Oregon

Last Thursday Addie and I boarded an airplane headed to Portland, Oregon. My mom and step dad live full time in their RV and they were in Oregon. They flew Addie and I out there to spend about 5 days with them.

I was nervous about the plane rides since Addison had been really fussy the week before but she did great! Almost no crying either time. I nursed her or gave her the pacifier on take off and landing and she slept most of the flight. Even though we flew into Portland we were actually staying about 3 hours away on the coast near a town called Newport. I had never been to the west coast other than San Diego. It was amazing - an ocean with huge rock cliffs right next to a dense rain forest. It was pretty cold so we didn't spend a lot of time on the beach but we did take several walks. The last few days we were there the winds were really strong and the ocean was had giant waves and was almost totally white.

We were able to visit several small towns along the Oregon coast. In one of the places we spent some time on the bay front that had lots of great shops. We ate clam chowder at a little whole in the wall restaurant that was amazing. We saw sea lions lounging on the docks and watched fishing boats bring in baskets of freshly caught crab. We toured a winery and I bought two bottles of local wine that are amazing!

Addie was a trooper and was carried in her sling most of the places we went. She loved all the cuddles and attention from Mom, Larry and even their dog Sandy. I loved time with my mom - she made me some of my favorite meals, we played cards and she helped me sew a skirt.

We also celebrated our Christmas while there. One of the things we gave Mom and Larry a web cam so they can get on Skype and see Addie. Grammy made Addie a beautiful warm sweater and she is working on a red knitted jumpsuit that wasn't quite done yet. I got some beautiful jade jewelry that Mom bought in Canada this summer at Jade City - 80% of the world's jade comes from here. I didn't get to open Josh's presents so we brought them home to him.

It was a great trip but it makes me sad that Addison won't remember any of it. It is neat that my parents are so flexible and live in so many cool places that I can go visit to see them. One another side note, my brother has an interview at a school near Portland after Thanksgiving. If he gets the job it would definitely be a place I would love to keep visiting.

Enjoy the pictures.


The airport before we left - Josh was able to walk us to the gate and hang out for a few minutes.


Ships in the bay in Newport


Devil's Punch Bowl - the water was swirling so fast!




This is drift wood in a creek at the camp ground. It used to be on the beach and the week before we were there a storm moved it all the way up to this bridge.


sea lion in Newport


Mom, Addie and I in front of crab pots that fisherman use


We made a sign for Addie to hold and texted Josh a picture. He reallllly missed Addie (he missed me too). It was hard for us to talk to Josh regularly because of bad cell coverage.


Sandy, mom's dog, loved Addie. She would bark at us if we didn't get up right away when she was crying.


saying goodbye at the airport in Portland