The Poytress People Visit

My favorite family in the world lives in a far away land called Canada. It is land where milk costs $5.50 a gallon and they have magical coins called toonies. I can't tell you how much we miss the Poytress family. I miss seeing my best friend everyday and playing with her boys, eating dinner together multiple times a week,  having couples game nights and movie nights, making cookies in the afternoon, going to the mall and the zoo together and all the holiday traditions we had involved the Poytress family. I was over the moon happy when Lacey decided to drive the 13 hours to Portland with her 3 boys. She is some sort of super hero because she can survive on little to no sleep and still be happy! So, they arrived Friday evening and we started off the weekend by walking to the park!

You will see many shots like this because last time Lace was here we didn't take any pictures of us together. In fact we didn't really take any pictures at all!! 

The boys!

Baby Nate! Ok, he isn't really a baby, but he is so tiny and cute and we miss him so much! Luke is still talking about "baby"!

Dan loves these boys so much! He was so happy to take them on a walk and lift them up to see a squirrel or a bird. 

Daddy with the babies! 

We saw this awesome crane on our walk! It was just hanging out in a little wetland area! 

We introduced the boys to our local cat that we call pumpkin! We don't know if he has an owner, but he is always hanging out at the same place on the trail and he is friendly and let the kids pet him.

We made it to the park and these Canadian boys were loving being outside! 

We needed to warm our insides after the park so we got some donuts at Sesame Donuts in Sherwood. It isn't as good as Voodoo, but it beats a 40 minute drive to Portland!

Look at that cute chocolate donut face. Oh I miss him...

I love the way Miles eats a donut! He eats all the frosting and sprinkles and small layers of the actual donut and then he is done!

We headed to Red Robin for dinner (yes, we ate LOTS and LOTS of bad food on this visit!!!) Miles was entertaining himself by taking some self portraits. This was the best one!

Here is one that Miles took of Luke!

On Sunday we headed over to the Tualatin Wildlife Refuge for a walk. Here are all the boys. Lacey and I were clearly outnumbered! We had fun walking around, but Miles started to be all done and I think he said something like this, "All this walkin' is makin' me sick." It was pretty funny. So, Lace, Nate, Miles and I walked back to the car while Dan, AJ and Luke kept walking out to see the eagles nest. It was so nice to be outside in February and enjoy some sun and fresh air. 

Here we are again! Our lovely faces!

Naters and "Ga". Ga is what Nate decided to call Dan. When Miles was a baby he really liked Men. He was a Daddy's boy and would always gravitate to being held by or playing with guys. Dan and Miles had a special love and now Nate is the same way. He didn't want much to do with me, but he always wanted to be playing with Ga or show Ga something. It was really sweet. 

On Monday morning we made the trek out to Clackamas Town Center. It was just like old times. Except all the kids were much bigger and all the moms were much smaller! We met up with friends from the old ward and enjoyed playing, talking and shopping. 

Tuesday was Zoo day! It is fun going to the Zoo with Lacey because she is pretty much a walking map and tour guide of the Oregon Zoo. Luke is now loving the Zoo and seeing all the animals so I think an annual pass is in our future. Here are the boys giving the seal a high five. 

Seeing these boys together makes me so happy! Luke loves his Canadian brothers. He was in heaven the entire time they were here! 

Nate loved the monkeys! I wish you could hear his cute little monkey sound!

We got to see the new baby elephant Lily! She was very cute and stayed so close to her Mommy. 

Oh my gosh! This kid would not stay out of the mud puddles. Lacey had a better pictures on her phone of him covered in mud! Oh well, he had fun. Next time I will make him wear his rain boots to the zoo. 

Girls night at California Pizza Kitchen! Yes, we are matchy matchy twinners because we are cool like that. As we were walking in to CPK I was thinking to myself, "I am so blissfully happy right now. My child is at home with his Daddy and I am here with my best friend having an awesome time!"

Well, we had 7 days and 6 nights of FUN! Lace didn't get the best sleep in her life since she was sharing a room with 3 little boys, but she made it work. I know that my little boy was in heaven having 3 play mates around the clock. We watched lots of Hotel Transylvania (which we now own and watch several times a week!), ate popcorn, drank hot chocolate, watched some Gilmore Girls, had great conversations and just enjoyed being together. The 713 mile distance between us is way too far. I wish we were neighbors. I wish we could be together every day. I wish, I wish, I wish...

Here are wonderful, amazing, fun, smart, hilarious, rambunctious, awesome boys!!