A Summer Vacation in Oregon!

Our Summer trip to Oregon every year is always a barrel of fun. It is a mix of keeping kids under control and parents (and grandparents) sane. But, for the most part, this year was great! The kids were old enough to play with each other and fend for themselves. Why then was I so exhausted at the end of the day? Oh, because they (meaning mostly all 3 girls) got up at the butt crack of dawn with the sun! YIKES! It was either that my children didn't get the whole time change thing, or they just couldn't wait to play with each other. My sister brought her amazing camera, so I am sure in the future I will post some of the amazing pictures that she took of my family and such...hopefully sooner than later (hint hint to you Lora). Well, I will let the pictures lead the way.

I only got one really good picture of the Oscar man. (Lora got a handful too, so I am sure you will see him in a future OR blog). Oscar LOVES Brookie...they are kindred spirits (except that Brooke thinks that he is a bit overwhelming at this moment in time). He made this amazing space ship with his legos. He is really creative. He also made some amazing pictures for Jason and I that I will also post on a later blog. I think he will be artistic like my sister. Livy is getting so big! She LOVES to be the babysitter and would follow Brooke all around the house. It was fabulous not to have to worry about Brooke the whole trip. We nicknamed her "The Wanderer" because she just wandered all around my parent's 2200 square foot house and mastered the stairs with ease. Tori and Livy were besties the WHOLE time we were there. They played all day long together. It was adorable. It just made me want to live closer to Lora so that our kids would know each other better. SAD DAY!


On Monday we took the kids to this inflatable gym. Last time Tori was a little bit skeptical of it all (like Brooke was this time) and wouldn't go on hardly any of the inflatables (although Brooke is a little bit more adventurous and tried out just about everything appropriate for her age). This time Tori was all over it (except for the gargantuan slide). I took a lot of pictures of Tori conquering this big inflatable obstacle course. She finally did it all by herself (even climbing the 12 foot wall). Later that day we went on a walk by Fanno Creek (a walk that Lora and I would take quite frequently when we were younger). Another fun little outing all photographed by Lora and will be seen in the future.
The next day we went to the park near the Rose Garden. We packed a picnic for the munchkins and off we went. They played for about an hour and then we had a picnic. Needless to say they had a blast. This was another outing photographed by Lora. (Did I mention that Lora is taking photography lessons and that she is getting good...and that she took like 1000 pictures of all of us while we were in Oregon!)

What is a visit to Portland without a little Voodoo? We had a sampling of six different donuts on Friday morning. (Jason and Jake joined the entourage on Thursday night). Friday morning Jake went and bought us some Voodoo doughnuts. YUMMY! I didn't get a picture of all of the doughnuts, but here are the girls devouring theirs!


Friday morning we went to the beach. It was a magnificent day. Sunny and in the upper 60's! It was a dream! Our first stop, of course, was the Tillamook Cheese Factory for some lunch and ice cream. YUMMY! The bottom picture looks like Brooke is taking a bite of my ice cream, but she was just pretending!
Rockaway Beach, OR

Did I not tell you this was the most beautiful day for the beach?! It was clear and gorgeous! This was Brooke's first visit to the ocean and she went right to the water with Uncle Jake. She wasn't scared at all and the water was freezing! (Make sure you click on the pictures so you can see them bigger!) Tori was all about the water and the waves to this time and like a crazy little girl she wanted her swim suit on!


Brooke got soaked by the waves, but of course we brought a change of clothes. She warmed up with Uncle Jake and in about 15 minutes she was in the water again and soaked up to her thighs! (Lora took a million pictures at the beach too, so you will see those in the future).


This was Tori's first sand castle making adventure. She was all over it. Uncle Jake dug a huge hole and the girls filled it with water to make a swimming pool! Jason and Oscar were on the architecture of the whole thing. They had a blast and they got sand in all of the crevices of their body! YIKES!


While the older kids were making sand castles Brookie roamed around and played in the water with Grandpa Lee. She picked up about a dozen little rocks. We kept one that she picked out with Jason so that she could remember her first trip to the ocean.
As always...all good things must come to an end. I really miss Lora and I really hope that we will live next to each other in the near future. I really want my kids to know their cousins. It was so wonderful to spend time with family! I cannot wait until September when Lora will come and visit our little new munchkin and take pictures of her! Thanks Mom and Dad for sharing your home and we will see you in August!