Welcome, 2014!

It's still January (technically!) so to me it's still "The New Year".  Saying goodbye to 2013 was not hard.  I was excited to start another new year.  Last year was not one of my favorites, that's for sure.  It had its ups and downs as it did for many others but I feel good about 2014 for our family.  Gracie turns four this year and will start Pre-K in August, our family is complete, and we are getting settled into our new life in Oregon now that we have been here a few months (March will be SIX months! Wow...time flies).  My Dad's birthday is New Year's Eve so I took the girls and spend his birthday with him and Debbie with a low key day and some homemade cake.  

We also started 2014 with more visitors!  Pam and Amanda came for a few days and we had adventures to the Portland Aquarium, Chinatown, Voodoo Doughnuts, a fabulous dinner, and of course, the zoo.  My running joke now is that if you come and visit us the one place we will take you is the zoo...we take everyone!

The Lorikeets...one of them bit Pam and made her bleed...ouch!!

What a cool touch tank.  We also fed the tropical fish, rays, and sharks

We got downtown right when it started to pour like crazy!  The idea was to visit the famous food trucks for lunch, but we ended up in an authentic Chinese restaurant in Chinatown where we could dry off!

After lunch...what a difference!

Pam treated us to an amazing dinner 

Last but not least...the zoo!