We've been back in Mexico for a little over a week now after spending FIVE WEEKS in Oregon. We had the best time in our home state visiting with friends and family, and soaking up the Pacific Northwest beauty. But, boy were we tired by the end: so many late nights, some crazy early mornings, lots of driving, and tons of socializing. Least to say, the kids have been sleeping 12-13 hours a night since coming back to Mexico and we've been laying real low socially! We are so thankful for extended time in Oregon and hope to replicate a nice long visit again next summer.
Day 1: We had a great flight back to Portland that arrived in the city around 4 pm, giving us plenty of time to get pizza (it was SO good) and go for a hike. We happened upon "family night" at the pizza parlor and were reminded of Portland's weirdness by the crazy balloon guy. We had a blast watching him make our boys some seriously cool balloon weapons (all with biodegradable balloons, of course).
Mesmorized
This guy had us in stitches: he was so funny! Seth's battle ax even had a backpack!
Sam got a bow and arrow, Josh and Seth both got battle axes.
Our hike at Mt. Tabor reminded us of the beauty of Portland. We were in awe of the enormous trees, right in the middle of the city.
Our first few nights in Oregon we actually slept at Ben's parent's home because the people that are staying at our home needed it for a few more days. That allowed us to be in Portland and go on some city adventures and errands. Day 2 we woke up early because of the time change and watched the Mexican World Cup soccer game at 7 am. The kids and I also drove down and visited my sister for the afternoon.
Day 3: the kids and I visited Bob's Red Mill, yes the actual original Bob's Red Mill store. I was again reminded of how lucky we are to have a home base in Portland; not many people get to purchase these products in bulk from bins!
We love visiting this place!
We got all stocked up on gluten free needs for the month!
That evening we visited our home in Scappoose to share a meal together with the Mettler family (the people who rent our house). It was truly a blessed evening. One would think that it might be awkward to be in our home, with them hosting us, but it wasn't at all. It's just so clear to all of us that this is the Lord's will for them to have our home in Oregon while we live in Mexico.
The kids all connect really well; this is them eating dinner in the play fort.
Having s'mores in our back yard together. The raspberry bushes in the background were overflowing and yielded bowl fulls for us almost the whole month that we were home.
So fun! (I can't get over how beautiful our Oregon yard is!)
Josh is very passionate about his s'mores.
Day 4 the kids and I visited cousins in Estacada. Again, how amazing is it to have a million second cousins, all in the same age group, that live an hour from you? I don't think that I'll take these things as much for granted when we move back! Aunt Tani's house is always full of farm animals. This time baby bunnies were the main event.
Seth, Sam
Josh actually held one and was SO proud of himself.
The older kids were brave enough to swim for awhile, although it was quite freezing!
Jaiven, Maddie, Reagan, Selah, Harlee, Seth, Sam, Judah, Josh, and Mason. Seth and Sam are the oldest at nine years old.
After visiting cousins in Estacada, the boys and I drove to The Dalles to spend a couple nights with Holly and the girls. Ben and Nathan were staying at our Scappoose house having a guys weekend with their childhood friends, Paul and Mike. This was the first time that we were able to stay in Nate and Holly's new house and it was SO fun to be there! We played lots of games and enjoyed the amazing view from their deck.
Unfortunately, on Day 5, Sam jumped awkwardly off a swing at the park and fractured his wrist.
It was one of those cries that I knew something was really wrong. We had walked to the park, so Holly ran home real quick to get a car for us, and Seth did an excellent job helping watch the younger kids while I tried to keep Sam calmed. He cried hard up until they put him into a splint at the ER.
I was thankful that the emergency room was only 5 minutes away and that we were in America where service was quick and in English.
Sam was an absolute trooper with the best attitude. He came home and was immediately reading to the younger ones. I was anticipating a rough night, but he slept just fine and rarely complained the entire time that he had his cast on.
And thankfully we got home in time to watch an early fireworks show.
We couldn't ask for a better view!
Holly and Hailey
The view off the deck with all the kiddos.
Day 6 the kids and I drive home to Scappoose and finally got to spend a night at our home! Ben's dad and brother, Caleb, came over for dinner and we were blessed and thankful to be with family. Day 7 is our first full day at home together and we just hung out as a family and didn't have any visitors. It was SO nice.
Days 8-10 my parents came to visit us. My mom was able to go with Sam and I on Tuesday morning when he picked out his red cast. Later that afternoon, we went and picked marionberries and raspberries at Sauvie Island. It was so nice to be able to do some of these beloved summer traditions!
We picked way too many berries for our short time at home, but isn't that part of the fun?
Fourth of July pictures/outfits in our backyard.
Goof ball picture
Me and my boys!
With Ruda Grandparents
We have a tradition with the kids who live in our house to make a treasure hunt for the family when we leave. This time Lily and Lyden left our boys some super cool pirate tatoos.
The sunset really was the show of the night.
The boys enjoying our front yard; I was so thankful that I got to see my lilies in bloom!
What a spectacular sunset!
Firework time! Who has the funniest face: Seth or Josh?
Sparkler magic
Seth
Seth
Sam
The top excitement of the night (besides the marionberry crisp) was when a firework malfunctioned and literally blew up. We were thankful that no one was standing too close!
