Portland 2009 - Part Three

The next morning we went to the Portland Saturday Market. It's the largest continually operating outdoor arts and crafts market in the nation. Lots of cool things to look at and lots of good food. Julia bought a small mermaid doll and a new tutu. She also got a balloon pony made for her.


Our next stop was to the Lloyd Center, a large mall. We weren't interested in shopping, we wanted to surprise Julia with the indoor ice skating rink that is there.

After that we headed back to the hotel and scrounged up some supper for Julia. Then Ember and I went out to pick up some Thai food for the three of us.

Sunday morning we went to the Oregon Zoo, just a few minutes from our hotel. The price was right since our membership to the Minnesota Zoo worked to get us in there too. Julia did some kidding around on a statue.

She also measured her wingspan against an eagle's.

We thought Grandpa Dayton might appreciate this picture of Julia by some bee boxes.


We did a little horsing around at the zoo.

One of the coolest things we did at the zoo was to let some lories drink juice from a cup that we were holding. At one point I had two on my hand and one on my head.





After a bird show, Julia was brave and gave a vulture a small donation. The vulture took the dollar out of her hand and dropped it in the box.

After the zoo we explored around our hotel on foot where we grabbed an afternoon bite to eat and some fancy chocolate. That evening we hung out at the hotel and ordered pizza.

Check this link to see more pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028909&id=1074972765&l=849f73abd7

Portland 2009 - Part Two

We got up Friday morning, walked down to a little coffee shop a block from our motel, and then took our drinks with us for an early morning walk on beach.


Then we took advantage of the saltwater swimming pool at the motel and went for a dip.


When Mandy and I were last in Oregon together we really enjoyed exploring tide pools, so we thought we would try to find some for Julia to see too. We checked the local tide times and then headed to Oceanside where we thought we had a good chance of finding some tide pools while the tide was out. We kind of struck out on finding any decent tide pools, but we found a beach that was pretty neat. There was a tunnel on one end of the beach that went straight through the rocky cliff and onto another beach that was only accessible through the tunnel. Three of us, Mandy, Torey, and Julia wrote our names in the sand.

On the bottom of the picture is the entrance to the tunnel.


And this is the exit on the other end.







We found this little indented cave area. Ember walked in to take a look and then yelled out that it was gross. I went in to take a look and sure enough, lots of gross looking bugs.


After saying goodbye to the Pacific Ocean, we headed inland and went back to Portland. We checked into our hotel there (I was also very impressed with this one) and then went out for supper. Afterward we went to Powell's.

Check this link to see more pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028742&id=1074972765&l=e1b28fab8c

Portland 2009 - Part One

Part one of the the chronicles of our vacation to visit Ember in Portland.

I felt a little sad telling Finn goodbye on Wednesday morning before I left for a half of a day at work. To him, I'm sure it felt like a normal ol' day of Daddy leaving for work, but I knew that Mandy's mom was going to be whisking him away for time with the grandparents, so I wouldn't see him for almost a week. When Mandy was putting Finn in the car seat he said "Ju-Ju car seat?" because even though we explained it to him several times, his two-year-old mind really didn't understand the full implications of the trip, i.e. Julia wasn't going with him.

The flight from MSP to PDX went really well. Julia got to sit by the window and she thought it was pretty cool when we started moving. Soon after takeoff Mandy and I wanted to see if she was handling it ok, but Julia was peering out the window so we couldn't see her face. Mandy asked her how it was going and Julia said, "I'm smiling!" Julia got a little bit bored on the three and a half hour flight, but didn't complain and when we landed she said, "That was awesome!" and said she wanted to do it again. I told her that we'll have a vacation first, then we'll do it again.

Here she is sampling the complimentary cookies and pretzels while sipping some juice.


Ember took the light-rail to the airport to meet us when we landed and that was really cool. Then we got our rental car and drove to Ember and Kevin's house to stay the first night. Julia found some time to color and tried a few times to coax out the shy kitty. The next morning the four of us got on our way to the coast after a homemade breakfast by Kevin.


As we wound our way closer to the coast we stopped at Munson Falls, home to the second tallest waterfall in Oregon. The trail was a short hike but it was beautiful scenery. We saw a banana slug making its way slowly across the trail. I asked Julia if she thought it would taste like a banana, but she didn't want to find out. This specimen was probably 5-6 inches long. Along the path, we passed an older couple, some of the handful of other people at the falls at the same time as us. They noticed Mandy's UWRF sweatshirt and said that they were from the Twin Cities (later that evening, while eating at a restaurant for supper, another couple talked to Mandy about her sweatshirt – they were from Milwaukee).







After that we headed out and finished the last few miles to the coast. After stopping at the Tillamook Cheese Factory (the cheese curds were decent, the ice cream was really good) we headed to the Cape Meares Lighthouse. There were some spectacular views from high on the rocky cliffs jutting out into the Pacific. Julia climbed the steep lighthouse steps and seemed pretty interested in how the huge light worked at the top. On a side trail was the Octopus Tree.






Next we headed north to Rockaway Beach to find our oceanside motel. I was really pleased with the place, especially that it was right on the beach. Our window faced the ocean and so I left it open at night so we could hear the surf all night.

