Once again, we split the kids up and took them on adventures!

Becky and Lucy

Becky always takes her kid away for a couple of days. She found an adorable Airstream trailer near Forest Grove, and it was just perfect.

Since they were in the area, they made sure to eat at the Vernonia cafe we visited on our big bike adventure.

They went for a hike around the Fernhill Wetlands and watched for the local wintering birds.

They spent two blissful hours treasure-hunting at Goodwill. It was really hard to say no, but they didn’t end up getting these sweaters.

Lucy spent $7 of her own money on some prizes, including this bracelet-making kit! She had a ton of fun making a BFF pair for herself and her friend Hazel.

Lucy watched the original Annie from 1982, accompanied by raspberry tea and a mani-pedi by Becky, and loooooved it. (She may not look amused, but this is her concentrating face.)

On their way back home Sunday morning, they stopped at the Italian Style exhibit at the Portland Art Museum. Lucy loves clothes, and had a fantastic time slowly making their way through the gorgeous exhibit.

Ben and Will

I’m the parent who stays at home, and we always have adventures around Portland. A couple of months ago, we became a one-car family, so Will and I relied on Portland’s transit system and our feet to get us from adventure to adventure while the girls had the Subaru.

So we bussed and walked to OMSI, and narrowly dodged a train. If we had crossed just 30 seconds later, it would have crushed us flat.

Our destination was the mazes exhibit, which (as always at OMSI) was a bunch of interactive things.

There were maze rugs with different rules. In this one, you couldn’t turn until you got to a “T” junction.

For this one, you had to tether yourself to a colored rope and follow it over, under, and through all the other ropes.

For this one, you had to do a balance-ball type thing, and try to get the little ball all the way to the center of the maze.

One of the walk-through mazes included a mirror room

We also went bowling! Will has only ever bowled on the Wii, which is clearly not the same thing, so we made sure to turn on the bumpers for him.

He was a bit too proud to use the rolling frame, or the granny roll, and despite being a beginner, he had a great time.

We rounded out the weekend with some Ninja vs. Ninja, which we both very much enjoyed. Will destroyed me.

Another fun bonding weekend for the Straubs!