A Picnic, A Festival and A Rodeo

We were very excited to have Matt's Dad come and visit for the weekend!!!

We had a BBQ at one of our favorite parks Friday evening, and our sister-in-law Pam, Matt's brother Leif, and cousins Malachi and Noah joined us!!!  Above is a photo of all of the cousins.

David (Matt's Dad), Matt and Leif

Sweet Noah with Ryley

On Saturday we took a trip  into Portland, and attended The Bite of Oregon Festival that was held at Tom McCall Waterfront Park .  While at the festival Joey Chestnut made an appearance in a food eating competition.  Sponsored by Pepto Bismol, the men in pink were each given a pizza.  Joey in the center was given several pizzas.  The 5 guys in pink were given 7 minutes to try and out eat Joey Chestnut -- in case you don't understand the scenario.....it was 5 against 1.

This video was taken during the first minute of the competition.

  Yes, we know, we spent 7 minutes watching men gorge on pizza and those are 7 minutes we can never get back.....

Getting started

Guys in pink obviously weren't going at it as hard as Joey...in fact, they were told to stop watching Joey and keep eating.....  must be that "competitive eating shock and awe while in the mist of a celebrity eater" thing

Nothing like some doughy pizza and a bunch of cheese at a rate of 1 slice per minute (in the beginning) to required some fluids....

Yep, this looks like fun....  Anyone know if these man can be considered athletes???

Times Up..... 5 men, in 7 minutes, ate a combined total of 30 slices.

Joey Chestnut ate 32 slices in 7 minutes..... He won the pretty pink Pepto Belt which will accessorize his shirt quite nicely.

Hooray for me.....in actuality he was probably just thinking "Get me the bleep out of here"

With his celebratory shot of pepto (after 32 slices, I do believe he should have just swigged from the bottle)

A random photo of Portland I took when we left the festival.  

Our next stop Saturday night was the Molalla Buckaroo to watch the Ross Coleman Invitational Rodeo

And aside from the best people watching ever....why do we come to the rodeo?  That's right.....the deep fried food (that comes with a side of diabetes and heart disease).  Above is the deep fried apple pie fries....granny smith apples, dipped in batter, deep fried, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, topped with caramel sauce and whipped cream.  Not photographed was the deep fried Snickers Bar (bought late in the evening, cuz a girl at a Rodeo HAS to eat....) which was sinfully delicious!

What is Matt holding you ask???  Well that would be the biggest EVER deep fried elephant ear that is so large it overlaps the giant pizza tray underneath.  9 Tishendorfs + 1 Giant Elephant Ear = NO PROBLEM

Have to post a couple of photos of the bull riding --- Kind of blurry...you can just see the guy being flipped off of the back of the bull.

Yee Haw!!!  

Sunday morning before Dave left we tried for a group shot....