Party with cousins

I have a lot of cousins. My dad is from a family of 10 kids, and I have at least 50 first cousins on that side alone. As if that wasn't enough cousins, Mark's mom is from a family of 14 kids, and he has 78 first cousins on that side. The ages of his cousins range from 47 down to 13. Not a chance Mark could name all of his cousins, or even recognize many of them as he grew up away from most of them. But thanks to Bradley girls weekends, I know many of his cousins and aunts better than he does. When I was dating Mark, we went to a birthday party for his grandpa. Mark introduced me to his aunts and uncles, and they all asked me the same question, "Are you overwhelmed by all these people?" When I told them, "No. My dad is from a huge family and this is just like one of the Breinholt parties," I don't think they believed me. But it just felt like home to me. I always wanted 86 more cousins.

We were lucky enough to have Mark's aunt Lisa and her family come for a week to spend their summer vacation with us. It was so fun. Lisa is the youngest of the 14 kids, and so she is not much older than Mark. Her youngest kids are the same ages as our oldest kids, and everyone really hit it off. I have no clue what the technical term of the relationship her kids have to my kids is (cousins once removed, second cousins???), but it doesn't matter. They were cousins, and they were having a party.

How did we start the week? We watched the sun set from Crown Point. The next morning, we got up and hiked to Punchbowl Falls in the gorge. It was a perfect day for a hike, and we waded through the icy water at Punchbowl where we ate lunch under a rocky cliff. We had to do the good tourist thing and stop at Multnomah Falls on the way back to my house.

We then went on a very exciting adventure: Winco! I had told them all about my favorite store, and also its excellent pizza and bulk food section. They were impressed, of course. Who wouldn't be?

Our next exciting adventure was a trip to Fabric Depot. 1 1/2 acres of fabric. It's just heavenly. The boys had randomly decided they all wanted matching Pokemon pillowcases, and Fabric Depot did not disappoint. The girls found some lovely fake furs as well.

To top this day off we headed to the ultimate Portland landmark: Powells Books. It's supposedly the world's largest used bookstore. All I know is it is big and confusing and it smells like the Terror Ride at Lagoon. And there are A LOT of books. Piled miles high. It was a fun adventure. Especially the parking garage.

They headed for the beach and we followed them there the next day. Here are a few shots from our adventure to the beach. We stayed in a KOA Kozy Kabin. I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of it. We played at the beach, and then roasted marshmallows over the fire at night. It was a very fun trip.

Who wants to come visit me next?