Traveling with Twins: the Good

Lest you think the whole trip was filled with crying and wailing, here are some highlights from our two weeks in Oregon.

Flying
We flew Southwest, which I haven't flown in more than a decade. They have an "open seating" policy - you can sit in any open seat when you board. When you're traveling with children, you get to board fairly early in the process, and then you hope that whoever sits by you chooses the seat because they like (or at least don't mind) babies. We had friendly seat neighbors on all the flights plus very helpful flight attendants. One the last leg home, the guy sitting by Baby A and me was just over the moon about A and all his antics. He told me about his flight saga of getting delayed and rerouted then said it was all worth it to get to meet our twins. Aww :)

Visiting Family
Living so far away from family is tough. It was lovely to spend a good chunk of time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. They all were on cloud nine to hang out with the babies, and the babies seemed to like them, too. It was especially fun when DF's mom, aunt, brother, brother's girlfriend, and girlfriend's mom came down for a few days. Lots of laughter!

Catching up with Friends
The boys got to have some play dates with friends' kids, which was pretty fun. It's always nice to visit people who have known you for a long time. Nothing against my new Southern friends, of course! Make new friends and keep the old.

Not Having a Job
This is the first summer in six years that I've been unemployed, and I've got to say, it's glorious. My previous job was super busy in the summer season. I was never able to take more than a day or two off at a time. Even if I was on "vacation" or it was a weekend, I still had to be on-call, and I always got called. I very clearly remember being at a family reunion campout a few years back, standing under some trees early one morning, discussing the case of an exchange student with mumps while my relatives impatiently waited for me to get back to cooking the bacon!

Getting Some Breaks to Be an Adult
With all the extra hands on deck, I did get to relax sometimes. DF and I even got to go out by ourselves once. Whoa! We also hung out with my sister at her hipster downtown loft, and she introduced us to some of the city's new, cool spots. Incidentally, she's also blogging about her exciting life now. Check it out!

Good Food & Drink
Gotta love the Northwestern cuisine and beverage options.

Coastal Living
One of my parents' friends gave us a good deal on a beach house on the Central OR coast. We spent 3 days there early in the trip, and it was exactly what I needed to relax and reset my brain from the stress of travel. Living in Memphis, I feel so landlocked. (The Mississippi River is nice and all, but it's no ocean!) I loved being able to breathe the sea breezes and watch the sun set behind the waves.

Enjoying the Scenery & Weather
I loved seeing all the rolling hills and soaking up the non-humid sunshine of the Willamette Valley!