Vacation to Portland

Well...this might be a long post since I haven't written in about 2 weeks!! We have been on vacation for the last week...and it was great!!

Jeff got a new camera that he ordered and had shipped to Eric and Traci's place. All these pictures are with the new camera...hope you enjoy them!

We left last Wednesday morning and drove to Abbotsford and stayed with our good friends. After the kids woke up from naps there, we headed out to have a visit with my grandma. I hadn't seen her in about a year and it was great to see her new place and to see her again. The kids were pretty good there, but Marty is into everything...so we had to keep a close eye on him, since grandma's place is not child proof!!

We went back to our friends place and had a delicious meal together! Jeff did some electrical work for them and we just hung out and enjoyed the evening together. The kids slept great and we headed out first thing on Thursday morning to Portland!!

We had no wait at the border, which was great! But, we still had a 5 hour drive ahead of us. The kids were okay on the drive. Megan was great, Gabby was whinny and Marty was a little cranky too:( But...we made it there!! Marty was SO ready for a nap when we arrived at Eric and Traci's place.

Eric and Traci moved into their new place about 6 months ago and it is so nice! Marty slept in the walk-in closet in the bedroom we stayed in and the girls had their own room. It worked out great! Eric and Traci treated us so great...wonderful meals, shopping trips, fresh muffins for breakfast, etc. We are blessed to have such incredible family, who are also our friends:)

Traci having a dance party with the girls...

Traci had to work on Friday morning and so the boys, the kids and I headed out to do some shopping. And can I just say, the States has WAY better shopping than Canada!!! Such good deals there and Oregon has no tax...I'm such a big fan of that. My favorite stores are Ross, Target and a new favorite Kohl's!!

Friday afternoon, Traci treated me to a Cirque Du Soleil show "Kooza"!! All I can say is...AMAZING!! We had such a great time together and the performace was incredible. I highly recommend seeing a show if you get the chance.

The boys had pizza for dinner and the kids were ready for bed when we got home! Jeff and Eric had taken the kids to the park after dinner for some play time. We hung out in the evening and I think every night we played "Ticket to Ride". We bought the game down there! It's such a fun game.

On Saturday, Eric had class in the morning, so the rest of us went to see Shrek Forever After 3D at the theatre. The kids had a little trouble keeping their 3D glasses on, especially Marty and Gabby. Gabby has a small head and the glasses didn't fit her face! The movie was really good and they all sat well through it...even Marty! This was their first time seeing a movie at the theatre ever, so I think they did pretty good.

On Sunday, we went to Eric and Traci's church with them. The kids went to the kids church and had a fun time there. We put them in a class together and they were happy to go. We kept Marty in church with us, but we had to take him out a couple of times...he doesn't like to sit still for too long:)

While the kids napped in the afternoon, Traci, Meggie and I went out and did some more shopping:)

On Monday, we went to the Portland Zoo. It was the only day it didn't rain while we were there! Meggie was a little scared of the animals at first, but she warmed up to them. We had to reassure her that they were behind glass or fences and they weren't coming out. Also, there was a dinosaur exhibit and she didn't like the noises they made.

Gabby loved it and wasn't afraid of anything! We put Marty in the backpack at the zoo, so he wouldn't take off on us. He did great in the pack for the first 2 hours of so, but then he wanted out...so we let him run a bit. And he was SO happy!!

The girls feeding the Lorakeets some nectar juice...

Megan checking out the zoo map...

After dinner on Monday, we took the kids to the park to play and explore and then headed back home for bedtime...because, we had a long drive the next day!

I was a little nervous about doing the 9 hour drive home on one day, but it worked out pretty good. The kids actually did better on the way home than on the way down...weird!! Megs slept for about 1/2 hour, Gabby for about 15 minutes and Marty only a 1/2 hour too!! I was hoping he would sleep at least an hour or 2...but no such luck. But, he was pretty happy and content. We only stopped once to have a little lunch and then back on the road. We left Portland just after 8am and got home at 5:30pm.

We are happy to be home and back into our routine, but we had such a great vacation...thanks to Eric and Traci!! And we miss them already, but we get to see them in 3 weeks when they come home:)

Jeff only has 3 days of work this week and then we look forward to Curt and Annie coming for a visit this weekend....should be lots of fun!!

Hope you made it this far and enjoyed seeing all the pictures!!