For Chris' birthday he wanted to take us on a (kid-friendly) hike, so he got off early on Friday and we picked up sandwiches at New Seasons on our way up to Lower Macleay trail. Chris runs on trails through Forest Park every Saturday morning before the boys and I are even awake, and though we hiked one of the trails when Bennett was Buck's age, Bennett had never really seen anything like it before. He thought it was the coolest thing ever, and he's pretty much right.
We are so blessed to have places like this practically in our own back yard!
Buck likes hiking:
He was running and I was trying to capture it.
I think it turned out kind of cool actually:
Bennett had to stop and throw a rock in the water at every chance he got:
We stopped and had lunch across from this amazing, old moss-covered stone building:
(I did a little research and found out that it was an old public restroom...interesting.)
Dinner on a log:
See I was there too:
One last rock throw before we headed home:
That was the perfect hike for Bennett since it was only .8 miles each way and he LOVED it so we will definitely be back up there soon.
Thursday night after Chris got home from work, he casually tossed me the
Portland Monthly
(featuring "hot breakfast spots" in PDX)
he knew that I had been wanting.
I noticed that a piece of paper was hanging out the front and casually glanced at it...
I thought that maybe I wasn't supposed to see it
(it was reservation info for two nights at The Ace!!!) so I quickly flipped to the back of the magazine hoping that I didn't spoil a surprise!
Chris turned around and asked if I had seen what was in the front and
I said "I didn't think I was supposed to see it!"
...then I started crying (blame it on the pregnancy hormones).
So maybe I'm horrible at being surprised, but I was completely caught off guard AND it was exactly what I needed!
Friday on our way to dinner we met up with Chris' parents so they could take Bennett for the weekend.
B was really excited to go stay at their house so it made for an easy transition.
We started our "staycation" off right with breakfast for dinner at
Broder.
Best idea ever and I'm pretty sure I could eat at Broder everyday for every meal, everyday and not be disappointed.
We got the breakfast sandwich with melty farmer's cheese, ham and 2 baked eggs topped with house made ketchup and also the apple pancakes with 2 baked eggs and house made chicken sausage.
So good!
After our amazing brinner we headed to The Ace.
This was our awesome room:
(read about our last stay at the Ace here and here...I think it's impossible to feel stressed while staying at The Ace, which is exactly why Chris made reservations...also their beds are heavenly)
It's super convenient that Stumptown is right downstairs.
We had amazing coffee both days while we got ready:
After we were ready we walked down to our favorite bakery
Lovejoy Bakers to grab some breakfast:
Every time we go, we love trying out a new pastry with our breakfast.
This time we tried the double chocolate muffin.
It was huge and not too sweet.
The top was crunchy and the inside had a biscuit-like texture with random dark chocolate chips.
It was totally amazing and I really need to figure out how to make something similar asap!
In addition to the muffin, we split the deluxe breakfast sandwich (fried egg/creamy blue cheese/bacon/butter/tarragon and frisee on a ciabatta) and they had already sold out of their brulee'd steelcut oats so we decided to try out the granola which didn't disappoint (though the steelcut oats are our fave)!
After breakfast we made some stops at a few of our favorite stores that we don't get to frequent much anymore. We tested out a
double stroller at
Posh Baby and Chris tried on some jeans at
Lizard Lounge.
I was able to sit and put my tired prego feet up for a bit:
We stopped in at Barista (our fave coffee in PDX) for a little break, though our drinks never lasts long:
Chris humored me and went into the random/quirky store
Cargo with me.
I found B another gas station number for his collection and we tried on some silly/creepy masks:
Even though I felt like my legs were going to fall off, I wanted to make the trek across downtown to grab the turkey/cranberry/cream cheese sandwich I had been craving from
Great Harvest.
We got our sandwiches to go and headed back to the hotel to just chill in our room for the rest of the day.
We stopped in at the trusty photobooth in the lobby to get another photostrip for our collection:
We decided that eating lunch in bed sounded amazing, and that is what we did:
I propped my tired feet up on a stack of pillows and enjoyed my late lunch all the while hoping that walking 3 miles around downtown in my rainboots wouldn't cause these prego feet to swell.
I'm pretty sure I couldn't have walked any farther!
Chris watched a movie while I read my new magazine and took a short snooze:
(it was the perfect lowkey afternoon!)
After I woke up I was able to accomplish one of my goals for the weekend, to paint my toenails.
(still being able to touch my toes is a huge feat in itself...and they look halfway decent too!)
We purposely had a late lunch so that we wouldn't be very hungry for dinner.
Salt and Straw was in our plans for later in the evening and we wanted to create space!
I decided to try a root beer float for a change and Chris had the usual two scoops in a waffle cone.
We ended up staying for a couple hours because we ran into two different sets of friends!
Love that place.
Here are a few shots from the around the hotel...I always have to take a bajillion pictures:
(Super spendy to buy, so when we stay at The Ace we use more than normal!)
All weekend I had a thing for ice...I couldn't stop eating it:
A view from our window:
Sunday morning Chris went down to Lovejoy Bakers again to grab some breakfast to go. He brought it back to eat in bed along with some drinks from Stumptown. Call us predictable, but we know what we like! I was so excited to be eating Lovejoy in bed (they weren't out of steelcut oats this time!) that I forgot to take any pictures...oops!
After checking out we walked over to
Nuvrei to grab some sandwiches and a box of their macarons:
(their specialty macaron right now is espresso and it. is. amazing.)
Chris got a roasted chicken salad sandwich and I got a hot ham and cheese crossaint:
Then, just like that, our amazing little "staycation" was over.
As soon as we got in the car we started talking about things that needed to get done at home.
Chris mowed the lawn and we did a little yard-upkeep before Chris' parents brought B back.
I know a lot of people think it's silly that we paid to stay just ten minutes from our own house.
To you I say, don't knock it til you try it!
Staycations are amazing because:
a.) you get out of the house where there is always something that has to get done.
(and for stay at home moms, just getting some time out of/away from the house is a huge refresher!)
b.) you already know where all of the best restaurants/shops/coffee shops are.
c.) you can save/spend money on food that you would otherwise be spending on gas/airfare.
d.) the drive home from vacation is never fun, but luckily it's minimal when you stay close to home.
e.) it's fun to play tourist in your hometown and visit places you wouldn't normally go to.
And that was our amazing weekend.
Chris, thank you so much for knowing exactly what I needed...
a weekend of downtime with you was perfect!
Happy Wednesday Friends!
