Saturday, August 13, 2011

Oregon Vacation: Part 1

We will be finishing up the first part of our vacation tonight..the whole `explore, shop and stay in hotels on the way to Portland' portion. Tomorrow? Camping on the Oregon Coast which I am most excited about. I hope it's as good as I think it will be!

Day 1: Shopping and staying just outside Seattle. I went in a store for maybe 10 minutes and bought myself 5 things:) Koen has been staying up until 10pm each night. Kai is our expert sleeper, falling asleep by 8pm. Yay for hotwire.com, each of our hotels has ranged from $50-80 and all have had pools and continental breakfasts:)
Day 2: Went to the zoo in Seattle which I had never been to! Using groupons, it cost our family $24.00:) It was really good. My sister and her family met us down there which made for a fun day. In the African region of the zoo, they have a kikuyu village set up. It seriously took my breath away because it reminded me of Kenya so much (Kikuyu tribe was about 2 hours from where I was in Kenya, the Kipsigis tribe).
{I just need to say that this zoo is a billion times better than our local Aldergrove Zoo. Okay, not a billion, but I won't go to the Aldergrove one again!}
{Seeing the penguins}
{Koen sitting on a Flamingo nest}

{Koen's `smile' makes me laugh. These four get along really well and actually Kai and Izzy are quite close now.}

{Izzy lost her front tooth already...incident with a swing.}
{We were there about 4 hours and then continued south, in sloooooooooooow traffic, to Kelso. Awesome playground at the lake in neighbouring Longview for the kids to play at. It totally reminds me of when we were road tripping with my family...always try to find a playground!}

{I'm so excited to take some family photos on the Oregon Coast with a whole lot of backlighting. Will be good. I know it.}
Day 3: Mount St. Helens to Vancouver, WA. We went to Mount St.Helens and Kai prayed on the way there that it wouldn't erupt again...so funny. It is a one hour trip off I-5 and the gas light came on as we were approaching the observatory. Our moods may have been altered by that. We did just make it to a gas station on the way out.

{Gary and I have been there before so didn't spend time in the observatory,we just did some of the trails.}
{The wildflowers were beautiful, so was the view.}
{And now, we relax for a minute before heading out to expore and eat.}

Guess who turns 33 tomorrow? I can't believe it. It sounds way older than 32. I'm thinking we'll pick up some cupcakes or something:)

5 comments:

  1. ooooh, fun!! what a great looking trip so far. and gorgeous weather, it looks like! your cost for the zoo...AMAZING. the one here is that much PER PERSON and is not nearly as good (from what I've heard about Woodland).

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  2. Looks so great! And Happy Birthday tomorrow!

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  3. Awesome pics - I love the one with you and the boys and the light coming through! Zoo was fun, traffic not so much (oh and a 11month old that slept for NO part of our day trip). Have a great rest of the trip. Looking forward to more pics! Camping - so fun! Enjoy! Happy Birthday.

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  4. Looks like a fun trip! Enjoy :)

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  5. Great pics! Glad you're having a good time. Happy Birthday!!

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