Fly On the Wall

We had a great trip to Portland last week. Ray had some work to do up there so the kids and I went up to play and I'm so glad we did. We went to the zoo, science center, children's musuem, parks, lots of thrift stores (unfortunately no great finds to report), and of course we hit IKEA. We played games -mostly card games with Susan and Bob (my aunt and uncle) every night. Kate was sick one day but other than that we had a great time. We really liked the city and are glad to have family ready to host us at any time. After Ray finished up we headed out to the coast with my cousin Tyler and Cassidy and their 2 little kids. Kate got to play with Kaylie all week so they were pals by the time we got to the beach. We all loved being at the beach. It started off a little chilly but warmed up enough for them to play for a few hours. Ray flew his kite for an hour or so too. I'm sure being so close to a very windy beach he will be looking for a larger kite soon. It was fun to get his out though and Tyler learned how to fly it pretty quickly.

So I have a story to be recorded in Jack's journal. My biggest fear is losing a child, ever since Jack learned to walk/run my fear has increased 10 fold. Well on our way out of the science center I stopped to ask a question at the counter and Kate and Jack kept walking. I knew they did but was only going to stop for a second and thought they would turn around since it was just a hallway and didn't lead anywhere. Kate came back and I asked where Jack was and she didn't know. No big deal I'm sure he's at the end of the hallway. So we walked down and looked around - no Jack to be seen. The only thing at the end of the hallway was a door to exit, a theater with people waiting in line and bathrooms. I started asking if anyone had seen him no one had, I ran outside and asked people - no one had. I started to get very very nervous. I thought the only way he wasn't in this hallway and was gone so quick is if someone picked him up and carried him out. I ran so fast to the bathrooms yelling his name(Kate was so good and could tell I was worried and she pushed our stroller running behind me the whole time), as I came back I started yelling for someone to help me. One guy who had been outside and heard me asking for a child had come in and called a "Code Blue" over the radio and gave a description of Jack and what he was wearing. I have never yelled so loudly in my life. I wanted people to know that a child was missing and to look around. I was calling JACK so loud I'm sure the whole science center could hear me. So then I turn the corner to go back into the exhibit and there he was happy with himself that he had found the shuttle to sit in. What a rascal eh? So I guess there was a back door at the end of the hallway that led back into the exhibits. So he went in the back door and made his way all the way to the front. I was so glad to see him but he was strapped into that stroller quite quickly. I was getting too relaxed about letting him out of my sight anyways, I needed a good reminder of what can happen!

I think my camera is officially gone. I hope it shows up sometime because it has all of our Hawaii pics on it but I have doubts we will ever see those. So I haven't posted because I don't have any fun things to look at. However after being seriously reprimanded by Robin I will give you at least a little diddy on our lives. What we did today - got our bike and trailer out of the storage unit, after 4 phone calls to Ray we found the pump and pumped up some seriously flat tires, rode around town with Grandma while pulling the kids, enjoyed the hot sun, took in the breathtaking views of the mountains (it really is beautiful here and you all are invited to come visit unless you are reading this and I don't know you then you will have to stay with someone else), stopped for some bubblegum ice cream, watched Jack eat 12 pieces of gum at once, dropped off the bikes and visited the town fair, played at the park and now we're enjoying the calm of Jack sleeping. I'll start sewing and Kate will watch a movie for the next hour or so. I love days like today.
We just got back from a super fun trip to Canada, we had so much fun visiting everyone and playing. Luckily Jack's percentage of hitting has dropped drastically since we left. He and his cousin Kale liked to battle it out a little too much! They'll be buddies soon enough. I've decided we really need to get a trampoline with how much our kids loved it. We got to stop in MT on the way home and visit Jeff and Erin. The kids loved playing together. They have an amazing place in another beautiful city. Great place to live for sure.
I think our next trip might be to the coast, seems like a good place to go when you have lots of time and no other place to be. Camping, sand, water and kids, sounds messy but fun right?