Vacation 2008 - July 18

Ok, so I've decided that since there is just so much vacation to talk about and OODLES of pictures to share, I should probably just take it one day at a time (it feels less intimidating to me that way, too).

To start off we went over to Granny Coffey's so we could pick up Uncle Sam to take us to the airport, and to weigh our bags to make sure we'd be ok, which we were. We got through security faster than I expected, mostly because there was this handy Family Line that was MUCH shorter than the others. Beautiful. Josh set off the alarm going through the first time, so he removed his belt and watch. and I decided I should probably remove my bracelet as well. So we got through ok after that, met up with Cory and Annie and their kids, and spent some time goofing off at our gate. We then went and found lunch, and when Josh checked his watch I also looked at my wrist and .... AAAAH!!! My bracelet! I left it at security! Josh went running back as the rest of us proceeded to do last minute diaper changes and we met him back at the gate, with my bracelet in hand. I felt like the worst wife, but was just glad we got it back without incident. By this time, they were just starting boarding, (and Joey just barely fell asleep) so we arranged our things in hand and got on our plane. After being about 5-10 minutes late for take-off the pilot came on and said there was an issue with the Navigation System so we couldn't leave and they would keep us posted. So about 20-30 minutes after our scheduled time, we took off on our first plane ride. About 30 minutes in (just after I finished eating my hamburger one-handed) Joey woke up. Towards the end she got fussy and I had the suspicion the nice business man next to me was trying to ignore us as much as possible, but when I told him after we landed that I hoped we didn't bother him too much he said she did great and he never heard her (he did have earphones on most of the time). Whew!

So we collected our luggage and rental car and headed off for the Portland Zoo. Mom and Dad were planning to meet us there, but after driving aroudn the parking lot for quite awhile they decided to just head down to Eugene, but we figured we might as well try, it was the thing most likely to keep the kids entertained.

We found parking without too much trouble (just follow someone with a stroller headed away from the zoo and wait patiently), and went to check out some animals.

These are some of the best pictures I've ever gotten of Sea Lions. He was working for quite awhile trying to get that ball unwedged from the rock (2nd picture).



This is Josh on an elephant tricycle. He was trying so hard to get those petals moving then realized they were locked in place. Boo.

Zebra

We then proceeded into yucky Portland commute home traffic and found our way down to Ray and MaryLee's house.