Portland

In July Tim spoke at a conference in Portland. In March, before I was super pregnant and knew anything about Portland, I told Tim that we should ALL go....and well let's just say that July much more pregnant Sydney was a little ticked off at March not very pregnant Sydney. Portland was a little different than I expected. There were lots of homeless people which made me feel extra vulnerable when I would walk around in the mornings with my three kids trying to find somewhere to eat breakfast. But, I'm glad we went. It was definitely a trip to remember.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed for our 7am flight.

First plane ride for Peter and Molly.

Lots of people asked me if I had bought Molly's seat because she was sitting on my lap and it was a full flight. She sat on my lap until take off and then she very happily sat in her seat to watch a show.

Checking things out before take off.

I'm pretty sure the in flight refreshment was a trip highlight for Peter :)

We got to Portland, took an Uber to our hotel where we dropped off our luggage and went to find the food trucks. We all got different meals. I think my burrito bowl was the best.

There's no one I'd rather explore the world with than this guy!

We found a fun splash pad that kids loved running around in.

And this one got extra wet and she was super happy about it!

Ice cream stop!

We saw Hotel Transylvania three. I slept through the middle of it...I was tired :)

The conference people set up these fancy snacks in the hotel room for Tim. It's pretty awesome.

Wednesday morning Tim spoke at the conference and I took the kids out for breakfast. First we had oatmeal at Potbelly's.

Then we got donuts at VooDoo's. It was a super funky place, but the donuts were delicious.

Oliver got his standard "Portland Creme" (Boston Creme).

Peter got the Voo Doo donut.

And Molly got a strawberry frosted.

Then we headed over to Powell's bookstore. The largest bookstore in the country. It was really cool. The kids each picked out a book.

And then we met up with Tim at the Farmer's market. I got some rainier cherries and Molly got some strawberries and Tim and I both got some Mexican food that was delicious. 

Peter fell asleep and we ate at a park. 

Molly gobbled up all of those strawberries.

Oliver wanted a picture with the dog statue.

This fun sign was right by our hotel.

Thursday the kids and I hung out in the hotel room in the morning and then after Tim was done speaking at the conference we met up for lunch... more food truck food.

Then we navigated the public transit system there and made our way to the Portland zoo. I felt pretty legit being pregnant holding Peter while he slept and Molly's hand while Tim managed the stroller.

The zoo was fun, but it was pretty warm outside.

They had a really cool bat exhibit which was fun.

Tim had Friday off from speaking. So he had breakfast with us, hooray. Then we rented a car and headed to the coast.

And we made it to Haystack rock. Think Goonies! The coast was beautiful and chili. It was nice to feel chilled after walking around the warm city for a couple of days.

Molly was being so funny about the sand and water. It was making her so nervous. It'll be interesting to see how she does in San Diego next month.

Haystack Rock.

And again.

And another rock.

Then we drove to Astoria and visited the column. We climbed the 164 spiral stairs to the top. The stairs were metal and my hands were sweating the entire way up, at the top and the entire way down as we passed people in the narrow staircase. 

The views were amazing! Then we headed back to Portland.

Saturday morning we mixed things up and headed to Einsteins for breakfast. Tim gave his last presentation that morning and then we headed out.

We rode the arial tram.

This girl loves her dad.

The tram had great views of the city.

Then we walked across this awesome bridge and mad our way to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

There was a robot exhibit which was awesome. But not as awesome as Molly in this picture!! I have a feeling this one will go down in history.

The kids loved looking at all of the robots.

Peter threw a little fit and then fell asleep in the stroller. Tim took these two to explore more of the museum. This was the chemistry lab. Molly LOVED the goggles.

Then we picked up our luggage and decided to not pay the $100 for an uber to the airport (priced had gone up since we'd gotten there because there was a beer fest going on), so we decided to take the light rail to the airport. I laughed the entire way there as we dragged our five backpacks, three suitcases, car seat, booster seat, and double stroller with our three kids and my pregnant self. It was quite a spectacle. 

Just taking up a LOT of space on our way to the airport. 

Portland was fun. It was more work than I anticipated. Trips to big cities with small kids is not the best idea...lesson learned. But we definitely made some great memories and I feel like I really proved to myself that I can wrangle my kids when I need to :)