We had a GREAT Vacation!!!

Well, we started out with a pretty rocky vacation, but it turned out great! We actually had the red eye out of Anchorage to Seattle, WA early on Wednesday morning. Now, you would think with the flight being in the middle of the night, that my children would sleep. But, no...we were THOSE people on the flight with the baby who screamed almost the entire flight. We tried everything we could to calm him down, and Nathan actually got him to sleep for about 45 minutes, but other than that, he pretty much screamed the whole time. I did calm him down at the very end by feeding him a blueberry muffin. Anyway, we got there and then drove to Portland. We stopped for breakfast at one of our favorite little places, Shari's. While we were there, the baby promptly threw up everything he had eaten. He then threw up in the car, and Aunt Anne's house, and at the mall. He was going through clothes faster than I could buy them. But, he never ran a temp, and by the evening, he was much better. Maybe it was the muffin. Anyway, Wednesday evening, we went to see Nathan's parents and brothers.

This was the first time they had seen Brianna in two years, and the first time ever for them to see Baby Nate. So, while the time that evening was short, it was fun to see them all! The next day, we had planned to hike up Multnomah Falls, which is where Nathan proposed to me. But, the weather just did not cooperate. It was much to cold and windy for us to hike up there with our children. So, we just went and took pictures at the bottom of the Falls, and bought T-shirts for the kids at the gift shop. It is always lots of fun to go back to where Nathan proposed to me. We spent Thursday evening with Nathan's best friend and his wife Kelly and their son Tanner. Friday morning, Nathan went fishing with Rob and he caught a Steelhead. I, on the other hand, stayed at the house and did laundry and repacked for the rest of the trip. Loads of fun!!!

We left Friday afternoon to go to Canon Beach, OR where we stayed until Sunday. Nathan's whole family was able to come to the beach as well, and we had so much fun just hanging out with them. The grandparents really enjoyed spoiling the grandchildren, and we all had a lot of fun playing Catch Phrase and Pinochle. That Saturday was Baby Nate's first birthday, so we had a little party for him at the beach. Grandma Hendricks had a fun project for Brianna, making jello clouds with stars on them, which we had with the airplane cake. Durning naptime, I went shopping with my sister-in-law Anne, and we had a good time visiting all kinds of fun shops. I never did find a picture of the two rocks though. :) (Shout out to Nathan Lucia!!!)

Sunday, we left the beach and drove back to Portland. I did a little more laundry at Anne's house, and then Nathan and I left the kids with their Aunt Anne and Uncle Nathan and went out for the night. I was a little apprehensive about leaving my children overnight for the first time, but it was not as bad as I thought it would be. We had a very relaxing evening going to dinner at a nice restaurant on the river front.

The next day, Nathan and his brother Jon, Ben and brother-in-law Nathan went to see Rambo, and then we went to lunch at a great restaurant called Claim Jumper. We then headed back to Seattle to catch our flight that evening. And, again, we were THOSE people. What do you do??? Overall, it was a wonderful trip and we thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with family and friends.

Beth, Nathan Lucia, Brianna, Anne, Baby Nate, and Nathan...we were trying to find another Nathan for the picture, but we already had all the ones in the restaurant.