Oregon Trip part 1

 In June Jason was assigned to work in Portland Oregon for two weeks.  We decided to make a family trip out of it, and joined him for one of those weeks.  We have accompanied Jason on many of his work trips, and its always an adventure.  Since Jason works during the day, it is up to me to plan our daily activities.  Depending on the location, this is often challenging with three little ones.  When the boys were smaller,  I had to factor in nap time during the day, so we always had to be back to the hotel around lunch for naps.  If I had an older boy who didn't nap, I had to try to keep him quiet for two hours so his younger brother(s) could sleep.  We usually don't bring many toys on our trips, so I have to get creative.  When they were small, I was limited to the places I could take my boys (heck - even now that they are a little older, I'm still limited). For example, they don't do well walking around  art museums for hours,  or going to nice stores (with expensive breakable items). Depending on the location, if there are not many kid friendly activities in the area we often spend our days playing at parks, or walking around malls and so on.   Portland was a bit different from our other work trips though.  Not only does Portland have A TON of kid friendly activities, but my kids are a little older now (aka no babies), and while they are still hyper and CRAZY, we were able to do a lot more activities.  Portland was probably one of my favorite family trips that I have ever been on.  I crammed so many activities into one week, and we didn't have one boring moment! I will have to divide this trip into a few different posts.

On our way up we stopped at a few placed to break up the 12 hour drive.  We first stopped at the Niagara of the West in Idaho.  We visited this waterfall last year at the end of the Summer, and the waterfall was 1/8 of the size it was in June.  I was absolutely STUNNED by the magnificence and the power of it on this last trip. We had a very snowy winter, so all the mountain runoff created one of the most spectacular water falls I've ever seen.  We could hardly stand on the lookout tower (which was a good distance from the falls) because the mist was drenching us.  The beauty of this world is so diverse and amazing.  What a wonderful planet we live on!

We stayed the night in Idaho Falls (I think?  Or was it Twin Falls?). We found a fun mall to eat dinner at, and we watched Cars 3 at the movie theatre. 

We go on a lot of long drives, but this little guy does a great job on road trips.  

The next day after driving for a few hours we needed to stretch our legs and eat lunch.  We found this remote little splash pad that the kids enjoyed playing on for a little while.  The splash pads in Utah and California are never this quiet!

After a long drive we finally made it to Oregon.  Before going to the hotel, Jason took us to some falls to stretch our legs and get a little nature time in.  The first thing I noticed was the smell.  It was the most glorious nature smell I've ever experienced.   Trees, dirt, water, fungus - I wish I could have bottled up that amazing smell.  It was a smell of happiness - the smell of life!

The next day after a long rest, I took the boys to the Portland Zoo.  I'm not a huge fan of zoos, but this one was pretty amazing.  It is located in a forest (I suppose most of Portland is located in a forest), so just walking around was like going on a nature hike.  The animals were mostly all out, and it was just a really nice day!

With three boys, someone is always making a silly face! 

Later that night we drove downtown to experience the sights of Portland.  Big cities make me nervous (especially driving in them), so this trip really helped me concur some fears.    This night Jason drove since he was off work, and we parked on the street.  We bought a parking pass and stuck it to our window.  We walked around and had some brick oven pizza, and voodoo donuts. We found a fun water fountain that the boys had fun playing in (and were soaking wet the rest of the night).   After a night of fun we walked back to the car to find a parking ticket on our car.  To say we were upset was an understatement. Apparently we placed our parking pass on the wrong window, and were being fined for something like $80.  This was not a fun way to start vacation.  After calling around, I discovered I had to attend court to try to appeal the ticket.  The next day I arrived at the court house at 8am so I could attend a court session (my dream vacation activity).  I almost didn't get in because I have a huge 'In in Out' safety pin keychain and they told me it was considered a weapon.  She scolded me for bringing it, but let me in. I'm such a criminal - parking ticket, AND I brought a weapon to court! Watch out!!  I also brought all my wiggly boys and we had to sit for an hour until it was our turn.  Luckily, the judge was really funny and nice, and dismissed our case (I had to plea guilty lol), and I just had to pay a $5 fine.  What a way to start vacation!