Rose Festival

Portland's annual Rose Festival puts on quite a show.  We attended the Rose Parade with the whole family and got a great spot to watch the floats go by.  The kids were entertained by all of the different animals

including a giant turtle!  Jared, of course, called out, "Noggin!"

I loved the picture of the shiny old car with the reflection of all of us!

After the parade, we made our way down to the riverfront to watch the dragon boat races.  The boats are Taiwanese-style boats.  There are 4 teams in each heat, and a few of the heats were quite close!

The kids struck a pose in front of the river.

Poor Torin just wanted to keep cool in the heat - and finally caught a little nap.

We took a walk down the riverfront, walking by Navy boats.  One, in particular, was interesting - a Vietnam War era river boat that would have been filled to the brim with ammo.  It was interesting to hear the veterans describe serving on the boats during the war.