I can't believe that my baby Bryn is already eight!! Wow. Time is just flying by. Bryn had a great birthday and once again she wanted a trip for her birthday instead a party. That's what she wanted to do last year also. Lucky for all of us...her birthday is right around Spring Break so it works out pretty well. ;)
At eight years old:
-Her favorite color is purple.
-She loves to make musically videos with Ailey and Elle.
-She loves to run and loves to be sporty.
-She loves to read. She reads every night in her bed before she goes to sleep.
-She is super funny and makes us all laugh.
-She loves to cuddle and snuggle. (The last one!)
-She likes to play with the boys at school more than the girls because the boys like to play sports.
-She loves to dance and is a great dancer.
-She loves to eat healthy.
-Her favorite food is still salad. :)
-Her favorite animal is a panda.
-Her favorite thing to play is Spies with Elle. The two of them lurk around and hide with notebooks and walkie talkies. It is hilarious!
-Her favorite cookies are vanilla and strawberry wafer cookies.
-This year she has done/is doing cross-country, Bloomsday training, swimming, and piano lessons.
-She is always in a good mood! Always!!
-She is a ray of sunshine and we love and adore her!!
When we got back from Spring Break we had a couple of days before school started up again so we were able to cram in some extra birthday fun. We went to see the movie Beauty and the Beast as a family. (Kameron was thrilled. Ha ha.)
We went out to dinner at Red Robin. My vegetarian children surprisingly love Red Robin. Reilly and Kameron love their vegetarian burgers and Ailey and Bryn love their bottomless mac and cheese.
Kameron had to work after the movie and so he missed out on Red Robin. :(
On Bryn's actual birthday Tyler surprised her with an enormous singing balloon and donuts for breakfast. I brought her fast food for lunch at school as per our birthday tradition. This year she requested a bean and cheese burrito from Taco Bell and a blue raspberry slushy.
That night we had a family birthday dinner and were able to facetime with Reilly too.
Bryn requested salad bar with ranch dressing, homemade rolls, grapes, and Dr. Pepper for her birthday dinner. For her birthday cake she requested a Texas Sheet Cake decorated with her name in Cadbury Eggs. She was VERY SPECIFIC about that!! Ha ha!
Just how she wanted it!!
She really had a spectacular birthday and was spoiled by everyone. She got quite a haul of gifts this year but then again eight is a pretty special birthday!!
Purple mermaid swimsuit!! She was super excited about that!!
Reilly sent her a darling church dress and new sandals. She LOVES them!!
Baptism dress!!
Making her wish!
Happy Birthday Bryn Kaitrin!!
We think that you are one amazing girl!! We love you!!
One of the issues of having four kids is that sometimes things slip through the cracks with kid #4. In this case it was the zoo. I'm not a huge zoo person. I like going to the zoo occasionally but I am never going to purchase a zoo pass (if there was a zoo in our area) or go multiple times a year. I just won't. Neither will Tyler. So let's just say that the zoo hasn't been on our radar of things to do for years. Awhile ago Bryn was talking quite wistfully about how *someday* she would really like to go to a zoo and I said, "What are you talking about? You've been to the zoo." and she replied with, "No, I've never been to the zoo before." What?! That couldn't be true. Even though we don't have a zoo here we are in Salt Lake all the time so I thought FOR SURE that she had been to the zoo. After much talking amongst all of us and consulting the blog...which really is our go-to source for finding out if things really happened...ha ha...we discovered that the poor kid really had never been to the zoo before. Who knew?! Tyler and I promised Bryn that the next time that we were in a city that had a zoo we would definitely take her. When we were discussing where to go for spring break and Portland came up Bryn ever so sweetly reminded us that Portland has a zoo. Indeed it does.
For the two months preceding spring break Bryn and Ailey were always on the Portland zoo website looking at all the animals, researching, and making a plan for their visit. It was pretty cute.
