Portland, Oregon Trip

Jeff and I just got back from a trip to Portland, Oregon. That is where he is from and I have a lot of family over there right now. My sister is currently nannying for my cousin, who I nannied for two summers as well, once right after my Freshman year of college and the second time right after Jeff and I were married.

The first day we went out to eat breakfast with the kids and then took them to the zoo. Here is a pic with all of us. From left to right is Katey (twin, 5), Valissa (my sister), Emily (10), me, Abbey (twin, 5), Jeff, and Lily (2). Jake is missing from this pic. He is their only brother and is 7. They have another brother on the way and his name will be Josh. Six kids in all! How fun!

Below are Katey and Abbey at the zoo. I was nannying for Amber (my cousin) when they were born and then again when they were two. Katey (left) wants to be a horse or a prince when she grows up. Abbey wants to be a princess and thinks she is one already. She will only wear her coat hanging off her shoulders as she thinks that is prettier and more princess-like and usually at home she has on a princess dress. Abbey has a horse book and can name all the horses in the book. She likes her new haircut because it is short and more prince-like. Funny girls!

Here is Jeff playing with Abbey and Katey. We were having a puzzle race to see who could put a puzzle together the quickest. Abbey and Katey were on my team and needless to say we were a little behind, so they decided to distract Jeff while I finished the puzzle. They tied shoes to his hands so he couldn't work on the puzzle. They thought it was hilarious and Jeff was so patient!

On Saturday we went boating at Silver Lake at the base of Mount St. Helens, which you can't see in the background because it is cloudy. Can you tell I am freezing? Jeff was all gungho (sp?) about it though, so we went and he LOVED it!
Here is Jeff wakeboarding. I took like 15 pics of him jumping but kept getting him before and after because of the time delay on my camera, so I will just tell you he did great and ended flying upside down trying to do a flip. He actually got pretty far around before hitting the water.
This is from left to right Josh, Jeff and Adam. They were all roommates in college and all graduated this past April. Josh is still single, but Adam was married to a wonderful woman (Claudia) last January and they now all live together in an apartment in Beaverton (including Josh). They are all really tall with Adam the tallest at 6'7" and Josh at 6'5". Jeff is the shortest at 6'2".

After boating all day we drove up to Mount St. Helens. The volcano is directly behind us but right now it is covered with clouds. It was so interesting to see everything and learn about it. We were able to watch a video at the Visitor's Center and hear survivor stories. The eruption was actually a lateral eruption out the side of the volcano, which is very rare. Thus, the whole north side of the volcano is still baren and there is a big hole in it, while the south side is still trees. The "valley" that is at the base of the volcano now holds 500 ft. of volcanic matter and the top of the volcano. The actual blast of the volcano was more powerful than 27,000 atomic bombs and blew rocks the size of a soccer ball 17 miles north. The ash cloud travelled around the whole world and caused a blackout for most cities in Washington and Oregon. Where I am from, Kalispell, MT, received a layer of ash. My dad still has the ash that he collected.

One funny thing that happened was right when we got out of the water and were about to head up to see the volcano. Valissa noticed what she thought were small ash-like things falling from the sky. It made her nervous to go up because the people who were close to the volcano actually didn't hear the volcano erupt because it travelled overhead of them. Turns out it was just they way the sun was reflecting off extremely small drops of rain. :)