Oregon Trip!

Being the lucky duckies that we are, we got to go on a fun family trip to Oregon!  This trip was sponsored by Rob’s work (E&Y) because he has a client in Lake Oswego and we were more than happy to tag along.  In past trips we have always flown but now that are children are no longer free babes on board we decided to make the long haul by car.  We ditched Caleb with Nani and off we went!  Thanks Nani for watching the chunk-a-lunk.  I’m pretty sure him being the only child with his favorite Nani who spoils him silly was a major vacay for him too.

We began our drive around 7 hoping the boys would sleep most of the way to our pit stop in Meridian and we were not disappointed.  We stayed the night in a lovely Marriott, complete with pool, breakfast, elevator rides and hallway raceways for little boys!  Isaac and Zekie made the most of their hotel experience by insisting on pushing all elevator buttons and opening the doors with the special keys.  Isaac also made himself feel right at home and untwisted the tops off of the lamps upon arrival.  That is his latest obsession: lamp screw tops.  You can see in the above picture his prize possessions.  The picture of Zekie is the “after” picture of complete road traveling exhaustion.  I told him this was going to be THE longest car ride of his life and when we eventually got there he confirmed “You were right Mama.”  Luckily 2 separate DVD players for the boys, 2 mp3 players for the parents, LOADS of candy and snacks and a token traveling ABC game or two and we survived the 13 hour long journey to Portland.

Our first day there Rob went off to work and we went off to Tillamook to see Auntie Ev & Ann.  They live at the top of a beautiful countryside and it was so grand to see all of the green tree and rolling hills.  Not to mention…IT’S SPRING in Oregon!  Not here in Utah.  Everything still brown and dead…but in Oregon…it’s Spring.  Cute baby cow, pretty pink blossoms, purple rhody bushes all in bloom.  Ahhhh.  Ev took us on a lovely stroll around the neighborhood and being the good auntie that she is, even hauled Zekie around in a wagon.  Then we let the boys be boys and climb up on the tractor and climb some dirt hills.  Next we ate a hearty lunch of delish quiche and off we went to the beach.Mighty Squeaks did lots of shoveling and rock collecting for our incredible castle and moat. Auntie Ev was a glorious hostess and loving auntie and help the boys with our splendid caste and doted on them continually.What’s gonna work?  Team work!  Notice the seagull in the background.  Quick side story: Isaac saw a seagull in the Idaho parking lot and exclaimed “Yook! A flamingo!”  He was doing his best to make our trip as exotic as possible.Zekie LOVED the beach!  He had so much fun running away from the tide. Twas a most joyous occasion for my Zekes.A moment caught in time: Zekes squishing his toes in the sand.

I asked Ev if she would roll Isaac’s pants up so he could run from the waves with Zekie.  Next thing I knew he was off and running pant-less.  I raised an eyebrow at Ev.  She rebutted “I tried rolling up his pants and they were only 6 inches off the ground!”  The boys had soo much fun unless Isaac’s grand finale face plant into the sand.  Funny thing is, not a tear was shed.  We took off his sopping coat, he spit out some sand, gave a quick shiver, and ran back for more.  Ev knew that it was just a matter of second before he would turn into a Squeaksicle and called it.  We stripped them down, wrapped them in blankets and headed back for a warm bath.To complete our day at Tillamook I felt it was a must to take my boys to the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  My boys live off of Costco Tillamook cheese and I thought that they’d enjoy seeing where and how it’s made.  They weren’t so convinced until I told them that their two favorite things would be there.  Ice cream & Candy.It was an absolutely wonderful day at the beach.  Thank you Auntie Ev…we love you and will be back soon!