Lake Oswego - False Start

Dec 15

Plans Changed

We are definitely learning to go-with-the-flow very early on this journey. Our planned moving date was December 5th, and our plan was to head directly to Rachel’s parents’ house in Sacramento, CA. We were going to load up the U-Haul with Rachel’s dad, Pat, on December 4th and drive down together on the 5th. Plans needed to change when Isaac woke up feeling sick to his stomach after being exposed to the stomach flu. So in an abundance of caution, we booked an AirBNB locally to save us a 9 hour drive with a sick kiddo, quarantine ourselves from Rachel’s extended family, and moved out fully a day early.

Rachel’s rockstar Dad drove the U-Haul by himself to Sacramento full of goodies (books, beds, furniture, toys, etc) for Rachel’s family members, while we moved into the Airbnb.

Not Sick??

We have this cozy little airbnb where we “Rested on Laurel” for 7 nights of quarantine. To get the expected sickness underway for the whole family, we all shared a beverage with Isaac, and had a “family breathing circle.” So gross, and so funny. But, the sickness never went beyond a little queasiness. THANK GOODNESS!

Instead we took naps, started planning for the grand adventure, slept, rested, and did a whole lot of nothing! A welcomed change from our previous month of chaos. We also got our first taste of what traveling with a medium-sized suitcase and a backpack each is going to feel like.

We are learning a lot already. Rachel’s first time cooking in the kitchen of this Airbnb had her missing the comforts of home. Her pots and pans, her seasoning, her dishware, her stove, but something magical DID happen. While looking for seasoning, in the last cabinet she opened, she felt absolute joy in discovering they had salt AND pepper! Such a small thing, but boy was it exciting.

We are learning that we are all going to have to be very adaptable and flexible. We were very very very comfortable in our old home with all the creature comforts a person could want. Each airbnb or hotel is going to be different. It may not have the best bed, or the cleanest floors, or a good shower, or seasoning! So, when we do have something great, or even good, I have a feeling we are going to get excited for it, and what a cool adjustment/recalibration to make. I have a feeling this trip is going to make us really appreciate the smallest of things.

Double Quarantine?

We didn’t end up getting sick, but the day after we moved into our Lake Oswego Airbnb, we got a call that two of our Sacramento family members were sick with Covid. So, Isaac’s queasiness and our fear of giving people the flu, ended up saving us from Covid!

Walks, Food, Naps, and Planning!

While in Lake Oswego, we took our sweet pup Joe on lots of walks. We watched movies and TV shows (Great British Baking Show). We didn’t change out of our pajamas for days. We RESTED and caught up on lots of sleep. We went to our favorite lunch and dinner spots (Munch in Tigard and Dar Es Salaam in Wilsonville). We juggled. We went to one final High School basketball game with our neighbors! We played board games, and we started to make preliminary plans for our trip.

Casablanca Dessert Bastilla at Dar Esalaam

We booked our first international Airbnb and plane tickets. Lisbon, Portugal is up first!

We also worked on a large Spreadhseet with 25 countries and a list of questions we wanted to research the answers to. We came up with some good questions like:

What side of the road do they drive on?
What are their Trans policies?
What is the currency and exchange rate?
What percentage of their population speaks English?
What foods do they eat?
How do you say general phrases in their language?
What is their emergency phone number?
What are they known for?

Orange Blossom Water from our favorite Moroccan Restaurant, Dar Esalaam in Wilsonville, Oregon.

Rituals

We as a family talked about having rituals to help us quickly make any new place feel like “home.” We discussed different things we could do. Picking out beds, unpacking “lovies,” playing a favorite song, hanging a family photo, holding hands, saying a mantra, lying on the ground, etc.

We landed on picking out beds, placing a family photo, and playing the song “Home” by Phillip Phillips. We also decided to add an olfactory element of spritzing our hands with our favorite scent, orange blossom water.

We are hoping that this in doing these rituals that it will help us all have that “homey” feeling quickly that you don’t necessarily feel when you are traveling. We will let you know how it goes.