Summer, week 5

This was our vacation week, so this post will be short!

Monday-Friday:  See vacation posts.

Saturday:  Since we didn't get home until after midnight, we were sleepy heads this morning.  I had an HOA board meeting at 10 AM, and thankfully I set my alarm for 9:15 just in case, because I needed it.  I left the whole family snoozing!  The board meeting lasted about 1.5 hours and I chatted with my friend Cindy for another hour after that.  The rest of the day was SO nice... getting back into the swing of being home, doing laundry, unpacking, chilling out... that's what we did!  And it was really hard to go to bed that night at a reasonable time- the jet lag was in full force for all of us.


Sunday: We headed to church this morning.  The girls and I ran some errands afterwards, and Stephen and Parker ran some together.  Stephen took the girls to a friend's pool to practice more swimming for Taylor.  That evening, our across-the-street neighbor had us and our next door neighbors over for dinner.  The kids played, we hung out, and had a fun time!  (But another late night.. seriously, darn jet lag!)

Summer Vacay, Day 4

Stephen is officially on vacation today!  Woohoo!  We woke up this morning around 6:30, got ready, ate breakfast, checked out, and left Redmond around 8:30 AM.  We were headed for Portland, Oregon!  The trip was about 3 hours from Redmond (maybe 2.5 hours from Seattle), so it wasn't too terrible, but not a completely easy trek.  The kids were DVD-less, so I made sure they were stocked with crayons, coloring books, reading books, stickers, snacks, and more!

Thankfully, our trip to Oregon was adventure-less.  We stopped for a pizza lunch in Vancouver, Washington, and then did a little side-trip to Corbett, OR- a little town about 30 minutes east of Portland.  This city boasts the Vista House, an octagonal castle-like rest area at the start of the Columbia River Gorge region.  Lewis and Clark used the Columbia River as a guide to follow to reach the Pacific way back in the day.  The view. was. beautiful.!!  Jaw dropping.  I'm so thankful that we made this trip today.  (We were going to go on Thursday, but the Thursday forecast was bleak, and I read that you need a clear day to really get a good view.  So, we squeezed it in on Wednesday!)

After exploring the Vista House and taking some pictures of the beautiful scenery, we got back in the car and drove to Portland.  Our first stop there was Washington Park, a ginormous inner city park.  We first visited the playground.  The kids were having a great time until this other kid started chasing them, making growling monster noises.  At one point, Taylor ran over to us crying, thinking he might really be a monster.  The kid was actually pretty sweet, he came over to check on her, and we got to talking.  His name was Vladimir.  Vladimir kept chasing them, and finally Sydney said, "Mommy, I want to go to the hotel!"  I took the point and we got ready to leave.  (We still joke about Vladimir)  We went on a little hike on a trail, which was fun.  Then, we went to the International Rose Garden, still in Washington Park.  This was a beautiful area with... I know you'd never guess it... roses!  Rows and rows of roses.  The kids had fun running around, smelling the roses (literally), and we then decided to head to the hotel.

Running for dear life.

There's Vladimir chasing Parker.

Another cool mountain- Mt. Hood.

Our hotel in Portland was right smack downtown, not in the suburbs like in Seattle.  Downtown Portland was very unique.  The buildings looked like they hadn't changed since the 1970s, except for the designer shops that have filled them.  We used the valet (didn't have a choice at this hotel, kind of nice but also a little annoying), got checked in, got settled, and then headed out to walk around and grab some dinner!

The view from our hotel.

Portland is home to a ton of food trucks.

We settled back in the hotel for the night!

Here's day 5!

Summer Vacay, Day 3

Day 3:

Stephen didn't have any meetings until after lunch, so he got to hang with us this morning!  We actually slept in a little later this morning, waking up around 6:30.  We ate breakfast, got ready, and then headed into the city!

Our first stop was to the Argosy Harbor Boat Tour, right on the waterfront in the city.  This was part of the City Pass, and it was a 1 hour "cruise" around the Puget Sound.  There was a tour group leader who talked about all the sites and the history of places as we were sailing by.  It was a cool and very different way to spend our morning.  

Can you spot the kiddos?

After the cruise, we walked to the Pike Place Market.  A little side note about this market: apparently, this place is a big deal.  I have the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die and the only site listed in Seattle in this book is the Pike Place Market.  The USA Men's Soccer team recently played a game in Seattle and took a group picture in front of this market.  There's a lot to do and see there, so we were excited about going.  The only problem?  We ended up here right at lunch time.  It was a complete mad house!  It was a bit stressful maneuvering our way among this multi-storied market with thousands of people and 3 kids (one in a stroller).  Plus, it smelled really badly of fish, and my kids were disgusted.  We were going to eat here, but decided to walk back to the waterfront to find a restaurant there.  We didn't get to see what all the fuss was about, but I bet this place is pretty cool at, say, 8 AM. ;)

Stephen left us after lunch to head to his meeting.  The kids and I went to the aquarium, right on the waterfront, and another City Pass attraction!  The kids weren't really into the aquarium, so we did the whole thing in less than an hour.  It was just eh.  Maybe we're spoiled here in Atlanta with our awesome aquarium.  

The best part about the aquarium- the view outside!

After the aquarium, we walked on the waterfront for a bit, checked out the views, got some ice cream, and bought some souvenirs.  

Stephen picked us up around 3:30 today, so we decided to head back to Redmond, near our hotel, and go to a nearby park called Marymoor Park.  The kids played on the playground and Stephen and I got to sit and chat.

We decided to stay in tonight, eating (free) dinner at the concierge lounge at the hotel.  The kiddos and I were pretty tired.  We packed up our stuff and called it a night around 8 PM.  Tomorrow morning is... Portland!

Sitting on the deck of the lounge.

Wanna read about day 4?