Portland!

The beginning of this month John, E, and I headed off to Portland to satisfy many needs/wants. First off, we got to meet our newest little nephew, Kai. My younger brother, Justin, and his wife, Yuan, had Kai just last month. So we got to come see him only 4 weeks old and John got to participate in the baby blessing. It was awesome!

Secondly we got to visit with my sister and her fam. Always a joy to see her and Mark and of course the darling duo, Maddie and Timmy.

Third we got to celebrate many-a-birthdays! Yuan's birthday was the 6th, mine, the 7th, and Justin's the 11th (as well as E turning 9 months old on the 8th).

And last off all, we needed some much time off. I actually convinced John to take a day off of work! Hooray! I did such good convincing that we got to go for four days! Luckily he has a guy working for him now so he didn't have to close the shop. All in all, this was a much needed vacation and John even got to do a little fishing.

So there is a place there called Horning's Hideout, which, by the way, John says he wants to retire and own a place just like it. It's a small pond/lake that has little mini-docks and a place to rent the poles and see wild peacocks and basically just get to enjoy the day without all the hassle of carting all your own junk there. Oh yeah, and did I say that the lake is stocked so I have a little better chance of getting a fish, which usually makes for a happier girl.
While we were there we tried out my sister's backpack for little man. Oh did he love it. I don't think he stopped grinning the whole time he was in it. And that's without any naps, so that really is saying something.

And only once did E almost pitch into the lake. Not bad.

E didn't even mind it when daddy had to get the hook out.

The proud fisherman/woman. John and I caught a grand total of 11. John also caught the biggest fish of the day. With Timmy a close second. Timmy, mind you, just turned three, however it was just heavy competition. He has a cars fishing pole. Don't mess.

John, thankfully, cleaned all of our fish. Actually my sister helped. I was in charge of the photodocumention and could not get my hands in on the grime, saldy. Luckily there were instructions on site. Please note the use of the phrase, "poop hole." Don't you see why John wants to retire here?

E also particpated in the action.Then we went back to Jami and Mark's to enjoy our catch of the day smoke on cedar planks.The aforementioned Maddie who kicked our trash at Wii bowling. And we weren't even being nice. This kid can bowl. This game she didn't even have any open frames. All strikes and spares. E had a few firsts while we were there. One of which was pulling himself to stand up. And then even letting go, so he could play with Timmy's car.
We went on a fantastic walk to the nearest park where E had his first try in the swing.
Here we are just having a little mommy time.on the way back he fell asleep in the backpack.And our sweet little Asian babe -- Mr. Kai, and proud little Yuan. Thank you fam for such an excellent vacation. Can we do it again next month?