USA, Baby!

Last week David and I (and Baby, of course) went to the States for a last hurrah before two officially becomes three. We switched vehicles with my parents so we could sleep in the back of their SUV (which was brilliant and saved us hundreds of dollars--and was super fun!). On Thursday we headed down to Tacoma and spent the night at a sketch town motel. Seriously. The best part was that the shower head was less than five feet tall and their "continental breakfast" consisted of bananas and prepackaged cheese pastry things. But you can't complain about fresh fruit and hot showers, right?!

That night, after we checked in, we decided to head back to the outlet mall we passed in search of baby items. 

That's where the trouble began...

We went into a Carter's first and were delighted that their already-cheap baby clothes were a whopping 50% off! But as we walked in we noticed a very distinct boy section to our right and girl section to our left. I asked an employee where their gender neutral items were and she directed me to one measly little rack that had maybe three different yellow articles of clothing hanging on it. David and I looked at the rack in silence for a minute and then he blurted out something along the lines of, "This is crap! We're finding out the gender of the baby." 

Thus began the weekend of hemming and hawing about "peeking" once we were back in Canada. It didn't take much to convince me that, yes, it was a grand idea. So we found out! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The next morning we took our bananas (multiple bananas. Perhaps five or six. Hey. What's a pregnant girl to do?) and headed west and then north to Sequim, WA, where we visited the Olympic Game Farm. If you have a chance, GO! You drive your vehicle right through the animals' living quarters and feed them bread from your car window. Friendly elk, stubborn zebra, waving bears, pushy bison, lazy lions and an assortment of other wildlife poked their noses/snouts/muzzles through our windows to eat the loaves of bread we purchased for them (Note: the more "toothy" animals were behind other fences and we tossed them bread. I didn't get to pet the Siberian Tiger. Next time.). 

We then drove through Port Angeles and Forks, both of which were a huge disappointment. I mean, I didn't see any vampires or werewolves and we drove really slowly through the town to make sure we didn't miss anything. Drat.

We drove along the beautiful west coast and stopped at an amazing beach to walk the sea shore and run in the sand. David climbed a big rock; you can make out his minuscule figure in the picture below.

That night we made it all the way to Seaside, Oregon, and camped in a Home Depot parking lot. It was fun!

Our Tahotel!

The next morning we headed into Seaside and Cannon Beach to take in the sights, sounds and smells. Did you know that every other store in Seaside is a candy shop?! I looked in every one before I decided what I wanted to go back and get. I gotta be picky these days when it comes to sugar... and let me tell you that I had terrible sugar cramps after the candy store day :).

We picnicked on the beaches, wandered the streets, played Dance Dance Revolution, hiked Ecola State Park, and were pleasantly pooped for the day. 

Candy!

DDR - We both sucked at this

That night we drove into Portland and a kindly pastor permitted us to camp in his church's parking lot. He invited us to attend the service the next morning, which was followed by a spaghetti feast, but we had other plans in Portland so had to decline. We woke up and immediately went to the East Portland Community Center for a swim and a hot shower as we hadn't bathed in two days (I know. We're gross. Get over it.), but when we arrived we were informed that public swim didn't start until 11:00... and it was 9:00. And the super cool rock wall that was advertised on their website wasn't available. Bummer. But we passed a Target on the way and thought we'd check out more baby stuff and then return to swim. The receptionist seemed to feel pretty badly about everything so she gave us two free passes for when we came back--how nice!

After our lovely swim and shower we went to the Japanese Gardens in Washington Park (which is in Oregon. I know it's confusing, but try to keep up). They were lovely! This is where David realized that he was made to bonsai. Er, made to do bonsaiing. Uh... made to be a bonsaier? I need to use a lifeline on that verb-slash-noun.  But seriously, David spent close to 45 minutes standing still in one spot watching a man take tiny cuts from his bonsai. DAVID. STOOD STILL. For 45 MINUTES. I have way less patience than he does, and I think I looked at the rest of the bonsai display sixteen times before he was finished absorbing this particular artist's work. I should have known what was coming after that and mentally prepared myself for the seven hour ride home in which David gushed about his newfound love of bonsai and the art of doing bonsai(ing?), but alas, I was probably thinking about lunch or horses or the chicks at home by this point. I managed to convince him to just buy the mini starter bonsai kit at the gift shop instead of the really big (read: expensive) one but I knew he'd started on something that wasn't going to be quelled quickly... which honestly, I love! He's so passionate about everything and he loves life more than anyone I know. Some people are overwhelmed by his exuberance but he's seriously the happiest, funnest, craziest, coolest man I know. When David was a little boy he used to get so excited about going on plane rides that he would work himself into a tizzy--and then puke everywhere.  He even once did this while sitting in first class on an airplane! The entire front section had to evacuate while the stewards replaced the carpet. That is how excited he gets! And thankfully he's managed to control his puking thing now... but as a boy...

Oh sweet Moses. I willingly created another one... 

Anyway, David has decided to forego his bonsai endeavours for now in lieu of becoming Super Dad! I get daily text messages from him about the baby's development; he's created lists and lists of items we need and schedules and what to do once labour starts; and he's devouring books on sleep habits. I accept! He's already the world's best husband; he'll easily become the world's best dad! And we're having a BOY!!!!! It's gonna be great :).