Oregon post #2

 Normally I am alone with the kids during the day on these work vacations, but Jason's coworker Nick brought his family to Oregon as well. They have four kids, and his wife wanted to meet up with us during the day. She didn't have many things planned, so she tagged along with us on some of our adventures. One of the places I really wanted to visit was a botanical garden.  I decided to visit the Japanese garden on the second day, but Nick's wife didn't think her kids would enjoy it. Also, apparently her kids wake up late (I don't even know what that feels like), while my boys were up at the crack of dawn each day. My boys were not enthusiastic about the gardens, but I think its important to expose them to different cultures and experiences.  The gardens were a bit smaller than I anticipated, but we had such a sacred, peaceful, beautiful experience.  Besides myself, Wesley enjoyed the garden's the most.  He is fascinated by world religions, cultures, and history.  He asked a lot of questions, and really appreciated the experience.  I was in love with the beauty and the calm this garden exemplified.

I loved this Jizo statue, so we bought him and placed him near our door to offer protection to our home.  

After our garden experience,  Nick's family met up with us at a cute park, and then we headed to a beautiful family farm for some berry picking. I've been berry picking before, but this farm was absolutely stunning and was a unique experience.  We got to pick blueberries (the easiest), raspberries (the most fun), and strawberries (the hardest).  We had to walk a lot, and it was hot - but overall the boys did very well and we picked so many berries we had a good stash to last us a few days in the hotel.  The strawberries were the best berries I've ever tasted.  They were sweater and more flavorful than candy.  It was such a memorable experience.

Cute dirty little face 

Flip flops + berry picking = very dirty feet 

The next day we headed out nice and early again and decided to spend a day at the children's museum.  We are members of a museum near our home which participates in a reciprocal program.  We were able to get into this museum for free, and it was a great way for the boys to get out all their energy after spending the previous day walking and working hard in the field.  I bought special tickets that allowed us to take a tour of a real naval submarine.  Chase LOVED the tour, and this was probably one of his favorite parts.

After the tour we ate lunch (this children's museum had GOOD food!), and then met up with Nick's family again to play at the museum.

nerdy bathroom doors makes me happy :-) 

When Wesley finds something that peaks his interest, he can spend hours micro-focusing on it.  There was a spinning water tornado, and this kid LOVED it.  He played with this exhibit for a good hour or two while the other kids roamed around the floor.  There was another area where you can build boats, and test them on a wave simulator.  The boys also spent a huge amount of time building and testing their boats...while I just sat and relaxed and played on my phone ha ha ha.