Pacific Northwest-Part 2

Sunday we had hoped to stop off at Mt. Rainer but unfortunately the traffic was horrible, so we just end up going straight to our airbnb rental for the evening.  The house we stayed in was huge and the kids had plenty of space to run around.

Monday we headed to downtown Seattle to take in Pike's Market and a seafood lunch/dinner.  I love downtown Seattle, especially the water front.  Of course I had to show the kids the gum wall; nasty!

Our main reason for visiting Seattle was to see the Boston Red Sox play!  Unfortunately they didn't play too well on the night we were there.  Troy, Becky and a few of the boys went to the third game of the series and they did win. 

Tuesday we went to Marni and Tims home.  We all enjoyed combing the beach.  The weather was outstanding the entire time we were there. 

We spent a lot of time relaxing and the kids ran themselves out for the 2 1/2 days were were there!  We did enjoy a day in Poulsbo where we were introduced to a lovely store full of licorice.

This trip didn't disappoint.  We had such a great time and look forward to our next pacific NW trip in the future.

Pacific Northwest-Part 1

Troy's family, mom, dad and I left town last Friday headed along the Oregon Trail to Portland.  Tyler and family were suppose to go with us, but a case of Hand Foot and Mouth stopped them in their tracks and we forbid the illness to travel with us.

Our first stop along the trail was in Huntington, which is not far from the Oregon boarder.  I had read that there was a fun candy corner, well to our uttermost surprise and major disappointment for the kids, the red walled candy corner is now the "real candy corner" aka the weed store.  Despite the disappointment, we still enjoyed this adorable one street town.  And it was a nice little break for the kids to run around.

Next stop Pendleton. We had hoped to enjoy a factory tour, but got there right in the middle of it and we didn't want to wait for the next one.  They did have a huge store, but the prices were a little steep.  Even better was the awesome little museum and the hometown hamburger joint.

We arrived in Hood River around dinner time.  The air was crisp and the wind helped the kite surfers who were all over the river.  We enjoyed watching them as well as the beautiful boats.

Instead of going the freeway from here to Portland we took the Fruit Loop, which is 35 miles of beautiful orchards surrounding the gorgeous Mt. Hood.  We even took in a very short hike.  We were a little disappointed that all of the markets closed at 5.

Tony and Erin flew into Portland that evening and we all rested well for our next very full day in Portland.  It is crazy that we live so close, but have never really explored this city.  We agreed that we want to return to the city sometime when we have more time.  This is an awesome city with many parks (where you have to pay for parking which is so stupid, even though we couldn't find a parking spot), museums and fun, delicious restaurants.

We loved our very fun, slightly warm walk to this incredible waterfall!

Our real purpose for going to Portland was to visit my mom's 92 year old Aunt Gene which we did on Sunday.  She still looks like she did 30 years ago.  I remember the many times she would come to visit and bring her grandsons.  We always had such a great time.

Rodeo Week

I went home on July 11.  We had such a great week.  It was rodeo week.  We attended the horse parade, the buckaro breakfast and the rodeo.  It's one of my most favorite weeks.

 We also went to the mountains to see 7 Brides for 7 Brothers which I love.

Of course we also had some pool days.

Grandma Betty also enjoyed watching the kids swim.  I loved watching dad walk her home.