The Ultimate Picnic

We drove to Oregon this past weekend (that makes our second whirlwind trip this summer) for a quick, one day visit.  Scott's Dad has been involved with/in charge of planning the company picnic for his company for the past 26 years (is that right?).  He's "Mr. Picnic."  And since he is retiring in a few weeks, this is his last one.  And what a picnic it was!  But let's rewind a little...

First we had to get there.  The kids had school on Friday so we left after school, arriving in Oregon at about 3:30 am.  Everyone fell asleep in the car except the two adults and Grant the night owl.

After a short sleep we woke up and headed to Mt. Hood for the company picnic.

The event was at Ski Bowl which I'd never been to before.  The kids kept comparing it to our trip to Park City.  Except here they got to do a lot more stuff.  So they were happy about that.  Grant and John had a go at these little race cars.  I was surprised how well they could both drive them.  I attribute this to time spent playing Mario Kart this summer.

Grant was ahead most of the time but John pulled off a surprise victory when Grant got hung up on the wall for a while.  No one was sad at the end.

Go John!

Anna and Matthew went next.  Anna beat the pants off Matthew and wouldn't let him forget it.  Matthew maintains that the yellow car was faster so it wasn't his fault.

Attempting Jacob's Ladder.

Anna bounces her way back after falling off.

The summer tubing hill.  We all had fun on this one.

I think this is Grant going down.

Emma got to ride down in a tube by herself.

She didn't like it.

I hope she's forgiven us.

Waiting for our turn on the bungee trampolines.

Harnesses

That's Matthew jumping back there and Mt. Hood in the background.

Grant learned how to flip in the harness (so did Matthew, I think) and had a lot of fun.

John getting ready to go

Jumping John

And Anna getting ready to jump

Heading up the hill for some lunch

We enjoyed burgers, pulled pork, baked beans, potato salad and watermelon for lunch (we even had hot dogs later on).  Everyone was happy.

After lunch we all enjoyed some ice cream.

It was a warm day

And back for more fun.

Anna getting her face painted

Rainbow butterfly.

In the kiddie play room

Emma eventually felt brave enough to try the ball pit.  She had fun climbing on things too.

Kiddie canoe ride

Hamster wheel!!  That's me inside trying not to fall on my children (unsuccessful - I fell on Anna, she was not too hurt and only a little mad at me).

Harrowing pictures from inside!  It was a lot of fun actually.  

I've never done anything like that before.

Matthew on the rock climbing wall

He and Anna have been wanting to try rock climbing for some time, so they were excited.

Matthew made it all the way to the top

Anna on the wall.  She went a little ways and then got nervous and wanted to get down.

Grant made it a little way as well.  Anna was upset that he went farther than her.  It was fun.

Grant riding a pony

And John

Anna

and Emma

  Matthew was too big to ride the pony although he would have like to.

John on the ski lift to ride the Alpine Slide!!

Ready for sliding!

The slide was lots of fun and we could go again and again.

Matthew actually came off his sled the first time because he was going so fast.  He got a little abrasion/burn on his arm from the track but was able to get back on and go down the rest of the way.  And he wanted to try it again immediately.  He took it slower after that though.

And here we are after a full day of fun!

Thanks Pa2 for letting us come to your last picnic.  

What a great day it was!!

One last look up at the alpine slide as we headed to the car.  We overheard so many good comments from the employees and their family.  One mom was explaining to her kids that they got to come do all these fun things because "daddy's work paid for it to say thank you for all his hard work."  So it was a nice event.  I hope the company can still manage it when Papa Guptill isn't there to make it happen.  :)