Oregon Trip, part 2

Tuesday morning we packed up and went to pick up my parents on our way to visit my Grandma at the coast.  We detoured in Mapleton for a hike called Sweet Creek.  It was absolutely beautiful!  There were lots of smooth rocky areas that would make a great spot to spend the day playing in the water.  We had a picnic lunch on the way to the final waterfall, which was just over a mile in, the perfect length for a family hike. Ezra had to poop when we got to the waterfall and wasn't going to make it back to the bathroom at the trailhead.  Jim handled it just fine and nothing more was said.  The funny part was when we were back home in Idaho and Ezra told Emmett about it.  Emmett was just about rolling on the floor he was laughing so hard.

 We had really taken our time getting to the waterfall and we hiked back fairly quickly to get to my Grandma's house.  Most everyone ventured out to the beach while my grandma and I visited and I attempted to give Elliott a nap.  The baby didn't nap, but I had a nice time catching up and we avoided a VERY windy beach.  My Grandma was just awarded with the Oregon Association of Home Care Volunteer of the Year.  I also got to hear about her cruise through Europe which sounded so wonderful!  We had dinner reservations at a nice place in Florence and had some yummy seafood.  We had some dessert back at my Grandma's house, put the boys in their pajamas and headed back to the valley.

finding a sheltered area to play in the sand

Elliott with Great Grandma Eunice

 Wednesday Jim went fishing with his dad and I took the boys to a bounce house and met up with my friend Amy who happened to be visiting from Southern California.  We got to catch up while our kids bounced and played.  Later in the day I ran a few errands including going to Trader Joes.  Emmett and Ezra took turns pushing the kid sized cart and they were on a mission to find the Benny Beaver stuffed animal so they could get a sucker.  Ezra spotted Benny pretty quickly.  I also got to go over to Amy's parents home for a quick visit with Vicki, Jenny and Terri.  That day we also watched some goats...my parent's neighbors got a load of 15 goats to mow down their overgrown backyard.

Thursday we took my mom with us and headed to Portland to go to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry).  We met up with Jim's mom, his sister and kids, and my sister and her husband.  We started in the traveling exhibit area which was Ripley's Believe it or Not.  Jim took Winn, Emmett and Ezra on the submarine tour.

Elliott and Ezra especially loved the play area.  There was an infants only area for Elliott to crawl around.  Ezra really enjoyed the water play area and the giant sand area.

Ezra dressed as an eagle in a nest

There was so much to see and do, definitely the kind of place to get a membership at if you lived nearby.  Emmett has already been talking about wanting to go back.

Emmett got to use a 3-D printing pen to make a small sculpture

 Thursday Mark, Mikaylee and the boys and I walked down to my old elementary school to play on the playground.  We found some good shade on the "big kid" side and spent most of our time over there.  In the afternoon I left Elliott napping with Jim while we went to the aquatic center's outdoor swim area.  Emmett and Ezra both got pretty brave and went down the big water slide.

 Saturday was the 4th of July and we said our goodbyes to Mark and Mikaylee and then headed out to the beach.  We stopped on the way near the tree farm that Jim's grandparents owned.  There is a park there that lots of relatives gather at for a picnic on Independence Day.  We ate our lunch there and visited a little and then went on to Newport.  Beth did some family pictures for us while we were there.  It was a really beautiful day and we enjoyed playing in the sand, the creek and the ocean.

We stayed at the beach as late as possible and then went to get some dinner.  We ate our mix of seafood and McDonalds at a park.  Then we went to get a spot to watch fireworks.  The fog rolled in just before the fireworks started which made them hard to see, but there were lots of fireworks going off all around us and it was a pretty good show.

Finding teeny-tiny crabs on the jetty while waiting for fireworks

All 3 boys fell asleep within minutes of getting in the car to leave.  We drove back to my parents house and got in around 12:30am.  In the morning we got packed up and then I took the boys to church with my parents while Jim packed up the car.

We left for home right after church and had a pretty decent drive back.  We made some pretty long stretches of driving without stopping, in fact we drove from Corvallis all the way to Baker City without getting gas.  We got home around 2am and had the following day to get unpacked, grocery shop and get ready for the week ahead.