Aunt Allie gets a visit

This weekend we traveled to Oregon to see my sister, Allison, and cheer her on as she ran in Eugene's first annual marathon. We had a great time and Liam did wonderfully on his first plane ride. We arrived in Portland late on Thursday night and stayed over. On Friday morning, we walked around Portland (Liam woke up at 4:00 am...baby jet lag) and visited the Japanese Garden.

The garden was phenomenal. Liam fell asleep and missed most of the tour, but Mark and I loved it. It gave us a chance to dream about our own Japanese garden in our backyard someday. Here are just a couple of the many shots that Mark took of the magnificent views.

After leaving the Garden, we hit the road and headed down to Eugene and met Allison in her studio to meet her fellow architecture cronies and see some of their work. Very impressive! We took a nice walk around the campus and were amazed by all the green. Oregon is a beautiful state with trees galore...really tall ones! A little different than Kentucky. Allison is already trying to convert her nephew...here is Liam in his new U of Oregon Ducks cap supplied by his favorite auntie.

On Saturday we headed down to the Eugene Saturday market, where we tasted a bunch of different Ethnic foods and got to do some people watching. Eugene is a very friendly, inspirational place. The city is very eco-friendly and

has just the right mix of culture and hipness.

We then took a scenic drive outside of Eugene to visit King Estate Winery, where we tasted some great wine and Allison got to try out my Moby Wrap and "wear" Liam.

The views from King Estate were unbelievable.
Saturday night Allison hosted a pasta party for all of her friends that were running the marathon the next day. We got a chance to meet a lot of people and Allison and her buddy Kent got to face off in a "who's niece/nephew is cuter?" contest. We really enjoyed meeting Mary (pictured here with Aunt Allison, Liam, and Uncle Kent) and her parents, Kristen and Matt.

On Sunday we rose early and headed to downtown Eugene to catch Allison at the first mile marker in the race. We were able to cheer her on from 5 different spots during the marathon, which was amazing. She was awesome! Congrats to Allison and all of her pals on an extraordinary accomplishment. Kudos to the "athletic supporters" as well (pictured below). Thanks for a great visit!