First day of school

It's that time of year again. On Monday morning Audrey and Isaac were ready to go, dressed in their new clothes from Grandma Arlene, excited to see their friends! Fourth grade and second grade, I can hardly believe it! I'm just glad they woke up on time, we had lots of extended family in town over the weekend for my Grandpa Vernon's funeral (I will post pictures and comments later this week) and were busy and up late until the last minute. I am happy to report they are enjoying their teachers so far and excited at what they are yet to learn!

Summer Road Trip - Final

We have so many pictures I could do three more posts, one for each day. But I'll pick the best ones for you to see! Tuesday (Aug 3) was Alli's last day off of work while we were there, so we decided to go somewhere none of us had been. We drove to Silver Falls State Park and hiked portions of the Trail of Ten Falls. The goes right up to most of the falls, even behind some of them! The top of South Falls (rt.). That's us behind the water! Lower South Falls. Checking out some fresh water snails in the river. Lower South Falls. Clark just couldn't stay awake for the whole trek. Our family at Upper North Falls. It was a fantastic day-trip!

Wednesday we had a relaxing day around town, visiting some of Ben's favorite places: a bread store, a game store, the elementary school where he works (along with some playtime on the playground), and the local library where we fed ducks in the pond outside. Thursday was our last day in Portland and we spent it with Ben and Clark at the zoo. Being members of the Chaffee Zoo, we got in free! One last ride on the MAX. I love visiting big cities with fantastic public transportation! We headed into Lorikeet Landing and fed the birds. The sea lion exhibit was cool! The otters got up close since their keepers were tossing their food right up against the glass. We love the zoo! Some water play-time in the front yard before dinner! We had such a great week with Ben, Alli, and Clark! We can't wait to visit again soon!

Summer Road Trip - Part 3

Monday (Aug 2) we spent the day at the Portland Children's Museum. This was a fantastic place for our family to visit! They have a water play room, a fully stocked pretend grocery store and café, a boat, a building room, and a dress-up theater complete with ticket booth. Violet had fun building with some giant logs while the older kids visited the "Build it" exhibit (for 6 and older). They got the chance to choose from a wall full of recycled materials and build their own "city scape". By the time we'd done all that it was time for lunch, and the kids' creations needed time to dry, so we hopped back on the MAX (right outside the Museum) and rode it in to downtown for lunch at Samurai food cart (fantastic Japanese food). We also took the kids to Pioneer Square to visit Caleb's brick (set there as a remembrance to my best friend's first son when he died). This was the first time for Randy or the kids to see the brick. It brought back memories of past trips to Portland for Audrey. She even requested to go back and see it once more before we went home. After that we wandered over to Powell's Books and sat in the Children's section for about an hour, browsing through the stacks. We gave each kid $5 to spend on used books...they each found 1 or 2 to their liking! Since the Build It exhibit closed at 4, we headed back to the Museum to pick up the kids' creations. The rest of the museum, however, was open until 5. So we let the kids play for another hour. Isaac having fun in the dig pit. Violet loved played veterinarian in the fully equipped animal hospital! After such a full day we headed back to Ben and Alli's and relax, play with Clark, and BBQ in the backyard!

Summer Road Trip - Part 2

The drive from Crater Lake to Portland wasn't bad at all. We got to my brother's house in time for dinner with the family. It had been a whole year since we had seen my nephew Clark. He'd gone from a long, skinny infant to a chubby, rough and tumble toddler that runs from room to room! The kids had so much fun with their cousin. Friday (our first full day in Portland) we rode the MAX (Portland's railway system) into downtown and ate a fantastic burrito and torta at a Mexican food cart, hopped on a streetcar south to Alli's work (OHSU), and then got a chance to ride the aerial tram up from the waterfront to the hospital. That is one neat ride! We actually got to do it twice since Alli works there and got us free tickets. You can see all of the waterfront (along the Willamette River) and over downtown Portland. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera. In the evening we went to a nearby park with a water-play area (pretty common in the Portland area) and let the kids run around in the water. Clark LOVES the water! He ran around, sticking his face, head, bum, whatever into the shooting fountains! Here's some pics of the evening. Saturday we ate our we through the Beaverton Farmers' Market...literally! We started the morning at Fetzer's German sausages, then made it over to Zest Crepes, for a yummy crepe filled with fresh cream and topped with fresh raspberries and orange zest! The kids had fun dancing to the music and getting balloons. We wandered through booths of milk, butter, baked goods (the marionberry pie was fabulous), blueberries, cherries, raspberries, chard, onions, beets, local cranberry juice, home-made tamales, local honey, jam, and so much more! Sunday we decided to take a day-trip to Cannon Beach, a short 90 minute drive from Portland. We stopped, of course, at Camp 18 for their gigantic cinnamon rolls. We spent a couple hours on the sand, playing, digging, and searching for sea-life in the tidepools around Haystack Rock. Clark not only loved to play in the sand... he wanted to eat the sand! And lots of it! After cleaning up the kids and putting on dry clothes, we wandered through the downtown area and stopped in at Bill's Tavern for fish and chips and some beer sampling (Blackberry Beauty was the fave). Three of the four kiddos slept on the ride home (can you guess which one stayed awake?), tired from a very fun day!

Summer Road Trip - Part 1

Let me first apologize to those of you that kept checking in during our two week vacation for updates and pictures. We were enjoying the break, the sights and sounds, and most of all, family! Considering I'm looking at 11 days and about 400+ pictures, I'll break it down into pieces.

We left our house on Tuesday morning, July 27, at 8 a.m. and managed to make it to Crater Lake National Park by 7 p.m. Aside from a brief, but intense hail storm just west of the park, we had great weather and enjoyed the trip, listening to music, drawing in our journals, and listening to The Silver Chair on CD. Wednesday was spent exploring the park. We stopped in at the Information Center first to pick up a map of the Rim Drive, some Jr. Ranger booklets for the kids, and a checklist of birds and animals seen in the park for Randy to look out for! We drove the entire rim of the lake, stopping at multiple lookouts for pictures, small hikes, and lunch. We made it to Rim Village by 4 p.m. and the kids turned in their now-finished booklets to earn a Jr. Ranger badge. Then they completed an activity to earn a patch as well. We headed back to the campsite for dinner but then drove back to Cloudcap Lookout to watch the sun set over the lake. Randy brought our Coleman stove with us and we made s'mores while we watched the sun descend. Not quite as gooey, but still yummy! Here's a couple more pics from the day. The east side of the lake, overlooking Phantom Ship. North side of the lake, looking towards Wizard Island. Thursday morning we woke up, packed up, and hit the road again! We left the park from the north entrance and stopped for lunch at Susan Creek Recreation area to look at the gorgeous North Umpqua River, and even put in our feet for awhile! Next stop...Portland!