A couple weeks ago we received a visitor in the mail….Flat Audrey! Our niece is doing a “Flat Stanley” unit at school, and she has been sent on a mission to find out about where we live. Since she arrived she has mostly been hanging out at home with us. However, today we decided to take her on an excursion to down town Portland. Since the weather was great, we knew the boys would have a good time walking around down town as well. I took about fifty pictures, only a few of which I will show here. Most of them will be sent to Audrey’s class, and she’ll do a presentation after she returns home. We were ready for some good old family fun on Valentine’s Day.
We buckled everyone up in the car.
When we arrived down town, we parked near Daddy’s work so the boys (and Audrey) could see the building. Here they are crossing the street. The boys were very preoccupied by the trains and buses.
Audrey got a bit tired from all the walking so we let her stop by a Benson bubbler.
Our first big destination (although we saw a lot on the way) was Portlandia.
We had fun exploring on this beautiful day.
Eventually, we made it down to the water front where the boys mostly wanted to look at geese. Here is Audrey standing on the Hawthorne Bridge.
And the boys enjoying a closer look at the river….
Next we walked along the sea wall, and snapped this picture of the Morrison Bridge.
I am so lucky to be married to this man! He is a very good Daddy too!
While we were standing there looking at the river and the sky and the beauty of the morning, the Spirit of Portland cast off, and the Hawthorne Bridge began to raise. I was thrilled, but poor Elias was so nervous from the big honk the boat’s horn gave that he was in tears for most of the spectacle. The horn was really really loud!
I did manage to get a few pictures of Flat Audrey and a few members of our family during the bridge lift, but we just stood and watched most of it.
After the bridge returned to its normal position, we found a bench and ate a picnic lunch. Then we walked back to the car and went home for nap time. It was a fun excursion for Valentine’s Day. The boys did really well walking everywhere since we forgot the stroller! I think we only carried them about four blocks total!