In Oregon, there are blackberry bushes everywhere! They grow like weeds. So when we found some at the high school while we were playing tennis, we had to pick some and try them. They were almost ripe...still a bit sour.
We went to the Portland Zoo with all the brothers (minus Ben). It was a pretty hot and sweaty day. We got to see lots of animals and it was fun seeing the kids interact with each other. William and Riley and Finley were playing a game and it was so cute to watch.
Rob and his twin. I don't see Rob in a baseball hat very often. But I think these two look alike here.
The whole group. There were a lot of us!
Cousins!
When we found shade, we took a break.
These three...they were so cute!
I think this was the only picture of any of the animals that I got. I think my favorite part was when we saw the elephants get in the water up close.
Then we drove home. I went with the girls because Sadie and Thea were going to her Young Women's activity that evening. Rob went to the Nike store with Luke and his brother Andrew and the rest of the kids. Riley ended up staying with William and Luke and Taylor overnight. They had a fun time.
The girls gave Finley a makeover when we got back to the house. She was in heaven.
She came out and unprompted, she said "I look like a clown!" ha ha
The makeover queens.
Then Hallie did her nails. Finley had such a good time with the cousins!
The next day we went to the coast to spend the day at the beach. We went to a few places I remember going in the past. It was a pretty beautiful day. Not too windy and not too cold.
Our first stop was by a light house with a beach that has beautiful black rocks and tide pools. WE have to go down lots of stairs to get to the beach and Thea pretty much carried Finley the whole way down and up. She's so strong!
Emery was brave and found a cute little crab and picked it up.
Finley liked looking at all the rocks.
The older kids climbed up on this big rock...I stayed on the ground.
hearts!
Sadie found these pieces of shells.
I don't even know who took this picture! But I'm in the background.
Family picture on the beach.
Here is Rob, carrying the lunch bag, my backpack and Finley. What a man!
Funny face picture with cousins. Funny story, we were looking for sea glass in the sand and rocks and a random kid sat by us and started talking to us like we knew each other for years. He just joined in with us. I loved it. ha ha.
Ben and the kids built a sand castle.
Zac loved digging in the sand and throwing rocks into the water.
At the zoo, while we were waiting for something to start, Luke challenged all the cousins to run up and down the stairs 50 times. And if they did, they got some ice cream. Well, they all did it so while we were at the coast Luke treated everyone to yummy ice cream!
At the ice cream shop.
I think all of the kids got cotton candy.
Riley really enjoyed her ice cream!
What is it about little kids eating ice cream that is so adorable.?
Here's William being buried in the sand.
Finley spent hours and hours playing with Cambrie her cousin. They were having a blast.
I was there too. I took a little break and relaxed on the beach.
Sadie and Thea doing gymnastics on the beach.
Of course the time that I took a picture, Sadie wiped out. She had stayed dry up until this point. She fell in the water and got all wet. ha ha!
Riley got buried in the sand.
The kids all waded in up to their necks. THe water was so cold. I don't know how they did it. But they did.
The cousins (I think it was Hallie) made some cool things out of balloons.
Zac made this card house.
FInley and Cambrie dressing up.
WE went to the pond and caught salamanders and goldfish.
We always go prepared to just put our feet in, but the kids end up wading in to their armpits.
Here's Hallie holding 2 salamanders.
At one point, Emery was going for a goldfish and stepped in and it was really deep and muddy on the bottom. Her feet got stuck and both of her flip flops got stuck in the mud. She was barefoot. Ben took the challenge of finding her flip flops. He spent probably 45 minutes scraping the bottom of the pond to find the flip flops. He did get one of them to float to the top of the water...but just the one. THe other one is still in there somewhere. The funny part was, as we were walking to the water, someone asked if the kids should have brought their swimming suits. Ben's reply was "no that water is nasty! THey won't want to be getting in it!" Or something like that. Ha ha. He ended up wading up to his waist for Emery's flip flops! ha ha.
Sadie holding a salamander.
Later that day, we did a huge slip and slide in the backyard. It was fun. I think Riley was the one who lasted the longest.
She got pretty good at it!
Then we pulled out rocks and spent a while painting them. We were actually supposed to stay in a hotel this night, but we opted to stay with Ben and his family because of our experience the previous night at the hotel. When we walked in, we were greeted by a man with no shirt on going out for a smoke. He seemed like a nice guy, but it was a little sketchy. We got into our room and had the kids take quick showers to get the sand off (we had been at the coast). We took the older kids back to sleep at Ben and Lindsy's house and went back to the hotel with the youngest 2. We checked the beds for bugs and then we went to sleep. Well, I stayed up looking at reviews of the place. The only good reviews were from the people that lived there. They said something like "I've lived here for a year. What a great place!" ha ha. THe rest of the reviews were saying things like "RUN THE OTHER WAY! DON'T STAY HERE!" ha ha. We survived the first night and ended up asking Ben and Lindsy if we could stay at their place and ditch the hotel the next night. They were nice and said yes. phew!
Before we headed back to La Grande, we went blueberry picking. The last time we went, the kids were smaller and slower at picking blueberries. We didn't pick for long (maybe 30 minutes) and I kept telling Rob we should probably stop since they only took cash or check. Well, when they weighed our blueberries they told us we owed them like 94 dollars or something. Ha ha. We only had 75 or so in cash. The lady was really nice and wouldn't let Sadie give her money to help us. She just told us to send a check when we got home for the rest of what we owed. I sent the check with a thank you note for being so understanding. And now we have a freezer stocked with yummy Oregon Blueberries.
The exit to Multnomah Falls was opened this time so we stopped and got some souvenirs and looked at the waterfall.
It was a good leg stretcher. Sadie got the cute hat she is wearing in this picture.
Zac, Riley and I walked the highest on the trail. We felt the mist from the waterfall.
We made it back to La Grande and here is Sadie posing with the rocks that she painted at grandma and grandpa's house.
Grandma and grandpa with the kids.
Here's a picture from when Riley stayed the night at William's. I love how they act like no time has passed since they saw each other.
They played the pokemon card game. I think it took them a really long time.
All the brothers. Luke made a funny noise that got even Ben to laugh.
All in all, it was such a fun trip to Oregon. We loved every part of it! Thanks to everyone who let us stay with them, fed us, and helped us have a good time. :)
