Karin's visit

Evergreen Air and Space Museum- home of the Spruce Goose, or as Parker would say, "The biggest plane EVER!"
We met Karin and her friend Sara and son for dinner on Friday and then Saturday I met them at the museum. Afterwards we went to dinner at The Brazil Grill. I highly recommend it! Sunday and Monday Karin was at our house. Monday we missed a boat tour of the Columbia Gorge by 2 minutes, so we toured the falls. It is always nice to have Karin up here visiting. Parker was really sad to see her go. He said, "I'm really, really sad! Karin go on a plane. Watch the plane take off."

Inside the Spruce Goose.

Parker and Cooper enjoying a snack.

Parker said, "The planes are really sad. They can't fly." He was upset that they were grounded.

Horsetail Falls.

The pictures of Karin and Parker together did not turn out. He is so squirmy and hates his picture taken.

Base of Multnomah Falls.

Parker loved hiding in this tree stump and then scaring people.

The start of our playground

Our sister in law, Wendy, forwarded me an email about a free Rainbow play structure. It is approximately 13 years old, but in great shape. I was the first to respond... so it is ours! :) It was originally $3,000! It doesn't have the rock wall, binoculars, or ship's wheel, but it is still awesome.Grant rented a sod ripper and spent all day ripping out a section of our grass and another day preparing the ground for this delivery of gravel. The missionaries came over to help spread the gravel and the three of them got it done in 2 1/2 hours. This free play structure has now cost us about $600 in materials and rentals. Hopefully, our boys love it and use it for years and years. Parker was SO excited about an actual dump truck in our driveway leaving him a present of a rock pile! He immediately climbed in. I'm not sure if he'll play on the play structure more or in the rocks! More pictures to come when we get the structure up.

Fun and the farm

We had quite the heat streak for a bit. One way to cool off- the fountains in downtown. This is the Salmon Springs fountain at Tom McCall Waterfront park.

I took Parker back to Lee Farms. We were there around Halloween and again in December. This calf was a day old when we visited in October. Parker has a special bond with him. :) http://lifeofthewrights.blogspot.com/2009/10/pumpkin-patch.html

Awwww. A nice hug. This calf was following us everywhere.

Parker thought this guy was a cow too. His coloring is right for a cow, but he's a goat. He'd say, "Hi cow! Want to play?"

Watching him pee.

Bulldozers!

We played at a cool park in Sherwood for 4 hours with Cam and Wendy and the kids. Parker had so much fun!

Carousel Workshop

We made a quick trip down to Albany to see my mom. She took us to the Carousel Workshop near Monteith River Park. Each animal was bought by a donor and they got to design it. The carousel and the building it will be put in won't be done for years. It is so neat to see the progress.



We went to Cool! Swanson Park Pool. This was my Dad's vision for Albany. He helped with the design and raising of funds before he passed away. I thought they should have named it the "Dave Clark Swim Park". He has a bike path named after him. My mom took some pictures of Parker and I, so when I get copies of those, I may share those.

Our 7th Anniversary Trip

We chose to go to Seattle to celebrate our 7th anniversary. Luckily, my mom and Grant's mom took a 30 hour shift of watching Parker. We decided to stay 12 miles outside of Seattle and take that savings of hotel rates and do some fun stuff. We went out on a 2 1/2 hour boat tour. It was amazing! It was really cloudy when we started out, but cleared up towards the end of it.

Norwegian Cruise Ship- Alaska bound.

Beautiful skyline

There were so many boaters out. Our tour guide told us that 1 in 8 people in Seattle own a recreational boat.

Entering the locks.

The Wizard- the star of "The Deadliest Catch" TV show.

A 42 million dollar scientific vessel turned yacht. Equipped with a helicopter landing pad and submarines. Maybe Grant and I will charter this ship for our 10th anniversary. Yeah right! http://www.fraseryachts.com/Sale/sale_gallery.aspx?YachtID=Y14_MR_SD View this gallery of pictures. Incredible!

This is the houseboat from "Sleepless in Seattle." It was recently listed for $2.5 million dollars.

I now want to kayak someday.

No trip to Seattle is complete until you visit Pike Place Market.

After Pike Place, we headed to dinner at Ipanema, a Brazilian restaurant. It was amazing. Their salad bar is incredible and they bring around meats on swords. Yum!

On our way out of town, we walked around Tacoma's Glass Museum.

This is on a bridge going over the freeway. It is definitely the most artistic bridge I have ever seen.

The building in the background is the old Amtrak station.

These glass columns are huge. Look at the bottom to see Grant standing inside one.

These gorgeous glass pieces are overhead on the bridge.

Not the best picture. I am holding the camera above the ground and bending over it.

When we got home, we raced in to see Parker. He was SO excited. He wanted to hug and kiss us at the same time and kept saying, "MY FAMILY!" When we sat down in the living room, he kept running back and forth between Mommy and Daddy to give us big loves. Sweet boy! He did great with both Grandmas.