My big boy!!

Well, it is official! Noah is such a big boy now. Over the weekend we have been working on potty training, and he will go in the potty almost by himself all day! Still working on number 2, but he is so amazing! Smart and funny, watch out world!

A political note

How excited is everyone that President Obama addressed the nation last night?! While I was unfortunately unable to watched his "prime time" address on television, but I did catch the recap on OPB radio. I just wanted to say a few words about what his address meant to me.

First of all, kudos Mr. President, for taking this hard stance on the oil spill! Or wait, didn't this thing happen 57 days before your speech? Like two months ago? How pertinent is your stance on doing what it takes after an unknown quantity of oil has already gushed into the gulf?! I mean come on, wouldn't it be slightly more sincere if you had started giving us your "battle plan" when this thing started? I guess you too busy to notice!

Secondly, Mr. President, I really like how this disaster is suddenly our fault as a nation because of our addiction to oil. And BP's fault. I am glad that this disaster is perfect opportunity to push your agenda! My personal opinion is that perhaps the blame could be better directed at the government agency in charge of regulating and overseeing the safety of these operations! And perhaps you could take some of the blame yourself, being as how you denied the help that was offered three days after the spill started by other countries to help start the clean-up! Why is it so important now, when it was not that big of a deal to you then?

I want you to know that I happen to agree that we need reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Don't let my family know, they disagree with me on this one. I just don't personally think it is appropriate to use this event as a way to point fingers, how helpful do you think that is!?

The Aquarium

The Aquarium was a lot of fun too! These are some neat pictures of jellyfish and us enjoying the place. I recommend it!

A day at the beach

Our next stop was the coast. We had rented a Yurt for 2 nights, and so we figured that we could take advantage of beautful Newport and also get some beach time in. Luckily it was nice the day we arrived, because after that we didn't get to see much of the beach. It was raining sideways for 2 of the 3 days we were there!

OMSI

On day two of our adventure, we decided to drive to nearby train station, then take the train and eventually the bus to OMSI. It was a blast! The train ride was so neat, it almost makes me want to move to the city....almost. We had to walk a little ways to OMSI and we passed the sign, cool photo there. To anyone that has not been to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), let me be the first to tell you that you are missing out!! I have always wanted to go but never ended up there in all my Portland travels. It has so much to do! There is a huge play room just for kids with an indoor sand box and a huge water area and so much else! Then the exhibits rock too, very hands on and educational. We had the best time, and there was even more!

Vacation!

Here we are on our trip to the zoo. It was the first stop on an action packed adventure vacation extravaganza! It was a little bit rainy that day, but warm and full of fun. We got to see all the animals, then we hopped on the max train and went downtown for some lunch at a street vendor. Yummy fish and chips and fish tacos! It was the first great day of the vacation, with more to follow....