Shawno (not finished)

Portland, OR July 13-21st

Wow, what a phenomenal place! I love pretty much everything about Portland. The landscape, the food, the outdoors, the people...and of course family :)

Jack did SO well! He did great on the plane. Jack loved:  the beach house! he kept asking to go back (although he was really confused where Mimi lived :) ;  Gucci (the doggie)  he got really into making him do tricks for treats. (I guess he assumed Gucci loves treats as much as he does), he watered her flowers almost everyday. And both he and daddy spent hours upon hours in the new home theater room watching "Giant TV". Adam spent time teaching Jack soccer. Jack joined Mimi and mommy on an outing to the wineries. Which he enjoyed (pretend) wine tasting very much...just like mommy! One night we ate where Adam worked when he first got out there. An Italian place called A Cena. The freshest food I have ever had outside the Mediterranean! They are very big on "farm to table"cooking, and you can tell! John and I had one of the best date nights! Latin Fusion cuisine at OBA and jazz at Jimmy Mak's. Absolutely a perfect evening! The seafood was outstanding! I mean, the crab legs I had were out of this world! ( well actually from a few miles away). We went to the Oaks amusement park one day with Jack. I was so proud of how brave he was! He did better on the roller-coaster ("co-coaster") than I did : ) The tracks by Mimi's house are pretty much deserted. Well, I thought they were until I was running on Saturday and a train almost ran me over! So we took an historic ride. Jack was thrilled!!!

We need to get back there at least once a year. I love it!

Pre-flight Lunch and Bloody Mary's
And Jack giving a stinker face

There was a TV screen on every chair!! Best $5 I ever spent! He was able to watch all of his shows for 4 hours!

Just a little light reading: Sky Mall and Hemispheres magazine.

The beach house.....LOVE the Oregon coast!

The beach house really is the perfect place to relax. And Jack did just that!

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach

In a gas station in the mountains on the way back from the beach house.
It was not surprising that most of the clientele were missing teeth.
I mean, so many guns there isn't enough room for one of the most dangerous weapons so it sits on the floor in the open with a $4,000 price tag on it? We could've been in Shawno for all I knew.

Wine Tasting!!! Willamette Valley Vineyards

The girls enjoying their Chardonnay and Pinot Noir...

 Jack enjoying his san pellegrino lemon soda

 I thought the railroad by their house wasn't a working rail anymore. Until one day when I was running along the tracks and after being scared by a loud train Horn, I found out that apparently it does! They give special rides just on Saturdays between Oaks amusement park and the heritage museum. It is an old historic train (1908) so of course I ran home and gathered the troops. It was the perfect thing for Jack! Although, it was a little too close to nap time, so he almost dozed off a few times  :)

 OAKS amusement park

Jack was SO brave! He rode all the ones he could (height) alone, and he even rode the roller-coaster! He LOVED it all! Can't beat the  $13 all you can ride all day pass! The boat and plane were his favorite. He would just stay on each time it was over, and just ride again, and again and again....

One of my favorite parts of Portland is the Saturday Market (which is apparently so popular it is also on Sundays now). Jack loved it too! Another aspect of Portland that I don't remember from last time is all of the food trucks that are everywhere. They are pretty awesome. And Jack enjoyed dancing to the different music each one had according to their cuisine :)

"Portland has over 500 food carts available at any given time. Most carts are organized into what are call “Pods.” These are surface lots with more than a few carts. "

 Spiderman balloon!!!!

Spiderman climbed, and held onto almost every booth at the market :) On lookers ewed and awed about how cute Jack was....as always :)

 Spiderman even danced!

Jack was equally obsessed with the street cars!

Around Sellwood, and at the house....

View from the running path...

Something kinda cool- there are actually house boats along the river.
I guess they are very exclusive and highly sought after.

House boats and the Sellwood Bridge

 Most precious moments...Uncle Dude teaching Jack how to play soccer....

More Food Trucks

 I love the moss that grows on  the trees. This one is in front of the house.

 Mimi treated us to ice cream - it was such a HOT day! 

I got the honey lavender....only in Portland! :)

 I found a Wildlife Refuge on one of my runs. Went for some hikes. My favorite!

Glad to have had so much "Carrie" time....

At home...

 If you can't beat'em, join'em!

Jack was scared of Gucci at first, but  they were best friends by the end of the trip!!

 Jack made a daily habit of watering the plants (and driveway :)

Their patio is one of my happy places. It is the perfect place to read, and of course, have cocktails!
To no surprise....this is one of John's creations :)

It is just funny...

Time to go home :(

Watching planes "blasting off!"

 Just taking the edge off...

aaahhh......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

This pretty much sums up how we felt at the end of our vacation :)

We took a tram to our parking lot. Jack thought he was "captain" and kept talking about how he drove the train. I think he truly believed he did! He still talks about it! "member when I was the captain on the train?"

We miss you! Can't wait for our next visit!!!