Max's 26th

Yesterday we got to celebrate the birth of an amazing husband and father. Charlie and I definitely wanted to make him feel special and know how much we appreciate him so we got up early and decorated the house with balloons and a Happy Birthday Max banner. We then went upstairs to make Max his traditional birthday Breakfast "French Toast Rafael" I didn't realize it was a tradition until I was making it this year and realized I had made it for him every birthday since we've been married so this was the fourth time. We enjoyed a nice breakfast, then Charlie had a nap and Max wanted to spend that time cleaning our room (that's my husband!)   I wanted to spend that time doing something more frivolous but it was his birthday so he got to pick. Right when Charlie woke up we loaded up the car with our hiking stuff and a picnic.

Max and I had realized that we had never been to Multnomah Falls together although it is a national landmark and only about 30 minutes from our house. We decided to spend his birthday taking a family trip there. We also wanted to try out the hiking backpack my sister-in-law, Elizabeth, gave us. The weather was beautiful and we had a wonderful time. Here are some pictures to show the greatness of our hike. 

Smiling and ready to go

The sun was just coming over the mountain, it was beautiful.  and that waterfall on the left, we hiked to the top of that!

Multnomah Falls

In a cave

I love my family

The view while climbing the mountain was pretty decent 

Playing at the top of the waterfall

My favorite picture!

Looking over the edge.

Fascinated with the water.

Loving the Fall colors

goofy family pictures

And then Charlie fell asleep on the way down

 On our hike down, Max had to walk extra steady which is hard when you have to fall and stumble down a hill

Back at the bottom. We were all the way at the very top. 

Charlie kept sleeping when we put him on the ground and ate our lunch. 

 We got home tired and happy. We decided to let Max open his presents although we were going to wait until after dinner when we did cake and candles.
 We were going to go out to dinner but then Max's uncle Jay offered to take us out with some other extended family members to celebrate our birthdays and Danika going off to college. We decided to go with them. It was a fun time and Charlie did well staying up way past his bedtime. When we got back from dinner we had a little cake celebration. We (I) sang to Max, although Max joined in because I think he felt sorry for me having to sing by myself. He blew out his candles and we had a little cake.

Max's FACE!!! He loves cake!

After Charlie went to bed we ended his birthday with a little tradition we started on Max's birthday 4 years ago the night I was released from being a missionary. We spent the evening together in the hammock. I think it was a pretty great birthday!

Thank you for being born Max!!!