Oregon Trip Day 7

The beach house was wonderful and beautiful and left little to be desired.

Arcade machines and a wii were the big hits for the little kids.

Massage chair (that I never tired because of the way people cringed when using it) and hot tub were a hit with the big kids.

Brian's birthday was a week before the trip, so we celebrated it now that we are all together.

of course, Andy has no clothes on. Surprise, surprise.

The big kids (my siblings and I) planned to go out to a karaoke bar to celebrate.

Would that not have been hilarious?!

A karaoke bar in a vacation town?

We were thrilled with the anticipation of being greeting by all kinds of crazy. Plus I had my harem pants on and everyone agreed that I must request "Can't Touch This" . And just because I know you are all singing it in your heads right now, go ahead and play this

l;;

kareoke bar- check!

Hammer pants- check!

dance moves- check!

kids in bed....

The last thing to do before I could break it down like Hammer was get the kids to bed...

and...

I fell asleep.

ah!

It happens all the time at home when I put the kids to sleep, so I should have been better prepared to fight it off. I woke up a few hours later. Brian and Dad were chatting it up in the hot tub, Chris and Andrea were watching a movie, Ben and Erica were putting their kids to sleep. Mom was watching a movie. Mike was playing with his kids.

I knew the opportunity had passed, but because of it, others opened up... so maybe not such a bad thing. (at least that's what I told myself when I realized I crashed our plans)

Next time guys! And I will make sure to bring Hammer pants for everyone!

On to bigger and brighter things.

We spent our last full day at the beach, of course.

This time the tide was out and we were able to explore the amazing tide pools finding fish, sea anemones, star fish, crabs, etc.

Can you believe this was all covered the first afternoon we were there because they tide was in?

Scroll back to yesterday's pictures. Never mind I will do it for you.

We are in the exact same location! We had no idea this was even there! Or the treasures it would hold...

Things we learned that day:

1.Ben is the best sand castle builder

2. Brian has gained a lot of patience.

This picture makes me laugh. Brian had started (many times) and tried to build (many times) a sand castle but all of the kids, for some reason, were drawn to his castle and kept "helping him". In the top picture you can see Lauren running over to join in. Love it. If you look in front of Brynn there are a bunch of "windows" the kids, so thoughtfully, poked in to the wall. Not once did Brian tell them to leave or stop. He just shrugged his shoulders and laughed. A far cry from the Brian who two years ago on a trip for a similar thing- Caden's baptism- who earnestly shushed a whiny, tired Andybaby during the talk before Caden's baptism. As if a 9 month old was going to heed his shushing! We still have a good laugh about that. "Andy, shhhhhhh!" He, himself would admit that he was impatient and annoyed by kids. Bri, you're growing up. You are a fantastic uncle and never let any impatience or annoyance show... even if you do still feel it! And I will always love you for that.

3. If you hold something up to someones mouth, they will automatically open it

And that's how grandma ended up eating an ABC sucker she really didn't want, and grandpa ended up spending the next 5 minutes feeding Jackson pretzels right in to his mouth:)

4.Sea anemones feel like sticky hands

5.Velour does not mix well with sand. (see Lauren)

6.Kids never tire of this.

Brynn.

I love this little girl. Her sweet, gentle disposition. Her raspy little voice and English accent. How she mothers my boys and how they listen to her. I am so glad after the chaos and heart ache and hurt feelings, we can still be a part of her life. I love her dearly. Happy 8th Birthday, Brynn. I am so glad we are family. You are truly delightful.

Tomorrow blogging the flight home (because that is absolutely worth blogging about) and then back to normal posts. Woo hoo!

Oregon Trip Day 5

Westward ho!

We met up with my brothers Brian and Chris and Chris's girlfriend, Andrea, outside of Portland just before lunch.(They were driving up from Utah).

Stopped at the Lock and Dam and fish hatchery. Then over to Multonomah Falls.

I don't know if I was tour-guide barbied out, but none of it was very engaging to me.

The waterfalls were breathtakingly beautiful, but it was such a turn-off how commercial it all is. We had an insane time trying to park and then work through throngs of people to get to the waterfall and up to the bridge.

It would have been magical to stumble upon such a natural wonder while hiking in the forest.

Not so much when you park and "get in line" to see it.

Okay, it's still pretty great.

(photo by Brian)

After that we drove in to Portland. Checked in to our hotel and did a happy dance.

Erica was looking forward to the beds.

The kids were looking forward to bathtubs.

I was looking forward to not having to listen for bears while I slept. (yes, I am paranoid)

Brian stayed with the boys while I went to get my luggage.

I guess it took me longer than I realized, because when I returned, they had built a fort using every blanket, pillow, and a very creative use of the ironing board.

He also taught Andy how to do belly flops.

I know, he's rad.

We walked over to a local diner for dinner.

Just the boys and me.

The waitress/cook/owner asked me if I wanted a lid for Nate's drink. I told her no, he would be fine. 5 minutes later he dumped an entire glass of chocolate milk all over the counter which streamed down on to the carpet. Ugh. When she returned and saw me moping up the mess with our napkins she silently brought out a rag, cleaned it up, filled Nate a new chocolate milk cup and looked at me as she smiled and snapped a lid on top.

I texted Brian a few menu items I thought would entice him and a few minutes later he arrived with mom and dad. After that, the boys spend most of the time with grandpa trying to win a toy out of the arcade game by the front door (I never said this was a classy place).

$5 later, they won a bag of dollar-store safari animals.

And it was declared the best day ever.