COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE

last weekend we had such a fun time with robbie's parents, rich and toni! in my previous post i blogged about our first day with them and our adventures at the original pancake house and the international rose test garden and our second day was just as fun! we started by going over to robbie's aunt (rich's sister) and uncle's house for breakfast! we had the perfect pancake breakfast with fruit, bacon, fresh oj and the whole deal. (thanks tina for making the yummy pancakes!) then we set off to explore the columbia river gorge and multnomah falls. can you say breathtaking?!? i am still amazed by how gorgeous oregon is!

then we went to check out multnomah falls. it was so beautiful. we really are lucky to live in such a beautiful place!

all the coins that people have thrown in 

 on the bridge!

after checking out the waterfall, we drove a little ways to hood river to check out the kite boarding scene. and man was there a scene! none of the pictures i took do it justice but there were probably 200+ people there kite boarding and wind surfing. my father in-law, rich, has recently taken an interest in kite boarding so he was really excited to finally see the mecca of kite boarding for himself! i have a feeling they will be back next summer to try it out! (at least i hope so!!)

these are all the kites people had setting out while they were taking breaks

i wish you could actually tell how many people were there. so crazy!!

happy boys

kite boarder coming in

even a few paddle boarders!

holy cow. they weren't kidding!

somehow this picture was taken. found it on my phone later and thought it was pretty cool. 

after our adventures we ended a perfect day in the perfect way. with salt & straw ice cream! a must do thing in portland if you ever visit!!

chocolate with gooey brownie with sprinkles in a fresh waffle cone made before my eyes. YUM!

SO YUMMY!

PANCAKES AND ROSES: PERFECT COMBINATION

we had such an amazing weekend! robbie's parents rich and toni came for a visit!! we were so happy to have them as our first visitors! they also drove up our second car as well! i am so excited to be able to still go places while rob is at work instead of having to walk. we are so blessed. (feel free to leave name suggestions in the comments haha)

they arrived thursday around 5:30 and we all sat down together to eat a personal favorite, spaghetti and meatballs. so yum. we had a great evening just talking and catching up. we just kept saying how nice it was to actually have them here with us! (:

on friday, rob worked a half day while we slept in/exercised/got ready for the day. then, we went up to precoa where robbie has been working since may and he gave us the tour and introduced to a lot of his coworkers. it was really fun to see familiar faces and meet new ones from the last time i had been in the office. i know rich and toni really enjoyed getting a glimpse of what robbie does everyday (me too for that fact! haha) i think my favorite part of his office though is that you can see the temple from his desk almost! (either that or the fully stocked fridge and pantry in the break room hehe) after the tour, we headed over to one of rich's all time favorite restaurants: the original pancake house. in fact, we ate at the original original pancake house! it was my first time and i was starving (i didn't eat breakfast) so i ordered the 49er pancakes (which i HIGHLY recommend!) and they came out as probably the biggest pancakes i had ever seen. i was quite satisfied. 

robbie ordered the dutch baby

 and toni ordered the famous apple pancakes (i called them dessert pancakes! so yumm!)

 happy that we have food in our bellies!

 standing outside the original original pancake house!

this meal lasted for breakfast lunch and dinner for me haha so yum! thanks rich and toni!!

the second part of the day we spent smelling roses. an ideal way to spend an afternoon if you ask me! (:

and the endless pictures of roses begin. i just couldn't help myself! (be glad i'm not posting ALL of the pictures i took... haha) each one had a different name but i definitely could not remember them all. each were so pretty and smelled so divine.

 just a quick selfie haha

of all the roses i think these were my absolute favorite! perfect color and they looked just like peonies!

me and my fave flowa

i could smell these roses all day.

we loved this one's coloring! i believe these were rich's favorite roses!

rob was so patient as toni and i marveled at rose after rose after rose! he is the b e s t!!!

betcha didn't know that shakespeare's favorite flower was a rose!

downtown portland peeking through the trees

so glad that this guy is allll miiiiineee!

i had been wanting to go see this rose garden for a while so it was so fun to experience it with rich and toni! it was a perfect first full day in portland with them. day 2 is comin soon!

xoxo ash