we're home. but only for 5 minutes!

we got back late last night after a 13- hour travel day. i have to say that yesterday, despite its length, we were able to experience multiple bouts of loveliness that carried us through our day. ace and i woke up early to pack-- us for leaving, him for work, and we were on the same page to quickly hide the rubber stingray that adah had gotten so attached to on the trip. it belonged to the grandchild of the woman upstairs, and for 8 days, adah played, swam, slept, bathed, and ate with it. it was a scary moment a few days earlier when uncle ace realized, on a windy country road, that stingray had just flew off the roof of the car, where i had accidentally left him while putting bug in her car seat. fortunately he was recovered. so we thought we were being sneaky when we hid stingray yesterday morning, but immediately upon waking, adah wondered, "where's stingray? he must be hidin'!" we acted very confused, and some distractions surprisingly worked. once she fully understands that he's gone for good, into the hands of another loving keeper, we may have to get her some grief counseling.

it was pouring outside when our journey began, so we drove to the fantastic restaurant down the street. their menu was local and healthful and it was tiny enough to make artisan everything. it was a perfect meal to end our trip, and afterwards we headed to the burlington airport with a bizarre mix cd we made that began with "teach your children" by crosby stills, and nash, and then went on to such gems like "gold digger" by kanye west, and other hip hop songs we were half bouncing out the car to.

it seemed like a fast trip to o'hare, and mesmorized adah loved the lights. we were horrified to realize the day before that we had a 4 hour layover there, but bess saved the day by visiting us and bringing a picnic. for those of you who know bess, i'm sure you know that she has a history of outdoing herself in every creative capacity, so this is what she brought for our simple picnic: a chicago-style pizza, which is impossible to achieve in portland, braised kale and onions for my greens fix, celery and carrots with spinach-hummus dip, a watermelon, canteloupe, and blueberry fruit salad, macaroni and cheese, a ladybug cookie frosted with beet juice dye, play-doh, paper, stickers, markers, and a whole other host of art supplies for adah to enjoy. unbelievable. the people passing by were absolutely amazed by the beautiful spectacle she made. (the picture below, by the way, does not even begin to show the extent of it.)
on the flight i was shocked when adah fell right asleep for the the entire 4 hour flight. this is unheard of, people. in a way it was lovely, but then again, i could hardly move an inch for that entire amount of time, so i had my elbow neighbor digging through my crammed bag so that i could quench my thirst and take a picture:

many, many thanks to my family of friends who made our travels seem so easy. i can't imagine a more perfect trip. now it's onto the next one: i spent the day unpacking and re-packing because in a couple of hours we're off to eastern oregon to spend some time with anne's fambly. more soon!