely on them for oxygen.

frasier fir candles

Head on over to the Buy One. Plant One. Campaign page where you can purchase the Frasier Fir Northwoods and Limited Edition collections, or individual products, and redeem for a free Thymes Sample Set – over 12 fragranced body lotion samples with a purchase of $25.

PIN IT:

Seaside, Oregon Beach Trip for Labor Day Weekend

seaside oregon

This labor day, we decided to make an end of summer beach trip since we hadn’t been to the beach since Arya was like a month old. It was time to give her a new experience, one that she probably won’t remember when she’s older, but will remember right now in the moment.

My husband works a new job for a vacation rental place doing QA work. Well come to find out, they give their employees in the office a $250 credit on their birthdays, (his is Sep 1st) so we were able to use that towards a vacation house in Seaside, Oregon on top of his employee discount. It was a pretty decent deal! It had 2 bedrooms, a bath, and a nice-sized living area for a small family. To be honest, this was way better than paying for an overpriced hotel that’s the size of a sardine can with no fridge.

seaside oregon

View of the river from our condo.

We weren’t right on the boardwalk or oceanfront, but that didn’t bother me too much since we could either walk half a mile or just drive on over to the main strip.

Thursday when we arrived, it was pretty gloomy and rainy. It’s typical PNW weather, so it’s to be expected. Just always bring a rain jacket or coat with you while on vacation. Doesn’t matter what time of year, it can and will rain at any time. LOL

So the first day, we walked on the strip for a little bit and then stepped out on the sandy beach, but didn’t stay long since we didn’t arrive until after 5 pm and we needed to eat.

View Post

Camping at Detroit Lake in Oregon

Camping at Detroit Lake in Oregon

A few months ago, we decided to book a camping trip at Detroit Lake, Oregon since our friends had invited us. I was kind of hesitant since baby girl is walking around now and you know, campfires and dirt and uncomfortable air mattresses with a toddler just didn’t sound thrilling. So let’s just say, I had to be optimistic.

It takes about 2 hours from here to there so I knew we needed to leave before she took her late morning/early afternoon nap. We got lucky since she ended up sleeping the entire way there.

We arrive and set up camp, which didn’t take nearly as long as it usually does since we bought an instant tent with poles already attached and ready to go. (Thanks, Target cartwheel for the 40% off! Lol)

detroit lake campground

I brought her playpen and a new camping play toy set on Amazon which kept her occupied while we set stuff up. Then we freed her, and all was fair game says the running rampant toddler.

She walked around part of the campground saying hi to the campers near us. She’s going to be a social butterfly like her dad. I myself like to avoid conversations with strangers since I’m a little socially awkward. I don’t know if I like her being super friendly since this opens up (in my mind) easy access for kidnapping. Hey, you can never be too cautious with the sick people in the world today. But don’t worry, I’m a helicopter mom. I mean, you got to be when they’re this age…

The campground was okay, maybe a little too cramped for my liking since we had the extra parking spots right in our camp area. It’s almost as if we were in the city with very little yard separating us from our neighbors. I guess in a way it’s nice if you want to mingle with strangers, but I prefer more space when you have to pay to camp.

The lake last year was pretty dried up. It still isn’t where it normally is supposed to be, but it at least had a good amount.

detroit lake campground

We sat in our inner tubes in the lake for a little bit, but the current kept pushing us up to the shoreline in the 6 inches of water, so our butts were scraping on the rocks. Arya wanted to hop out of the tube and go play on her own. Lol

She’s starting to become too independent… I just want my baby to stay little forever.

She was having so much fun running around that she didn’t want to take a single nap and fought it pretty much all day until 5 pm. And even then, she only slept 30 minutes and was up til 10:30.

She’s enjoying the world. And when she gets older, she’s going to wish she could nap like I currently wish for myself…ha

Overall, Detroit Lake was fun, but it gets pretty cold through the night, so be sure to bring lots of blankets and warm clothes. I was freezing my butt off!

They have free showers to use, a free activity every day to do, AND toilets… No digging holes for me, yay!

So if you’re looking for a luxury style place to camp in Oregon, try Detroit Lake!

PIN IT:

Traveling to Vegas With a Baby Part 1

Traveling to Vegas With a Baby Part 1

Vegas was interesting, to say the least

It’s like a whole other experience when you have to be a responsible adult. Hah.

The first day was pure chaos.

There’s so much extra crap you have to bring when you have kids.. like a car seat, stroller, diaper bag, toys, food, etc etc. I felt like I was moving across the country with how much stuff we shoveled into the airport by ourselves.

The flight there was fine. No turbulence and only one loud outburst from baby. I thought she would end up taking a nap during the 2-hour flight since she usually does around that time, but nope.

New environment, too much excitement… must stay awake mommy! She did end up falling asleep for the last 20 min we were in the air. Hey, I’ll take what I can get!

So we grab our million items once we get off the plane and go catch the shuttle bus to the car rental place and wait in a long line. My husband was stressing cause his friend was the first UFC fight of the day which started at 3 pm. We landed at 1 pm and got to the shuttle at 1:30 pm. We should have had plenty of time to grab the car and go. Nope. Apparently I scheduled the car pick up for the following day, so our car wasn’t even there. It took an hour back and forth to finally get a minivan, which added $10 to our bill. My husband wasn’t happy about having a minivan when we booked a small SUV, but we didn’t have time to mess around. We finally get going and it’s like a little after 2:30 and he still has to drop me and baby off at Harrah’s to check-in. Next time we’ll just plan for a pickup service from Limo Find

Needless to say, he didn’t end up making it there before 3 pm and actually missed his friend’s fight which got stopped due to injury. This was kind of the whole point of our trip, but we had no clue when he’d be fighting, otherwise, we could have scheduled better flight time for him to make it. It sucks, but what can ya do?

So I was alone with baby waiting to get the check-in email alert that my room was ready but nothing ever came. So I had to go stand in a line after all even though I attempted to avoid it by the email text check-in they sent the day of our arrival. Meh.

Once I got into the room though, it was great; nice and newly updated. Not the nicest room we’ve ever stayed in, but it was pretty decent!

harrahs las vegas

I basically just stayed in the room to nap with her and walked around the hotel a bit to get food.

Other than that it was a pretty boring first day…

Since this post is long enough, ill update with another.

Traveling to Vegas Tomorrow Morning

Tomorrow morning we leave for Vegas, and although I was a little excited when we first booked back in March, I’m now kind of worried its not going to be as fun. Mainly because it’s going to be a different experience with a child, but also, it’s going to be almost 100 degrees. I aint ready for that kind of heat yet!!

Im prepared though. We have tons of sunblock, new swimsuits and our hats to be protected from the sun. I’ll prolly be strolling around in the hotels most of the time since they keep the AC running, but they can also be smokey which I think is going to suck, especially having arya around that. Luckily though, thats mainly in the casino area where she can’t hang out anyways.

The first day (tomorrow) is just going to be me and Arya all day alone since daddy has the UFC event to go to as soon as we get off the plane and pick up our car pretty much. His gym friend is fighting again in the UFC, which is the reason we decided to go in the first place.

Hopefully tomorrow will go smoothly and i can check into the room early with arya so I’m not stuck lugging crap around all day or having to wait in a long line for an hour with a possible crabby baby. I wished one of my family members were going or even one of my friends, but I’ll survive… I hope.