Oregon

We had the chance to take a great (very long) family vacation/ work trip to the Pacific Northwest and it was tons of fun.

We started out in Portland staying with our friends Steve and Michelle Barker. Right away Steve took us to Silver Falls State Park. It was beautiful. Bryan took so many great pictures, it's hard to know what to include.

Us and the Barkers (some of the greatest people I know).

The next day we headed to the coast. It was Ivy's first time seeing the ocean. Peter has seen it before but I don't think he remembers. Even though it was cold, Ivy didn't seem to care. She was in heaven. She stripped down to her swimsuit and had a party.

This is Cannon Beach. It's where they filmed the final scene in Goonies,

where One-Eyed Willie sails his pirate ship away.

We then headed to downtown Portland for business stuff. We played in fountains, went to museums, toy stores, the riverfront, the Rose Gardens, and the Chinese Gardens.

Bryan's company took us to Multnomah Falls. It was beautiful and my fantastic little hikers made it all the way to the top.

Next we hit Washington . . .

Washington

We started at the southern tip of Olympic National Park at Lake Quinalt, which was awesome. The lodge we stayed at was beautiful with a fun beach where you could swim or rent boats which we did. They also had a big sloping lawn where we played Bocci Ball. It was great because our rooms had trails from them that led straight to the lake.

Then we made our way up the coast with a brief stop at Ruby Beach.

We made our way to the spectacular Hoh Rain Forest. Truly beautiful. We hiked "The Hall of Mosses."


We figured since we were there we might as well stop at Forks and La Push. Yes, I admit it: I like the Twilight books. Yes, I realize they are sappy teenage fluff, and I still like them . . . so there you have it.
When we pulled into the visitor's center in Forks I saw this big red bulbous truck and said, "Hey look it's Bella's truck." Then I saw the license plate.
We went inside and I sheepishly asked for Twilight info where they directed me to the hospital, the high school, the Swan's home, and the Cullen home.

(Yes, this really was the hospital)

The High School

The designated Swan home. It's a private residence and I'll probably still see it differently in my head.

The Cullen Home is actually a bed and breakfast.

La Push was next. On our way we crossed the "treaty line." Yes, they actually have it marked. Then we went to First Beach and played for a little while.




Since Forks and La Push are smaller than Rigby we spent the night in Port Angeles which is smaller than Rexburg, although the hotel we stayed at is way nicer than anything in Rexburg. The next day we caught the ferry to Victoria, Canada. Victoria's post will have to wait since I don't have access to all the pictures yet, but here are a couple of pictures of Port Angeles.

Beautiful Crescent Lake between Forks and Port Angeles.

The port at Port Angeles.

The restaurant from the Twilight book where Edward and Bella had their first date.

Last of all: Seattle

We didn't spend a lot of time in Seattle because we've been there quite a bit, but we made another trip to the Pike Street Market place and of course to Issaquah to see the Winders.

Ivy's Sprinkle Obsession

Whenever Ivy has ice cream she puts sprinkles on it. The other day she slightly overdid it. Her ice cream was gritty and full of green sprinkles. I had a hard time watching her eat because it was so gross, but she was in heaven. Well last night we had ice cream and of course she had sprinkles. They were left out, and today instead of macaroni and cheese she had sprinkles for lunch sans the ice cream (mmm green grit). When I asked her who said she could have sprinkles, she said "They were on the table." Duh mom.

A Dream Come True

Bryan has been talking about getting a Mini Cooper since we got married. I always thought that he would eventually forget about this silly impractical dream. But he never did. A few years ago I finally surrendered to the idea that we would have a tiny Mini in our garage. Well . . . that day has finally arrived and Bryan was able to design his dream car.





And I have to say, it's a Sport so it's pretty fun to drive

Ivy's Birthday

We took Ivy and a friend to It'z for her birthday. It was easy on the parents and the kids had tons of fun. They were more interested in getting a lot of tickets than actually playing fun games (at least that was Peter's approach). Of course without a ton of tickets how would they buy cheap junk to take home at the end of an expensive day?

There is nothing that brightens a room quite like this smile:



This is the face Ivy made when she saw . . .

THIS!