Road Trip to Washington: The Family Vacation Part

We arrived at our friends Rob and Mariza's home on Friday evening, just before dinner. The kids were exhausted but also hyper. We took some time to catch up with our friends, get situated in their spare bedroom and eat together before tackling bedtime. The four of us were in one room (a giant room, not like the spare rooms seen in SF!)

Saturday morning we all drove into Portland to get breakfast. We left at 8:30, arrived at 9 and stood in line at Screen Door for 90 minutes to be seated. Just like in Portlandia! My husband is excellent at entertaining the kids while we have long waits; I am not. They were having a blast playing with the sign near the entrance and I didn't think anything of it until I overheard a parent of a toddler say something about how dirty/unsafe it was. I didn't say anything at the time but I noticed that her sweet, silent, 17 month old girl didn't talk, move around or play anything during their entire wait and I just realized that we have different children. Very different children. 

Okay, but as I type this, I am realizing that none of the other children in the restaurant behaved like ours . . . so maybe this is an issue?!

The area of Portland we were in was beautiful. Big trees, wide streets and quiet. It was lovely. The food at this place was excellent too. Known for their fried chicken I got a fried chicken sandwich called a "cat head" because it was that big and it was covered in sausage in gravy. It was awesome. William ate a few bites of his "short stack" of pancakes (3 six-inch pancakes . . .) and Stephen ate some oatmeal. William spent some time laying on the floor under the table. I decided not to worry about it. I was on vacation and enjoying my breakfast. We were thankful that after this long wait the kids did as well as they did!

Our original thought was to walk downtown with the kids but after breakfast and seeing how tired the boys were, we decided to head home for naps. I even fell asleep on the couch!

We started Sunday morning at Bridgetown church. I've heard this church compared to Reality SF (a church in San Francisco that I have never been to), had a younger audience, modern/alternative music and a pastor in a white t-shirt and jeans. The message was all about loving your enemies (Sermon on the Mount in Matthew) and seemed very culturally appropriate. I really enjoyed it the whole experience. The kids had fun in their children's church/daycare.

After lunch/naps that afternoon we headed to the park to get some time outdoors. It was comfortable weather, not really hot and not cold. Perfect, really. There was a softball tournament going on and William loved watching it and shouting "I can run fast. I'm the fastest" and running back and forth along the fence. He joined some other kids playing softball (with a toy bat/ball set) but really didn't understand the concept of throwing the ball back to the pitcher. We'll have to do some work!

Sunday night, our friends stayed in with the kids so we could go out on a date! We headed to downtown Portland which we were surprised to find that on a Sunday night was absolutely deserted--except for the two restaurants we were recommended - they each had a 90 minute wait! So, we wandered around the closed shops and quiet streets until our time came to get some dinner. It was nearly 9:30p.m. when we got our food! I think that is the latest date on record for the two of us! The restaurant was called Tasty 'n Alder and was delicious. I were so hungry that we ordered twice as much as we needed. (See the size of that doggy bag below?!) But lunch the next day was covered and oh, so very tasty!

As is the usual with our boys, when we stay out too late, they wake up too early (and too often). We all had a rough night but put on our happy faces and special sun glasses to see the eclipse on Monday morning. 

We went back to the park we had been to the previous day and found a great open green area. The skies were clear which was a gift because they had been very hazy the past two days and we had a clear view of the solar eclipse. William loved wearing the glasses and looking up. He loved talking about it and narrating the movements of the moon.  

It was really interesting to watch - amazing really. It didn't get as dark as I had anticipated but it sure got cold! If you see the color difference in the pictures above/below, you can see how the light did change. It was the most bizarre feeling. Everything became very flat and dark but not black. It was a little eerie. 

I'm hoping William remembers this experience! If he doesn't, Chris has some great video to show him!

Monday afternoon Chris took the boys to the mall to play in their children's area and look at the pet store. I rested and read a book. That night we got packed up and went to bed anticipating the long trip home. Our boys were also a bit anxious it seemed since Stephen woke up at 3 a.m. and wouldn't really go back to sleep. William wasn't able to calm back down either. We decided to pack up and head out early.

And if you are interested in knowing more about the road part of our road-trip, you can read it all right here.

It was really great to reconnect with our friends Rob and Mariza and hang out with their 10-month old daughter Eve. They had been part of our church community for a number of years before their recent move. Sadly we weren't as connected as we would have liked once we had kids which made spending four days with them extra awesome. Thanks friends!

