Portland Trip

We took a trip to Portland, Oregon, to visit Ryan's dad and stepmom. We were there for 6 days and had so much fun. 

August 12 - Rushed to the airport. Maya and I were the very last passengers to board. The girls got a kick out of the g-force when the plane took off. When we arrived, Kent picked us up and we went to visit Lalo at her work for a little bit. Then we went home, relaxed, had dinner, and sat down to designate days for the different activities we wanted to do. (in the picture below, Ryan's scruff looks kind of weird, but it's Maya's little wispy hair.)

The girls did pretty well on the plane. Brianna got pretty upset about halfway through because she was SUPER sleepy, but she eventually calmed down and fell asleep once I snapped her into the LILLEbaby. Maya tried to nap but was not successful. She was fine the whole time though.

August 13 - We relaxed in the morning (we let Brianna get her morning nap at the house every day except for the last). The four of us went to lunch at Pure Spice to get dim sum. It was not as good as what we had in San Francisco, but it was still good. Maya loves wonton soup broth, so that's what she ordered and ate. 

After lunch we went to the Oregon Zoo. Our favorites were the bats, crocodile, hippo, and penguins. The girls loved the animals and we all had a great time.

August 14 (5th Anniversary for us!) - After lunch we went to Horsetail Falls to do a hike with Kent. I wore Maya and Kent wore Brianna. Brianna LOVED Grandpa Kent the whole trip, and was thrilled to have him carrying her.

The waterfalls were lovely!

Brianna leaned waaaaaay over to touch the rocks as we went behind the falls.

This was a damaged bridge. I was sure to walk daintily. It was not a short fall beneath me.

After the hike we drove to Multnomah Falls and walked up to the bridge. What a gorgeous creation!

Afterwards, we went home and and got ready for our date! Ryan and I left the girls with Kent and Lalo. We had dinner at Ristorante Roma, a quaint Italian place that was very delicious. For dessert we shared a gelato that was rolled in cocoa powder. I took a bite and it made me cough, which spewed chocolate powder all over! Ryan had a hilarious look on his face and said, "What just happened?" It gave me a pretty bad case of giggles. After dinner we drove around town and ended up at Salt & Straw Ice Cream. We got in line at 10:15 PM and waited for 40 minutes to try ice cream flavors like Lime Cucumber, Cauliflower Garlic, Leek, Blue Cheese and Pear. Rather interesting (the flavors we actually bought were not so obscure)! We did not get any pictures on our date. We were too busy enjoying having a nice time together, I guess.

Day 4 - We went to the Portland Saturday Market. Kent and Lalo took the girls on the train and fed some pigeons so that Ryan and I could have speedy shopping time.

We got home and got ready for our double date! We had sushi for dinner, and Kent thought Ryan and I were crazy for how much we ordered. And then we ate it all, which probably made him think we were even more crazy. After dinner we went to see the Wicked Musical. It was fantastic! I had seen it before, but I was excited to go with Ryan.

Day 5 - Got ready and went to church at 1 PM. Found Brianna like this while we were getting ready. At church, Maya took a long nap on Kent and Brianna was very well behaved. It was glorious. 

After church we took some photos and played croquet.

Day 6 - Got up and headed to Seaside, OR, at 9:30 AM. Both girls slept the entire 2 hours there (thank goodness. Maya was starting to get a little hard to deal with since her schedule was getting messed up pretty much every day). We went to Dooger's for lunch and had amazing clam chowder and fish 'n chips. Then we headed to the beach! We set up our blanket and then waded in the water a little with the girls. The water was pretty cold, so Brianna and I ended up back at the blanket shortly thereafter.

Ryan and Maya came back and Ryan buried Maya in the sand! She looked so cute.

After about 45 minutes we packed back up. The beach was loooooong and we only had tennis shoes (silly), which we didn't want to put back on with sandy feet. But the sand was HOT!!! So we ran, each with a baby and other gear - it was not very easy. I am sure we looked funny. After we got rinsed off we went to get a little ice cream.

We walked around the shops for a few hours and rode on a carousel! It was the first time for both girls. 

We headed back home at 5 PM and rested the remainder of the evening.

Day 7 - Got up, got ready and packed, went to the airport, and flew home! We could see Mt. Hood out of the airplane window. Brianna thought it was pretty cool and shrieked at it as she looked out.

It was a really fun vacation and I am so glad that we got to go. It felt like our first real family trip, since we had fun doing touristy things and not just visiting with family. I am looking forward to our next vacation (whenever and where ever that might be), but it is wonderful to be home!!