Kazoo Jam

A lengthy kazoo jam session.  Yes he is totally getting down to the sound of his own kazoo.

U-S-A! U-S-A!

Giddy is all ready for the opening ceremonies of the XXX Olympiad

Sunglasses are fun

Giddy Tricks

We do our best to entertain (sorry my voice is so annoying) (it really is)

Just like daddy

A humid day at the zoo

Fought the humidity at the zoo with our fav peeps.  Can't wait for Fall.

I kind of hope they are friends forever.

Legos

Father and son hard at work on Lord of the Rings legos

Rainforest Splashing

Beth and I took Liyah and Giddy to the Rainforest Waterpark.  The children were adorable.  I need to stick to salad for a while.

Oh Ellie

Ellie is very important to this family.  She is Gideon's most loyal companion and the reason he is able to soothe himself to sleep, ever.  When we got back to Seattle from Portland we realized she wasn't with us.  She was however in this picture taken at our hotel (that is her on top of Gideon):

I called the hotel immediately but their housekeeping manager was already gone for the day.  Back in Texas I called again but no luck, they hadn't found Ellie.  When we discovered her missing we hit the internet and purchased another Ellie (Ellie Too) but she wasn't going to arrive for a few days.  It was a miserable time, Giddy didn't sleep well and was generally on edge.  Then a miracle!  The hotel FOUND ELLIE!  In fact, she arrived at our house before Ellie Too and really not a moment too soon.

All pictures of Gideon and Ellie from the day she arrived are blurry because he was so happy he couldn't sit still.

Spin Gramma

This is why Gideon says "weeeeeeeeeeeee" everytime he spins anything (which is surprisingly frequent)

Homeward Bound

Remember how awesome Gideon was on the plane to Seattle...yeah.  The poor kid sprouted teeth at the airport as we were waiting to board the plane home.  I am sure waking up at 3 am didn't help either.  Regardless everyone pretty much  gave us dagger stares as we tried to calm our screaming child in the terminal.  However I felt pretty vindicated when he promptly settled down and was good as gold once the plane took off.  Take that ugly looks from other passengers!

We were very happy to be in our own beds but missed our Seattle family immediately.  It was an amazing trip and one we can't wait to go on again!

Last day in Portland

Our last day in Portland was low key compared to the day before.  We got up early and dragged all of our luggage to the train station then Crystal volunteered to watch our stuff for us while we went back into town to check out the Portland Saturday Market (have I mentioned that Crystal is pretty awesome?)  The market did not disappoint.  Were else can you get an amazing gyro, butterfly wings, and a balloon shaped like a penguin?

Best. gyro. ever.

Ali has some serious style.

The train ride was once again nice and when we got home we ordered pizza for my brother's birthday and started packing for our early flight home the next morning :(

I think we squeezed ALL of the fun out if it

There is no fun left in Portland, we managed to squeeze all the fun out of it in one day.

We started out at Voodoo donuts, a place I have wanted since I first saw it on Food Network years ago.

The line was long but worth it

mmm bacon donut

From there we rode our sugar high on trains and by foot over hill, dale, and bridges (that just happened to rise up as we tried to cross them) in order to reach the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (my kind of place).

A news woman stopped and interviewed Crystal and Mac about a controversy over a onsie with a bikini on it.  Mac is now famous here  http://www.keprtv.com/news/consumer/The-Itsy-Bitsy-Teeny-Weeny-polka-dot-onesie-bikini-161620685.html

The bridge raising to let a tiny boat pass

 
They had a great kids exhibit with a chem lab, air cannon fun, make your own boats, earthquake house, and lots of other stuff I can't remember.  While we were walking around touching science stuff the boys went on a tour of the USS Blueback.  When we met up with them afterwards they wreaked of diesel fuel and excitement.

This was so cool, you hooked up tubes, stuffed them with little balls and hit the red light to start the air flow.

At one point Nathan and I hooked up a ton of tubes and stuffed them to the brim with balls as I yelled "Let's get Ali!"  I may have gotten a little over excited

Then everyone went upstairs and checked out all of the exhibits (including dinosaurs!) before eating a surprisingly good lunch (tacos!) and hitting the gift shop (we are suckers for a gift shop).

Actual fossil being cleaned up

At this point it would have been acceptable to call it a day but NO we soldiered on taking a REALLY FUN train (through a freaky awesome tunnel) to the Portland Zoo.  It was an ...interesting zoo.  I think they had 5 animals.

Awesome seal

wassup?

All three kids in one shot!

The weather was amazing and the zoo grounds were beautiful, it was like a nice botanical expedition that happened to have a zebra, a seal, a polar bear, and, we think, a lion.  The zoo train was a whole other story.  What a ride!  We traveled through a cool dark forest and got to see beautiful gardens and the backs of animal exhibits.  It was relaxing and the perfect end to the zoo excursion.

Gideon was very excited

Nathan showing his stuffed hamster the view

Gideon loved it

A very blurry pic

After the zoo we headed back to the hotel to change and then Mac, Giddy and I hit a little toy store nearby before meeting up with Jason, Crystal, Nathan, and Ali for dinner at a local brewery.  The wait was fairly long so Crystal volunteered to hold our place while we went to Powell's Book City.  That place is awesome!  I can't believe I didn't take a single pic so you will just have to picture in your mind the largest used and new bookstore in the world encompassing an entire city block and housing over a million books.  Needless to say we bought a few before heading back to the restaurant for dinner.  At this point the kids seemed to hit a wall, as kids often do.  Mac and Crystal bravely took them back to the hotel while Jason and I waited for the check.  It was nice hanging out with my brother on the walk back and I even managed to snag a piece of amazing walnut spice cake for Mac and I to consume like a pack of wild dogs back at the room.

So pretty much the best day ever.

Trains, planes, and automobiles

Gideon is officially a seasoned traveler.  We took a train to Portland which means he has now enjoyed all major forms of transportation.  BTW the trains were reallllly nice.  We had wifi and places to plug in our computers not to mention plenty of leg room, comfy seats, and a dining car with WINE.

Tom foolery on the train

watching George with daddy

the awesome view from the train

The lap top was a life saver, thank god for the plug on the train.

 When we arrived in Portland it was only a quick light rail ride to our amazing hotel (The Governor Hotel) were we immediately took off our pants and collapsed on the bed.

I am pretty sure Gideon's favorite part of the room was the curtains

Sleepy boy relaxing with Pooh Bear

 After a failed attempt to get dinner from the food trucks outside our window (they were CLOSED) we ordered too much room service and then collapsed into deep sleeps.  BTW Gideon is kind of amazing.  He slept all night, no problem, at the hotel.  I should get him a trophy for that.