To our loyal followers....Thanks for your patience!
Since leaving San Fran/Napa, we have been in Portland, OR. The few days we were there were spent with family and friends and time just didn't permit updating the blog. You see, there are these two almost-7-year-old boys with whom we wanted to spend as much time with as possible. It was a fun, short-of-a-week trip and we really got to do a lot!
Upon our arrival, Nate and Chris were so anxious to show us their new tricks! There were numerous competitions and challenges of climbing, "tagging", holding a pose and changing sides! (Pretty amazing!)
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| Nate and his pose on the Spiderman wall. |
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| It's like Chris has stick-um on his feet! |
The night before our arrival, the Elves brought Chris and Nate a gingerbread house. What fun to assemble and decorate. (My first!)
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| Sweet Success! |
Recently, Frank reconnected with a friend from high school who has moved to Salem, Oregon (which is about an hour south of Portland). So, we set a date and headed south to see Rob and Penny.
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| Penny, Frank and Rob |
Rob and Penny have a beautiful piece of property and good thing it's large as Penny is actively involved with the
Salem Friends of Felines organization and is a foster home for a lot of kitties.
On our drive to and from Salem, we had the opportunity to see some pretty landscape - the Cascade mountains are in the background.
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| Cascades |
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| Coming into Portland |
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| Downtown Portland |
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| More scenes of Portland |
Kathy had the house was so festively decorated! Harry (their Bengal cat) just loves to perch on the mantel where he has a good view of everything going on.
I couldn't resist taking a picture (of the appropriately colored) Christmas tree in the lobby of our hotel.
Not only do I have nephews in Portland, so does Frank! Coincidentally, Richard doesn't live that far from my brother, but as it turned out, his office was across the street from our hotel! So, we met up for breakfast one morning.
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| Frank, Leann and Richard |
The weather during our time in Portland was "typical winter weather" - rainy, cloudy, cold. But these boys had lots of energy and Kathy had gotten some passes for the
Forestry Center.
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| Nate, Auntie and Chris |
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| Auntie, Nate and Chris on the virtual white water rafting ride. |
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| This is Kathy's kind of boating adventure! Heading down the falls! |
Lots of hands-on activities:
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| Planting seedlings. |
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| Smokejumper. |
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| Nate got the closest! You had to use the ropes to change the direction of your parachute and hit the target. |
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| Chris tries his hand at felling trees. (It was pretty tricky!) |
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| A temporary exhibit at the Forestry Center was all about the Polar bears and the effect global warming is having on their habitat and the species. |
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| Another "eye spy" activity - there were all sorts of critters in the tree. |
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| Train ride through Russia. |
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| Nate navigating us through the safari. |
Most nights we ate dinner at home. And the first night was
Gartner's ribs! Oh boy....those ribs were amazing! (Gartner's is a Portland institution and a favorite for those of the carnivore persuasion.)
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| Dan, Kathy, Nate, Chris, Leann and Frank at a new brewery/restaurant. |
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| These boys are great eaters and l-o-v-e spicy food! Nate ordered the spicy grilled cheese and Chris had the 10-lb mac and cheese. Yummy! |
That brings us to the end of the first few days in Portland. Been lots of fun, but Christmas Eve is right around the corner and all the cousins will be in town for the festivities!
