The Bates clan headed up to Oregon for a few weeks in one of our favorite places in the world, Black Butte Ranch! I took an unbelievable amount of pictures (or maybe, knowing me, you CAN believe how many photos I took...) and so the best way to share them may be in segments.
First up: Hometown visit.
We hopped off the plane in Portland and skipped over to the little town where we grew up: West Linn.
The first place we hit was our favorite pizza spot. Round Table pizza was a tradition growing up - we'd run around with friends in the arcade and make suicides by mixing every single kind of soda they had. (I'm sure they loved us!) Round Table was a sponsor for nearly every sports team in the town and so year after year, we celebrated wins, losses, and ends of seasons with pizza!
Here we are! It seriously looked JUST the same as when we were kids. We looked at every single team picture and found ourselves on the "wall of fame"! And the pizza is still as delicious as we remembered. Can you guess where Cooper was occupied while we walked down memory lane? Yep, loved that arcade!
After lunch, we headed over to our old neighborhood. We truly had the most wonderful childhood, so the memories of this place are so sweet. We lived on a street filled with kids and our house backed up to this 3 acre park. The old wooden playground equipment has been replaced, but it is still as beautiful and special as I remembered. No wonder my parents took one look at this house and bought it! Mom could see us playing at the park from the kitchen window and there was never a shortage of things to do.
Cooper couldn't get to the playground fast enough. Good thing he had a playmate!
We all had fun at the park - -
Some of us more than others!!
We had to snap some pictures from the edge of our old backyard.
Cooper and Colin did some serious swinging!
We toured all around the little town and even swung by our old school, Stafford Primary. Colin remembers dominating at kickball under the pavilion at recess and I remember years of carnivals and pioneer days and rafting trips down the little river adjacent to the school. What a special place!
Next up: Lake Oswego
