Sisters in Vegas!

Bryce got back on a Saturday and I literally left town that next Thursday for Vegas (woohoo!!!!).  I hadn't been away from the kids since the previous November when Amy came to Switzerland to visit and we spent the weekend in Paris together.  We really missed our older sister, Emily, so we vowed to try and have an annual sister trip.  This year, all three of us made it to Vegas where Amy currently lives (working for Zappos, not a back up singer for Celine).  It was a little too quick of a trip, but amazing to get away and catch up without little ones tugging on our shirts or fussing as we quickly scarfed down our dinner.

The first day, we got to tour the Zappos office, which is 100% amazing and I don't know how anyone actually works there.

Meeting rooms each have a different theme.  There are video games in the elevators. All the offices were decked out for Halloween when we were there, including a ball pit.  Lots of interesting wall murals all over the entire office.  Not to mention the rooftop cafe with free or super cheap things like lattes, salads, sandwiches, and of course, rooftop mini golf.

PNW Bucket List

I never really saw myself living in the Pacific Northwest.  I was born in California, raised in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, then university in Virginia.  The PNW was kind of "off my radar" and never really crossed my mind.  Now that we live here, I can't believe I never was adamant about visiting the area.  There are so many things we want to explore!  It's such an amazing part of the country with lots to do and beauty to see.  Most of these places I had never heard of before moving here, but now, I have a new appreciation.  Take, for example, the Oregon coast.  It is a completely different beach experience than the Outer Banks, North Carolina.  In July and August, you may find yourself wearing a fleece and eating s'mores by a fire on the beach in Oregon, definitely not putting more than your toes in the water (if you're like me).  At the same time in the Outer Banks, you are laying out with a little bathing suit in the heat of the day, diving in the ocean throughout the day, and still hot outside by 6pm.  I used to look at ads with people wearing cute sweaters on the beach in summer wondering, "where are these people...clearly not in North Carolina!"  Both are beautiful and fun, just so different.

(Mount Hood)

(Leavenworth, WA)

Fall/Halloween 2016

In October, it rained every day except two, I think.  I'm literally not exaggerating.  If that wasn't enough, Bryce traveled for almost 3 out of the 4 entire weeks.  Luckily, we got out every dry second we could and got lots of practice on our scooters, we had friends bring a few meals while he was gone, and it was dry on Halloween so we got to go trick-or-treating and hand out candy in our neighborhood for the first time ever with the kids.  On top of all of that, we got to go to a really fun pumpkin patch on Sauvie Island, have a little friends Halloween party and another party at gymnastics.  All the fun festivities made up for all the rain we had.  Here are a few pictures of October...

Apple orchard

At the very end of September, we made it to a local apple orchard.  It was only about 10 minutes from our house and they had so many varieties.  I couldn't believe we hadn't been before.  It was 3 moms with our army of children.

Camping at Clear Lake

Back in September, just after Maddie's birthday, we tried our hands at camping again.  We thought about going closer to home or closer to Mt. Hood or even in the Columbia River Gorge, but with it being last minute, many campsites were full.  We found this one on the map and decided to try it out.


This camping trip wasn't nearly as great as our first in Bend.  First off, it was much colder than we expected, especially at the campsite.  I think I've mentioned this before, but in Oregon, even in the warm sunny months, there can be a stark difference between standing in the sun versus standing in a shaded tree area.

Mt. Hood

Second of all, we got there before lunch and wanted to hike around Clear Lake after eating.  It's not much of a lake and you can't even get near the water's edge because of the thick layer of mud and muck.

So we had a bit of hang out time at the campsite, which was more primitive than the other.  No playground, no flush toilets or sinks, and the running water was not very clean to be washing our dishes.

Oh, and we forgot matches!  Luckily, the campsite director had some for us to use (but I felt like an idiot asking for some).

One positive: we brought the hammock.  At least one kid was on it almost the whole time.

We didn't many warm clothes, so we stopped at the Dollar Store for hats.  Geez, we need some practice :-)

And then we drove home on Sunday to warm sunny weather.  We laughed to ourselves because the kids probably would've been just as happy staying at home...plus it would've been 10x easier for us.  My heart screams, "but the memories"!  Then when the kids don't sleep great, it's cold, and the campsite isn't that great, my mind screams, "let's just go back home and enjoy the next couple weeks of sun before rain sets in for the next 8 months."  (...?...maybe the joke is on us...)