Adventure Five: Seaside Oregon

Our family woke up Monday morning, and we were either going to go to the Portland zoo first and drive to the coast after, or just get right to the coast. We left our decision up to our three year old.

"Tralee, do you want to go to the zoo or to the beach?"

"The beach! The beach! The beach!"

Our answer was clear. So, we left for Seaside, Oregon that very morning. The drive was gorgeous. We also stopped at a little run down antique store on the way, but it was closed. Too bad, it looked like there were some treasures to be found inside. I love odd, eclectic places in the middle of nowhere, and this place was that to the T. Oh well, we went on our merry way, and drove into Seaside wondering what would find us there.

We were pleasantly surprised when we drove through the streets of Seaside to get to our hotel. Everything was within walking distance from our hotel, and there were fun arcades, shops, ice cream parlors, restaurants, rides, and thrifts stores all along the main walk. The beach was at the end of it, and our hotel was right on the beach. PERFECT VACATION SPOT!! The bad news was, we only had a day-and-a-half to explore it all. Jim went into our hotel to check us in and when he came out he had a little grin on his face. I knew something was up. When I asked what was going on he answered, "I booked us an extra night!!!" HOORAY!!! He explained as soon as he saw the ocean, he knew we would have to stay another day. What a good hubby!!

After getting settled in our hotel room, our first stop was the beach. We couldn't wait to go play!!!! I mean, look at that face below! Tralee's eyes are on the water, and I think we all had smiles that big.
Hunter's only agenda was to chase birdies. I think he ran a few miles on the beach on day one, and I ran a few miles chasing him. It was the funnest exercise I've ever done!

Tralee had fun digging in the sand, and getting her feet wet in the water.

Hunter is, no doubt, pointing at a birdy and saying, "Birdy! Birdy! Birdy!"

More beach pictures below

Look closely at the picture below and you'll see THREE Hunters!

Hunter loved birdies so much this trip, we though he might like to try flying like them. . .

. . . he didn't.

Jim, acting like his usual man-child self.

I like the picture below. Makes me just want to kiss those chubby cheeks. . . both sets!!

We had a WONDERFUL time playing on the beach!!! More pics of our adventures soon to come.

Cuatro

What's that? Are you wondering what Tralee is pointing at? Well, let me show you.

She's pointing at the Portland Areal Tram pictured below.

It was our fourth adventure of the trip. We saw the trams soaring over the city when we drove into Portland and knew this was something we HAD to try! Tralee was pretty excited to ride as she danced through the streets admiring her reflection in the windows on the walk to the tram.

I decided to get a picture of all of our reflections in the glass. Check on Tralee's sweet dance moves.

We're ALMOST ready to ride!!! Tralee are you so EXCITED?!?!?!?!?!

I think that's a positive!!

Oh yeah baby!! Soaring over Portland. We felt so cool!

Checkin' out the view

Loverly

On the way back to the car we spotted a little water fountain. Right when we approached it the water stopped. That didn't stop my kids.

Water turned back on soon enough.

Splishy splashin'

Tralee! Smile at the camera for Mommy!

Hunter wasn't too sure he liked the water on. He was still workin' on his chicken strip from lunch.

Pretty little feet there lady!

Don't mind Hunty-Dizzle. He's just a-munchin on his chicken, completely avoiding the water at this point.

Tralee, do you like this adventure we're on?

Her answer was yes, in case you were wondering. We spent a lovely thirty minutes or so at the fountain. Then Tralee started running around the perimeter of the fountain, grabbing at her derriere, and I heard the words that make a nice relaxing afternoon at the city fountain turn into a panicky afternoon at the fountain: "I have to go potty!" So, we left the fountain, headed back to our hotel (nothing was open in that area on a Sunday afternoon, and I had no idea where to even go in the first place as no one was around to ask!), and Tralee made it safely to the thrown. Phew!

Adventure Cuatro was a success! You won't even believe what happened next on our trip! Oh man! Adventure five will pop your eyes right out of your head you'll be so surprised.

Second and Third Portland Adventure

On Saturday the kids and I visited the Portland Temple. They had fun at the fountain and walking around the grounds. Tralee saw a prince and princess walking around (a couple that just got married) -- that was pretty exciting. But mostly, she wanted to play near the fountain. If I would have let her, she would have dove right in. Luckily, she was satisfied with dipping her feet in.

Saturday evening Jim got off work earlier so we went on a family adventure to Oaks Amusement Park. It's just a fun little carnival and we all had a bum-load of fun.

Tralee started getting sleepy on the carousal so. . .

. . . Jim livened things up a bit.

What a dorkus-porkus! Get it? Porkus? He's on a pig.

We're just getting started on the adventures here people. I know, I'm I blowing you all away with our wild and crazy adventures. I mean, to the point where you're so absolutely blown away there are no words. That's gotta be why no comments are left. You're all typeless. Get it? Instead of speechless. . .cause you type out comments you don't say them. Unless! You actually do SAY your comments out loud to your computer screen instead of type them out in the comment section of this here blog. Oh man! I can just see you giggling at that cute picture of my kids and saying, "Oh my goodness! What a cute picture of your kids!" Well, that's just silly! I can't hear you when you do that, but thanks for thinking my kids are cute.

