Ore-gun is fun!

McManamin's, Oregon Hotel - McMinnville, Or

Golden Valley Brewery, McMinnville

We have enjoyed many fun-filled days in Oregon.  The boys enjoyed "summer camp" last week, working on their climbing, knot-tying, and swimming skills.  The Kroc community center has an amazing program with many wonderful camps, staff members, AND they are taking our kiddos to a baseball game for free!  The kids are signed up for a local baseball game next Friday which includes transportation, supervision, food and swag-gear for the kids.  We are again, ALL very excited for this night to come, especially since I don't have to work! 
Jason and I decided to take in some wineries last week since we were sans kids.  We made it to two, and we are in Pinot country (our favorite wine)! I guess our taste buds are more interested in all the local breweries.  We have, as of today, made it to 15 breweries (sorry FB friends for all the posts).  Some of the more interesting have been part of the McManamin's chain of restaurants.  The beers are ok, tater tots are good (thanks Janet!), but the building and decorations are a trip in themselves.  Many of the beers at the breweries have been good, some we can forget as soon as we taste them and others we won't ever try again (sour beer---yuk!).  

Willamette Winery

Uncle Dan showed us around Corvallis on bike as well as taking us to a very scenic Willamette Winery.  We then took a picnic to the local concert in the park.  The music was good, but more than that was the enjoyable evening experience of the community.  Our Wednesday nights are booked for the next 6-8 weeks with more concerts in the park!
It is getting hard to remember everything that we have done.  Every day that I'm not working we are out exploring and enjoying Oregon.  Days that I am working the boys are staying busy with skate-parks, mountain biking, golfing, and swimming.  I'm keeping a calendar so we can remember what we did on what day, as well as keeping this blog, which is becoming more of a diary for me, since no one else is contributing to it.

On a recent day off, we explored more of Portland with Uncle Dan and Aunt Janet, who took us to all the great spots!  We began with food and a brew at Saturday market, with musical and fountain entertainment.  We took a stroll down the riverfront, then downtown to enjoy a concert in the park.  We then hopped in the truck to explore the Rose garden and a mansion with amazing views.  It was then off to get some yummy ice-cream at a local business that was featured on Oprah.  The line was out the door at Salt & Straw, but well worth the 30 minute wait. (Uncle Dan and Jason took off to a restaurant for a pint).  The day was filled with a lot of history about Portland as well as filled our minds with the many possibilities of future trips.

Yum! Salt & Straw ice-cream!

We recently went back to Portland to experience the Jet Boat tours up the Willamette.  FUN FUN FUN!!!  Oh my gosh, I didn't know boats could "drift" (as I put it).  Everyone got wet....., ok, soaked!, but it was all in good fun.  We saw so many beautiful homes along the river and found out a lot of history along the river and Portland.  I was able to keep my phone dry to take pictures, but I had to keep moving it to different pockets that were dry. (I got a cool app, to take cool photos--otherwise, I'd have my touristy camera!)

Before it got wet

Today, my phone decided to test the "waters".  We went to Alsea falls, which we had heard from Uncle Dan was a primo spot for a picnic and scenery.  Hiking down the trail was great, but short, so we decided to make it interesting by rock-hopping our way back up through the river to the falls.  We all were doing great, except for Alex, whose shoes are more for basketball and running, than hiking and gripping wet rocks.  Needless to say, he fell in the river.  Scaling over fallen trees left me gripping wood instead of my phone, which decided to test the water as well.  It was down at the bottom for about a minute before I got my footing to reach in and grab it.  I thought, so much for all the photos I took.  To my surprise, it still works great, and took many more photos of our day (thank goodness!!!).  After a short while of keeping our soles dry, we realized it was more fun in the water than trying to stay out of it. Elwood was there hopping and swimming by our sides.  It was such an enjoyable and memorable experience.

Everyday has been something new to explore and that is the whole point of this adventure we are on.  We have found a home-schooling program for the boys which we will begin in late August.  We are hoping to incorporate a lot of their studies with hands-on experiences.  So, here comes another new chapter in our lives.