Summer Oregon Trip 2012!

We are so fortunate to get to visit family in Oregon so often considering the distance we have to travel. Last summer our road trip, that is usually only 9+ hours, turned into more than 13 and a half. (We did have a tire blow out but still, made for a long painful trip.) Since our kids generally have a hard time in the car after their limit of 2 hours, we decided to leave in the middle of the night. We woke at 2am and left shortly after we got the kids loaded.

With just under two hours left Miles squished a cinnamon bear all over his hands. It was a huge mess. I wanted to pull over to a Rest Stop but Tim was against it and so we kept driving. We didn't have any wet wipes and so Miles hand to just deal with the consequences of making a mess.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

When we finally got to Grandma and Grandpa's house the fun began! There was lots of time on the 4 wheeler and go-cart, riding horses, playing in the wading pool, taking bubble baths, and helping Grandpa build his new deck.

Brodrick on the 4 wheeler

Miles on a horse

Amelia on a horse

Every day Amelia requested to go ride horses. I had to tell her several times it was hot and I didn't want to have to walk around the pastures in the heat of the day, that we had to wait till evening. She would tell me she would be happy just sitting on it. I took her out there one day and stuck her on the horse and he went into the little shed/shed/shack. It was nice for me to be in the shade, and for Amelia to be simply be sitting on the horse.

Miles soaked from climbing into the wading pool fully clothed.

Brodrick found the chalk line on the deck with the building supplies...

On our trip, we also had the opportunity to get together with all of Tim's cousins on his dad's side of the family. It was right on the Columbia river and the park where the reunion was, had this great public and free wading pool that was enclosed with fencing. All three kids happily swam and I didn't have to worry about them wandering away- since they couldn't open the gate, or going into water that was too deep for them- cause it was all shallow. So nice.

Brodrick at the wading pool during the family reunion.

Tim with cousin Tyler (left) and brother-in-law John (right) and Brodrick having a snack.

Miles slept on the couch and Tim and I selpt on a raised Aerobed we scooted the bed up next to the couch. I looked everywhere for Miles and finally found that he had fallen between the couch after putting himself to bed for a nap. Its exhausting having so much fun!

Amelia in the jetted bubble bath

We went camping with Tim's sister's and their families and his parents. Tim set up the tent and I set up all the beds in the tent. Everything was ready but it was decided that the kids on the ground could use one more sleeping pad. I quickly unrolled a egg carton foam matteress by holding one end and flinging the rolled up portion out to spread it out on the ground. In that fateful moment a rat's nest and feces that were unknowingly in the mattress went EVERY.WHERE. All over our things, our ready made beds, the floor. Nasty. I did my best to handle the situation and clean things up, but I finally had to call Tim in as backup. He quickly decided that it was too much to try to do without a vaccum of some sort. Since we were only an hour away from his parents house, we decided to drive back to their house to sleep for the night and return with a shop-vac and then camp the next night.

Can't remember why, but Miles was unhappy for some reason.

Tim playing the guitar for us.

 Brodrick ready for bed. (The night we actually camped and slept in the tent.)

After camping, we returned to the Grandparents house for more fun.

 

Amelia riding horses with cousin Nathan

With 6 grand kids and only one 4-wheeler and 1 go-cart, there was a lot of turn taking.

Kyle, holding Brodrick and Amelia outside waiting to get a turn on the 4-wheeler.

Miles loved to ride the 4-wheeler. I caught this little posing gem after one of his rides.

Brodrick quickly deemed bubble baths in the big blue bath tub- "Bubble Fun."  Here all three kids enjoying Bubble Fun together.

We had a great time on our trip! I'm hoping to get some more pictures from other family member's cameras here pretty soon. Here's to a possible "stay tuned."