Portland, Oregon and Vancouver and Seattle, Washington Au Pair Activities

 

Each month, our Local Coordinators in the Pacific Northwest region arrange meetings and social events for au pairs. Local Coordinators Kristi Nelson and Virginia Lee share some of the recent events:

May: City of Roses Guided Bus Tour through Portland
Portland, OR is called the "City of Roses" because of it's beautiful parks and landscapes, and this fun-filled bus tour was the perfect way to see the city.  We saw Portland's Chinatown district, Portland's Old Town District, Portland's Waterfront Park (complete with fountains, and floating maritime museum), Portland's forested West hills over looking Portland and Mt. Hood, and the famous Japanese Garden.
 
June: Campfire at Alki Beach in Seattle, WA  
The au pairs hung out on the beach and we made S'mores.  This beach has a lot of local history.  It was believed to be the next Ellis Island when people first settled in Seattle in the late 1800's...in fact we even have a smaller version of the Statue Of Liberty on the grounds of Alki Beach.

July: Canoeing on Lake Washington, at the Montlake Cut 
It's exciting there because a lot of the big boats come in from Lake Union and the Locks, so you are sharing this big body of water with huge boats.  Occassionally you will be trying to navigate a canoe and a big old boat leaves you in its wake, and whoops, you might get turned upside down!  This year, everyone managed to stay dry and had a lot of fun.  Canoeing is a favorite inexpensive activity for a lot of University of Washington students.

September: The Broadway Musical “Wicked”

This amazing broadway show was quite an experience for the au pairs in our group!   WICKED is a musical based on "the untold story" of the witches of Oz.  The au pairs loved the music and stage sets, and we all left the theater humming the songs.

October:  Charity/Crafts Event 

This month our au pairs participated in a fun community service project called Journey Beads.   Journey Beads is a program for Legacy Emanuel Children’s Hospital Cancer and Blood Disorders Programs in Portland, Oregon. Our au pair group worked diligently to design and create a variety of beads and pendants that are given to chlidren with cancer. They used broken glass and torch work to create beads that spell the children's names.  The au pairs really enjoyed using their creativity to cheer up the kids.

November: Paint Your Own Pottery Day
More craft events for the au pairs.  We spent a fun filled afternoon at one of Portland’s finest pottery & clay studios, where our au pair group gathered to create some wonderful original masterpiece “keepsakes” from the USA!