Portland in the Summer

We were planning on going to Oregon over 4th of July, but plans changed. We ended up going later and taking Rick and Jess to Ashland, then staying at Jessica's parents' house in Portland area instead.

We used our Happy Hollow passes and went back to the OMSI. Jonah started a new trend of playing in the sand bucket.

The Ripley's exhibit that we'd seen in Seattle was there.

We left more time to explore the whole museum this time.

The arch we built in St. Louis stayed up on it's own. We're not sure where we went wrong with this one.

The boys would have played in the water forever.

Little scientist. 

Jessica's parents' house is near the Columbia River and since it was over 100* the whole time we were there, we spent a lot of time in the water.

First we walked around the Oneonta Gorge. It was shady and cool.

There was clean, cold water

and plenty of rocks for throwing.

Scott was more hesitant about getting wet, but he liked climbing the rocks.

There were also blackberry bushes everywhere.

The boys ate them as quickly as I could pick them.

No trip would be complete without lots of good food. We revisited favorites (The Waffle Window and Pine State Biscuits) and tried a few new ones Bethany recommended. This was a homemade pasta place called Justa Pasta that was amazing.

The next day we stopped at the Vista House on our drive to Multnomah Falls.

Great views.

We were planning to just walk to the waterfall, but the boys kept going.

We hiked about halfway to the top, but it was getting hotter and we hadn't brought water. Jonah started wanting to be carried, which is not fun on switchbacks.

We got to a place with a view of the waterfall and Scott said, "We made it!" 

So they played there for a while and we headed back down.

Next time, when they can walk all the way themselves we'll go to the top.

We stopped for a picture on the way back to the car.

We went back to Oneonta and the boys had more blackberries.

We walked up the other direction where everyone else seemed to be headed.

John climbed up the logjam and jumped in the cool water below to get back to us. It isn't a toddler-friendly section, but when they're older the boys will love it.

Back at the house. Jonah loved their dog.

John took pictures in their huge, gorgeous backyard overlooking the water.

Following the dog.

We walked up the trail in their yard for a while, eating more berries along the way.

Jonah discovered his love of hammocks.

The next day we met Bethany and crew at a Farmer's Market in their area. Scott wanted to go to the fountains, but not actually get wet.

When it started getting too hot to be outside, we headed into downtown. We spent a long time at Powell's.

Jonah napped, John read to Scott and I picked out books for our drive home.

We tried a burger place, Tilt, for lunch, which was awesome. Then we checked into our hotel for the night (Jessica's family was coming back). We tried to rest in the a/c and watch tv, but the boys were too antsy, so we went swimming.

Jonah looked like Buzz Lightyear with his towel over his water wings and they thought it was hilarious.

Scott just looked cute.

We picked up fresh pasta from another new place, Grassa, and took it over to Bethany's.

We visited with Bethany and Warren and the kids played. They shared Tillabars with the boys and we had Ruby Jewel ice cream sandwiches.

It was a hot, but delicious weekend.