Washington Fun

We flew into Portland on August 5th for a week in the Northwest. We stayed at Grammy and Papa's new house and celebrated their retirement and anniversary with a house warming party. We celebrated with lots of family and friends. Eleven kid cousins were together for the first time and they were able to break in the new house fairly quickly.

Brian, John and Brendan

George, Trudy, and John

Brendan, Bill, and Matt

Almost all the cousins at the Falls

Grammy, Papa and the Grands

G, O, E and E

Buddies!

From Vancouver, we drove up to Seattle to enjoy one of our favorite cities and show the boys where we went to school. We stayed with our good friends, the Kochels, and packed some fun into almost every minute! First stop... U Dub. We drove through campus, detoured around the Viaduct, made our way to the stadium, and rented a row boat at the WAC. 

Our rowboat from the WAC
A little scary with the big boats

My turn to row... it was not pretty

Future Huskies

After a fun evening at a concert in the park and very late bedtimes, we were ecstatic when the boys slept past 9 the next morning! So with a little bit later start, we headed into Madison Park for some breakfast and time at the playground, then into the city for a tour of Pike Place Market and its surroundings.

Wow - nice smiles!

Gotta love the flying fish!

Owen is making sure not
to touch these things!

The boys loved seeing the
parrot do tricks

We ventured up to Greenlake and enjoyed a favorite meal at Duke's Chowder House with our friend, Lee, walked around the lake a bit, and then headed west to Golden Gardens to explore the Puget Sound on the beach. We enjoyed another evening with the Kochels, including some delicious wine and fun conversation. For the next day, Gasworks, Ballard Locks, a great lunch at Cactus, and a drive back down south to Vancouver, WA.

Meg and Lee - loved seeing my
great friend!

Ballard Locks - where the
boats move from the
salty Sound to the fresh
water of Salmon Bay

The boys loved watching
the boats being raised and
lowered

We finished our adventure in the Northwest with one last day in Vancouver with family. What a trip! Family, friends, food, and fun! With a new list of what we want to do on the next trip to Seattle, I'm thinking we won't wait 7 years next time. See you soon Washington!

Multnomah Falls - Portland, Oregon

Our first full day in the Northwest and we gathered at the Falls for a fun hike up to the top with all of the cousins. The kids were awesome as we made it around 11 switchbacks. For a hike that is just over a mile and takes most people about 30-40 minutes, I think we got to the top in about 80 minutes. It took ring pops, gum, water, band aids, mole skin, bug spray, sunscreen, and lots of encouragement to keep trudging up the hill, but it was so worth it when we got there!

The Colorado Adams at Multnomah Falls

Our first look at Multnomah Falls

The Falls from the bridge

The view from the top

Happy Birthday, Brendan!

 A Little August Catching Up...
August 1 - We celebrated the big day with a few hours at Broncos Training Camp - our first peek at Denver's 3 quarterbacks. It was crazy hot, but still a great experience. Brendan grilled his famous pork tenderloin for dinner, we opened presents and enjoyed the "cake" the boys created. It was more a crumble that was perfect with strawberries and homemade whipped cream.

Broncos Training Camp

Happy Birthday!

Dessert!

Make a Wish!