We have been planning for months to take out little family vacation- our first official "just the three of us not visiting or doing anything with anyone else" vacation! To say that we were excited would be a major understatement. We were a bit nervous to be taking a 15 month old on a 6 hour car trip but we did our best to plan ahead and Thatcher did great! We traveled during his nap times and stopped and got out of the car to walk around when he woke up.
 |
| Packing central- I taped up our packing list and started hoarding things in a laundry basket probably a month before we left. |
 |
| On the road! |
 |
| We stopped here for lunch- I think it was in LaGrande? It was okay food and a good stretch break. |
 |
| This is a monument/park as you enter the freeway- Thatcher was barking at the pretend cows thinking they were dogs. |
 |
| We stopped at the majestic Multnomah Falls on our way into Portland. We had to circle the parking lot a few times before a space opened up. It was a busy place the day we stopped in. There were tourists from all over the world there. A very nice lady offered to snap a picture for us after watching us try to wrangle Thatcher and the camera. |
 |
| The very first place we visited after checking into the hotel- IKEA! I pretty much love that place and we had been making a list of things to get for the past few months. I kept trying to get Aaron to let us ride the train back during the week to just walk around and he wouldn't let me. |
 |
| While we were in Portland it also happened to be the Rose Festival. It looked crazy busy so we shyed away from most of the activities but we did get to see some of the dragon boat racers warming up while we waited for the OMSI center to open. I wish I had a better zoom so we could see the details on their boats. |
 |
| Aaron was so excited to see this movie poster- but the show time wasn't until later that afternoon and we wouldn't be able to get back. So a picture of the poster would have to do. |
 |
| Watching the windmills |
 |
| Learning about electricity |
 |
| This was a giant floating globe it was showing weather patterns- pretty cool! |
 |
| Playing with wind |
 |
| They had a few fossils to look at- we haven't hit the dinosaur phase yet but Thatcher still thought they were kinda cool |
 |
| Headed into the kiddo play place |
 |
| Thatcher played in this hollow log with the acorns for a long time. He didn't care too much about doing anything else. |
 |
| This was his other favorite- he would hold a ball over the cone and it would float in the air |
 |
| On our way over to the coast we were able to stop off in Willamina Oregon. A little tiny logging town where my Great- Grandparents Campbell lived. We stopped at the little grocery store in the town to ask for directions to the cemetery. The directions included counting fence posts, watching for a large rock and traveling "so far" down a gravel road. We were happy to find the cemetery and their headstone. |
 |
| Our first glimpse of the ocean! |
 |
| Eating lunch at the Newport Aquarium. The kids meal is served on a Frisbee they get to take home. |
 |
| Thatcher loved watching all of the fish. |
 |
| There were a few seals and sea lions that were swimming and sunning themselves. They were pretty cute. |
 |
| The otters were so fun to watch. There were some volunteers standing on the top of the otter enclosure singing the hokey poky and the otters were following along with the actions! |
 |
| We stopped off in Lincoln City and Depoe Bay to do a little shopping and play by the Ocean. It was crazy windy but not too chilly. Thatcher like to watch the kites and windsocks. |
 |
| Thatcher loved the beach once we got out on the packed sand where he could run a little better. He wasn't too sure about the waves sneaking up on him but he liked to watch the water and play in the sand. We had to put his binky in because he tried putting sand, rocks, and part of a dead crab in his mouth :) Oh little boys. |
 |
| Thatchers first train ride! We loved taking the train to the Zoo and into Portland. I was glad that I had some train experience from traveling in London. Thatcher was able to look out the window and watch the world go by and we didn't have to deal with nasty traffic and finding a parking spot. Plus we got a discount on our Zoo admission! |
 |
| Baby Lily the elephant was pretty cute- we watcher her play for a bit. |
We had so much fun on our vacation. Our hotel was a little outside of Portland and close to a good size shopping mall and walking distance to Target. We had a great suite that had a separate bedroom and living area which made sleeping and nap time a lot easier.
If we could convince our extended family to follow us Portland would be a great place to live! We spent our last full day wandering around the city and riding the train. Thatcher is becoming a really great traveler and we look forward to more adventures!
