October 22, 2023 (Part 2)

Now on to the fun part with Matthew and his family. We had a great time sharing the beautiful Pacific Northwest with them and showing them what our lives as missionaries looks like. They were only here for a little over 4 days but it is amazing what we were able to pack in on those 4 days. I think we did it all and left nothing out! We were sad to not have Isabel with us (who was busy with XCountry running) but glad we got the rest of the family.

Matt's family arrived Saturday morning and we met up with them and Tracey's family at the Japenese Gardens. Saturday was our Portland day so we did everything in the city. We have wanted to go to the Japenese Gardens since we got to Oregon so we are glad we finally got the chance. We were hoping for more fall colors but it was still beautiful!

We had lunch at PDX Sliders, a trendy Portland restaurant, voted best burgers in Portland, before saying goodbye to Tracey and her family.

Then we were off to the Oregon Musuem of Science & Industry followed by a trip to Salt & Straw, a trendy Portland ice cream shop. Wow, we will be making a trip to there again! Yummy, yummy ice cream! I had The Great Candycopia and Jack had Peanut Butter Brittle Caramel Fudge. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Sunday we attended church and showed the family our mission office and introduced them to our local missionaries. Matt & Elliot said Elder Place (at 6'11") is the tallest person they have ever met in person. Then we met up with Tracey's family again for a walk through Silver Falls State Park, one of our favorite places.

Monday, after office staff meeting we headed out to the coast for two days. It poured rain up until about 3:00 and then cleared and was beautiful all day Tuesday. With so much coast to choose from it was hard to decide where to concentrate our efforts but we finally decided on Newport, the same place we went with Rachel & Chris. We stopped at scenic overlooks on our way to our hotel where we got soaking wet and were glad the hotel let us have early check in so we could dry off and change clothes. Then we headed into Newport to see the Sea Lions, stroll the boardwalk, and have some yummy dinner at the Chowder Bowl. Then it was a jump in the ocean and swimming for Matt's family.

View from our hotel room

Tuesday started out with playing on the beach for a while and we were grateful for such a beautiful day!

Then we headed to the Oregon Coast Aquarium which is mostly outdoors so again we were grateful for good weather.

That was followed by another trip to see the Sea Lions, Ripley's Believe It or Not, the Wax Museum, and finally Yaquina Head Lighthouse. These kids know how to keep busy!!

The Lighthouse is not pictured but this is a gorgeous photo of the coast next to the lighthouse.

We had such a good time with these kids and were so glad they made the trip out to see us. It is hard to imagine it will be another 11 months before we see them again but we are so grateful for modern technology and that we can keep up with them through Zoom, Messenger, etc. We love you Matt, Chelsea, Isabel, Elliot, Oliver, & Avery!!!!