McAffee Family Reunion

July 26-31, 2013

Portland, Oregon

We spent five full days in beautiful Oregon! 

I was happy to be able to finally bring Mckay to a family reunion, we've been married almost three years and there were so many members of my family who hadn't ever met Mckay! So weird. So we decided that it was time, plus, Portland is just a fun destination which made it all the more alluring.

We arrived late Friday night and finally got into bed around 2am. We spent the next two days "camping" (the Craven/Dunn family rented a cabin) on coast at Pacific City Beach. It was windy and colder than we bargained for, but still so much fun. We explored the tide pools, cooked & ate food together, sat around in camp chairs and visited, swam in the pool, and had a campfire every night. The scenery couldn't have been more beautiful, Oregon is so green and pretty! We visited Pacific City, Tillamook, Portland, Astoria and Seaside while we were there and every place was as breathtaking as the last. Green, lush and gorgeous!

I honestly love camping, a lot. But pregnant Nicki really appreciated a cabin with an air mattress.

The family with cute Grandpa McAffee.

After the reunion ended, our clan stuck around for some extra family time together, which was so great. We went to the Air Museum nearby in honor of my cute little brother who wants to be a pilot.  Somehow, I ended up 1,000 feet in the air in a bi-plane!!! I was torn between loving it, and praying that we'd land safely and in one piece. After about five minutes in the air I was able to relax and enjoy the incredible views.  My favorite thing the pilot pointed out was the pattern the wind made in the fields, talk about the beauty of the earth!

Mckay, Dad, Kenna & Trevor rented dune buggies for a few hours and had a blast driving way too fast (the owner accidentally had the "performance" key in, as opposed to the "practice" key, so they were able to drive these things as if they actually knew what the were doing... the boys loved it. Kenna, not so much. I heard she just did a lot of screaming, "Slow down!")

We did some "enjoy nature" time. I was hungry so that didn't last too long, but the views were pretty.

We spent a day and a night up North in Astoria so that the boys + Kenna could go salmon fishing.  This was an activity I was sad to miss out on, as I really do love ocean fishing, but some activities don't lend themselves to pregnancy very well. Plus, these guys were up at 4am and Mom and I got to sleep in and shop. They were the only 4 on the boat and each caught their limit and were back before lunch time! Such accomplished fishers. Mckay was happy to be back on solid land. My uncle grilled their catch that evening and we enjoyed a five-star meal together in their backyard back in Portland.

I'm told that the small fish my Dad caught put up quite a fight, they were all shocked to see it was such a little guy (who got to go back). Trevor caught the biggest one! 

We also went to the gorgeous Multnomah Falls, hiked a few miles up couldn't make it all the way to the top due to time constraints, bummer. 

Mckay & I ended our trip with an incredible dinner at Departure, a restaurant atop the Nines Hotel in downtown Portland.  We enjoyed our dinner 15 stories up on the roof top, and it was amazing. I found out while in Portland that I passed my boards and am officially an RN, so we decided to celebrate accordingly and were not disappointed.

Unfortunately, there's so much more we did that I didn't capture. 

Reuniting with my favorite cousins after too many years.

Meeting their wives & babies for the first time.

Shopping with my Mom, Aunt & cousin.

Golf for Mckay, Dad & my Uncle Ivan.

The best ice cream from Tillamook.

The maybe even better best ice cream from Salt N Straw.

McAffee group picture.

Mckay and I's day in downtown Portland, a place I would never want to live, I've never seen more bums or more meth-heads in my entire life. 

Fantastic and cheap lunch at the food trucks.

Relaxing time at Uncle Ivan/Aunt Shaunna's house.

We really loved the area (minus downtown) and we really, really loved the company. 

We'll be together at Christmas, +1 tiny, new addition, which is so exciting. Can't wait!