Portland 2010 - Part 1 of 3

Rise and Shine! It's time to catch the train to Portland. We woke the kids up really early because we were heading to Portland on vacation. As a Christmas gift to my mom, my dad surprised her with a trip to Portland on the Amtrak. My mom started crying when my dad told her that her children and her grandchildren were coming too. So we have been planning and getting excited for this trip since December. We decided to park the car at a park-n-ride and ride the bus to the train station in down town Seattle. Here we are with my mom waiting for our bus around 6am. Here is Mark and my dad sitting on the bus. We rode on an "express" bus that has a bendy middle section because it's so long. So that's where we all sat.....right on the bendy part. The fun part about sitting on the bendy section is that when the bus turns a corner my dad turns first then Mark's seat followed. Ahhh the simple pleasures in life.....getting to sit on the bendy seat.Here is Grandma and Lulu snuggling together and keeping warm.We made it to the train with plenty of time to spare. Here we are boarding. Lulu was so thrilled to be on a real Choo Choo Train. Here is Lulu with Papa and Grandma. We had seats that faced each other. Levi had fun sitting with Grandma. He enjoyed his first train ride.Then we decided to go get a table in the diner car. My brother Todd and his wife Stephanie were going to be joining us on the train. We had about an hour ride before they would get on. Here is my mom and Lulu enjoying the ride.Mark and my dad sat across from us and enjoyed talking. Two guys who love to talk.Lulu enjoying her breakfast that Grandma made for her.

Levi slept on me a good portion of the trip. I just love my front carrier. Both Lulu and Levi have had some of thier best naps on me in this carrier. Here we are going under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. This is the famous Galloping Gertie that collapsed in 1940, click here for a picture.Once the train made it to Tacoma my brother and his wife got on. Now the whole family was together and our trip officially started!!Here is Aunt Stephanie with Levi and you can see Papa and Lulu in the background sitting with Uncle Todd.Here is a view of how we all sat in the diner car. We would all swap and trade spots and talk with each other. Lulu loved being able to walk around.Here is Grandma doing one of her most favorite things. Here is Papa doing one of his most favorite things too....no not playing chess but spending time with his family.Lulu spent some time playing on her own too. She was playing with a stir stick and Papa's cell phone.About 3 1/2 hours later we made it to Portland. Here we are in front of our train. We had a great time on the trian. What a fun way to travel! Check out my mom's blog for some of her pictures here.