i love oregon. and my mom is my hero.

today was hard. really hard. we had a few really high highs and waaaayyy too many really low lows. but i'm not going to write about that. i'm working on getting past it. instead, i want to thank my mom for being the most amazing woman i have ever known and thank oregon for being all i wanted and needed it to be... at least for tonight.

after nearly 3.5 hours of a rough bedtime with bug, i bailed out. my mom had already got lilah to sleep and i finally got alice to sleep, but nolan was holding strong. i was sad. i was frustrated. i was angry. i needed fresh air. so i laced up my running shoes and went for a jog, my first since sometime last summer. it was about 8:30pm when i left (bedtime started early after a very rough/brief nap experience and ugly behavior). i could never head out for a run at 8:30pm in california because it gets dark so much earlier and anthony works mostly evenings/nights while i solo parent. so that was awesomeness piece one.

awesomeness piece two was that i was in jogging distance to an incredible park surrounded by enormous mature trees, mostly pines (or some sort of coniferous tree) and oaks. there were four different baseball fields with adult co-ed softball games going on and one with a kickball game going on. there were people playing sand volleyball, basketball and tennis. there were kids at the playground and skaters at the skate ramps. there were runners and dog walkers and young lovers cuddled up on blankets taking it all in (which really made me miss my hubby). every person i passed smiled and said "hello".

i ran down a trail to get there and back and once i was in the park, i found a trail that led me down to the river. i sat on the dock for a few minutes and took in the beauty and serenity of the calm water before heading back around the park loop and home.

the air was clean and smelled like the sweetness of a forest. there were hills that made my legs hot and burned out my frustration with every step. all in all, i probably ran a little over two miles, not bad for my first time out in nearly a year. i felt strong and like i could have gone on, but didn't want to push it too far. i arrived home about 9:00pm... and it is still light out. i wish i had brought my camera with me to capture it all, but my memory will have to suffice. at least until next time.

i have never been happier to be back in oregon than i am right now.

oh... and my freaking amazing mom? yeah... she got my boy to sleep too. i love her. i can only hope that one day i will have the amount of love, patience, determination and kindness that she possesses.

gma and my tired babes. lilah left. i'm certain because alice likes to hold her hands up like that all the time. :)

gma and bug feeding fishy

gma and lilah at the park on one of our first days in oregon

gma and alice the afternoon we arrived!