Spring Break

I apologize to those of you who also read my sister's blog as you're about to see some of the same pictures she has posted this week.

The kids and I took a quick whirlwind trip to Oregon for a few days during our spring vacation. We started with a stop in St. Helens to see my sister and her family. We doggedly endeavored to take a new photo of all five of my parents' grandkids. More than 100 photos later here are some of the results. It's nearly impossible to get 5 kids aged 5-16 to all look at the camera and smile on command.

My parents always treat us royally when we're in town. They took us to lunch at Henry's 12th Street Tavern, excellent onion rings, crab cakes, beer cheese soup, and all. We also enjoyed a lovely breakfast at La Petit Provence, a delicious French restaurant and bakery.

The sun finally reappeared after days of snow, rain, and hail so we squeezed in a morning at the zoo. After the zoo I talked the kids into enjoying a stroll on part of the River Walk.

Forrest never gets to travel with us during spring break as it always coincides with the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. Since Forrest works in the traffic division for the county he can't get away when his roads are full of tourists looking to take the perfect shot of fields of tulips. We worked in a trip to Cabelas and brought him some gifts since he couldn't go with us.

I discovered that I am slow on the draw with video games this week. We were introduced to Big Brain Academy and both of my children can outscore me easily. I'm good at the memorize and identify sections of the game, but the visualize portion has me stymied. I'll have to practice and bulk up my brain.