Portland 2013

If I had to sum up our time in Portland it would have to be the following: Children splashing in urban fountains, then gourmet ice cream.

We took a few short breaks from the fountains and went to the Portland International Rose Garden.

And the Japanese Garden.  We also popped into Hanna Anderson to buy Jules a swimsuit, which I had forgot to pack.  Here are the results:

Meanwhile, back at the fountain.

Why don't we have these in our town, Mommy? Good question!

The fountains continuously fill, pause, drain, and then refill.  This helps keep the water clean and it's fun.

Starting to fill...

Draining….

And full.  These fountains were truly the highlight of our time in Portland.  And there's more than just this one.  And when the kids are tired, you can plunk them in the double stroller, where they might both fall asleep so you can duck into the Deschutes Brewery a few blocks away and enjoy a late afternoon lunch and a little beer.

Hood River, OR

After our time in The Dalles, we drove back to the greener side of Oregon and went to a sunflower festival at Rasmussen Farms in Hood River.

This post may be sub-titled "I want a house in Oregon." Or " A Lot of Sunflowers."

I want a cute little house tucked into these hills.

We had a hard time keeping track of the girls - they kept disappearing into the sunflowers!

It's somewhat washed out in this picture, but the view of Mt. Hood from this farm was stunning in person.

In addition to acres of sunflowers and vegetables, there was a Wizard of Oz themed corn maze.  My pictures didn't turn out well because of the strong sun overhead and the shadows from the corn, so this is all I got.

The Dalles, OR

Another driving shot, of the Colombia River on our way from Walla Walla, WA to the Dalles, OR.

Very wild west, no?

Buena Vista

This post is mostly pictures, as my aunt's home and yard are so beautiful.  She lives on five acres in Buena Vista, Oregon.  She is a teacher, but in her spare time, she tends her flower business, Buena Vista Flowers.   And by spare time, I mean the 16 hours that she isn't working as a teacher.  Seriously, she was out until ten o'clock one night working in the yard. Brandon and I felt lazy, as we watched her from our bedroom window, ready for bed.

The sign above is outside her shop.  My aunt specializes in cut flowers and sells her flowers from her shop on the honor system or through special order.  I find it amazing that she prepares beautiful bouquets, places them in her shop, and leaves them unattended for customers.  Here's my aunt cutting peonies from the many rows:

Here's some beautiful yarrow:

Paige loved wandering the flower beds.  See the delphiniums in the back?  Can you imagine having that many beautiful flowers at your disposal?

Here's Paige and my Aunt back in the peonies:

It was hard to get pictures that didn't involve my Aunt working:

But I eventually succeeded.  This is my favorite.  At Paige's baby shower, which my Aunt Michelle hosted, the favors were little pink tins filled with dianthus seeds.  I still have several of them - I know I should have planted them, but I wanted to save the favor.  And it would have made me sad to plant them and then leave, as I would eventually do since we move so much.  A few people at the shower admitted they didn't have green thumbs and gave their seeds to my Aunt Mary.  She started flats and flats of them and then planted them around her shop.  She and Paige are in front of them.  They are the low-growing pink and white flowers.   I had never seen so many at once.  I love that those favors went from a fabulous shower in Orange County three years ago to their current state of prolific bloom at my Aunt's house in Oregon.