Thursday, August 29, 2019

Day 1 - The British Museum and Jet Lag

Let's be totally honest, our crew went to the museum for 2 reasons...mummies and The Rosetta Stone. I think the kids were a little underwhelmed by the stone, but the mummies were amazing. 





I thought the stone was pretty cool...a little wild to think that it is the key to deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphics. 



My favorite part of the museum is the museum itself.



Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Portland to London


Had to do the obligatory PDX photo.


The boys (contrary to Keller's facial expression) were thrilled with the people movers. We really need to get these kids traveling more.



                                     
Super excited for her first tube ride...


...and asleep. V wasn't able to sleep on the plane, but turns out the tube is comfy and cozy. 



Just a short walk to our hostel with all of our gear on our backs. The kids walked A LOT this trip. 


Sunday, August 25, 2019

Keller's Portland Birthday Party



8 is Great!!



Gus' favorite restaurant!




Gus' 2nd favorite restaurant = Panda Express.



Ice cream sundaes are the choice of my kiddos for birthday dessert.


Monday, August 12, 2019

Backpacking Adventure...

...and I do mean adventure. We headed out with my neighbor and her two kiddos (Yep, 2 moms and 6 kids!) for a 3.5 mile hike to Burnt Lake to camp for 1 night. Then, a 3.5 mile hike back out to our car. 


She was super excited.


It is crazy how much weight each of us had to carry to get our camping gear into the site.


After 3.5 miles of only some complaining and me having to carry both Pearl and Keller's bags at different intervals we made it to the lake.








No fire was allowed at the campsite, so our camp master extraordinaire pulled out her traveling self-contained tiny stove and cooked us dinner. 


Around this time in the photos, where I have none, is when it got gnarly. Keller didn't feel well. Pearl worried about him, did what she does when she is worried, threw up...in the tent. Twice. Then, Gus really didn't want to sleep in a tent with throw up. He calmed down. I used a total of 10 baby wipes to get the throw up out of our tent as best as I could. Threw Pearl into one of Vera's shirts and we went to sleep. I think I only had a few vomit chunks on my cheeks and in my hair when I woke up.

Oh, and the big kids' tent at 3am decided to break and they spent the night wondering if they were going to suffocate. It was an adventure.



It was a long hike out, but less complaining. The reward of showers and being home spurred the kids on.




Needless to say, we were pretty done by the end.