At Last

This post is way past due, but better late then never. With Brian's new job he lived in Mt. Hood Oregon for the month of July. We decided that we would make our family trip of the year and go visit him for a week. To start the journey we piled into a van with 3 other kids (so in total we had 5 kids under 5) and my good friend Lisa (her husband is the owner of Surface Skis). Yes, we survived a 13 hour drive with all of them and they did much better then we expected. There were 3 stops of about 30 mins each, which I might add we were quite efficient at: potty break, lunch, gas and letting the kids get some energy out. We always knew when we were about 40 mins away from the next stop because the kids started getting riled up. It was actually quite fun, however I must admit that the scenery was not what I was expecting. It was more like driving through the middle of Wyoming. None the less, Oregon was beautiful! I also have to add that I now understand why people get vans. After spending that much time, and that many kids, it was so convenient.

Sorry this one is blurry, it was with my IPhone.

Our first day, Monday, we went into Portland and went to the Zoo and shopping. The Zoo was quite impressive. The kids loved it and it was a great way to wear them out after a day of driving. After which we went to this great little shopping strip. It was a lot of high end stores so of course no purchases made, but we had some great pizza.

Tuesday we ventured down to the Mt. Hood River. It's a cute little town with great little shops on Main Street. The river itself is huge! It was quite windy the day we went but the kids had fun playing on the beach. We had splurged and got them kites but it was so windy that we could get them out. However, the kite and wind surfer's were fun to watch. They hauled across the river and got some sweet air.

Finley and her friend Lohtse playing on the beach.

Even itty bitty had fun in the wind.

Wednesday we made the 2 1/2 hour drive to Cannon Beach. For those of you who don't know, this is part of where 'Goonies' was filmed. We stopped and walked through town, had a bite to eat (they have killer seafood!), then stopped and got some beach toys and streamers for the kids before hitting the beach. This little Kite store is one of the oldest in Oregon.

Surprising the beaches in Oregon are not what you expect. They have very cold water, and it's windy most of the time. Again though, the scenery is so pretty! The kids didn't care how cold it was, they played to their hearts content until we had to go. Finley and her little friends, Lohtse, Este and Tosh are so cute together. In fact, the three little girls look so much alike that from behind you couldn't tell who was who.

Eliza was not sure what to think of the cold water but smiled anyway.

Thursday we went to a lake nearby Mt. Hood (which in the volcano you can see in the background). I must point out also that Mt. Hood is where a lot of ski and snowboarder's go in the summer to coach and train. It's kind of funny to see big ski jumps and chair lifts up on the glacier's. Anyway, this lake was a lot of fun. Mike (owner of Surface) had bought a paddle board and so we took it out on the lake. We put each of the kids on it and the guys paddled them out and around. They loved it!

Finley and Este playing games on the IPod. They were so cute together!

Friday, the trek home. This time it was just Brian, the girls and I. I guess this trip wiped her out. It was so much fun and I'd love to go back! The food, company and time in general couldn't have been better. Thanks to our friends for letting us come and crash on part of their family vacation. Hopefully this living in Oregon for a month happens each year and I have a built in excuse to go on a vaca.