My cousin Paul who lives in Portland told us that the best way to get to the zoo was to ride the light rail down. You don't need to mess with parking or traffic. Being from SLC we love light rail so we were all for it plus it allows the kids to see another slice of life and experience mass transit. Always a good time! While we were waiting for the train a funny little lady came up to us and said, "You guys aren't from here... you are too colorful and beautiful. I KNEW you weren't from here. Portland is full of WEIRDOS!!! Go back to where you came from!! Don't move here!!" It was pretty funny. She stuck to us like glue the whole train ride and told us how much she hates Portland and wants to get out of there. But then she would tell us about a bunch of cool places to go and see and we would say "Yeah, that sounds great! We will have to check it out." She then yelled, "BUT DON'T MOVE HERE!!" She gestured to all the other train riders and yelled, " SEE!! Portland is FULL OF WEIRDOS!! LOOK AROUND!! WEIRDOS EVERYWHERE!!" We had the hardest time trying to keep a straight face when talking to her. We were like "Yep, I think we see one!!" Ha ha! She was hilarious. When we got off at the stop for the zoo. She yelled out the door, "Have fun but remember...DON'T MOVE HERE!!" I heard her say to another rider..."They are TOO colorful for this town!!" We were dying laughing.
The kids had a great time riding the Max!!
The Portland Zoo was awesome!! I guess it is actually called the Oregon Zoo officially. We were super impressed. It was beautiful and clean. It makes the Hogle Zoo in SLC look pretty shabby. The exhibits were awesome. The kids loved it.
I won't bore you (and me) with a ton of animal pictures well maybe a few. ;)
We got to watch a demonstration on how they train the elephants so that they can do medical examinations. Very fascinating.
These were some cool exhibits where the kids could get inside with the animals.
In this one the tiger came right up to where Bryn was looking out. It started pacing right by her. The plexiglass did not seem like enough of a barrier. So unsettling.
Once when Reilly was little we were at the zoo and a giant snake came slithering past us. We didn't really pay much attention to it. Tyler and I aren't afraid of snakes and we just thought that it was part of the zoo. Wrong. An enormous python had gotten out and the zoo keepers were suddenly everywhere trying to capture it. People were freaking out as they blocked off a huge area until they caught it. That sucker came right by us and we didn't even bat an eye. Ha ha!
We rode the cute Zooliner train.
I think I still like the Hogle Zoo train ride better. Come on, who doesn't want to see legs sticking out of quicksand!?! I think we all do!
We spent the entire day at the zoo and enjoyed every minute. I just can't get over how NICE it is. It has made me rethink my zoo ambivalence. The exhibits are fantastic and so interactive. We also had an outstanding lunch at the restaurant there. The beer cheese soup is fantastic. Tyler did almost make Ailey and Bryn throw up by telling them that he was eating a zebra burger. Ha! Vegetarian kids. They buy anything. To them if you'll eat a nasty disgusting dirty ol'pig why wouldn't you eat a zebra!! :)
We had a such a great day and then we hopped back on the MAX. The stop for the zoo is Washington Station which has the distinction of being the deepest transit station in North America at 260 feet below the surface. The elevator ride down deep to the station was pretty trippy. So cool. Everyone had to stand up for the ride home because the light rail was packed and the kids thought that it was pretty awesome.
Then it was time to see some of our favorite Portlanders... Paul, Whitney, and Zoey. This is always one of the highlights of our trips to Portland. We love hanging out with these guys and don't see them nearly enough. After the zoo we headed back to the hotel to clean up and then we went over to Paul and Whitney's house. They are expecting a new baby and we are so excited for them. Zoey is going to be the most adorable big sister. We went out for dinner to their favorite ramen house. It was amazing! We had so much fun with them. I wish that I took more than one picture...and not just of the kids table... but we were all so busy talking and laughing and catching up. There never is enough time to do all that we want to and talk as much as we want to!! I am so glad that we were able to see them this trip. It was such a great night!
The kids table...Kam was not thrilled that I took a picture in a crowded restaurant. Whatever.
