Some video we shot at the Portland Airport coming back from Chris and Molly's wedding. Cooper loved the moving walkways, and luckily the traffic was non-existent and he could play on them all the time.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
So long Summer
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| From Cooper with Dinosaur |
Summer officially ends tomorrow, but it certainly got a good send out last weekend. High 70s, gorgeous blue skies and all around great weather. The whole family took a bike trip to The Pumphouse Friday night for dinner and then strolling up and down Main St. as it was blocked off for a little art fair event.
Cooper got a huge new dinosaur stuff animal yesterday. He seems to like it a lot, loves to dive on top of it and we figure any time we can get this kid a soft place to land its a good thing. So here are some dino pics and some other random pics we snapped in the last week or two.
Tackling
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| From Cooper with Dinosaur |
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| From Cooper with Dinosaur |
Pouting that he wasn't strong enough to throw it over the baby gate
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| From Cooper with Dinosaur |
He has a lot of problems with us
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| From Cooper with Dinosaur |
Who me?
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| From Cooper with Dinosaur |
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Football season is upon us
Yeah OSU laid an egg last weekend, but Cooper did his part.
Signaling "First down and 10"
And then if all else fails and OState loses to Houston at home, find a place to hide for a bit...
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| From Cooper in OState jersey |
Signaling "First down and 10"
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| From Cooper in OState jersey |
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| From Cooper in OState jersey |
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| From Cooper in OState jersey |
And then if all else fails and OState loses to Houston at home, find a place to hide for a bit...
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| From Cooper in OState jersey |
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Go West, Young Man...
And by young man, of course I mean Cooper.
Jill, Cooper and I packed up and headed out west to Portland, OR last weekend for Chris & Molly's wedding. We decided to add a couple days to the trip and explore the area, as neither of us had ever been to the PacNW before. We flew out Thursday morning, grabbed our rental car and immediately headed out for our first adventure, a drive up the gorgeous Columbia River Gorge and then to Mt. Hood.
Mt. Hood rises out of nowhere.
We found a neat little lake that Cooper got to check out
Our steed for the week, a FREE! Ford Flex
And after we got checked into our hotel, Cooper was up to some mischief
Friday our plan was to get up and head up to Mt. Rainier National Park. Its 2 - 3 hours from Portland to the park, but traffic was light and we made pretty good time. We grabbed some wraps for lunch and started our drive through the park under gorgeous blue skies.
It wasn't long after entering the park before we started getting views of Mt. Rainier, a 14,400 foot giant
Family shot
Cooper was liking having some room to run, and the monkey tether worked great!
Awesome things to see throughout the park
After a really cool drive into the park, we finally made our way to the Paradise visitor center to hit the hiking trails. After a quick chat with the rangers, we settled on the Skyline Trail, a strenuous 5 mile loop that looked challenging and fun.
Rainier already starting to get cloudy as we started our hike
Self portrait of me and Super Cooper
The climb out of the Paradise visitor center is paved at first, but about as steep of a trail as I've seen.
Jill giving the big arms salute as the paved section ends but the long, grueling climb is just getting started.
Up, up, up.
Climbing towards the glaciers
On the footsteps
As you progress through the pics above, you can notice a trend. The blue sky fading and the gray, thick clouds moving in and becoming thicker. The weather turns quickly in the CO high country, but without any warning it went from nice to threatening at the base of Rainier. This was unfortunately timed with us being at the apex of our loop, and right as we were hitting Panorama Point, the rain increased. We stopped and put Cooper's rain cover on his carrier which kept him dry but it caused us to keep pushing on instead of stopping and taking in our planned lunches. We pushed the pace hard trying to get to the point where we could descend and get some cover from the weather.
Luckily, the rain let up and we made it to within about a 1.5 miles from the car and we were able to stop and get some lunch. After that we made pretty quick work of the descent and got back to our trusty Ford Flex, which for some reason was quite the hit with the older crowd. We had lots of seniors wanting to stop and talk to us about the car as we hung out in the car recuperating for a bit.
Unfortunately, this is pretty much where the highlights of the trip ended. Either a nasty bug or something she ate took hold of Jill and the next 36 hours had her incapacitated and unable to hold down any food. We watched the OState/Georgia game and after trying to rally, she ultimately decided she wouldn't be able to make the wedding, but Cooper and I got all dudded up and represented the White family there.
Cooper watching the OState game intently
Cooper hanging out on the back porch at Molly's parents place
Chris and Molly getting married in a gorgeous setting
Me and Coop
The wedding was really a nice ceremony, and both Chris and Molly seemed both really at ease and happy. I got to speak with them briefly and then had to head back to the hotel to check on Jill and get Cooper some food. I wasn't about to try and feed him in my suit, I've got way too many shirts with Cooper carnage on them from Cooper mistaking me for his napkin.
