Morris Family in Mexico: A Fall Visit Home

The kids and I were recently blessed to take a last minute trip back to Oregon to join Ben for a business trip. It was so nice to be in the Pacific Northwest for autumn. It's amazing how spectacular fall can be when you haven't experienced it for two years. We seriously were in awe of the beauty of the Pacific Northwest.

We started our trip home with a road trip to central Oregon to stay at an airbnb home with my parents for a couple nights. This meant we had the most beautiful three hour road trip over the mountain passes and into the Redmond area.

First, we explored and ate in Sisters. The boys quickly found some leaf piles to play in.

It was so fun!

First leaf pile in two years!

Sisters is such a neat town.

The leaves made for perfect photo ops.

We totally scored at the airbnb place we stayed in. It was was a beautiful and comfortable home on 20 acres and even had a hot tub!

And as a bonus feature, we could walk to the neighbors horses and feed them.

It was Josh's first time to feed a horse.

The boys were in heaven.

All the boys played poker one evening.

And Ben taught Josh to play chess for the first time (which he is now currently obsessed with playing.)

The kids played outside a ton, games like corn hole and boche ball.

One of the days we went for a hike to Kline Falls and saw some real fall beauty, like this tree.

Seth

Seth (by the Deschutes River)

Sammy

Family picture time.

Joshy

My boys (Seth, Sam, Josh)

Kline Falls

Would you believe that I had to photoshop graffiti off one of the rocks?

Selfies are real hard as a family of five

The falls were super full and the water just gushed through these canals.

Papa and his grandsons

My mom, as always, had fun crafts for the boy to make. They each made monster masks and a spider web and spider. It was a wonderful three nights with my parents.

On the drive back up to Portland, we decided to make a quick stop at Smith Rock.

I've given up on smiley pictures and have embraced "funny face" pictures instead.

We originally intended on doing a hike with the boys around the rocks, but on the drive we spotted:

This absolutely amazing pumpkin patch. Since we hadn't visited a pumpkin patch for several years, we thought that the boys would enjoy that experience more than a hike.

I gotta say, we were freezing. The wind was cold and we clearly weren't prepared (and aren't accustomed to) this type of weather.

But, all the cold was worth it for the pumpkin canon. It was amazing.

Each kid got to sit in the seat, aim and fire.

Sam

Seth

Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to shoot pumpkins out of an old school cannon into a junk yard car. Welcome to Oregon.

This trip was all about experiencing all things fall, which of course, included caramel apples and kettle corn. Delicious.

On Monday, Ben headed to work and Diane graciously offered to take the day off of her work to hang out with the boys. I used the free babysitting to run to our house in Scappoose and gather winter clothes, then to have lunch with a friend, and finally to run some errands.

While I was gone, the kids had a blast with their grandparents outside at Jeff and Diane's new house. They spent all afternoon doing yard work and then ended the night with a big bonfire. Pacific Northwest living at it's finest.

We were blessed with a spectacular sunsets that evening.

Boys are pyros. The end.

Ben's parents recently moved to a new home out in the countryside with an acre of land. The views around their house were so beautiful.

The farms surrounding them have tree nurseries, so there were rows upon rows of trees with their leaves changing. Just a few steps from their driveway, there is even this view of Mt. Hood.

Joshy and his piglet hanging out on Jeff and Diane's front porch.

Diane brought books home from school and spent the evenings reading to the boys. They laughed a lot, as always.

Tuesday, the kids and I headed to Estacada to spend the day with cousins. The highlight for me was getting to hold Ben's cousin Melita's four-week old twins. Oh man, did it bring back a flood of memories!

Brooklyn (left), Brodie (right)

I couldn't get enough.

Joshy was so sweet in wanting to hold a baby.

Everything brought back memories: from their little heads fitting in the palm of my hands, to the sweet sucking sound they made while drinking bottles, to how it felt burping them. Sometimes I can't believe that we survived twins (and now Melita is doing it with 4 and 2 year olds in tow as well!)

While I was in baby heaven, the boys were in cousin heaven playing soccer and then pretend mud food. We're thankful for these wonderful cousins for the boys to grow up with.

Wednesday was Halloween, and we were so excited to spend it with my sister's family. It was SO fun to be with them for the holiday and to do all things Halloween together.

First, we carved pumpkins together; Josh wanted his pumpkin to have heart eyes.

All the kids carving.

Nick even carved one of the giant pumpkins that they grew in their own garden.

I got into the spirit of things and carved a pumpkin as well. I was so proud of my creation.

Seth carved a "snitch" from Harry Potter.

Josh and Edmund. Edmund carved "Elephant" from Mo Williems books.

Sam worked very hard on his "HP"

All the cousins (except cowboy Josh) wore costumes themed "Harry Potter." When we arrived, Katie had a surprise gift for Seth and Sam: their very own wand. The Platos know someone in the area who makes them. The twins were thrilled!

Josh the cowboy and Fred and George Weasley.

I love this picture so much. The twins were trying to look mischievous like the Weasley twins would.

My handsome nine year olds: Seth and Sam

The entire Plato/Morris crew: Miriam (Hermione), Seth and Sam, Aidah (Professor Snape), Clara (Dumbledore), Josh, Edmund (Norbett the dragon), Henry (Fawkes the Phoenix).

Josh posing like a cowboy with his guns up.

Nick's sister's family joined us for trick-or-treating adding in Elise (Luna Lovegood), Timothy (Draco Malfoy), and Adelyn (Rita Skeeter as a ladybug). It was quite the themed group and the kids had a blast not only getting lots of candy, but also running around casting spells on each other. Josh and Edmund were hilarious trick-or-treating and had no qualms about marching up to houses to ring the doorbells. It was a very fun night.

We lit all the pumpkins when we arrived back home. They looked pretty cool.

I'm still just so proud of this one.

The kids capped off the night with a sleep over in the living room. They went to sleep decently all things (and candy) considered, but there was rumors of Josh and Edmund waking up at midnight and chatting for awhile.

We hung out until lunch the next day. The kids never want to say goodbye to one another.

Sweet Henry in the leaves.

Again, experiencing all things fall.

Friday, Seth and Sam left in the morning to go hunting with their Grandpa Deedo. Then, when Ben got off work in the early afternoon, Josh and I joined him in the drive to The Dalles. Josh and I spent the next three nights with Holly and the girls (and their new puppy Daisy), while Ben joined Nathan, Jeff and the twins hunting in Eastern Oregon. It sounds like the boys had an absolute blast hunting, although they didn't get to shoot at anything. And Josh and I's time in the The Dalles was so wonderful: just fun and relaxing. Josh and the puppy, Daisy, were pretty hilarious to watch together. Initially Josh was petrified of the puppy and so Daisy chased Josh around trying to jump up on him. But, thankfully, after half a day or so, Josh got the hang of the puppy thing and ended up just loving to play with her.