Dear Mai,
After a fairly relaxed and calm Christmas break (and the fact that 4 days trapped in the house with just the three of us) we decided we needed a road trip. So New Year's eve day we found a hotel in the town of Seaside on the Oregon Coast and set out for adventure.
We visited this place back in 2008 way before we even knew we'd end up in this neck of the woods. Mommy doesn't buy this whole "Lewis and Clark thing."
You've been on countless road trips by now but now that you are getting older we get the dreaded "are we there yet?" question more often than we used to. I blame your mother for this. She still does this nonsense. But thank goodness we live in the time of electronics and we can push electronic waves to your brain to keep you occupied for 3-4 hours at a time.
Here you are doing your best Nicki Minaj impression. It's hard to keep up mang.
You're pretty funny these days, even with out trying. We were sitting at Baked Alaska (which had some of the best small plate food I've had in years) eating lunch in Astoria, Oregon on the way down and you asked:
Maya: "Daddy, remember when we were in Ohio and at not the crazy Aunt Linda's house?" (I believe you meant the Lawrence side, because the Castañeda side has the crazy Aunt Linda. All of this is debatable on who is crazier.)
Daddy: "Yes"
Maya: "Remember that car they had that had a TV inside?"
Daddy: "Yes"
Maya: "We should get one of those sometime so I can watch TV AND play iPad on road trips."
Daddy: "okay. we'll see!" (translation - keep dreaming buddy, not gonna happen)
I don't want to paint a picture that is entirely made up of fun and laughs. In all seriousness part of the reason we went on the trip is because living with a 3 year old is like living with a mentally unstable person. Seriously dude. You are CRAZY sometimes. Here's just a small example. We do pizza for dinner like once a week. EVERY and I mean EVERY time you want you're pizza cut up into pieces. We're trying to get you to do things on your own so either cut your own pizza or eat it by the slice like the rest of 'Merca. Nope. You're not having any of that. In fact there have been more than a few times where you've thrown a fit so bad that you had to go to your room to cry it out. Because of pizza. So at Baked Alaska, Mommy cut up a few pieces for you. Guess what. You threw a fit because you didn't want your pizza cut up. So you put your pizza crust on top of the pieces so you didn't have to see those stupid cut up pieces. Dude, if that isn't the definition of unstable I don't know what is. This is every day life.
But you are always a very good road tripper and we made it to the Coast right at sunset and were able to have some beach fun! (That's 4:30 PM for the folks playing at home)
Apparently the community of Seaside puts on a fireworks show every new year's eve on the beach. We were going to try to make it up. Our hotel was like 4 blocks from the beach. That might not be very far but it was getting brutally cold out. And when I say brutal it was like 31 degrees. You put on a princess light show for us as we're waiting for the ball to drop. I thought you were doing your best Kylo Ren impression. But alas, the day got the best of you and Mommy and here you two were at 11:45 PM.
I was going to try to sneak away to watch the fire works but I was worried when I returned I would have zero room left on the bed by the time I got back.
2016! I love the fact that you wake up in a good mood. That wasn't always the case when you were younger. A little iPad time in then we we ready to explore the day.
Ecola state park was pretty on this beautiful New Year's day. AND we only had one fit because we wouldn't go into the deep dark forest to look for Squatch.
Our friends Dave, Megan and their family were down here a few days before us and gave us a tip to go to Hug Point. We read up on it and it sounded like they have some awesome tide pools there. That is right up Mommy and your's alley! We found out when low tide was and headed out. It was pretty awesome.
What we didn't read up on was sneaker waves. Of course we didn't come as prepared as we should have. We actually had rain boots and stuff... in the car. Ooops. A sneaker wave, snuck up on us. We weren't actually in any danger of loosing you and Tito to the Pacific but it tried. Other than that the trip was filled with more fun beach time, pool time, good food and carousel time.
Tito is proving to NOT be the best dog traveler though. We discovered he just barks and barks when we're not in the hotel room. Tito, c'mon man. That is not cool! You have a lot to live up to. Goose and Foz never barked at hotels. We tried to put him in the bathroom with the fan on to see if that helps. You did not like that and felt it was unfair for Tito. You and Tito are buds these days.
Maya: (to Mommy) "You are to NEVER put him in there again!"
Mommy: "We have to Mai, he keeps barking and he can't do that while in the hotel."
Maya: (Is visibly upset, almost to the point of tears because you don't want this)
(We walk down the hall and still hear barking)
Daddy: "Shoot. Well let's go back to get Tito, we can't have him barking like that."
Maya: "NOoooo! I'm so hungry I don't want to get Tito!"
Certifiable man. You are cray cray.
It isn't all crazy talk though. We like to play "What was your favorite part" game after we do something. On Thursday your favorite part was the Beach. On Friday it was a tie between the pool and the carousel. When we got home Saturday as we're tucking you in bed, you announced unprovoked. "Do you know what my favorite part of the trip was? Coming home and being with you two." You're pretty darn sweet and cute when you want to be Mai. Those may be the only reasons you're still alive right now. :) I kid, I kid.
It was an awesome little getaway Mai. This morning you came into my office and asked what I was doing. I told you I was working on a blog post about the trip and you said "Can we go on another trip soon? I want to go back to Portland."
Yes we can my sweet little traveler girl. Soon come.
Love,
Daddy