On Sunday, Jill was feeling somewhat better so after we got packed up we headed around Portland to see some more sights. We ended up at the Japanese Gardens in a really cool part of town. It was a really serene and peaceful place with contrasting views of the busy downtown just miles away. After a good walk around there, we headed back to the most laid back airport I've ever traveled through, PDX. The flight home was a bit tumultuous at times, Coop was 3 hours past bedtime, I was dead tired physically and mentally and Jill was still recovering. The big thing was that we all made it home safe and sound and will start looking at our next trip/adventure.
And congratulations to Chris and Molly, we're thrilled for you two.
Jill, Cooper and I packed up and headed out west to Portland, OR last weekend for Chris & Molly's wedding. We decided to add a couple days to the trip and explore the area, as neither of us had ever been to the PacNW before. We flew out Thursday morning, grabbed our rental car and immediately headed out for our first adventure, a drive up the gorgeous Columbia River Gorge and then to Mt. Hood.
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| From Portland Trip |
We found a neat little lake that Cooper got to check out
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| From Portland Trip |
Our steed for the week, a FREE! Ford Flex
 |
| From Portland Trip |
And after we got checked into our hotel, Cooper was up to some mischief
 |
| From Portland Trip |
Friday our plan was to get up and head up to Mt. Rainier National Park. Its 2 - 3 hours from Portland to the park, but traffic was light and we made pretty good time. We grabbed some wraps for lunch and started our drive through the park under gorgeous blue skies.
It wasn't long after entering the park before we started getting views of Mt. Rainier, a 14,400 foot giant
 |
| From Portland Trip |
Family shot
 |
| From Portland Trip |
Cooper was liking having some room to run, and the monkey tether worked great!
 |
| From Portland Trip |
Awesome things to see throughout the park
 |
| From Portland Trip |
 |
| From Portland Trip |
 |
| From Portland Trip |
After a really cool drive into the park, we finally made our way to the Paradise visitor center to hit the hiking trails. After a quick chat with the rangers, we settled on the Skyline Trail, a strenuous 5 mile loop that looked challenging and fun.
 |
| From Portland Trip |
Self portrait of me and Super Cooper
 |
| From Portland Trip |
The climb out of the Paradise visitor center is paved at first, but about as steep of a trail as I've seen.
 |
| From Portland Trip |
Jill giving the big arms salute as the paved section ends but the long, grueling climb is just getting started.
 |
| From Portland Trip |
 |
| From Portland Trip |
Up, up, up.
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| From Portland Trip |
Climbing towards the glaciers
 |
| From Portland Trip |
On the footsteps
 |
| From Portland Trip |
As you progress through the pics above, you can notice a trend. The blue sky fading and the gray, thick clouds moving in and becoming thicker. The weather turns quickly in the CO high country, but without any warning it went from nice to threatening at the base of Rainier. This was unfortunately timed with us being at the apex of our loop, and right as we were hitting Panorama Point, the rain increased. We stopped and put Cooper's rain cover on his carrier which kept him dry but it caused us to keep pushing on instead of stopping and taking in our planned lunches. We pushed the pace hard trying to get to the point where we could descend and get some cover from the weather.
 |
| From Portland Trip |
 |
| From Portland Trip |
 |
| From Portland Trip |
 |
| From Portland Trip |
Luckily, the rain let up and we made it to within about a 1.5 miles from the car and we were able to stop and get some lunch. After that we made pretty quick work of the descent and got back to our trusty Ford Flex, which for some reason was quite the hit with the older crowd. We had lots of seniors wanting to stop and talk to us about the car as we hung out in the car recuperating for a bit.
Unfortunately, this is pretty much where the highlights of the trip ended. Either a nasty bug or something she ate took hold of Jill and the next 36 hours had her incapacitated and unable to hold down any food. We watched the OState/Georgia game and after trying to rally, she ultimately decided she wouldn't be able to make the wedding, but Cooper and I got all dudded up and represented the White family there.
Cooper watching the OState game intently
 |
| From Portland Trip |
 |
| From Portland Trip |
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| From Portland Trip |
Cooper hanging out on the back porch at Molly's parents place
 |
| From Portland Trip |
Chris and Molly getting married in a gorgeous setting
 |
| From Portland Trip |
Me and Coop
 |
| From Portland Trip |
The wedding was really a nice ceremony, and both Chris and Molly seemed both really at ease and happy. I got to speak with them briefly and then had to head back to the hotel to check on Jill and get Cooper some food. I wasn't about to try and feed him in my suit, I've got way too many shirts with Cooper carnage on them from Cooper mistaking me for his napkin.
On Sunday, Jill was feeling somewhat better so after we got packed up we headed around Portland to see some more sights. We ended up at the Japanese Gardens in a really cool part of town. It was a really serene and peaceful place with contrasting views of the busy downtown just miles away. After a good walk around there, we headed back to the most laid back airport I've ever traveled through, PDX. The flight home was a bit tumultuous at times, Coop was 3 hours past bedtime, I was dead tired physically and mentally and Jill was still recovering. The big thing was that we all made it home safe and sound and will start looking at our next trip/adventure.
And congratulations to Chris and Molly, we're thrilled for you two.
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