Onto adventure number four. . .

A Not So Very Polite Blog Post

We're very sophisticated in our house hold. See for yourself:

This happened right after Hunter burped for real. I asked him, "Did you just burp?" I exaggerated the word burp and he cracked up, so of course I said burp again and got another laugh. A few minutes later our little burping session evolved into what you see in the video. Don't worry Mom, we'll start working on manners real soon.

Also, do boys just automatically think burping and farting are way funnier than girls? Tralee looks more shocked around here when anyone burps or farts (just kidding, no one around here EVER does anything so rude). Hunter just cracks up when gas is emitted. Oh the joys of having a son.

Adventure Numeral Uno: Portland Edition

Last week was adventure week for our family.

Jim drove up to Portland, Oregon to work for 11 days. Before he left home, Jim asked if the kids and I would like to keep him company on his business trip. We already had some stuff planned, so I told Jim "Maybe we'll come up half-way through." Maybe was the key word. Maybe is what I tell Tralee when the answer is usually no. IE: When she asks for the millionth time a day to go to the zoo I say, "MAYBE we'll go to the zoo." I used maybe with Jim because I didn't really think driving seven or so hours with a three-year-old and one-year-old would make for a fun time. However, I also knew being a single mom of a three-year-old and a one-year-old for eleven days would also make for a not-so-fun time. So I honestly thought "MAYBE I will go visit Jim half way through his trip."

The first weekend at home without Jim was the weekend of firsts. You know, the one where the kids and I were stuck in the house for three days dealing with pukage. When Tuesday came around, and everyone was on the mend, I was ready to get out of the house and explore. I decided that a trip to Portland to visit my main squeeze was a definite possibility. I knew driving alone with my babes would be an adventure, but I was up for it.

I cleaned my house Thursday morning (cause I like to come home to a clean house), packed up the car, and the kids and I left for Portland. I was a little frantic leaving, cause I was running behind schedule. However, we left eventually and surprisingly, the drive was a lot of fun. The kids and I took in the sights and sounds, stopped a few times to stretch our legs and eat some food, the kids watched some shows on the mini DVD player, we sang songs, and the three of us made our way into Portland around eight at night -- just in time to surprise Daddy at work before the end of his day. We were all so happy to have our family together again.

Jim took us to the hotel he was staying at, and when we walked in Jim told Tralee, "This is Daddy's house." She thought that was funny. Jim still had three more days of work, so that left three days open for the kids and I to have adventures on our own. Thank goodness for my phone's GPS! Every time I left the hotel with the kids I told them, "we're going on an adventure!"

The first adventure in Portland was a trip to The Children's Museum. Oh my!! So much fun for my babies! We got there after lunch and stayed until it closed. It was great not having a pressing schedule to commit to. I just let the kids play and explore, and boy howdy, did they ever! Here are some pictures from our first adventure:

First stop, brushing the dragon's teeth. Tralee called it a dragon. This dragon's teeth must be REALLY clean, cause Tralee came back several times to brush them.

We stayed in the water exploration station for at least a half hour. Tralee couldn't get enough!

Hunter's in the tree house below. Notice that he has bare feet? Yeah, thank his sister for that. She threw one of his socks out the car window on the drive to the museum. I caught her right before she was about to throw his shoe out the window. Thankfully, both shoes are still in our possession, but I didn't want Hunter to walk around all day with tennies on with no socks. That's just uncomfortable, so he went bare foot. It worked.

Tralee picked these flowers outside the tree house, and she and her new friend played with them inside the tree house for a bit.

By far, Tralee's favorite area of the museum was the vet clinic. They had cages with stuffed animals in them. You could pick an animal, put a leash on it, and then examine it, wash it, walk it, there was even a scheduling desk. Super fun!

One area of the museum was designated for children three and under. Tralee and Hunter had a blast in there. Hunter loved the fish tank and kept saying, "Fishy! Fishy! Fishy!" There was also an little mountain with water trickling down it. Hunter would put his hands in and say, "Wet! Wet! Wet!" I got asked by three sets of parents how old his was. When I told them, they were all impressed with how much Hunter was talking for his age. What a smart lil' dickins!

Another favorite area was the face painting station. Lots of other kids were walking around looking all cute with their kitty faces, or little rainbows drawn on their cheeks. Not my daughter! She wanted to paint her face all by herself. When I asked what she was her reply was, "I'm a monster!" The end result sure was scary, that's for sure!

My little monsters spent more time playing at the pretend bus station.

It's amazing how boys just instinctively now all the boy sounds. Hunter picked up a toy car, started driving it, and said over and over, "Vroom, vroom, vroom!" Such a boy!

There were so many other areas of the museum that I didn't even mention or take pictures off. There was so much to see and do, and a whole lot of chasing the kids around on my part, that picture taking wasn't high priority. When it was time to leave Tralee was disappointed. She refused to move from the spot below. Talk about dealing with a little monster! I finally said, "Maybe we can come back another day." I meant it, maybe we will. . . the next time we're in Portland. My maybe-statement worked. She finally agreed to leave and we were onto our next adventure.