On to the next trip!

So after all that crazy excitement, Nana and Bopa loaded the older three in our van and brought them home to Oregon, which meant the younger two had an unprecedented amount of our attention! They loved it (and so did we honestly)! 

 Turns out that G isn't such a naughty little squirt when she has mom's undivided attention! Honestly, I don't think she got into any of her usual type of mischief. Not even once! Even when she's trying to be helpful though, Baby L is all, "Uh mom...are you sure about this?"

 But before we knew it, it was time for us to fly out to reunite with the rest of our crazy clan. Wouldn't want things to be too quiet for too long I guess. The plane ride went surprisingly, miraculously, and totally unexpectedly rather well. 

 Of course a few outfit changes were necessary, but that's just an occupational hazard, right? Still smiling though!

 And then, even better, sleeping! We could not believe it but BOTH of them fell asleep. At the same time even! We had to document it to prove it really happened. 

 Gotta say, planes are cool. Even Montana doesn't seem like such a long state when you travel by air (which is saying A LOT)!!

There and back again.

Dude, they gave me my own drink. This is Sah=weet!

Mom put goldfish in my cup. Guess I'm supposed to drink those too.

What are you looking at?

Who's tired?

We'll be home for Christmas...

Lots of firsts here! First time flying for both of the littles. And the first time we have flown with more than one child at a time! First time everyone has ever smiled this early in the morning, and the first time any of us have had to wait on a plane so they can de-ice it 3 times but have to wait anyway for the sun to come up so that the temperature would raise to -33 degrees, which is the lowest temperature they are prepared to deal with to get a plane in the air! Didn't know that was ahead of us yet at this point though - look how excited everyone is to go to Portland (except Baby G. She has no clue what's going on)!

We were a little torn about what to wear on the plane. Having to walk out our tiny airport's door and up the plane's stairs exposed us to the frigid temps, which apparently could result in frostbite in 5 minutes! So we needed some winter coverage. But who needs to bring snow wear to Portland where it was going to be a tropical 30+ degrees?! There was a possibility it was going to be 100 degrees warmer than it had been our last week in ND! Crazy.

Having to wait on a tiny plane for an hour and a half (which was how long the flight to Denver was supposed to take) got kind of old. Dude found ways to entertain himself and those around him though! Gotta love his "dinosaur voice."

But eventually we did make it (note the iconic PDX airport carpet)!! The redheads were relieved while they waited for others to relieve themselves.

And why not. If you can fit, you should probably try sitting there, right?

Now on to the eagerly awaiting grandparents on the other side of the gate! Let the festivities begin! We made it!!

Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum

So we had to make the trek out to McMinville to drop off a painting and thought we'd stop in on the air/space museum to check out the air part this time. As we entered, we passed a statue of the pilot who is the founder of the museum. Coop told the girls he was a pilot. Jell replied, "Nu uh dad, he's a statue" in a total, duh-type voice. Can't get anything passed that girl.
Scattered throughout the museum are these old (some really old with ash trays and stuff) airplane seats. The girls insisted on sitting in every one and buckling up. Although Jell always reassured me, "Mom, we're just going to stay here, we're not going to take off."
And we of course, were blown away by the enormous Spruce Goose, or wooden flying boat. Very, very cool. Fascinating. Incredible testament to ingenuity and progress. But a big, cynical part of me wants to know how it was worth the money. Back in WWII times, it cost the federal government 18 million. That's a lot - especially back then. It flew once for about a mile. No others were ever made from the model. Good use of taxpayer dollars? Who is still wondering how the US is so badly in debt?
Anyway, politics aside, I love how you can just barely see Jell here:
And Mer had a blast too:
But of course we couldn't leave without running around the awesome playground.
Then, only because of a false alarm to use the bathroom, we ran into the space museum. And they have this new carnival ride in the front that is free. Who's heard of such a thing? Of course, that's with admission, but still, how cool. Jell loved it, especially when she finally figured out how to make it go up and down.
Meri started out excited, but then she accidentally made her plane go up (which makes a rather loud noise) and she cried and cried her big crocodile tears. She'd calm down, then she'd pull up again and burst into tears. Since they were the only two on the ride, he stopped it for her to get off. She spent the rest of the time watching Jell with her hands on her ears, shaking her head and muttering that she didn't like that.
Fun times! Can't wait for the massive waterpark addition ready in 2011!