Check out this link for more pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028621&id=1074972765&l=9e180ab4d1

Plants Eat Pizza!

My dream is partially realized! Next step: lawn mowing!

All that hard work can tucker a kid out. I'm not sure what Finn's excuse is though.

I was home alone with four kids ages two, three, four, and four (for about twenty minutes...). I told them all to stare at the dot on the wall and to not move. It worked SO good!

Julia attended a three-day dance camp called "Faeries and Dragons". On the last day they put on a little show. Julia was decked out with a fairy wreath, wings, and face paint and sparkles.


Since she's starting kindergarten in the fall, Julia really wanted to get a desk for her bedroom (she thinks she's going to have homework). We got one for her this weekend at a local thrift store. She's really excited about it and has already filled up most of the drawers with art supplies.


Here is Finn feigning shock that he somehow got a barrette in his hair.

I couldn't think of a title for the blog post, so I asked Julia what to call it.

A Fun Finish to a Special Week

Alexis and I are sitting at the computer together to add one last blog post to our fun filled week in River Falls. It adds a different dynamic to our house having a teenager around! :) Alexis says that we should just wait a couple more years...then we'll have two of our own! I guess that working at a middle school should have me prepared by then. At least that's what I tell myself. Really though, it has been a lot of fun having my youngest cousin stay with us for a little while during the summer again. Being the oldest of the cousins on that side of the family, I haven't had an opportunity to spend much time over the years with cousins. I'm pretty glad that Alexis was willing to stay with us again. She's a pretty special girl! (As she would say..."in many different ways.") HA!

This morning, we got up kind of early to go to church. I should clarify, we normally go to church at 8:30am, but Alexis tends to wake up closer to 11am, so it was an early morning for HER. (Just picture us sitting here giggling...)

Then, we drove to the MOA. The plan was to arrive around 10:30am because that's when the rides at Nickelodeon Universe (formerly Camp Snoopy) open. Interestingly, we actually got there about 10 minutes early! Pretty cool! We purchased unlimited ride wristbands for the 3 kids. A little pricey, but at the end of the day, it was totally worth it! Check out a few pics:

Swiper's Sweeper was the first ride we tried out. Since Finn is only 36" he was able to have a chaperone ride for free, so Torey and I were able to get in on the fun for a few rides too.


The traditional carousel ride of course -

I'm not sure if I'd be classified as a bad parent while Julia was on this ride with Alexis, because I couldn't help but giggle. She had a look of fear and surprise on her face and her pigtails were flopping up and down. Poor kid. It probably would have been easier for her had she seen someone else ride it first.

At the end of our afternoon, I asked the kids if they'd like to go on the Log Chute (water ride). Alexis sat in front, followed by Julia, Finn, and yours truly. It has been quite some time since I've been on this ride and I happen to be the one who let out the biggest scream on the first drop/splash sequence of the ride. Jeez. After the ride was done, Julia asked if we could do it again! We did! And I didn't scream the second time. :)

We're nearing the end of our special time together. I get to drive Alexis part way home - we're going to meet her mom at Norske Nook for some pie. Not too shabby!

I hope that you have enjoyed your week as much as we have.

For Duane

We've been talking about taking the kids bowling for the first time for awhile now. Amanda's cousin Alexis is staying with us a for a few days so we thought that that would be a good activity for all of us to go and do. We decided to stay in town and go to St. Croix Lanes since we had gotten a few "free games of bowling" coupons from the River Falls Days parade.

I checked out their website to double-check their hours a little while before we were going to leave. I noticed right away that Green Bay Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings was going to be at the bowling alley for a few hours at the same time as we were going to be there. I'll admit, my first thought was, "Great, there's going to be a ton of people there and we won't be able to enjoy the bowling." Don't get me wrong, I'm a Packers fan and enjoy watching them, but not a die-hard. And since my kids aren't really old enough to care too much, I just hoped they would still have a good time bowling for the first time.

The bowling opened at 11:00 and the event was set to start at noon, so we were on the 7th frame or so when 12 o'clock rolled around. There was a nice turnout and a lot of Packers jerseys. Greg Jennings arrived and was introduced as being there to support a youth bowling league. He then spoke for a few minutes and said that he would try to mingle around with everyone, but he was here mainly for the kids. I was glad to see that he was a total class act. He immediately was going around and joking, high-fiving, hand-shaking, and bowling a frame here and there. There were a lot of nicely posed pictures with kids too.

Greg was moving over into the area where we were bowling and Amanda and I briefly conferred and agreed that if the kids got their picture taken with him, good, if not, not a big deal. There were a lot of people there who were really excited and there just to see him and so we didn't want to cut into their time. Well he did stop over by us and since my father-in-law (that's Duane) is a huge follower of sports and the Packers, I knew we should get a picture.



After a few snaps of the camera he stood by us for several minutes chatting. He asked about each of the kids and said how he's got two of his own too. He commented about us getting one of each, a boy and a girl, and that he's got two daughters. He said that the kids looked like Amanda and I joked that that was a good thing and he laughed and said that he hoped his daughters looked more like his wife too.

So in the end it was a really cool experience and it'll surely be a little more fun watching Packer games this upcoming season since we have that personal connection to a player.