Oregon Family Trip | Day Two

Friday 7/15/16

Porter woke up at 6 am this day, and I was itching to go for a run. So I got dressed, grabbed my baby and some snacks for him, and then remembered that the BOB was still in the van. Which was parked in a structure somewhere, but I didn't know which one. Then I had to wake up Nate, who had to get the van keys from his parents' room, so that I could get the BOB out of the van. Oops, so much for sneaking around our room so we didn't wake any of the others. Nate decided to walk down to the van with us and I don't think he fell back to sleep, but Porter and I were off for our exploratory run by 6:30.

We were literally the only runners we saw out and about Eugene this morning, but we saw plenty of homeless people sleeping in various locations. At first I was going to follow a path that would take us to the University of Oregon, but then we rounded the corner to see dozens of homeless folks hanging out beneath and overpass. They all seemed pretty harmless but I decided to turn around, finding an awesome little bike path trail next to a river. Porter and I ran 4 miles and even discovered the Owen Rose Garden, where the wedding ceremony was happening the next day! Seeing all of the roses and then finding baby ducks with their mama in the river literally made our morning---Porter was in heaven and I felt significantly better about life after this run. Needed to knock the dust off after a full day of travel!







When we returned to the hotel (Hilton Eugene, in case I want to remember), everyone was stirring and we decided to eat breakfast in the hotel since I had scoped it out and the restaurant seemed pretty legit. Also, so much easier to eat inside of the hotel with a big group versus trying to get a reservation or walk somewhere else. We gathered Tony and Lois, my mom and dad, and then our five-some for breakfast and it was freaking delicious. They had one of the nicest buffets ever, for $12 a person---there was a guy who made omelettes to order, tons of fresh fruit, homemade granola, steel cut oats, plenty of bacon and sausage, sometimes breakfast burritos, greek yogurt, cereals, juices, and even salmon for a bagel and Lox. The kids had either waffles or pancakes and plenty of fruit, plus we might have borrowed a few greek yogurts for later, stored in our mini fridge for lunch :/






After we were successfully filled with mostly healthy food (not granola bars!), Tony and Nate and I decided to walk around for a bit and explore Eugene (i.e. find better coffee than the hotel had to offer). The kids were more than happy to play with Gogo and Popo in their room, and the fellas and I had fun discovering little shops along our way. We bought some milk and chips to keep in our hotel room (priorities), got coffee from Tailored, found Sweet Life and bought numerous treats after those of you on IG said it's a must-see, and marveled over all of the gigantic cedars around Eugene.







Next, we headed to the hotel pool as promised to our beloved children. A grand old time was had by all, and it's not everyday that our kids get to play with both sets of grandparents in a pool! And a crazy daddy and mommy, too. So many cannon balls, so little time.



What golfers tan?


'I cold. Carry me.'


Also, this photo doesn't fit in here, but I did want to capture the horror that was the tiny pack-n-play from the hotel. Porter was obviously over it, but you get the picture. Jon and Brittany brought a bigger loaner with them for this next night.


The bride and groom arrived from Florence around 11:30 so we cleared out of the pool to meet them. It's been since Christmas since we visited with Jon and Brittany and we were obviously pumped to see them! Brittany had an impressive itinerary for each day of wedding weekend, and we knew that Nate and Jon needed to run some errands while the ladies got our nails did. Porter went down for his nap and Tony listened for him with our connecting door opened. Lois, Mom, Brittany, Cecelia and I went to get mani/pedis with some of the bridal party. Cecelia went for silver glitter and I went neon hot pink on my toes and moderately hot pink on my fingers. Shocker! Girl pampering time rules.







Once we were back at the hotel, everyone started getting ready for the rehearsal at the rose garden. What's that you say? Everyone is semi-dressed up and I did my hair and makeup? Selfie time!!




My dad requested this picture, which is probably the first time in EVER that the man asked to be in a shot. So duh!!


The rehearsal started at 4pm and I believe we were finished at 5, with dinner reservations at 5:30. The rehearsal itself was mostly unremarkable, except that we had our kids all wear their 'wedding shoes' we bought them months ago. And when the shoes arrived they LOVED THEM and couldn't wait to wear them for the wedding!!! But, sad trombone, the night of the rehearsal we realized within five minutes that all three kids must have grown a ton since we bought the kicks. Because all of them were complaining about the shoes hurting their feet. Some were easier to convince to suck it up than others. (ahem, no chance with Porter). Also, there was some talk about Truman holding the rings and walking down the aisle with Porter, then Cecelia following the boys with her petal throwing, and then all three staying up at the front with Nate (the best man) during the ceremony. This made me extremely nervous for obvious reasons, and I didn't think it would be that appropriate to have any of our kids, not even Truman, stay up front during the vows. I mean, Jon and Brittany only had a best man and a maid of honor up there anyway---although Truman would have LOVED to stay up front with his dad, I pulled the plug on that idea. Also, it will help you to understand that Truman has the.biggest.crush on Brittany. He stares at her with googly eyes and follows her around with his grin and dimples, so mostly he just wanted to be closer to her (on the biggest day in her entire life). So anyway, the rehearsal went well overall.

Brittany gave me this ring dish, I love it.


Thistle in a rose garden.


Barefoot, two out of three!


Nate's side of the family, LOVE.


We parked the cars back at the hotel and walked to dinner. Jon and Brittany selected Sushi Pure for the big dinner, and we knew there was no way our kids would eat sushi or anything from their 'kids menu'. But we did check ahead of time and they approved us bringing food in for the kids, so we had PBJ and goldfish and other highly nutritious options for them. Dinner was excellent but Porter was just not having the whole 'sit still at the table' thing for more than 5 minutes. He was super loud and banging plates around and nearly tipping glasses over, so I knew this would not be the most relaxing dinner of my life;) I ended up walking around outside of the building with P for much of our time here, with some relief from my mom and Lois and Nate. The restaurant is in a neat little area called the Fifth Street Public Market and we found plenty of entertainment outside (i.e. coin fountain, live music, giant cow statues, an old phone booth, etc).

Grandparents are the best.


Eating 'sushi' (goldfish) with chopsticks.


He's into pink drinks lately and I'm confused.


So much yes.


Walking around, found this quote, snapped a pic.


Telephone booth.


High fives.


We truly believe this was a Packers cow until Brittany corrected us. Apparently the university has the same colors as the Packers, who knew? ;)


Yes, we are at our breaking point now.


We all walked back to our hotel after dinner, and Truman was in heaven. ;)



ALSO, they had an ice-cream buffet in our lobby so Nate was in heaven.


You know who was not in heaven at this point? My dad, because my mom brought a very 'Gogo' craft activity that included window markers. My dad was sweating bullets thinking this would never come off and was calculating how much a new hotel window would cost him. We did manage to see a beautiful sunset while quasi-destroying hotel property. And newsflash: it did come off just fine.


We must have done bedtime for the kids at some point (? I know I had a few glasses of wine but don't remember this part), and then Lois and I went to help Brittany and her friends with some crafts. OH, I think Nate did bedtime for the kids while I got called to do the crafts immediately. Yes, that's it. Then Nate and Jon went to grab some drinks with other dudes and my mom was sewing bra cups into Brittany's dress for her. #MasterSeamstress.

Crafts included tying ribbons around maps that would be at the ceremony, and attempting to fix up some chalkboard signs. Did I mention that I freaking love weddings??? Also, girl time is the best. I think I went to bed around 11 this night but don't remember for sure.

Day two was a lot better than day one, right? Just wait until day three---wedding day!!!!!