Oden Adventures

The month of July began while we were still up north.  Patrick met up with his childhood buddies Clay, Zac, & Josh for a several-day reunion (haven't seen each other in years!) to explore the many culinary and visual wonders of the Portland area.


We celebrated the 4th of July (detailed in another post). Vianne learned all sorts of new tricks, like how to crawl up the whole flight of stairs and slide all the way down on her belly. Which is a necessary life skill, but terrifying for her poor mother.

 Grandma procured a second kiddie pool to expand her backyard water park and we had cousins & friends over to enjoy it!  Here's cousin Rachael with her new cute haircut...

 ...and Vianne supervising her work.

 Playing with Miriam through the screen

 Ian, testing the water out

 I think she likes it!

 Ian, Ava, & Bea

 More cousin kisses!

Zac & Josh stayed at the White Eagle McMenamin's hotel in Portland, so we crossed another one off our list!  On Friday morning, we left Vianne for a day with Grandma and took Josh to the train station, then headed to OMSI with Zac, who was leaving the next morning.

I can't even remember the last time I've done the whole OMSI tour so it was fun to see it again.  We saw a special exhibit on mummies which was morbidly fascinating and educational, enjoyed lunch in the cafe, and exploring the many, many interactive exhibits.

 Vianne was shy with Zac at first, but he persevered and won her over :-).

 Trying on Daddy's hat

 Our little ladybug in her new ladybug chair from Grandma

We got to celebrate the July birthdays with a picnic at Chapin Park in Oregon City. L to R: Chris' sister Sam, Vera, Miriam (recently turned 6!), Geoff, and Grant (turning 8!).

Kisses from the birthday boy

Gorgeous birthday girl

 Really delicious creamsicle cupcakes!

 Watching cousin Margot go down the slide...

 

...and then ready to try herself (with Aunt Carol's help).

 A very determined, brave little girl!

 Grant sporting our gift

 The next day we all enjoyed a BBQ at Geoff's house!

The last day of our trip, Vianne turned 15 months old, we had a picnic with the Hsiehs/Lincolns at the water park in Wilsonville...

...and had dinner with the Blairs.  Then we headed back southward early the next morning.  Vianne greatly enjoyed chasing the birds at this Mt. Shasta area rest stop (paying no attention whatsoever to the gorgeous mountain in the background).

 Some thoughtful picnickers gave us a little bread for Vianne to feed the birds.

 The bird in this one cracks me up....

 We made it about 600 miles the first day, to Lathrop, CA.  When we got into our room for the night, Vianne was bouncing off the walls  and snuggling the bed - so relieved not to be in the car!

 There's got to be a photo contest somewhere that wants this photo, right? :-)

Our little trooper did great the next day, too; we made it back to SoCal by about 1:00 pm but, very unfortunately, were welcomed back with a car overheating incident during which we discovered I had lost my little black purse containing driver's license, credit cards, and some cash and other irreplaceables...:::SIGH:::...all of which we are trying to forget so as not to forget all the very lovely moments of the trip, as pictured above.