Portland – Mama Chit Chat

This past winter break I took the kids on a trip to Portland, Oregon. My friend Melissa Lives there. I visited her a few years ago and blogged about it here.

Side note: My kids have been flying since they were 6 months old. Traveling with them is a breeze. See my traveling with kids post here. The games for this flight (we always rotate) were mini connect 4 and chess.

Day 1

We arrived in Portland in time for dinner. My kids have a huge map of the United States and enjoy putting stickers on there “been there” map. So my friend Melissa and her husband took us to eat dinner in Washington. 2 stickers in one day, so cool!!

For dinner we ate at Beaches Restaurant & Bar. Dinner was delicious! They had the coolest kid activity bags.

After dinner we headed back to Portland (so cool!) for a basketball game at the Moda Center.

Tip: Come on the earlier side to receive your first game certificate and button.

We picked this game because the Portland Trail Blazers were playing the Miami Heat. If you are new around here, I’m originally from Florida and cheer for my home team anywhere I go.

Good news! The Miami Heat won!!!

Next we went to Voodoo Doughnuts! This Portland cafe is known of their fun and unique doughnuts. We picked a few and headed to Melissa’s for some much needed sleep.

Day 2

We started the day by driving an hour and half to the coast. We went though snowy forests and really large trees. The kids were so happy to see snow!

Our adventure for the day was the Tillamook Cheese Factory!

This self guided factory was so cool!

We tasted some cheese, bought some cheese and enjoyed the tour.

For lunch we headed to their cafe for more cheesy goodness. We got cheese curds, mac & cheese and grilled cheese. Everything was so good we were too stuffed for their delicious Tillamook ice cream. Tip: sign up for their email list to receive a a coupon for a free ice cream at your local store.

Our next stop was Blue Heron Cheese. We sampled cheese, bought some souvenirs and walked around the beautiful property.

We went back to Melissa’s and made dinner together. Jacob helped make the cake.

Day 3

We started the day off by checking out the largest 10 commandments in the US. Wow, what a moment!

We also checked out the largest bunny for my bunny loving kiddo.

The active for the day was checking out the Oregon Museum of Science and industry also known as Omsi.

We started off in their Nelson Mandela exhibit. Wow what a legacy!

We were wiped from the last few days, we headed home, made dinner and watched a movie.

Day 4

Today’s adventure consisted of checking out Multnomah Falls!

Wow, we were in awe! By the way, do you see how we are wearing beanies, puffers and mittens? It was so so cold. That if I took my gloves off to use my phone it would instantly freeze. However it was all worth it. I was in heaven!

Adventuring with my kids is my favorite!

Tip: Check out the cafe by the parking lot. It had the best homemade fudge.

Next we drove to Vista House where we stood in Oregon, next to the Columbia River and behind Washington. So cool!

If you know me personally you know how much I love the Twilight franchise. Every time I’m in Oregon I make it a mission to visit one of the sets from the movie. This time I got to check out the prom location from the first movie. It’s no longer beautiful like it was in the movie, but it was still cool to check out.

For lunch we checked out a sushi restaurant. Sarah’s favorite food is sushi so our friends took us to sushi restaurant with a conveyer belt full of sushi. You can grab any plate you’d like to eat. Sarah was in heaven!