Portland

I assumed Portland would be full of young Hipsters....a quick digression: I just googled Hipsters so I could add a photo and found a blog about trying to determine if someone is a Hipster or Homeless. And ya know what? Lots of the people we saw in Portland fit that category. Oh that and Bikers. I don't mean leather vest wearing heavyset bearded men, I mean people on bikes. They are EVERYWHERE! And they think they can do whatever they want, like run over my five year old as she gazes at a sparkly river, so distracted by the sparkly wonder that she doesn't realize how close she is to being pancaked into the earth by a crazy Portland biking enthusiast. Anyway, one way streets, homeless looking young people walking their dogs wearing vests and crazy bikers made me decide that Portland is kinda fun to visit but not by myself...oh and maybe not at night.

We went to the Oregon Museum of Science and Invention or OMSI as the locals call it. Seriously, I told someone we went to the Oregon Museum of Science and Invention and they did blinky blinky eyes at me like I was special and then said, "You mean OMSI?" Anywho, we had lots of fun putting weird puzzles together, watching a IMAX movie about Tornadoes and learning about the body.

We also spotted the Portland Temple from the freeway and decided to go take pictures. We got very lost. But we did eventually get our pictures!

Before we could leave Portland I told Larry we had to go to Powell's Books which is this insanely huge book store that covers a whole city block. It was amazing, iy was cheap and I will go back to Portland just to see this store again.

Larry and Kailah's creation

Melanie jumping a bajillion times on an electronic jump rope

Kailah proving that she is super good at balancing

Larry proving that he is really NOT good at balancing

In the market

Melanie's turn to be the cashier

Larry, the girls, a bridge and some sparkly water

Me and the girls

Kailah and I at the Portland Temple

Using cool magnet blocks at OMSI

The New House



Our new abode!



A Garden Spider? A Hobo Spider? We don't know what he is but we don't like him!

Our new house is adorable and we love it. We don't really care much for the spiders that we keep finding. I have NEVER been scared of spiders (well everyone is a little afraid) but these things are MONSTERS and I keep having dreams about them. I also keep having phantom crawly feelings on my legs. I keep thinking I have a ginormous spider in my pants, like the time I had a Sun Spider in my pants and my dad got mad because I didn't sit calmly and call to him so he could kill it, instead I ripped my pants off, shrieking like a maniac and flung the spider (and my pants) across the room. Afterwards I was more afraid of my dad seeing me in my underpants than I was of that spider. Anyway, a person can't go flinging there pants off everytime they feel an itch, especially because the houses in this neighborhood are VERY close together and the neighbors would probably think it was a little odd.

Before Larry's parents left we had a photo session, which was pretty awesome because Larry and his dad both try to weasel their way out of pictures but they couldn't get out of it this time. :) It really was tons of fun to have Larry's family come with us. We were very sad to see them go. We can't wait to have people visit us!

Great Grandma Ruiz, Grandma Ruiz, me and the girls

Molly loved snuggling with her Great Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa Ruiz and our family

3 Larry's, 3 girls

Heading to Oregon!

Our house in Hemet

The morning we left for Oregon I suddenly realized we had never taken our picture in front of our house. This lovely little number is what we have. The suns in our eyes, my contacts refused to go in that early in the morning I was sick with a fever and everyone was annoyed that I was forcing them to be photographed. But hey, I'm the Mama, shouldn't I get to have a picture if I want one? :)

My fabulous in-laws volunteered to drive our U-Haul so our little family could all ride together. U-Haul recommended a truck that was much too small so we had to rent an extra trailer to tow behind the U-Haul like a little caboose. My Grandparents in law decided to drive our other car so we had a fun little caravan up to Oregon. It was so incredibly generous and kind of them all to drive with us and made the move SOOOOO much easier! (especially when it was time to unload all the heavy stuff!)

We had lots of fun on our drive up. We stopped at Mt. Shasta and ate blackberries along the side of the road. Is that considered stealing? I'm not really sure but they were the yummiest blackberries I have ever had!

We were unable to stop by the sign so this is our Welcome to Oregon picture :)

Larry and his donut

We stopped to get gas in Oregon and were happy to discover Hostess jelly filled donuts, something Larry talks about all the time! Good work Oregon! Oh yeah, we also didn't have to pump our own gas, which is nice and strange at the same time.

Oregon

We decided a Master's degree for Larry was a fabulous idea...and it is, but it also means leaving our beautiful home in Hemet, our family and our friends and starting over in unknown territory....YIKES! Oregon State University accepted Larry into their Water Resource Policy program and we were quickly packing and searching for a home, etc. Oh and by the way, I got accepted to OSU too. Oh yeah and we just had a baby. And we already have two other crazy girls.This should be an adventure!

We were headed to Corvallis until we realized how pricey it is there. So we chose a home in Albany, which is right outside Corvallis. We are close to Eugene, Portland and the coast! It should have lots of opportunities for adventure!

Leaving our friends and family has not been an easy concept for me. I LOVE family get togethers and it will be difficult to not be able to see everyone. Plus, it's Oregon!!! Doesn't a journey to Oregon look like this?

So we were headed to Oregon...

I hope we all make it out of this adventure. But we have all played the game, we know what the risks are. Wish us luck!