21 Nights on a what???

That's right...21 nights on an air mattress. Brian's been working in Hillsboro,OR for the last couple of months. We got tired of seeing him only on weekends, so we dcided to join him for three weeks. We weren't sure it was going to be possible, until 2 days before we left. We had planned on driving here on Saturday, but hadn't found anywhere to rent to us for one month. Brian had been staying in a hotel, but we knew that would be really hard with all four kids. I spent about 5 hours a day for several days searching the internet, calling, leaving messages, and sending emails, all with no results. Finally last Wednesday evening, two days before we were to leave someone called me back and was willing to lease us a townhouse just two miles from Brian's work for one month. We packed up the car with the bare essentials, the townhouse is unfurnished, and took off. Somehow we managed to get everything in the back of the van. I was shocked.

It was a looooooong drive. Saturday we drove 10 hours and made a slight detour to Kennewick,WA and stayed the night with Brian's brother Dell and his family. I guess our first night wasn't on an air mattress, since Brian's niece, Ashlee, was kind enough to let us sleep in her bed. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins. Sunday we went to church with Dell, and after Becky made a delicious lunch and Brian's sister Merilee came over. Then we packed the kids back into the car and hit the road for the final 4 hours.

We actually had a couple of peaceful hours on the drive. When you put my kids all in a confined space for a lengthy period of time they tend to fight. A LOT!!! And whine. So we really enjoyed the quiet moments on the drive. Thanks to Aunt Mandy, the kids enjoyed watching Soul Surfer the rest of the time. The last hour of the drive coming into Portland was stunning. We followed the immensely vast Columbia River the whole way. The kids loved seeing the wind surfers all over.

The vast Columbia River

Tyler (and Brian) loved the bridges that raised up to let the barges through

The first view of Mt. Hood peaking through the clouds

The kids loved to see the barges pushing up the river Finally we made it to our new home for three weeks. Not bad for securing this two days before we left. Three bedroom, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, living room, and a small backyard. Plenty of room for the kids. We didn't have a lot of space in the car, so we packed the bare essentials. Air mattresses and even blow up couches. Kind of ghetto, but hey, it works. It's a fun adventure, and we get to be together while Brian is here working. My old friend and college room mate lives about 20 minutes from here, so she loaned me a folding table and chairs for the kitchen. She referred me to the Goodwill here, where we found a TV for $3. We brought the Wii and can get Netflix, and we have a dvd player. The $6 vacuum, however, was a dud! Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Goodwill TV. The picture is actually great, just a bad shot

The kid's air beds

Sofie's Room

And finally, my air mattress!!!