First stop: Portland

Technically, the first stop on our vacation was Seattle; we flew in late late Friday night and crashed at Mick's new house. Crashed is a fairly literal term, since Mick had just moved the majority of his belongings into the house that very day - we really appreciate him letting us be his first houseguests!

Saturday we got up earlier than we would have liked (Zach didn't really get the concept of pacific time), picked up our rental car and headed south. We spent that afternoon and the next couple days relaxing, exploring the Portland area, and mostly just catching up with our friends and watching the kids play. Sarah (my sister-like friend from college), Brien, and their kids - Ava, age 3, and Aiden, almost 7, just moved to Portland from Memphis, and were still living in temporary housing while they waited to move into their new house. One of the perks was the pool that was located in the complex:

We had read that a trip to Portland is not complete without a visit to Voodoo Donuts, so one of our adventures was to head downtown and check it out. We learned that 11 AM on a Monday is the time to go - no line! It was an interesting place... a mix of goth and sugar. Ava and Zach chose the donuts with the M&Ms on top; other choices included maple bars with a slice of bacon on top, froot loop donuts, or a strawberry-filled one shaped like a person, with a pretzel stick to "stab" the poor unsuspecting donut.

I think if Zach were to create his own checklist for a great vacation, his would include tireless playmates. And he definitely had that in Portland - he thought the sun rose and set on Aiden. He and Ava actually played together more than I would have thought kids that age would, but he and Aiden created endless games involving action figures, balls of all sorts, etc. Aiden was so patient - obviously a great older brother.

To burn off some of the kids energy, we went to a few beautiful parks, both in Portland, and in West Linn, the suburb where our friends live. Oh, and I forgot to mention earlier how absolutely gorgeous the weather was while we were there - sunny and in the 80s, which is not necessarily typical of that time of year. But it made for some great outdoor fun.

We also had a chance to visit a friend of Scott's from high school, who Scott hadn't seen in too long. We met up at Travis, Kayelynn, Justin and Tyler's house in a nearby suburb, and then had the opportunity to go watch 7 year-old Justin's baseball game (yes, baseball - not t-ball!). Travis and Scott were able to catch up while keeping Aiden, Tyler (age 4), and Zach busy playing various ball games in the outfield. While getting to know Kayelynn on the sidelines, I found myself having way too much fun trying to capture action shots of the game. It made me really look forward to the days when Zach is the one running the bases - or staring off into space in the outfield waiting for the action...

Entirely too soon, our time in Portland came to an end. We sadly said goodbye, piled back into our Hyundai, and headed off to our next destination...