Day 10 my parents headed home early, then I had a book club reunion with a couple moms from our old homeschool group. That afternoon Ben was itching to go on a hike, so we headed to Forest Park and enjoyed the beauty of Portland once again.
It felt good to be amidst the dense, green foliage of Western Oregon. It my favorite type of landscape.
Afterwards we visited one of my favorite places in the world: The Portland Rose Garden.
Thousands and thousands of roses in one place.
We all selected our favorite roses to get a picture in front of. Sam went for the traditional red.
Seth
Josh
I actually love almost all the roses. These multi-colored ones were pretty awesome, though.
My "favorite"
Candy cane rose
Highlight of the evening was when the saxophone player saw Sam's cast and asked to sign it.
Sam had a large "Tony Street" in the middle of his cast. It was awesome.
Isn't it beautiful?
I'm so thankful that we had time to visit this place!
The perfectly formed rose.
The whole grounds of the Rose Garden are beautiful. Check out the bush on the top right of this picture: it looks like it belongs in a Dr. Seuss book!
Day 11 we were so thankful to wake up to another beautiful morning at our home in Scappoose. We relaxed at home all morning and got to watch another couple World Cup soccer matches. That evening we had dinner with the Willard Family. We're thankful for friendships that last even though we're long distance! Pictured below: the kids making homemade ice cream with Raleigh.
Day 12 we headed to Woodburn in the afternoon to drop the kids off with my sister's family so that Ben and I can go on a date (shopping at the outlet mall). Then we all had dinner together. It was nice to have a long evening at their house and we were even privileged to have Nick show us his honey bees, something that we've been wanting to see up close for a long time!
I love this picture of Nick teaching Ben.
Learning about honey bees was so fascinating!
We just might have to get some ourselves when we return from Mexico.
The twins also got to learn about the bees from Uncle Nick (don't let the pink sweatshirt fool you, that's Seth, who borrowed Aidah's sweatshirt).
Nick is an excellent teacher.
The bees are very tame; I even got close without any coverings to take pictures.
Meanwhile, the little boys had a blast playing in the dirt. Isn't little John Henry the cutest? He was so thrilled to be tagging along with Josh and Edmund.
Katie got gluten free ice cream cones for the kids.
They were a hit!
Day 13 we visited our home church in Scappoose and had Ben's dad for dinner. Day 14 our old dog, Rosie, came to visit for a few days. Our neighbor Chris took the boys and I to get a load of dirt, so that I could satisfy my need and love to garden.
Josh and Rosie
Josh was so happy to just hang out in the yard with Rosie.
Seth, Sam, and Josh also got to hang out with the neighbor boys, Joel and Matthew. It was just like old times.
Day 15 Aunt Holly, Ellie, and Hailey came stay the night. Then Day 16 we all visited the Portland zoo together.
We were thankful that Deedo could come with us too!
Definitely my favorite zoo picture.
Picnic lunch.
The porcupine was possibly the highlight of the zoo. What a weird animal!
Holly and Hailey: love these two so much!
Day 17 Jeff brought the boys to camp at Crooked River with family one day early. Ben and I had a nice date night on Thursday and then drove over to Crooked River on Friday to join the camp out for Days 18-20.
Josh and Ellie swimming.
Aunt Tani was such a blessing to Sam, as he couldn't swim with the rest of the kids because of his cast. She is always willing and ready to play with the kids.
When Ben and I first arrived at camp, Josh told me, "I made a new friend. His name is Oscar." Josh absolutely adored Oscar and Luis, Honduran brothers that are living with our cousins to go to college in the States. Luis and Oscar were so great at playing with the kids. Also, soccer was definitely a theme of this Crooked River camp.
I counted 60 family members at Crooked River this year. It is such a neat tradition and a great way to yearly connect with extended family.
Uncle Tim coordinated a team competition/scavenger hunt. It was a blast!
I was a "black ninja" and our team won!
Yes, each team had to make a 10 person pyramid at the end. And face painting and costumes were encouraged. The other people at the campground must think that we're the craziest family!
Seth's team
I love this picture of Seth and Sam. They were SO into the team challenge.
Sweet Ellie and Hailey.
Me and my Joshy boy
A beautiful sunset.
Friday night is always a big kid event: going Froggin'. Uncle Glenn is the head "frogger" and even had the kids practicing making different types of frog sounds before they searched the pond for big bull frogs. Here's a picture of Seth with a poor caught frog.
Deedo with his granddaughters first thing in the morning (hence the grumpy faces)
You know it's going to be a good day when you wake up and put swim clothes on and color in the grass by your tent.
It was SO HOT while we were at crooked river (100+), so to cool off we decided to hike to Steelhead falls. The water was freezing!! Seth caught a big bull frog.
Hailey was absolutely fearless and wanted to hold it!
Disclaimer: I did not endorse this activity of Ben duct taping multiple layers of plastic bags around Sam's arm so that he could cliff jump. However, it all turned out alright in the end. (Lucky for Ben!)
Ben jumping so that he could be in water for when Sam jumped in.
Then Sam jumped!
And then Seth; this was actually Seth's second time jumping. The day that he to camp early with Deedo, he went with a group of cousins and jumped off for the first time. We were very proud of both boys for their courage and sense of adventure!
I hung out with the littles and did not jump.
Dirty bottoms.
Ben was proud of his boys!
(Can you believe how much we packed into the first 20 days of our Oregon trip? Part 2 coming soon.)
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