Happy Valentine's Day

And Happy 150th Birthday to Oregon!! Saturday, Februry 14 was also Oregon's sesquicentennial. And, it was also the annual Military Officer's Association annual state conference Sat morning AND the annual Military Ball Sat night--damn work, they sure now how to screw up a 3-day weekend!!

But, in order to turn lemons into lemonade, we decided that Will and the kids would join me in Salem for a little "staycation", so to speak. We reserved a room at the conference hotel for the night, so he and the kids came down at noon after the conference was over and we cruised over to the capitol where the bday celebration was going on. The "party" was kind of a bust....we got there toward the end, so not a lot going on. But, now the kids (and Will) can say they have been to the capitol building!!!!




The plan for the evening was to go out for a family dinner after I made a cameo appearance downstairs at the mil ball. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of stopping for a bite to eat on the way back from the capitol and kinda ruined our appetites for dinner. So instead, after I did my touch and go at the ball, we ordered room service for the kids, High School Musical 3 on pay per view, and spent a very mellow, relaxing evening in the hotel room.

The Valentine portraits below are compliments of Nick, who was goofing around with my camera while we were eating.

Oh, and the highlight of the entire trip for the kids was the fact that they got to spend a ton of time swimming in at the hotel pool!!!!