Oregon Trip, June 2021

Right after school got out for the summer we made a trip to Oregon.  We got there in time to see Audrey still dressed up from her graduation ceremony earlier in the day.  We all had dinner together and celebrated her graduation and I got to open a birthday present too.  

The next day we went to a fishing pond.  Not long after we arrived a truck came to stock the pond.  We got to watch as he emptied 1200 fish plus 200 "trophy fish" into the pond.  It was pretty neat and the fishing got really good!  There was a pair of bald eagles there that were also fishing and fun to watch.  It also rained while we were there, fairly hard at times, but we were able to stay pretty dry under the trees.

Elliott and Ezra enjoyed "helping" clean the fish

The next day we went to the coast.  We ate lunch at Local Ocean, one of our favorite seafood restaurants.  Jim and I were really happy with our food but not everyone loved it.  We walked around the bayfront a bit and then went to a beach.  We had pretty amazing weather, which is somehow common for our family at the ocean, even though nice weather at the Oregon coast is actually somewhat rare.  The kids got pretty wet in the waves, dug big holes and flew our new kite.  

The kids also enjoyed playing Life, riding bikes, playing in the yard and setting up Ezra's hammock.

On Wednesday we moved to the Tevlin's and that night we got to go to Audrey's basketball game.  High school basketball was postponed due to COVID so it was right in the middle of their season.  It was senior night and so Audrey and 2 teammates were recognized and they won the game.  After the game the boys enjoyed playing in the gym.

The next day we headed to my Grandma's house.  We stopped to hike the Sweet Creek Falls trail which we did many years ago (2015, see post here).  

Then we drove to my Grandma's house and visited with her and had lunch.  After lunch some of us went to Darlingtonia State Natural Site.  It is home to carnivorous plants commonly known as the cobra lily.  We then went to the clubhouse in my Grandma's neighborhood to play chess, pool, ping pong and even swim.  We picked up a couple pizzas and had dinner with Grandma and she had cupcakes for us for dessert.  It was good to spend time with her after so long!

For the rest of the trip we hung around my parents house.  We rand errands (did our Trader Joe's shopping).  We did a bike ride on a path that goes on a covered bridge.  It was just over 5 miles and probably the longest ride we've done without a bike trailer.  We played at a few parks.  Ezra got his hair cut.  We watched some soccer on tv.  Saturday night we took Ezra back to the Springer's.  He gets to spend some of his summer (about 3 weeks) in Oregon and he was set to start out with them.  We said our goodbyes to all of them and headed back to Tevlin's to finish packing up for an early morning departure.  Our trip home went smooth and we are adjusting to living as a family of 4 for a short time until we get Ezra back.  We've talked with him some, but it will be fun to hear about all of his adventures in person.