How Zoo You Do?

The Hyppster's, Mahoney's, Burke's and Freeman's gathered at the zoo today for a day of "When do we get to ride the train?" Ahem. I asked them if they wanted to ride it first (and thereby avoid the hill of death at the end of the journey) but they all decided to visit the sea lions and otter. It's like they're in elementary school or something...wait...

I'd thought about taking the kids through the animatronic dinosaurs...but good thing I didn't! When the kids climbed on one for a photo op, Grace and Ava both decided it was time to go home! These are some tough little cookies, but they did not like the dinosaur, or the dino roar!

I think the monkeys were the biggest hit of this trip, that or when the elephant decided to scratch its butt.

Then it was off to McDonald's for a drive-thru Happy Meal (complete with Pokemon toy). Thank goodness for apples in Happy Meals. I think that was the only thing that kept Grace awake on the way home!

Watch Out For That Tree!

Instead of indulging our Cheesecake Factory habit to celebrate brithdays, my girlfriends and I have been having bucketlist adventures. Not swimming with sharks or bungee jumping kind of things. Tamer, mommy-friendly stuff. Paula got a walking tour. Molly got a makeover. I decided to stretch our boundaries a bit with a zipline/ropes course!

I purposely didn't read much about Tree to Tree Adventure Park so I wouldn't talk myself out of going. I had Tina make all the reservations, even getting Helen & prego-Paula to come along as our personal papparazzi. Jennifer & Tonya joined the 'fun'. 

The weather was gorgeous, sunny with just enough clouds to keep it cool. We arrived and watched a quick video where Helen spotted someone she knew. BIG surprise, the woman knows everyone in town! Then we wrestled on our harnesses and hit the starter course.

I'd thought the ziplines and leave the rope business to the adrenaline junkies. Not so, you have to do the rope sections to get to the ziplining parts. We started a few feet off the ground to get our bearings. Even so, it was hard to trust the zipline!

Once we'd 'passed' the course, we were let out on our own. There are 4 different courses - green, blue, red and black diamond. On the first course we had to climb across the section on rock walls suspended from the trees. Jen went first on everything, and she fell off! She didn't fall far, and since there is no other way to get down, she had to keep going. I think after this first slip, she was completely fearless. Going first meant she didn't have one of us to pull her up or give her advice. Scary!

We crossed 'broken' bridges, rope bridges, a tight rope...and then this crazy caddywampus ladder thing that we all decided was the hardest part. Then, we were rewarded by getting to zipline to the ground.

The blue course had similar elements. Who knew there were so many ways to build a broken bridge? It also had a swing you step on that brought you to the next platform which was fun, and a tube you had to crawl through that was not. At times, we felt like a highwire circus act without the net!  

We waffled over whether or not to try the red course. There are two ways to start, oneby climbing a ladder, or by doing the 'junkyard' which qualifies you to do the black diamond run. Even after a year of bootcamp, spin, and Zumba, Tina and I stood back and let the other girls try the junkyard. It consisted of a ladder, logs, tires, and a rockwall. Vertical. Like...4 stories up. I simply didn't think my arms could haul the junk in my trunk that high. Especially after Jen decided to come back down once she hit the tires.

Tonya made it though! I'm sure it helps that she is about a hundred pounds and a former marathon runner. Hey, we can't all be perfectly plump.

The rest of us climbed the ladder to start the course. We were suprised that some of the elements seemed easy now, but by this point it was our 4th rodeo. There were these ridiculous bouey things hanging down from the segments, and we never figured out what to do with them. They seemed to be castaways from an episode of Wipeout, always smacking us in the face!

All of this was just a set-up. You see, at the end of the red course comes the most terrifying element - the spiderweb! After boosting your confidence, you're supposed to hold onto a rope and swing to the next platform. Except there is a web of rope in your way...and you need to LET GO of the rope you are on and climb the web. I don't know about you, but I wasn't so keen on letting go when I'm three stories in the air! When told to let go, I may have said "I can't! I don't want to die!" Maybe. There is no videorecording of this shining example of my bravery.

After a resounding chorus of "That sucked" and "I'm never doing that again." we got to zipline to the end of the course. the ground never felt so good beneath my feet!

Happy Birthday, Miss Paula!

The mommies like to get together and do something fun for our birthdays. This year, we're trying to be more adventurous than the Cheesecake Factory. So to celebrate the last year Miss Paula is in her twenties, we went on an Epicurian Excusion from Portland Walking Tours. (Miss Molly had to work, thbbbt)

I got a bit worried when the tour began with the same three places as the tour Jeff & I went on - drinking chocolate @ Cacao, olive oil tasting at Benessere & orange tomato soup @ Flying Elephants. I enjoy all three, but I wanted something different. Luckily everything that followed was new.

I never would have found myself doing a salt tasting if not for the tour. The Spice & Tea Exchange let us try different salts on cucumber slices. I even had my mom buy some smoked salt so my BBQ contest loving brother could experiment with it. 

 At this point...we wanted food! Thank goodness Chez Joly was so generous with their samples. Crostini, crepe, and French onion soup. We spied a $25 price fixe dinner on their menu (salad, entree, dessert & wine) so may be returning.

We spent a lot of time at the next stop, The Park Kitchen...but didn't eat much. The garbanzo bean fries & squash ketchup were tasty, and the idea of making your restaurant as sustainable as possible is great...it just went on a little long. It would have been more interesting if the explanations were illustrated by the samples they served...which is probably easier for them to do in the summer.

Next, we went to the EcoTrust building for Hot Lips Pizza. This was the same seasonal variety I tried with Jeff in January - a squash sauce with broccoli & hazelnuts. I really like the juice sodas they make. After Jeff & I learned about them, we started buying them for the kids.

Finally, Miss Tina got her dessert :) Cool Moon ice cream served chocolate sorbet & trail blazer swirl and let us taste whatever else we wanted. Then, it was a quick hop on the street car back to the hotel we started at.

I had a great time, but I wouldn't take the tour again until the summer. Maybe things would have changed more by then. Is it worth the money? We got it on a special, which helps. If you know your way around Portland, you could get much more food for less money. But then, if you know your way around Portland, you might not be interested in the tour!