Portland Trip, Part One

We spent two weeks in Portland this summer.  It was one of our best family vacations!  

The girls brought a bag of legos to play with while waiting for our flight.  My rule is that screens have to wait until we're on the plane . . .

. . . plugged in a ready to go.  Delta Airlines making dreams come true with personal screens =)

My goal during our time in Portland was to stay outside as much as possible!

You know it's going to be a good vacation when the sun is up, cousins are playing, and everyone is still wearing their pajamas!  Kaye K and Big Daddy's badminton net was a total hit (no pun intended!).

Nana joined us for the first few days - what a gift to have four generations gather together and make memories that even youngest will remember.

Hike/walk through the Portland Arboretum . . .

And then we all drove to stay on the coast for a week.  Eight adults with nine kids ages 2-11!  The weather could not have been better.  Mom and Dad found a great house for us to stay in a short walk from the beach.  After everyone arrived and dumped off for stuff, we headed down to the coast:

The youngest cousin needed time to warm up to the feeling of sand!

Glorious blue skies and warm sun

One day we packed a lunch and went for a hike to Drift Creek Falls

A fun suspension bridge near the end of the hike 

The cousins from oldest to youngest (missing Stark, who was napping)

Tired little legs needed help getting back to the vans =)

  

This is a little of what it looks like to feed  17 people with a random collection of kitchen utensils and dishwater

Grandparents-of-the-year award goes to Kaye K and Big D, who brought a wading pool AND enough water balloons for a fun family fight!

How many people can YOU fit in one hot tub?!

Bookend cousins:

Despite the inevitable whining along the way, it's so fun to go hiking with all of our families together!

Feeling small along Cascade Head Trail.   

Each evening, after kids were in bed, the adults took turns planning something fun to do together.  We took turns providing dinner to eat together.  The kids got along and enjoyed running around the fenced-in yard, playing on the tree house and in the "bamboo fort," and each couple got to share a meal with just Mom and Dad.  We didn't sleep great, but played a lot of games and laughed a lot.  I'm so thankful for the week together.