We arrived at our friends Rob and Mariza's home on Friday evening, just before dinner. The kids were exhausted but also hyper. We took some time to catch up with our friends, get situated in their spare bedroom and eat together before tackling bedtime. The four of us were in one room (a giant room, not like the spare rooms seen in SF!)

Saturday morning we all drove into Portland to get breakfast. We left at 8:30, arrived at 9 and stood in line at Screen Door for 90 minutes to be seated. Just like in Portlandia! My husband is excellent at entertaining the kids while we have long waits; I am not. They were having a blast playing with the sign near the entrance and I didn't think anything of it until I overheard a parent of a toddler say something about how dirty/unsafe it was. I didn't say anything at the time but I noticed that her sweet, silent, 17 month old girl didn't talk, move around or play anything during their entire wait and I just realized that we have different children. Very different children. 

Okay, but as I type this, I am realizing that none of the other children in the restaurant behaved like ours . . . so maybe this is an issue?!

The area of Portland we were in was beautiful. Big trees, wide streets and quiet. It was lovely. The food at this place was excellent too. Known for their fried chicken I got a fried chicken sandwich called a "cat head" because it was that big and it was covered in sausage in gravy. It was awesome. William ate a few bites of his "short stack" of pancakes (3 six-inch pancakes . . .) and Stephen ate some oatmeal. William spent some time laying on the floor under the table. I decided not to worry about it. I was on vacation and enjoying my breakfast. We were thankful that after this long wait the kids did as well as they did!

Our original thought was to walk downtown with the kids but after breakfast and seeing how tired the boys were, we decided to head home for naps. I even fell asleep on the couch!

We started Sunday morning at Bridgetown church. I've heard this church compared to Reality SF (a church in San Francisco that I have never been to), had a younger audience, modern/alternative music and a pastor in a white t-shirt and jeans. The message was all about loving your enemies (Sermon on the Mount in Matthew) and seemed very culturally appropriate. I really enjoyed it the whole experience. The kids had fun in their children's church/daycare.

After lunch/naps that afternoon we headed to the park to get some time outdoors. It was comfortable weather, not really hot and not cold. Perfect, really. There was a softball tournament going on and William loved watching it and shouting "I can run fast. I'm the fastest" and running back and forth along the fence. He joined some other kids playing softball (with a toy bat/ball set) but really didn't understand the concept of throwing the ball back to the pitcher. We'll have to do some work!

Sunday night, our friends stayed in with the kids so we could go out on a date! We headed to downtown Portland which we were surprised to find that on a Sunday night was absolutely deserted--except for the two restaurants we were recommended - they each had a 90 minute wait! So, we wandered around the closed shops and quiet streets until our time came to get some dinner. It was nearly 9:30p.m. when we got our food! I think that is the latest date on record for the two of us! The restaurant was called Tasty 'n Alder and was delicious. I were so hungry that we ordered twice as much as we needed. (See the size of that doggy bag below?!) But lunch the next day was covered and oh, so very tasty!

As is the usual with our boys, when we stay out too late, they wake up too early (and too often). We all had a rough night but put on our happy faces and special sun glasses to see the eclipse on Monday morning. 

We went back to the park we had been to the previous day and found a great open green area. The skies were clear which was a gift because they had been very hazy the past two days and we had a clear view of the solar eclipse. William loved wearing the glasses and looking up. He loved talking about it and narrating the movements of the moon.  

It was really interesting to watch - amazing really. It didn't get as dark as I had anticipated but it sure got cold! If you see the color difference in the pictures above/below, you can see how the light did change. It was the most bizarre feeling. Everything became very flat and dark but not black. It was a little eerie. 

I'm hoping William remembers this experience! If he doesn't, Chris has some great video to show him!

Monday afternoon Chris took the boys to the mall to play in their children's area and look at the pet store. I rested and read a book. That night we got packed up and went to bed anticipating the long trip home. Our boys were also a bit anxious it seemed since Stephen woke up at 3 a.m. and wouldn't really go back to sleep. William wasn't able to calm back down either. We decided to pack up and head out early.

And if you are interested in knowing more about the road part of our road-trip, you can read it all right here.

It was really great to reconnect with our friends Rob and Mariza and hang out with their 10-month old daughter Eve. They had been part of our church community for a number of years before their recent move. Sadly we weren't as connected as we would have liked once we had kids which made spending four days with them extra awesome. Thanks friends!