Before I get started with our field trip to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) I wanted to wish this special little princess a happy first birthday ..
One year ago today I was standing in a softly lit hospital room with my son Josiah and his beautiful wife Monique, as we welcomed Miss Macie Blair into the world. One of the happiest moments of my life, and I can't believe it's been an entire year since it happened ! Macie is the perfect mixture of sugar and spice- lots of both interwoven into this feisty little girl's personality, and we are so so blessed to have her in our family.
HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, MACIE !!!
We are headed to Macie's first birthday party in a few hours, so this post will be looooong on photos and short on words.
OMSI has long been a family favorite - just an hour and a half away from us in beautiful Portland, it is an awesome place to visit for children and adults alike. We have visited OMSI for years, and it never gets old.
Last Sunday Sam preached both Sunday church services for friends of ours pastoring in Portland. Hayden and Lily and I joined him and spent a wonderful day catching up with our friends and enjoying seeing how the Portland church is doing. I so love being a part of a fellowship of churches around the world, because it doesn't matter where we go - the spirit of our churches is always one of vibrancy and excitement and life ! It was so nice fellowshipping with the saints and soaking up what God is doing in P-Town :)
The next day we had planned to take the little ones to OMSI, as they are the only members of the Rice family who have not been there. We didn't realize it was closed on Mondays though ... it was too wet for the Portland Zoo, and we wanted to save our money for OMSI, so we opted for sleeping in and then heading to one of our favorite places to eat ...
Black Bear Diner !!
The food is delish and the service is always spectacular- it is kid friendly and reasonably priced as well. I could seriously do a commercial for them.
Actually, I probably just did.
Black Bear was the highlight of Monday, and we spent the rest of the day relaxing (insert maniacal sarcastic laughter here) in a hotel room with two rambunctious children and a bag of popcorn or two.
Oh yes, we ordered pizza.
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| do not let this happy moment trick you into thinking this is how we spent the day. if i posted the other 99 % of non-happy moments here you would probably run screaming from the computer in shock and terror. you're welcome. |
I am pretty sure the occupants of rooms 218 and 222 were ecstatic beyond belief when Sam and I checked out the next morning, taking our very loud, whiny and cabin-fever-stricken children with us.
In fact, I think I heard cheers of jubilation from the hotel lobby as we drove off, but I digress....
PRAISE GOD FOR OMSI !!!!
And this is the part of the blog post where my words run out, because I have herds of children here to ...well, herd... to a party this afternoon.
These pictures probably speak for themselves anyway, but here is our day in a nutshell :
Lily and Hayden running from exhibit to exhibit, squealing and clapping and smiling, and Mommy and Daddy chasing them while squealing and clapping and smiling because we weren't caged in a small hotel room with loud, whiny, rambunctious stir-crazy children anymore.
I'll say it again...
PRAISE GOD FOR OMSI !!!
... and their food. which was a - MAY -zing.
If you are ever in Portland, I highly recommend a day at OMSI. A family membership - even for a super-sized family like ours - is very reasonable priced, and you could spend an entire day there without doing everything they have to offer. It's like Disneyland without the mouse ears and rides and castles.... okay, it's nothing like Disneyland, but it is still a fabulous place to go.
PRAISE GOD FOR OMSI ;)
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