Columbia River Gorge

We drove today into the Columbia River Gorge and are staying in a small town just inside the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. It is so beautiful here. So lush you feel cradled by the greenery. We passed waterfalls so tall and slender, they looked like tangles of spiderweb. And this town, Corbett, is perfect--interesting and quaint, but it doesn't seem deliberately so. We just missed the community breakfast this weekend at the fire department. It's a 20-30 minute drive into Portland, but that's fine. I love it here.

From the reactions I've received to the blog, I realize that I have given an incomplete picture of our time on the road. Rhonda often said that Gloria was acting out because she craved more of my attention. I started the trip with the naive idea that, when she had all my attention, Gloria would be less defiant and out of control. Okay, I wasn't thinking clearly. If anything, she is more defiant and unruly than ever. I suspect it's a combination of not having sufficient structured exercise and becoming so secure in my attention--she has me no matter what.

On night, when she would not lie down, was squealing, laughing, throwing the quilts on the floor, and getting her sister very riled up in the process, by 10:30, she had lost her blanket, her pillow, and had to spend a few minutes lying on the floor instead of the bed. She didn't like that, so we finally had a talk and she settled down.

On our marathon day of driving, the girls were amusing themselves by talking, laughing, screaming and squealing and making various animal sounds. After several hours of this, I was feeling a little on edge and asked them to use quiet voices for a while or to play a quiet game. No response. I ask again, and Gloria tries. Noni, if anything, gets louder and acts like she can't hear me. Some of you have seen her suddenly lose her hearing this way. Finally, I say loudly, "Noni, just HUSH please!" Apparently, that hurt her feelings, and she bursts into tears and cries "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" until my head is going to explode.

So there are times that I think working long hours is not all bad. But being with them all the time is not as hard as I thought it would be. We have a rhythm together that generally works, painful as it is when we get out of sync.

By the way, if you want to see some of the wildlife that the girls fell in love with in Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, check out Papa and Grandma's blog at http://farrisjourney.blogspot.com.