Portland Trip

We recently went to the Portland, OR area -- Jacob's first airplane trip. We were very excited, yet also very nervous to take Jacob somewhere unfamiliar. But, in true Jacob fashion, he did marvelously!!! Despite the lack of routine, he was happy, and slept great during naps, at night , and in the car (when needed). Thank you for all the prayers that went up on our behalf...God was truly with us!





We left for Portland on Thursday morning and got back home on Monday evening. One of my college friends (Ryan) was getting married and my dad (Papa Bear) was doing the ceremony. Also, another great friend of mine (Jenna) lives in Portland, so we were able to spend some quality time with her too. It was great because we got to be with Papa Bear and GJo, and were able to introduce Jacob to two of my friends. Enjoy the pictures of the trip!

Jacob sitting in the seat on Southwest Airlines...by the way...if you have to travel with oxygen, you must have an FAA approved form...since we didn't have one...Jacob went without.

LONG STORY but if you're interested read the bottom of this post

Jeff and Jacob on the plane

Waiting for PB and GJo to arrive in Portland. In this pic, Jeff is carrying our luggage while I push Jacob and our carry-ons in the stroller. I should have made a "Wide Load" sign and hung it on the backpack. Ha! Fun!

Friday afternoon we spent time going along historic route 30 from Portland to Hood River. There are alot of waterfalls right off the road. It was beautiful. This is a great picture of PB and GJo with Jacob. Look at those smiles! How precious!

Jacob and me in front of Wahkeena Falls. Someone looks happy...

Jenna and Jacob...so fun!

Multnomah Falls

If you've read The Shack then you can find the Native American legend of how this waterfall was created. We "hiked" up to the bridge that is in this picture. Jacob loved the sound of the water and feeling the mist on his face!

The whole gang after lunch in Hood River: GJo, Jenna, Julie, Jeff, PB, and Jacob

The wedding was in The Dalles, OR. This is a picture of Jacob in front of the hotel where we stayed and doing his latest trick. He lifts up his hands and we all yell, "Yay!" He does it over and over and just smiles so big. You can see GJo gets so excited about this! :)

Precious! Jacob at the wedding. What a sweet smile!

Papa Bear and Jacob at the wedding

A Family Portrait

The Tuley family with the bride (Ryan) and the Groom (Jeremy). Congrats to the happy couple! It was a beautiful wedding and a wonderful day!

PB and GJo with Jacob in Hood River

Mt. Hood

This mountain has snow on it year round and can be seen all around the Portland Area. Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens are also visible too. Amazingly beautiful!

Jacob on the plane ride home after we'd landed. He was glad to be done with the flight and we were so happy with how well he had done. In fact, as we were exiting the plane, a woman in the row next to us said, "Your baby is the best behaved baby I have ever seen on a plane." Wow! Awesome!

So...here's the oxygen story...

Our pulmonologist wanted Jacob to travel with oxygen, just to be on the safe side. Since he had recently come off oxygen, we thought it would be best too. So, a month or two before the trip, we contacted our oxygen supplier and through lots of research and communication with the doctor and supplier, got a portable oxygen concentrator for Jacob. When we arrived to check our bags, the Southwest agent was not going to let us board the plane without an FAA approved form from the doctor on letterhead explaining why Jacob needed oxygen and how much, etc. Our flight was leaving at 9 and it was 8:20. We asked them if that was on their website and they explained that it was. We hadn't seen that. So, she gets online and looks for it. She couldn't find it. Hum. Then she gets her supervisor, and she couldn't find it either. Hum. Another person comes over and finally finds the special note that you're supposed to have in order to fly with oxygen. Amazing that something SO IMPORTANT is SO DIFFICULT to find. :) Can you tell we were frustrated! Anyways, once they printed it off we had to scramble....we did not want to get on the later flight... SO...we were able to get our pulmonologist's cell number and called him. He was in New Orleans for a conference and unable to fax in a letter for us...GREAT! After some discussion with him, he gave us the clear to fly without oxygen. Awesome! By this time it was 8:40, and we still hadn't gone through security. Instead of saying anything to the Southwest Agent, we just left with our boarding passes in hand hoping to get on the plane. So we're running, with Jacob and concentrator to security. We finally get through security and RUN to the gate as fast as we can. We arrive at the gate at 8:58. Nobody is there to check us in. We wait, we can still see the plane, we try to go to the next gate counter, a flight attendant calls down to our station, nobody picks up...So Jeff yells down the tarmac..."Hey...You've got passengers here!" I yell, "Don't close the plane doors!" I promise you, we looked like a scene from a comedy movie. Then we hear a glorious sound...the flight attendant says to come on down. We get on the plane (only 3 seats remained and they weren't together), and start our journey into Portland. It wasn't the easiest start to a trip, but in the end, we made it safe and sound, and that's all that matters!

Thanks for checking in with us. Have a wonderful day!!!