First Adventure of Spring

Saturday was the first day of Ben taking a whole week of vacation from work. We were planning to meet Ben’s parents in Hood River after naptime to drop the kids off for THREE NIGHTS, so we wanted to do something special in the morning as a family.

The boys LOVE trains and always spot the max train as we are driving along the freeway, so we have been wanting them to actually ride on it. And what a better place to ride it to than the Portland Saturday Market? Ben and I had never done that, so it was a new adventure for all of us.

Our first stop was at the zoo to check out the old steam engine train on display (we always drive past it but never get to see and touch it up close!) It was actually pretty cool. My favorite part was when Seth and Sam saw the big logs, they starting retelling the Richard Scarry story about trees, “Then the logs will “float down the river, then get jammed, then go the chipper.” They are learning so much so quickly!

Sam in orange, Seth in blue (check out the cool hats Aunt Kristi made them!)

Seth and Sam seemed to really enjoy the max. The route from our house to downtown is perfect because there are some spots that max goes really fast, two tunnels, and then a slower downtown section. It’s been a couple years since I have rode the max, and I had forgotten the diversity of people that ride (sometimes we are so sheltered here in our suburban home!). I love exposing the boys to lots of different kinds of people, and explaining to them that God made them all. The market was fun, busy and loud. We didn’t linger and look at many shops, but instead headed to food court, bought pizza for the kids, BBQ ribs for Ben and Persian cuisine for me. It was all great. We sat by the fountains and ate while we people watched. The boys scored some cool crowns from a couple guys promoting Liberty taxes and sported those the rest of the day. The outing ended with messy sweet potato cupcakes on the max ride home. 

By the time we got home, we were all exhausted, but happy from the adventure. The boys’ favorite thing was “the max when it went fast.”

After a quick nap, we packed up our car and headed for Hood River to drop the boys off for three nights. Yep, three nights of quiet, good sleep, and freedom! We said our goodbyes to Seth and Sam and then drove up to Timberline Lodge for dinner. I had never been to a ski hill, and the weather was beautiful making the views fantastic. Check out our dinner view:

 

The snow drift in this next one may seem pretty normal—unless you knew that we’re on the 3rd floor of the lodge! It was amazing how much snow there was! (check out the icicle on the top left corner of the picture.)

We stopped at a viewpoint in Sandy on the way home (because we could and didn’t need to worry about bedtime) and got this picture:

We came home to peace and quiet and rest for the next couple of days. It was our first time at home without the boys since they were born. We really didn’t do much at all; we stayed in our sweats, slept in, Ben watched a ton of basketball, and I scrapbooked 8 pages (I’m caught up to summer of 2007, ha ha). We walked to Subway on whim (because we could and didn’t have to be home for naptime). We went on another dinner date to PF Changs and spent some time with friends. It was really wonderful. Seth and Sam did fantastic on their “sleepover at the grandparents house.” It’s really nice to know that we can do that more often! The next couple of days we are returning the favor and watching Caleb and Levi for Ben’s parents so that they can have a break too. It’s a pretty good deal if you ask me!