Wish you were here!

Daddy - these are for you!

As we started off on our journey to the north, Logan decided he wanted a picture of the Astronaut Cow. Something we've seen many times was we traveled in and out of Bush Intercontinental.

Here we are, waiting and waiting for our delayed flight to take us to where the air is cool.

Finally settled and ready for take off. Notice the kids did not wait a second to hook up to the free direct T.V. (free due to the delay . . . a nice surprise!)
As we took our 'victory lap' as the flight attendant called it (I call it waiting in line to land), we got terrific views of Mt. St. Helens. I tried to give the kids a little history lesson on when it erupted, but they were too busy watching TV. Although, Logan did give me a token "that's cool" before going back to his show.

So after getting into Portland a couple hours late. We got a good nights rest and headed to the zoo.

I think this zoo is one of my favorites. It's set in such beautiful surroundings and the enclosures seem so much more authentic to the animals nature habitat. I don't feel as bad for them being caged up.

Although, as the signs explained, many of them are here because they were injured and can no longer survive in the wild, so it's nice to see that they have a good home.

The black bears were the first to greet us.

Then on to the majestic eagles.

then . . . the goats!?!

Yes, I guess they are wonderful too.

And now back to the animals we CAN'T see next door . ..

This little sun bear was so funny.

He's just chillin'

And this little two year old put on 5 minute show of playing tether ball.

He was so cute! I swear he had that great big smile on the whole time.

Then it was on to the dinosaur exhibit.

This is the same T-Rex that scared the pants off Logan a few years back.

Chloe seems really interested in the Baryonx, but she really just wanted to get 'spit' on.

Logan, channeling his inner Nigel, next to the Carosuchus.

If you don't know who Nigel is, you clearly need more dino education

And back to the T-Rex. As you can see, even now, Logan still wasn't too sure the big guy wasn't going to eat him for lunch.

After a quick rest

We headed over to Stellar Cove to see some sea lions.

But, there were none to be seen.

So we waited,

and waited,

and waited.

We actually started walking off when mom heard a huge splash

And suddenly,

there they were. Two of the biggest sea lions we have ever seen!
(and that's saying a lot considering my folks live 10 miles from the sea lion caves!)

These guys were total attention hogs . . .

always trying to get into everyone's shot

Here's a shot to give you some idea of how large they were, but it still does not do their size justice.

They were our favorites, by far!

After that, Grandma bribed the kids with some ice cream and a visit to the gift shop (and one final pic) we quickly made our way out.

Today we hit the beach.

This was the one and only warm spot there . . .buried in the sand.

It was a chilly 64 degrees and the water was down right cold.

But the kids didn't mind at all!

They had a blast!

The only time they got upset was when I yelled at them to get out of the water . . .

Well, that and when I laughed and told Logan he looked like Malibu Ken with his shorts rolled up. Man, talk about the stink eye!
Everyone was a good sport with all the picture taking and after filling our bags with sea shells, we called it an afternoon.

Not sure what tomorrow holds, but I'm guessing more ice cream will be involved.

Daddy, we miss you and wish you were here!