We went to the coast for a couple of days of camping fun with friends. The morning started with hazy skies.
And continued with blue skies…
And hanging with friends…
And climbing trees…
And then…
So now we adjust to fitting a broken arm into our plans for a new school year and a five year old birthday party.
So the person who said that summer was a slow time was crazy – or they didn’t have my job. Either way, it seems my blog is suffering. I have been meaning to post more pictures from our family visit for… well… a month. I guess life got in the way. When’s my next vacation? The story of their visit continues…
So what do you do when you have two teenage boys, and one almost teenage boy, come to visit you in Portland? You call on a friend who works at the biggest sporting gear manufacturer in town and ask them for a tour of the campus of course! (thanks Corey)
The afternoon began with a visit to the Nike employee store. I have no pictures but all you really need to know is that we spent a lot of money. We ALWAYS spend a lot of money when we visit the Nike employee store which is why we visit only a couple of times a year, and why we are grateful that it is just far enough away from our house to be a teeny bit inconvenient to visit on weekends. I’m sure we’d be broke otherwise.
The Nike campus is just like one big sports museum – especially on Friday afternoons in summer when the entire working population seems to be off playing golf. Each building is designed to pay homage to a particular sport. Some I knew well (Tennis; Golf), others I just had to browse the artifacts and pretend that I understood (Soccer? Anything ending in “ball”?). Nevertheless, it was all very interesting and the entire time I found myself thinking about how much longer the tour would have been had my father been there to read each and every word on the displays. Maybe we’ll take him on a tour next time he comes to visit. I’ll bring a book to read.
Here are a few photographs from our visit. The lighting was bad thanks to some crappy Portland weather (yes, in July!), but I managed to capture some great moments of our extended family enjoying all that sports memorabilia has to offer.
I couldn’t resist the reflection on this one.
Walking in to the first building (I love having extra hands to push strollers while I take photos).
The world cup was in full swing and they had a display of the Aussie uniform. I have no idea who this guy is but he’s Australian so I took a photo. I cling to anything – especially now that my four year old has started making fun of my accent. It helps me maintain a little national pride.
That’s Corey, our friend and tour guide, showing us where Nike is on the big ball-map-thingy. My kids were too scared to go near it but a ball despite the fact that a big ball floating in water is pretty cool. I want one for our backyard.
Two of the three nephews and one child. I am also grateful for almost-eighteen-year-old-boys who like to keep four year olds entertained. Seriously. I almost wish I had one of my own.
This is Tiger Woods. I know that because I read the sign.
Another thing we should have in the backyard – an art installation consisting of many spinnable bicycle tires. It could keep a toddler entertained for hours.
The artist in me found this to be very impressive – a baseball player made entirely out of recycled materials including bottle caps and old baseball bats and balls.
The next two photos make me laugh. Two brothers in perfect synch.
We also enjoyed a few sculptures around the beautiful campus. Between the art, the lake and the amazing exercise facilities, it almost made me want to quit my current job and camp out until Nike gave me one. I’m buying a tent.
Finally, we ended up at the John McEnroe building – something I can relate to thanks to a childhood living across the street from a tennis court and a brief season in the top girls’ tennis team at our club. It was brief shining moment in my otherwise insignificant personal sporting history. Forgive me if I dwell on it a little.
Our tour ended after about two (very rainy and fun) hours, and I can now say that, after 7 years of living in this city, I have seen the Nike campus. One more thing marked off my list alongside that of planning a successful outing that would appeal to three teenage boys, their parents and their (very) small cousins. Oh, and Kei enjoyed it too. A great day.
Truly no words needed.
I just realized that I failed to post more photos of our trip to the Oregon Coast last month. I think I mentioned that it was raining and cold during most of our stay, but we had a fabulous time nonetheless and I believe the sun even came out for a few minutes during our last few hours.
Five families, 10 adults and eight boys under 5.
We stayed in a couple of houses right on the beach – nothing fancy (and about 100 years old), but big enough to hold everyone without driving the parents crazy, and with some amazing views.
There was also a play structure right on the beach that I think Kei enjoyed just as much as the kids.
At times the weather was perfect for flying kites, although a little chilly.
And we found things to keep us occupied when the rain kept us indoors, because when you are stuck with eight boys indoors, it’s VERY important to keep them occupied.
On the final night we gathered around the campfire and cooked up some ‘smores. You could almost say we were camping (although I’m glad we weren’t). Camping or not, my intense fear of children around fires is the same. I spent so much time saying “Don’t go there” and “Keep back!” that I’m surprised I was able to get any shots at all.
