Last week our family packed up and headed out for another adventure. This time it was a family trip up to Portland and Seattle to visit the various friends and family who have settled in that area. Last year I took a trip up there with Nathaniel and a very tiny Aaron and decided that it was definitely a trip to take with the hubby as well.
He was happy to take part in the trip this time around.
We flew in Monday evening and stayed in Portland until Friday morning, then drove up to Seattle to visit my brother and another friend. On Sunday morning we headed out of Seattle area (Silverdale) back down to Portland to catch our flight. It was a whirlwind visit, but it was awesome!
Tuesday we spent with our friends the Weavers just hanging out. Jen is on bed rest for the final weeks of her pregnancy so we just hung out with her and let our kids play together.
They live in family housing at Multnomah Bible College and the community has an open courtyard where all of the kids run around and play together. That is what our kids did while we just sat and visited. VERY relaxing and fun (although I didn’t take any pictures of that day).
On Wednesday we headed up to Multnomah Falls with my friend Marcie (whom we stayed with while we were in Portland). She has a daughter who is two months older than Aaron so it was fun to hang out and let the kiddos play near each other. The hike up the falls was nice (although it was slow going with a 3 year old who was distracted by every single stick and rock along the way).
The falls are beautiful! I enjoyed every minute of our hike and sight seeing there. Here are a few pics.
On Thursday we used our Santa Ana Zoo passes to get into the Portland Zoo for free (woo!). We took Nathaniel’s friend, Zeke, with us and enjoyed the beautiful day walking around with our friends. It’s always nice to watch Nathaniel play with good friends, and it seems like Zeke and Nathaniel are cut from the same fabric because they get each other. They have similar senses of humor and both know when to leave the other one alone so they can have “me” time. Needless to say, we were worn out by the end of that day.
Friday we managed to take almost five hours to get up to Bellevue (which is right next to Seattle) to visit our friends Ben and Jen and their new baby, Alex. Traffic was terrible when we hit the city. Combine that with a couple of potty breaks and it makes for a long day. It was great to see our friends though. They showed us a beautiful garden/park right next to their apartment complex. Then, we ate a quick dinner and headed over to the ferry to get to my brother’s house. I wish we had more time to visit with Ben and Jen, but we needed to get our kids into bed.
Finally, we hung out with my brother and his family all day Saturday. Friday night was a rough night for the boys. For some reason, Aaron was crying most of the night. He was so tired but would cry, fall asleep mid-cry, and then jerk himself awake and continue crying. Somewhere around 4am I heard Nathaniel start crying saying, “I puked! I puked!” So, I ran to where he was sleeping and, sure enough, he had puked. I hustled him into the bathroom and started the clean up process when he started crying again, “I pooped!” Yup. Total poop as well (thank goodness I had put him in a Pull Up before bed since he still occasionally has accidents at night and I didn’t want to have him pee someone else’s bed). So, between the hours of 4 and 7 Sam and I were up with a puking kid and a crying baby. Luckily, everyone settled down around 7 and we were able to sleep until 10am.
Needless to say, we didn’t go anywhere on Saturday. We hung out in our jammies and did laundry while Nathaniel’s digestive track settled down (he was sick all morning). Sam and James took Aaron on a quick trip to the store and he managed to completely fill his pants (and socks, and shoes and shirt and car seat…) with poop as well. Ugh. But, it was all cleaned up and we had two very tired and “empty” boys by the end of the day.
What was great was watching Nathaniel play with his cousin Bryan all day long. Bryan is 5 and they are finally at the age where they will play with each other (and not fight). All day long I heard laughs and giggles as they played games together.
That night they all had a “camp out” in my niece, Brianna’s room where my sister in law told stories with shadow puppets. All night I kept hearing Bryan say, “I don’t want them to go home!” I agree, we didn’t want to leave either. I totally miss having family near by and wish my kids could know their cousins well as they grow up.
Overall, it was a great trip. We got home yesterday evening and this week we have to hit the ground running, but it was worth it.
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