THE SPJUTE FAMILY: Oregon

We were anxiously awaiting our Oregon trip all month, so we were really excited to be on our way once the day came.

I had a pop-up shop for my boutique the night before, and Greg was still working long hours, so the fact that we left before noon on the appointed morning was a miracle in itself. It wasn't easy preparing for a week-long trip by myself.

Entertaining herself while we crammed everything in the car.

The "we're on our way!" selfie. We only have to do 1 U-turn, so we were feeling pretty good.

The trip to Boise seemed to be never-ending. Claire protested being in the car pretty much the entire way, and traffic wasn't the best, so we were pretty excited to finally get to Grandma-Great's house to swim in her pool. It was so fun! We've yet to swim in it, so it didn't disappoint. Greg swam with the girls while I went to gas up the car and grab some dinner. We still had 2 hours to drive from Boise to get to our hotel for the night, in Pendleton, OR.

Not pictured is a fun water slide that only took a little coaxing to get Sofi to go down. Once she did, there was no stopping her.

I spy Sofi ... can you find her?

Claire did a head stand in a puddle of water AFTER being changed out of her swimsuit. This girl.

Greg found himself a spot somewhere in the back to play his Nintendo with the girlies while I drove. It was blissful! I put my headphones in and we sailed into Oregon without a hitch (other than poor Greggy getting carsick ...).

We booked our hotel in Pendleton 1 month well in advance, but words can not describe what it was like when we pulled in. Imagine nasty overweight man covered in tattoo's, swimming all by himself in a dirty outside pool, while there was a horde of motorcyclists smoking weed and BBQing in the parking lot. Along with the smell of weed in my mouth, we walked into our room and got an overpowering smell of cooked urine. So gross!! I promptly picked up Claire and walked to the office where I told them I was not going to let my children sleep somewhere that smells like this. The office lady took one look at me (after telling Greg she couldn't refund our room) and very politely told me she would refund us a room. Bless her!

I went back to the room where I found Sofi jumping on the beds shrieking with delight and sleeping in the nastiest place in America, and she had already used the bathroom. Whoops! We were already refunded, so we raced back to our van, found a parking lot, and frantically both tried to find another place to sleep.

Laura saved our bacon by recommending her hotel. It looked sketchy on the outside, but was pleasantly surprising on the inside, and the bonus was it actually cost less than our original hotel. Score!

Once we finally got the girls to sleep, it was around 10:30 pm. Claire was beside herself at having to sleep in the pack'n play, so I put her on a bed with me while Greg slept blissfully on the other one with Sofia. Sofi slept like a log (like her daddy) while I wrestled Claire all night, who decided to wake up around 4:30 am and and not go back to sleep, so at 5:30 am I handed her to Greg who went out walking the town. It turns out he had a wonderful time with our youngest daughter walking the quiet town. Bless him. His pictures are below.

Greg brought Claire back around 7:30, and she was finally showing signs of being tired (insert rolling eyes) so I took her down with me and Sofi to get breakfast while Greg got ready. The breakfast was pretty good and Sofi ate really well while Claire continued to be moody and destroy everything she touched. Some cute bikers offered to help me with Claire, but she took one look at them and buried her face in my neck. Oh Claire. I guess there was a motorcyclist convention in Pendleton that weekend.

Washing the stink of the previous hotel off them.

We stopped and met the rest of the Spjute's at the Sturgeon farm and fish hatchery. It was really beautiful and we were finally getting into the pretty part of Oregon. The girls were thrilled to finally see some cousins.

These fish were huge!!

This Sturgeon was HUGE! Like 7-8 feet long.

I kept waiting her to make a jump for it.

I made Greg stand awkwardly next to this hibiscus plant because 1. They were everywhere, and 2. I want one! We already have a pink one, but it was blown out of the water by the vibrancy of this blue one.

Looking at little minnows.

Stopping at the Waterfall. We made it as far as the parking lot.

Our next stop was Portland for dinner.

I forgot to mention that as soon as we put Claire in her carseat that morning, she promptly fell asleep for over 1 hour! That's unheard of for her. Proves she really was tired.

Driving on a cool double-decker bridge.

We stopped to eat lunch at a famous BBQ place called Tilt's. It was amazing! Even though they are famous for their BBQ, the BBQ chicken salad I got was amazing!!

I love Toby's photobomb in this.

And Megan's in this.

Greg finished his Burger before I could get a picture. It looked delicious!

This is real life, people. Sofi climbing and Claire telling me she needs a new diaper.

Chasing everyone back to the cars.

Next stop, the OREGON COAST!!

I drove the 2.5 hours from Portland to the Coast and on the way through the tree's we saw this guy with a GIANT belly walking in khaki shorts being held up by suspenders out to his mailbox. Greg and I both look at him, look at each other, and busted up laughing. Welcome to Oregon!