portland

we decided to drive down to portland for the day on saturday. it's a 3 hour drive from where we live. we packed an overnight bag in case we didn't think the kids could handle the round trip drive in one day, but we didn't end up staying the night. i absolutely love portland (even more than seattle. shhh). thatcher has been there at least once in the last few years, but i hadn't been there since 2010 when he and i took a trip there before we had kids. 

we got to portland around 11am and headed to the grand opening of the new transit/pedestrian bridge. it was so cool! they had a bunch of tents set up and a bouncy house for kids (which azalea thoroughly enjoyed). we met up with thatcher's cousins who live there, jade (and husband ben), and lloyd. it was forecasted to be 90 that day and it already felt hot at 11am. we walked across the bridge and enjoyed the views of the river. 

we ate lunch at 'love joy bakers', which is a super good bakery/cafe that we ate at last time we were in portland. (i should really branch out, but it's so. good.) then we wandered to a park that had a fountain the kids could play in - perfect on a hot day! 

azalea ran around with her dress like this for a while, then finally we just took it off ;) 

everybody say "hi lloyd!"

we parted ways with the cousins after that and set out to explore more of the city. it was so nice to see them and we are working on convincing them to come visit us in seattle! 

we took the light rail to the university district and bought some sunscreen since we forgot to bring it.

then we wandered over to the pearl district, stopping at a playground before getting to this park with an epic water fountain play area. it was packed! (if you can't tell, our city adventures pretty much revolve around keeping the kids happy these days). ha! 

we made the most of not bringing any swim suits or swim diapers. oops! they still had fun.

after that, we headed to a pizza place called hot lips for dinner. they have vegan (well, dairy free) options for thatcher. i got a "waldorf" pizza slice with apples, walnuts, and blue cheese on it. it was delicious! the kids made friends with another little girl dining with her parents and were much more interested in running around the large hallway area with her than eating.

finally we got back on the train and rode it over the bridge back to where we parked. 

we headed out of town at 8pm, but not before picking up some desserts for the road on the way out. the kids fell asleep right away since they both skipped their naps. the ride back was mostly peaceful except ashford woke up crying a few times. it was a fun day, i'm so excited that we live as close as we do to such fun places! we already have another trip down there planned in october to visit my parents' best friends who i've known my entire life. 

as a side note, azalea was supposed to start preschool last wednesday, but there is a teacher's strike going on in seattle right now and they need to use the community center space for child care. no one knows when school will actually start! i support the teachers, but we are ready for some structure! 

just for funsies, here is my post recapping our 2010 trip to portland