The next day was spent as a true buying trip for Sisters Creed. We went all over and found great things. I love all the stuff that I found!! We did so much shopping that day. Plus, the kids were all on a quest for Nike merchandise in the land of Nike. It was a fun but super busy day!! We left town late that afternoon. On our way home we stopped to check out another one of my favorite waterfalls...Horsetail Falls. I can't describe how powerful that water is coming over the falls. So cool!!
We were getting totally soaked in this picture. So much spray from the waterfall!!
We stopped in the Tri-Cities for a bbq dinner and then were home by about 9 pm. We had an awesome trip and packed in so much...more than I can even blog about. We made great memories and enjoyed one of our favorite cities. It was also nice that we still had a few days left of spring break...perfect to celebrate Bryn's 8th birthday!! Woohoo!!
This was my very favorite day of all! Another early breakfast and we were out the door and headed to the ocean!! From our hotel the beach was only a little over an hour away. We did go the long route because Tyler and I wanted to take the kids to the Tillamook Cheese Factory that we both had such fond memories of from our childhoods. Both of our families would occasionally vacation at the Oregon Coast. Tyler's dad grew up on the Oregon Coast in Port Orford.
This stop was a big disappointment and a big waste of time. You can't go into the factory anymore. You are directed to a store in the shape of a big red barn where you can learn about cows in a very uninteresting display and then you are ushered right into their grocery store area. Lame. As a kid I loved watching the whole cheese making process and taking the tour. I loved seeing the vats of milk and watching the curds get stirred. No more. There was a little sampling area but it was pretty lackluster because it is the cheese that we buy so nothing too exciting. We bought two bags of curds. The kids even turned down ice cream. Why? Because it is the ice cream we always buy and the cheese we always buy and the sour cream we always buy and the yogurt we always buy. Not exciting in the least. After that flop we were ready to get to Cannon Beach as soon as possible!!
It is always so exciting as you are driving along and suddenly the ocean comes into view!! Thrilling!! We were prepared for any kind of weather...because we were planning on hanging out on the beach all day no matter what... and had even purchased big rain ponchos at IKEA but luckily none of that was needed. The sun was out the entire day and it was absolutely gorgeous!! It started out a little windy but then even that died down and it was glorious!!
We were all so happy to be there!!
So beautiful!!
The girls started out in rain boots but that didn't last long! We were on the hunt for sand dollars. Kameron was the first to find a whole one which he kindly gave to Bryn. By the end of the day they each had one and the girls had buckets full of shells and treasures.
And the boots were off!
Like Father...
Like Son...
These two were in the zen zone. They were absolutely loving the sea and the sand.
Bryn singing How Far I'll Go from Moana at the top of her lungs!! Ha Ha!ow
We walked down the beach to our favorite restaurant Mo's for some fabulous seafood and clam chowder. We were famished!! They have the best fish and chips ever and their fantastic chowder is served in a huge cheese covered bread bowl...aka The Cannon Ball. Bryn LOVED the fried clams and ate an entire basket all by herself!! It was so good and such a beautiful setting to eat looking out at the gorgeous water.
Then we were back out on the beach...
We found a bunch of awesome sea creatures.
Flat Stanley loved the ocean too!!
We had an awesome day at the beach and logged over 6 miles of walking!!
That night when the sun was setting we wandered the cute streets of Cannon Beach and looked at all the cute little shops and restaurants. Our favorite was the candy store where we bought fudge, sour candies, salt water taffy and THIS:
Lovers of Narnia...there is NO WAY that Edmund sold out his family and all of Narnia for this garbage!!
Now maybe for one of these:
A Chick-fil-A Frosted Lemonade!! (A lemonade milkshake!! #genius)
We made one more stop that night a late night run through at Chick-fil-A. People, what is the allure of this place? I don't get it and I really tried to. I tried the chicken and the waffle fries and multiple sauces. Meh. The frosted lemonade is the only thing that I would go there for and I would drive miles out of my way to get one too! But that is it!
I am a stay-at-home mom and small business owner. I have four FANTASTIC kids: Reilly (29), Kameron (25), Ailey (21), and Bryn (17). I have been married to my amazing husband Tyler for 31 years. We are also grandparents to four cute grandkids and another on the way!
