Traveling to the Pacific Northwest has been on our wish list for awhile, so when Nolan's BFF Henry Thomas moved back to Portland and asked us to visit, it seemed like the perfect time to jump! We planned a full week visit - half with our friends in Portland, half in Bend, OR (where we also had friends and we had heard great things about). This was an epic trip and one we will remember for a long time. Here's the Portland portion of the trip:
We left Deaner with Joe's parents and drove to my parent's house to pick up my dad, who drove us to the airport and our car back to his house (so nice to not worry about parking/shuttles!). We had a direct flight from Newark to Portland on Alaska Air, which we've never flown before. The kids did really great on the flight - I feel like we're getting over a big hurdle now and the kids will only get easier and easier to travel with. Very exciting!
 |
| Waiting for our airplane in Newark |
 |
| Before the trip |
 |
| ...and after (I came equipped with a bag of tricks and surprisingly the silly putty was the biggest hit!) We're in PORTLAND! (and waiting for the rental car) |
We got in around 7pm PST (10pm our time) and flew during dinner so we showed up to our friends exhausted and hungry. Luckily they anticipated this and were ready with Pizza and our beds :) The kids after a brief burst of hyperactivity passed out pretty quickly. Nolan was SOO excited for his first sleepover at a friend's house and slept in Henry Thomas's room on a sleeping mat. We set up a pack n play in the guest room for Emmy but (surprise, surprise) she insisted on sleeping in the bed with us every night.
Jet lag is the worst from east to west. Emmy was up at 3am (in our bed) and I held her off hoping she'd fall back asleep, but finally got up with her around 4am - not fun!
 |
| lazy Friday morning watching movies in the basement |
As such, our first full day in Portland was pretty laid back. Aaron made us some breakfast in the morning before he headed to work. Jennie took the day off and we walked to the beautiful park that is right around the corner from their house for some playtime on the playground.
 |
| So happy to be reunited! |
After the park, we drove over to the Alberta Arts District - a fun area full of restaurants very close to our friends' house for some yummy street tacos at Stella Taco.
After lunch, we drove over to the Adidas campus to visit the company store to take advantage of Aaron's employee discount, but didn't pick up anything due to huge crowds there. The campus was cool to see!
After we got back, everyone crashed down for naps. Emmy and I slept for nearly 3 hours! When we woke up, it was time for dinner. Jennie and Aaron invited a few friends over for a BBQ, which was a really nice end to a chill day to get our feet under us after a long day of travel.
 |
| Nolan and Henry Thomas at the BBQ |
 |
| Newman! |
 |
| Even Emmy had a friend to play with! |
Day two in Portland was a bit more eventful as Aaron secured box seat tickets at the Portland Thorns (Professional women's soccer) game!
 |
| Nolan never eats cereal at home, but when your best friend is eating it, things change! |
 |
| All strawberries for this nugget! |
 |
| Daddy/Emmy love |
Aaron was able to secure tickets for us in the Adidas suite for the Thorn game, which was perfect for this age. The kids could run around and weren't stuck in their seats the whole time. We grabbed lots of soccer gear in the arena and had lunch.
 |
| Us with the best hosts |
 |
| So excited for the game! |
 |
| Mask outside Providence Park |
 |
| cutest |
 |
| Waiting for the game to start |
 |
| The besties at the game |
 |
| Emmy made friends with another girl in the suite |
 |
| Let's go Thorns! |
 |
| This is when it was nice to have the suite ;) |
 |
| Getting into the cheers! |
 |
| Thorns goal!!!! |
 |
| Loved all the rainbow gear at the stadium! <3 |
After the game, the kids were zonked and Joe and I were anxious to see more of the city so we drove around the different neighborhoods in our rental car while the kids snoozed in the back. It's a very cool city and I wish we had had more time to experience it!
When we got back, I took a nice relaxing walk with Jennie around her neighborhood while the kids played at home. We then headed out to meet Joe's longtime friend Brett and his family who also live in Portland for dinner and ice cream. For dinner we went to Hopworks Bikebar. It was a super kid friendly brewery that had an outdoor play area and children's garden with sprinklers. Very cool!
 |
| The whole group at dinner |
 |
| The kids had fun in the open play area - it had an outdoor kitchen and lots of woodchips to serve up for dinner ;) |
 |
| Tree stump step stools with pretty garden behind |
The next day we packed up for a fun day of hiking in the Columbia River Gorge on the way to Bend. Stay tuned for Part II!
No comments:
Post a Comment