Nana Condoles at Our House

After being home from a seven-week 26-state roadtrip for only about ten days, my mom just had to get away.  For the previous year, my folks had been trying to sell their condo in downtown Salt Lake City.  Finally, they had a buyer.  However, just as they plunked down the credit card to buy some moving boxes at U-Haul, their realtor called to say things were "unraveling."  When the sale fell through, Mom was so disappointed that we both decided that a visit to White Salmon was just the pick-me-up she needed.  Two days later I was picking her up at the airport for a 12-day visit.

We all enjoyed having Nana around.  She does the dishes every night.  She magically combs tangles out of little girls' hair.  She helps fold laundry.  She knits (and lets Adah & Maggie try it).  We mostly just hung about and took care of the kids.  She was here during the second week of twice-a-day swimming lessons, which limited our outing potential, but that was okay.

On Saturday, July 2nd we planned a fun day out with the whole family.  Luckily, Nana is small enough that she fits in the third row of the minivan between Adah and Maggie. : )

Our first stop was at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, WA where there was a free birds of prey demonstration.  It was slightly disappointing because they didn't fly the birds very much, but we did get some up close views of a peregrine falcon, an eagle, and an owl.  The kids were really thrilled with it, as you can see.

After picnicking in Cascade Locks and playing in an excellent park (love those spinning tire swings!) by the Sternwheeler riverboat, we headed to Multnolmah Falls.  

Multnomah Falls is the tallest waterfall in the state of Oregon and one of its most popular tourist attractions, as evidenced by the crowds of people who were also there with us that day.  Nana's feet were hurting a bit, so she opted to stay with Holly while the rest of us took the small "hike" up a paved trail to the bridge overlooking the upper pool of the falls. 

Maggie was the photographer in the picture above,

so here's one of Nana with all 3 big kids.

On the 4th of July we had a pancake breakfast at the church and then I was happy to have my mom around to share some potato salad with me during an afternoon BBQ.  (No one else in the family likes it, so I rarely make it at home.)

We loved having Nana come for a visit!