Family Tradition

Somehow, it's already early November. The leaves have turned, the days are becoming shorter, and as much as it pains me to say, stores have Christmas displays up. And this year, early November also means that Micah and I are filling our backpacks with dri-fit clothes, sunscreen, and snorkel gear as we prepare to embark on another, although much shorter than our previous, journey. Before we get there though, I'll relive the last month with a few words and a few pictures.

In an attempt to always keep it fresh and re-awaken my blogging ability, I'm going to update you in a slightly different fashion. Since we returned to the Portland area in late August, our families have been our focus. They are the reason we settled here for the past two+ months, they are the reason that we're able to live the carefree (and mooching) lifestyle that we choose to live, and they are the reason that we plan to someday plant roots in Portland. They will be how I tell you about our events over the last month.

The Smetanas
My parents live just over an hour north of Portland; they moved to the PNW 6 months after I did, back in 2009. As you are all aware, my sister (Angela), her husband (Osman), and their almost 4 year old (Kaiden) flew from Nicaragua at the end of August with the intent of Angela delivering her second child here in the states. All went smooth and Dominic Albert arrived on September 27th.

 Osman, Kaiden and Dominic

Meeting his baby brother

This family of four is staying up at my parent's house, living in their basement (it runs in the family), and so for the past two months, Micah and I drive back and forth between two and three times per week. The days at my parent's house are lively, since Kaiden talks/sings/hums/laughs non-stop, and full of great meals, as I'm blessed with two parents who enjoy spoiling their children with good cooking.

The entire Smetana family had a few reasons to get together in the past month. In mid-October my brother (Mikie) proposed to his girlfriend; Dominic was baptized; and we celebrated Mikie and Osman's birthdays, both in October. For Osman's birthday present, Micah and I took him to the Portland Timbers versus Costa Rica Soccer Match; he may have been the biggest fan there only by default of his hate towards Costa Rica.

3 Smetana kids, 3 significant others, 3 offspring and grandparents

When I root I root for the Timbers!

On two occasions, Micah and I braved the elements and babysat the Nicaraguan kiddos. We borrowed Kaiden for an overnight trip which included the museum, pizza and a slumber party at Micah's dad's house, and the muddy pumpkin patch. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry was featuring space and astronauts as their main exhibit, which pleased Kaiden... but was only his second favorite to the train he rode inside the Vancouver mall. We also took on the 4 week old Dominic so his parents and other uncle and aunt could enjoy a dinner on the town. Despite the fact that my sister conveniently forgot to pack his binky, we all survived the night.

 Tractor ride around the pumpkin patch

Admiring his Tio

On Halloween, we stayed up North at my parent's house to observe Kaiden's first Halloween experience. Dressed as a dinosaur with a clown wig, he struggled a bit with the concept of when to say "trick or treat" and when to say "thank you", but the night was a success with a heavy bag of candy by the end of it. And it only took 6 adult assistants to accomplish this.

Family Halloween Selfie

The Hoelters
Micah and I cashed in on our 2015 Christmas present to his 4 nephews and 1 niece by taking them to an indoor water park for the day. I'm not sure we thought this plan through very well. We had 2 kids in life jackets and 1 other that we definitely had to keep an eye on for his swimming skills, and the 2 oldest were pretty independent. I feared for all their lives for the first hour, as Micah and I played zone defense, coaxing the kids to stay relatively near each other so they were all in sight. After the first hour, we eased into our game a bit more and had a blast. We unintentionally used the buddy system and in pairs, would run up the multiple flights of stairs to whiz down the large and winding slides. In the late afternoon, there were no lines and so the only thing that stopped us (Micah and I) were how tired our legs got from running stairs.

 snack break at the water park

 preparing their train in the wave pool

Jackson and Sarah getting ready for the slide

Micah's dad, Mark, turned 70 at the end of September. This was a great excuse to get together with Micah's three brothers and their wives along with Mark for dinner at a popular Brazilian restaurant in town. The brothers capped the celebration off with taking Mark to Top Golf, a driving range + bar for the modern age. Tarah (for lack of longer explanation to those who don't know, Tarah is Micah's youngest brother's wife and also happens to be my best friend since I was 15) and I were volunteered to babysit two of the nephews while the boys golfed. Babysitting consisted of Tarah and I sitting on a bench at a park while the two boys dug around in mud looking for worms and then viciously murdering the worm, often after coo-ing over how cute the worm was. We were nothing short of entertained.

The majority of our time in Portland, we live in Tarah and Lucas' basement. If it weren't for these two, our belongings would be in some far away, musty storage shed and we'd be sleeping in our car. We try to show our gratitude for their kindness with home cooked meals and afternoons of fetch with their dog, but we really just enjoy getting to spend our limited time with them. The past few birthday and holidays, Tarah and I have opted out of present giving and enjoy a girls only weekend. This year, we spent a night in Long Beach, WA, with a romantic walk on the beach, long conversations, and a meal at the rooftop restaurant.


Along with so much family time, a good majority of the past month was spent earning a paycheck to pay for our next vacation. I'm still doing fill-in work for the company I previously worked for in Portland and am enjoying the non-permanence that comes with it. Despite the fact that our calendar is  light with work and commitments, we manage to feel busy driving between homes and soaking up as much family and friend time as possible. We have been able to check multiple things off our "wedding to-do list", and are currently enjoying all that planning a wedding entails.

At a friend's wedding on the Portland Spirit (boat on the Willamette River)

With that being said and all we feel we have accomplished in the month, we are ready to hit the road. In 5 hours, we will board a plane and then board another plane that will eventually drop us off in Roatan, Honduras. If you had asked us last year, I don't believe either of us would have said we'd be returning to our favorite snorkeling spot this soon, but yet, here we are. I'd like to say that the budget travelers in us couldn't sit still, the baleadas were calling us, and we miss the chicken busses terribly- although there is a bit of truth to this, it is not the reason we're putting our packs back on. It's just that the plane ticket to the island of Roatan cost as much as the ticket to Managua did so how could we pass that up!? Per usual, we have nothing booked or planned, but we know that we will spend multiple afternoons in the Caribbean Sea, wash our clothes in the hostel sink, and eventually ride across Honduras to reacquaint ourselves with my sister and her family who are now waiting for us back at Gran Pacifica.

Buen viejo!