We are back from a great weekend in Oregon!
We left Thursday morning with our new little GPS gadget, which I thought would turn out to be a waste of money, even though we got a killer deal on it. It didn't take too long to change my mind! Instead of stopping at the nearest fast food restaurant for meals on the road, we were able to find great little local pizza shops and delis. Plus, we had so many stops to make along the way that it was great to have the directions right there and not worry about MapQuesting everything. Great purchase!
When we first plugged in the GPS, we got to choose the voice that would give us directions and we chose a British guy named Tim. Whenever Tim would tell us to exit or turn, we'd say "Thanks, Tim!" Sometimes if we stopped to get gas without telling Tim, he'd tell us to "Turn around immediately" and we'd pretend to be mad at him ("Stop telling us what to do, Tim! You're so bossy!"). This would really upset Sam, and finally he said sternly to Garreth and me, "Stop being rude to Tim! He is a REALLY GOOD PERSON!"
Our first stop was at the Oregon Zoo in Portland. It was a little overcast and we pretty much had the whole zoo to ourselves, which was awesome.
One of our favorite parts of the zoo was the polar bears. One of them was swimming laps and we got to watch him swim RIGHT by us through the underwater tank.
Sam was hesitant to turn his back on him!
My favorite animals in the world are elephants, so of course I loved the mom and baby elephant exhibit. The mom was getting a pedicure and the zookeepers kept feeding the baby apple slices to keep her busy. It was fun to watch her scoop them up with her trunk.
After an afternoon at the zoo, we spent the night in Vancouver, WA with our friends, the Tobiassons, then left the next morning for Eugene, where we got to see some of our favorite people ever:
We had a whole weekend of cousin time and loved it!
Saturday was a great day, as we got to go to the baptism of our uncle and brother-in-law, Tracy. (Quincy's husband.) It was a beautiful service and the chapel was filled with family and ward members there to share the special day.
After a yummy lunch,
we spent some time at the Eugene Saturday market.
Nana bought each of the kids a present from the vendors. Grace got a stuffed snake, Sam got a wooden toy horse, and Liam...? Well, all he wanted was a Grateful Dead-heads for Obama pin, as shown below:
It was a great market, lots to see and do...
...but it wore some people right out.
Saturday afternoon, we had a huge backyard Easter egg hunt...
...and the kids got lots of great treasures.
We loved hanging out with everybody, whether it was playing dress-up...
...or rocking out to Rock Band.
We woke up Easter morning happy to see that the Easter bunny had found us in our hotel room.
Declan is becoming the new Ratchford ham in pictures, witnessed below with his "Home Alone" impression:
And also, playing Rock Band drums on his brother's heads.
After church, it was time to go home, but not before one last cousin picture:
It was so much fun to spend the holiday with so many people that we love. Thanks, Brandts, for a great weekend! We love you guys!
7 comments:
Our GPS guy was named Richard and he was a good person. He got us around California with no problems. On a few occasions I thought of having him cannonized.
Looks like a good trip with lots of fun had by all.
Happy Easter.
Looks like you had lots of fun! That looks like a great zoo.
We are so glad you could be here! We loved having you.
Man, you got these on fast. It was a great weekend. We are so proud of Tracy. It is the best that we have such a great family and that we were able to be there.
Great pictures! Loved seeing you guys!
We went to the Portland zoo last summer and have the same picture with the kids lined up in front of the bears. too cute
We love the Portland Zoo too! You're GPS experience made me laugh out loud. I've never been in a car with one and had no idea they actually spoke to you. That's hillarious. You guys are great.
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