A Troll Encounter in Tryon Creek State Park

A few weeks ago, we decided to take a walk in Tryon Creek State Park, in nearby Lake Oswego.  It's a  beautiful park and is very green.

We have discovered that Liam LOVES to hike!  He loves just looking at all the trees and being outside.

Kate likes to hike too... for a certain period of time.  We hiked over 3 miles in Tryon Creek, and Kate would've been happy doing 2 instead.

Kiddos were good hikers.  We strap their camelbacks on them, and off they go.  There are lots of cool trees and other features in Tryon Creek.

There are a number of bridges in the park.  At some point, I started telling the kids about trolls, and I had them going pretty good.  They were a little worried that a troll would come out and try to get money...

until they realized they didn't have any money.  Plus, they were extra protected since trolls use that money to buy fruit snacks, which is their favorite food, and which both Jacob and Claire had.  So, Jacob and Claire could protect me and Dani as well if a troll came.  Phew!  

Just before we got to this bridge, there were a few loud noises (which I later realized were from the wooden boards on the bridge) and a big, hairy-chested, shirtless man came running up the trail at us... I was worried kiddos were going to think it was a troll and run away screaming!  It was pretty funny timing, though.  We were on the theme of trolls for at least 45 minutes, so I'm going to spare the rest of the details!

When we came upon this bridge, Jacob said, "These kinds of bridges always end up badly in movies."  Claire responded, "Good thing this is real life!"  

We love our summers in Portland!!!