Oregon

Karl has been visiting Oregon a lot for work.  Since the boys are now out of school the boys and  I decided to join him.  While Daddy worked we played.  Karl's brother Craig, his wife, and kids live there so we got to hang out with them quite a bit while there.  The kids loved hanging out with cousins they don't see often.

It was a long drive but the kids did great.

We were all excited to arrive in Portland.

 Lori was nice enough to make dinner for us on our arrival and the kids loved hanging out.

 The favorite was Craig and Lori's rock climbing wall

Fischer making it to the top

Even Drake got some climbing in.

The boys thought the hotel was AWESOME and enjoyed having a big bed/trampoline.

The first day I took the boys to a local skate park.

For lunch we stopped and ate at an arcade/gaming place.

That afternoon Lori and the kids joined us and we took advantage of the hotel's pool

Lori didn't want her picture taken, as you can tell, but I told her I was going to post one anyway and that she had some sexy legs 

 The next day Lori pulled the kids out from school and we checked out the International Rose Test Garden, the Japanese garden and visited a cool park that was near.

ROSE GARDEN

I personally loved visiting the rose garden.  I was so fascinated by all the different colors and types. Besides that I love flowers so I was in flower heaven.  

The kids were so excited to find a stone with "Grandma Joyce's" name on it. 

Fischer took this picture of me.  He told me he wanted to take a picture of me smelling a flower.  

JAPANESE GARDEN

The Japanese Garden was probably the kids least favorite.  I thought it was pretty but it's meant to be a place of quiet reflection and thought.  When you have a group of 7 young kids and 2 adults it's not exactly quiet.

 We were so glad to find a shuttle bus that took us down the hill and back to our vehicles

After the gardens Lori told us about this awesome park that was just down the street a ways. So we grabbed our lunch, did a picnic, and let the kids play.

Fischer's Sandcastle 

Griffin's Sandcastle 

The next morning the boys and I did a little shopping. The older boys got a pair of light up shoes which I didn't think to get a picture (Not sure why) but for Drake we went to Build-a-bear where he made himself his own "puppy."  He loves this puppy and had such a fun time putting him together.  His favorite thing about puppy is that it barks. 

That afternoon we met up with Lori and the kids again and took the kids to a bounce house.

We said our goodbye's to Lori and the kids and met Karl back at the hotel.  Fischer had been wanting to get a night swim in with Daddy so our last night at the hotel we fulfilled his want.