Vacation Part 1

We are at the Denver Airport and ready to head to Portland! I dressed the boys both in orange to help me keep track of them!
One of the highlights of the airport was the moving sidewalks. This provided loads of entertainment while waiting for our flights. Our flight was late going out of Denver which caused us to almost miss our flight out of Salt Lake City. They held the plane for us but we were the last 4 people on board. This is not good when it is first come first serve seating. There were 4 seats left all far apart from eachother! I stood there with my boys in hand and no one would move!! The pilot was announcing for people to take there seats and there I stood! It ended up that the boys sat together and Matt and I sat in somewhat close proximity for the take off. Then the boys' seatmate realized he would be spending an hour and a half next to a 4 and 6 year old and offered to switch with me! They survived the take off together apart from us.
Otherwise the flights were smooth. Ethan's favorite part of flying was reading the emergency information for the airplane. That kept him entertained for hours.

Our first day in Portland we went to Joe's Crab Shack on the Columbia River for lunch. We got to see the bridge lift for a boat. It was really neat. The weather was very hot. Even by Kansas standards. It was in the 100s most of the time which is very uncharacteristic.

The boys were showing their mean shark faces!

Walking along the river after lunch.

In the Columbia River.

We rode the Max (mass transit system). It was an interesting experience for us small town folks. The boys thought it was fun.

We walked a long way and across a huge bridge in 102 deg. temperatures to go to the OMSI museum. It was fun once we got there. It was nerve racking walking across this huge bridge with the boys. There was tons of traffic and lots of bicyclists coming at you all the time.

We toured the S.S. Blueback, a submarine at the museum. I was a little worried because I don't like tight spaces but I really enjoyed the tour. Matt was very excited about touring it. This is Seth looking through the periscope.

Ethan "steering" the sub.

These were the bunks that the men slept on. The boys had to try them out.

Seth hopping through a doorway.

This was the sub behind them. Ethan was tired of pictures.

This was a highlight at the museum. There was whole room full of balls that you could suck up and then redirect with hoses and air flow to shoot them. They spent lots of time there. Ethan loved to suck up the balls. Why can't I get him to do that at home?

Shooting more balls!

Thursday night we hung out by the hotel pool and had a picnic. The pool felt really good with all of the heat.

Ethan, Jordan and Seth in the pool.

Views of the Columbia from a lookout point.

We went to some waterfalls outside of Portland. It was beautiful.

The previous pic was right by the bridge behind them. We actually hike to the top of that waterfall. It was quite a hike! It is the 2nd highest waterfall in the US!

A little cave on the way up.

A beautiful view.

Another view of the waterfall. We actuall stood on a balcony at the top after hiking up a trail with atleast 12 switchbacks!

This was the first part of our vacation. Check again to see the rest!

Memorial Day weekend!

We FINALLY got to take our kayak out on the lake! It's been so cold and windy lately that we haven't been able to. Monday was a beautiful day at Kanopolis Lake. Matt took this pic from the back of the kayak while on the lake.
This is the kayak on the Vibe. Unfortunately this will be the only pic we have of the kayak on the Vibe. The rack scratched it a little and we don't want to risk anything else happening so we will put it on the Grand Am from now on! Now we have to pay for gas!!

The boys loved playing on the beach.

Boys and sticks. I don't understand the fascination!

We paddled to a little cove and played on the beach for several hours. It was fun and relaxing.

A visit from Lindsey and Thunder!

The second weekend in May Lindsey came and stayed with us for the weekend. She and her horse Thunder went to the horse show at Ag Hall on Saturday. Lindsey stayed in the basement and Thunder stayed at the stables.
We met Lin at the show at the boys got rides on Thunder. It was very exciting, especially for Ethan because he says he wants to be a cowboy when he grows up!

It took a little talking but we finally got Seth on the horse. He loved it once he was on!

Lin did really well at the show. Unfortunately we didn't make it there in time to see most of her events but we did get to see a little bit.

Spring Break!!

We went to Topeka for a little get away over Spring Break. We left Wednesday and came back Thursday. It was a lot of fun. One thing we did was go to the Kansas History Museum. It was a lot of fun. They had a play area with a train to climb on and lots of dress up stuff.
The boys liked the Indian tepees and small replicas of Indian villages.

This was the highlight of the museum. It was a completely refurbished 1880s train. It was dark in this part so the pics didn't turn out very well. They loved this. It had an engine with 3 cars that you could look in and even go into parts. It was amazing.

This was the park outside.

This was in the play area.

The first thing we did was go to the capitol. There was so much construction which made it really hard to see anything inside the capitol building. We went on the dome tour and Matt actually stood on the balcony right above the green dome. The boys and I made it as far as the top square windows.

This was taken from the second floor looking up toward the dome. At the top of the pic is a little staircase. Remember that staircase!

My pictures are backwards! This Matt at the top of the dome. You actually get to go outside on a balcony right below the Indian sculpture! He was the brave one in the family. Actually Ethan wanted to go but I wouldn't let him!

I took this pic with my sister Kristi in mind! When we got to this part of the tour it actually took my breath away. I made it a little further than this level but not much! Matt admitted that his hands were sweating a little on the way up.

The staircase behind us leads up to the outer dome (the previous pic). I had no idea what came next at this point. I actually thought that those stairs let to the end of the tour! We stayed the night at the Super 8 right next to Forbes Field (the air base). We saw lots of aiplanes and helicopters land which was a bonus. The boys loved sleeping in the hotel and getting to go to breakfast in their pjs. We hung out in the room until check watching tv and playing. Then we headed to the Barnes and Noble (to play with the Thomas train) and the mall because Ethan wanted to ride the escalator! It's amazing how much fun you can have for free or minimal cost.

Big Milestones!

Ethan is now riding his bike without training wheels! It was actually a very positive experience. Sometimes he can get extremely frustrated upset with change but he started riding right from the start. We are still working on starting and stopping but the riding part he has down!

Ethan lost his first tooth this week. He wiggled that tooth for a week and finally it came out. I ended up having to do it for him because he started freaking out when it started to bleed. He was very excited and even took his tooth from show and tell on Friday. It was a big week for Ethan.