portland adventures with a side of home

i know, we can't stay away can we? haha. this was our third trip there since mid september. our friends ian and joanna (who have a daughter named kyla, who is azalea's age) let us know a while back that they would be making a trip out to portland and asked if we wanted to come hang out for the weekend. of course we did! 

we had a foggy drive down saturday morning and got there around lunch time. 

they had plans to meet up with some other friends they know there in the morning, so we were on our own for lunch. we ended up going to bob's red mill. it's a brand of natural flour and grains a bunch of other stuff and they have a plant/store/restaurant outside portland. thatcher knew they had vegan stuff on the menu, so that sealed the deal. it was super packed, but we had a nice lunch (brunch for thatcher and me) and walked around the store a bit. 

next we drove to mount tabor park to meet up with our friends. there was a play ground, gorgeous tall trees and an awesome view of the city. 

the kids played and we also went on a little walk on one of the trails. 

at 3pm, it was time to check into our airbnb (our first time staying at one!). our friends were staying at one about 6 blocks away from ours, so it was really convenient. it was a little 2 bedroom, 1 bath house with the cutest decor! i just loved it. we realized it probably wasn't the most kid-friendly place after arriving since they had knick-knacks sitting out everywhere and the kids wanted to touch everything. i'm happy to report, nothing got broken :) 

is this not the cutest dining room you've ever seen?

we also checked out another playground that was across the street.

for dinner we all headed to a brewery called hopworks that our friends had been to before, it was the most kid-friendly restaurant i've ever been to! multiple little stations with trains, toys, and chalk board walls. so awesome! we had to wait a long time for a table, but thank goodness for all the stuff to keep the kids entertained. the food was great and i even had a beer and liked it! ha! after dinner, we parted ways, so the kids could go to bed. i was in bed with them before 9pm. wild night! 

sunday morning the plan was for joanna and i to get dropped off downtown for a kid-free morning. music to my ears! we grabbed some coffee and then went over to powell's bookstore. it's famous for it's massive size (about an entire square block and multiple floors). she and i split up for a bit to explore. i ended up in the "death and dying" section (i really know how to have fun, right?). but all seriousness...i've been meaning to gets some books on that subject since losing my dad. i found a couple used ones and i've already read most of one of them. it's amazing and fascinating to read about people's experiences with spending time with hundreds of dying people as their career and also the research that has been done on near-death experiences. i'm finding so much peace from reading about it. anyway, moving on.....

the dads and kiddos had a fun morning exploring

we all had lunch at hot lips pizza. i love that place and wish they had them in seattle too! 

after lunch, the moms took the kids to a playground near where we stayed and the dads went out for their kid-free time. we spent the rest of the afternoon at their airbnb watching disney movies and hanging out. we hit the road around 4:30, the kids slept pretty well in the car since they hadn't napped. we stopped at DQ for dinner and we were home for bed time. it was such a fun weekend and i'm so glad we could meet up with ian, joanna, and kyla!