The BriggsWald Vacation Diary-Portland

Portland proved to be another great leg on our journey. It was great to see Alan, Cathy and stay in their beautiful home after much too long of an absence. It was also great to spend time with Auntie Britt who a week later is off on an adventure of her own as she heads to Salt Lake to start working on her masters in education. Seeing what smart, caring, and beautiful women Kalin and Brittany have become is a credit to what wonderful parents Cathy and Alan are and based on how great a time the kids had in Portland they are every bit as wonderful in their role as grandparents. Here is the diary for the Portland leg.

Thursday-August 7th-The big plan was to leave the Bruce and Becky's lake place at about 9:00 a.m. and meet Ray and Anna Mae (Kalin's grandparents) at their house in Lacy for lunch around 12:00 p.m. As we pulled out at 10:30 we realized that we may have to alter our lunch plans a little. About 1:30 we pulled into Lacy and had ham sandwiches (Carter's favorite) and deviled eggs and a great visit with Ray and Anna Mae. We left their house around 4:00 and arrived in Portland around 6:00 were Alan and Cathy had beers and hor'durves waiting as a prelude to the Surf and Turf BBQ dinner. (Crab legs taste good.) Carter went Wii crazy up in the bonus room where Grandma Cathy had bought and set up for him a brand new Wii. I enjoyed getting crushed in a few games of pool by Alan in his new "Man" cave and watching the Mariners lose in surround sound on the huge Hi-Def T.V.

Friday-August 8th-We pulled Carter away from the Wii (and torturing, I mean playing with Auntie Britt's cat) long enough to visit the Portland Zoo, where Carter faced off yet again with his arch nemesis the jaguar. (When Carter was two or three we visited the Portland Zoo and they have this crazy jaguar that paces back and forth in his living area (cage), Carter was being Carter and laughing and pointing and jumping and pacing and generally annoying the jaguar, when all of a sudden the jaguar leaped at the glass wall where Carter was standing. It scared me to death and I was expecting a total meltdown from Carter but he just kept laughing and thought it was the funniest thing he had ever seen.) The zoo has done a lot of remodeling since I had been their last and looked great and they were having a special dino exhibit thing that was a lot of fun. Jamo kept Grandpa Alan on his toes as he ran and ran and ran and ran around the entire zoo. A great day at the zoo followed by another great night in Alan and Cathy's comfortable house with lots of wii fun and great food.

Saturday-August 9th-Kalins real 30th birthday. After two weeks of celebrating Kalin's birthday across seven states we finally reached the real big day. And what a celebration it was. Cathy was hosting the Carolan Birthdays Brunch and Bash (a really great tradition they have of getting together every couple of months and celebrating everyone's birthdays, Emmy would totally love it, it could extend the week of Emmalee into October) Kalin's Uncle Ed and Aunt Vicky, Vicky's mom, Betty, and Kalin's cousin Erin drove down from Redmond to join the festivities, while Kalin's Uncles Tom and Paul, Aunt Teresa, her husband Scott, Paul's girlfriend, Anne and her cousin Riley and Kalin's grandma Anna Mae rode down from Seattle (area) on the Amtrack. Cathy's friend and neighbor Ray and Tina and their two great kids joined the fray. Highlights of the brunch include Tina's biscotti (unbelievably good), the pitcher handle coming off in Paul's hand starting the brunch line off with a bang (and a little OJ spill), Tina, Teresa, and Anne elbowing for position to hold Molly, Jamo charming all the ladies with his blonde curls and big blue eyes, Alan and Carter recounting their adventures in Mole hunting, and of course the birthday cake. After everyone headed back to Washington in the afternoon we went for Kalin's official nuclear family birthday party at Benihannas. The food and drinks were great and it was a lot of fun celebrating Kalin's birthday (yet again) with her wonderful family. After we got home from dinner all the ladies and kids piled onto Grandma Cathy's bed and watched Nim's island, while Alan and I went down to the man cave and watched the Mariners lose yet again. After spending the last few birthdays in L.A. I know it was nice for Kalin to really celebrate her 30th in style and with lots of friends and family.

Sunday, August 10th-We spent most of the day relaxing at the house. Alan spent the day packing his boat and truck up to take me and the boys on a camping trip later that night. We ate dinner and then Jamo, Carter, Alan and I went down to the Willamette River launched Alan's boat then rode out to this great sandbar beach on the river were we set up tents and camp, roasted some marshmallows, ate smores, and watched as Jamo turned into a sand creature before our eyes.

Monday, August 11th-After a restful night sleeping in the great outdoors we picked the ladies up at the dock, came back to our campsite and had a great day tubing, skiing, wakeboarding, and swimming in the river. Kalin totally showed me up on the wakeboard and the ski. As she got up the very first time she ever attempted to wakeboard and popped right up on her first try on the slalom ski. My embarrassing crashes are better not mentioned. Jamo continued his quest from the night before to find every possible spot on his body to cover himself in sand (changing his sandy diapers might have been the challenge of my lifetime.) It was an absolutely great day and it was a really sad moment pulling the boat off the river and realizing this was our last day in Portland and tomorrow the Grandma and Grandpa portion of our road trip had come to an end. We came back threw Jamo and Molly in the tub where they left a little sandbar of their own, and began the packing process once again.