Friend Hopping: In-laws Edition

So after staying with my friend Hilary for 5 days, Wednesday (Sept. 26th) was "do or die" day.  Do we go home now or do we commit to going to Oregon?  Because if I was going to Oregon and the smoke miraculously cleared up I was not going to turn around and come back in 3 or 4 days.

The smoke was still bad enough and the forecast was still bad enough that we went.  And spent 10 lovely days in Oregon with all of my in-laws (except Brian) because his sister was in the process of getting ready to move to Africa for 2 years.

And when we finally came home the smoke was still moderately bad for about 2 more days and then we had rain and it's all been lovely since.  So it was perfect timing!

The boys LOVED playing with their new cousin William - taking turns in the bath with him...
 

Playing with him in the pool...

And generally enjoying being back at Grandma and Grandpa's house (we'd only left a month earlier!)

We spent a day with Great Grandpa so he could have more time with his new great grand daughters!

The girls and William didn't actually spend a lot of time together as they were on very opposite sleeping schedules.  These were the best pictures we got of them together!  William was SO interested in them.

Uncle Joel is a great pianist and he was sharing the love of Grandma's piano with all the boys.

At the end of our stay Brian flew down and the timing was right for us to attend a family birthday party that we never would have been able to otherwise.

Miss Brooklynn turns 4!

It was at a nickel arcade up in Portland and Noah was enthralled the whole time we were there.

Daddy teaching his son the finer points of gaming...

Oh the fun that can be had for a nickel!

These ball games are actually my favorite... but I guess having a baby on your hip (or an encouraging husband) helps you win the jackpot!

The boys came home with some lovely treasures and it probably cost us less than $10.  Good times!

And it made for a great photo op!  Great grandpa with some of his grandkids and ALL of his great grand kids!  Not going to happen again for awhile since William is now residing in Africa!

And after the birthday party we went to a park and then a Mexican restaurant with some other friends.  They put us in the very back corner, but the place filled up and I think we were a little loud... that's what 6 kids under 5 does!

The girls got lots of attention from Grandpa (Joy) and Uncle Joel (Hope) who was super great as my backup kid watcher even though he was studying intensely for a Hebrew exam!

In all it was a really good time even though a bit crazy for me.  And then it took me a good two weeks of being home to catch up on my life!