Here are a bunch more favourites from the weekend because sometimes you just can’t narrow it down to two or three (or ten…)
This week’s I ♥ Faces challenge is all about play – not something we are short on in our house. I didn’t fully appreciate how powerful the concept of play is to a child until I gave birth to my own. Thomas can actually get very upset when he doesn’t feel as though he has a chance to play – although admittedly his distress is strongest when this realization happens to coincide with bedtime.
This week’s photo was taken on our recent group family trip to Netarts on the Oregon Coast. It’s always wonderful (and a little frightening) to watch the boys interact with other children their own age – especially children that they don’t see on a regular basis. It’s fascinating to see the different personalities shine through as you observe them playing together (or alone, as Thomas likes to do on occasion), watching them resolve conflicts (sometimes with parental involvement) and just generally enjoy each others company in a completely neutral location, rather than at someone’s house.
I was reviewing photos of our trip when we returned home and, when Samuel saw this one he was horrified and exclaimed “Oh No!”. How dare that other child touch his face! I adore the colours in this photo and the way Samuel is looking directly at the camera as if to say, calmly, “Mum, why is he doing this to me?”
This week’s I ♥ Faces challenge is a special “barefoot” challenge to raise awareness for Souls 4 Souls. Thankfully I have a foot fetish of sorts in that I love taking pictures of feet (I was going to put that in the title but thought it might attract a different type of reader).
Given the weather in Portland lately (yawn, I know!), we have experienced many bare feet around here. In fact, our recent trip to the coast was more gumboot weather than bare foot weather.
Exhibit A:
It was also a little Lord of the Flies. Only one family in our group of six was blessed with girls and they were unable to make it at the last moment due to illness.
That left five families with eight boys between us – not including Dads of course. That’s a lot of testosterone in one location and not a tutu in sight. (Wow, if this post doesn’t attract at least a couple of questionable characters, I’ll be surprised).
I’ll be back with more photos from our mini-vacation soon, but for now I’ll share some more feet just for fun.
And if you get the chance, check out Souls 4 Souls and see how a small act can make a big difference.
But honestly, I have so many Aussie pics to go through and I just keep finding little gems for my Project 365. I think I’m going to have to post every day to catch up.
This is one of my favourite photos from the entire trip.
Grandpa and Samuel sharing a moment by the river. Or maybe Grandpa’s just trying to keep Samuel from diving in. It’s honestly hard to tell.
The whole family (uh, minus my two brothers…)
I look back at these photos and even in just the past couple of months, I can see how much Samuel has grown up. He looks like such a baby here.
While we were visiting, my dad (otherwise known as Grandpa) planted a tree for each of the boys. We’ll be able to see their progress on each visit back to Aus, and if my Dad decides to take a few photos and send them over in the meantime.
Uncle Jono… again.
And, on the day before we flew home, a quick trip to the Melbourne zoo. It poured with rain while we were there so I spent much of our visit walking around in one of those bright yellow plastic ponchos, only pulling out my camera when I was certain it wouldn’t get wet. So I only have a few photos to show for our visit, and none of the boys petting Kangaroos (gasp!). Instead I took photos of inanimate animals that were thankfully under cover and, therefore, the perfect dry photo subjects.
And, finally, our layover in Auckland as we headed home toward Portland. This is as much as I have ever seen of New Zealand (sad, but true) and has now become a regular port of call as we attempt to fly with Air New Zealand every time we head to Aus. I am incredibly grateful that our trip home was a lot less eventful than the flight over, even if it was more crowded thanks to a cancelled United flight (curse you, United!).
Farewell, New Zealand (airport)… and Farewell Australia. We’ll be seeing you again soon.
I usually avoid talking about the weather on this blog because, well, I live in Portland, OR and if I started talking about the weather I would likely never stop. Usually the rain doesn’t bother me. I grew up in Melbourne, Australia – a place that has the same reputation for rain and generally crappy weather – so I am used to wet winters.
I have to say, though, that the rain that we are experiencing in Portland right now is starting to get to me. If it wasn’t for the few sunny days that have dragged us temporarily out of the grey drabness, I may have been taken away in a straight jacket days ago.
Thankfully I have memories (and photos) of a warmer climate living on my hard drive. This flashback to our St Kilda beach visit just a couple of months ago will have to be my sanity-saviour for the time being.
Oh, and also a little TV show called Lost… just two more sleeps! (Sorry about that.)
Nicole Ishida Photography 