Oregon-- second week

At the close of the first week, I took Beth to the airport and we packed up our belongings from Ali's and moved to Michele and Tara's house.

We always love staying at Michele and Tara's--getting to have breakfast and dinners with them, walks with Burt, calling Burt to meals with "ok!", and karaoke evenings.

A must for the visit is always finger nail painting with Tara.

Quinn and Wren have learned to love dogs through Burt. Quinn and Tara taking Burt through a neighborhood doggie obstacle course.

On Monday Aunt Anita made the long drive down to Portland from Canada to visit. We got to see my niece and nephew, Summer and Nico, the girls' cousins. It was so great to get to see them on this trip!

Some climbing and swinging with their cousins.

It was a hot day, perfect for getting pummeled by water at Skidmore fountain.

Exploring the zoo with the Veniers.

A hot drive back without AC in their car! So thankful they made the trip down.

After Aunt Anita drove north we drove out to Forest Grove to stay with Shawn and Laura for the night. It is about an hour west of Portland, and feels like a world away. Shawn and Laura moved to Kansas City 8 years ago and we are so happy they've just moved back to Oregon! 

Exploring Shawn's grandparents' land with them

Shawn and Lucas are still look-alikes...

It was a really fun night with them but we departed early in order to catch Uncle Brian and cousin Hazel's last day in Oregon. They are moving down to San Diego and we are so glad we happened to be in the US so we could see them off. 

All the cousins with their grandparents

We'll miss you Hazel!

Serious swinging

Silly swinging

From there we stayed the night with Ben and Jessi and their girls. Such great sister friends. When they get together it's like no time has passed, they are right back in it.

We took a photo of these girls in this same spot back when Wilma and Quinn were just months old. Now they don't even fit on the bed! 

On Friday night Ali and Bernat threw us a party. It was amazing to see so many friends all gathered together! I loved catching up with everyone. I was too wrapped up in the night to take photos but Lucas got a few of the kids.

I have a theory sisters are the liveliest sorts of girls- not afraid to play rough. The combination of 4 sets of sisters was insane! This was after I asked them to play a more chill game...But they all had such a great time it was hard to break it up.

At the end of the night they put on an incredible chess tournament. It was late, but again, they were having too much fun to leave.

On Saturday Uncle Jay and Liam flew in from Arizona! We all shared an Airbnb back in our old hood. 

Some cousin carrying was in order

Heather and Tom got us tickets to see the Thorns, women's soccer, play. Soccer in Portland is an amazing event--women or mens. But with four women on the Thorns that played on the US team that won the world cup, it has gaining quite a fan base. While we were there the jumbotron announced that the crowd that day (25, 218) was the 'largest ever for a US women's soccer game'!!

Shell and Tara were at the game too! and came by for a half-time visit.

A hilarious evening, with the cousins drawing each other...

It was so great to have Jay and Liam in town to visit!