Out with the Old, In with the New

Goodbye Jeepy. We will miss you. Well, sort of!

Hello Runner! Welcome to our family!

As many of you know we have been having serious issues with our Jeep. After Thursday we had finally had enough and traded it in for a new car. We got a Toyota 4Runner. The features inside aren't as fun, but it rides smooth and with the Toyota name hopefully it will last us long enough to be Noah's car.

Free time

When the kids wanted to spend a week with Nana during the summer I thought, "Wow! Think of all the free time I will have." Well, I have 1 full day left without the kids and I would like to know where all my free time went. Here is my list

House-hanging up curtains in the living room, hanging up pictures, packing up office for remodel, finding paint for new room, fixing broken toilet, trying to save the garden, listening to dry wall being sawed apart and endless errands

Cars-Jeep is in the shop yet again. We are down to one car so I have had to take Damon to and from work as well as the car doctor. And after driving over 3200 miles on our vacation my car is in need of another oil change.

Training-with another triathlon in a week and 3 days I have spent time training. I have been running, biking and swimming. I need a vacation from working out.

I have also been working. I thought this would be a fun week with me reading and lounging at the pool or beach, but it didn't work out that way. Maybe next time the kids want to spend a week at Nana's house I will clear my calendar as well so I will actually have free time.

We're home! Well sort of...

Damon and I are home, but the kids are still gone. The house is so quiet. The kids are in St. George, UT with their grandparents. Hopefully this week will be very productive. This is going to be a long post. We did so much and I haven't posted in a week. My apologies.

The rest off our trip was great. We had so much fun seeing our friends in Oregon. The kids were happy. Damon got right back in to his old schedule of early morning basketball, late night volleyball and a couple rounds of golf a week. He even got some naps in. It was his idea of a perfect vacation. He even had time to do pretty princess stuff with Lily.

I am just really happy to be out of the car and am going to try to avoid it as much as possible this week. We finished the rest of our 2800+ miles road trip late last night. The most interesting thing we saw was in the Cajon Pass. On the side of the road a semi truck as well as its trailer was on fire. The cab was actually melted. Some where in South Eastern Oregon Damon saw big horn sheep on the side of the road. I missed it because my nose was buried in a book. We saw lots of lightening once we hit Nevada and had the smell of Desert rain follow us the rest of the way home. I miss that smell.

Monday we had a picnic at the park where our old friends, who were in town, brought their families and we all relaxed and caught up. The kids played really well together. It was almost like they hadn't been apart for 4 years.

Tuesday we went to the Oregon Zoo. They are adding a lot of great things and it was fun to go back and see all the changes. My most favorite part was the Bald Eagle exhibit. They are very beautiful. The hippos made for a great show this time. We only used to see their rear ends. They walked around and jumped into the water for us. After the zoo the kids got to ride home on the max train. That is the trolley system that runs all around Portland and the suburbs.

Wednesday found us traveling out to the Gorge. I have driven through that area lots of times, but have never stopped to enjoy the hiking and the waterfalls. We were able to enjoy both as well as the fish hatchery and the beautiful views of the Columbia River. The kids were so exhausted by the end of our excursion. We were lucky to have Noah's friend, Jonah, join us that day. At the fish hatchery we were able to feed the rainbow trout and see strugeon that were over 400 lbs and 10 feet long. Now that's a big fish.

Also on Wednesday we had our late night girls night at Applebee's. The girls had a great time. I lived through so much with these girls and we struggled through the joys of early parenthood. I can say that I have learned something from each one of them and I am truly blessed to call them my friends.

Thursday was our last day there and we ran around and enjoyed sales tax free shopping. The kids got their pictures taken. I bought a laptop. Yea!! The last thing we did was go out to dinner with some great friends. The 6 of us always went out together. It was hard to say goodbye that night.

Damon kept driving past our friend's turn to get to their house and ended up on the street we turned on to get to our old house. I found that particularly funny. It was weird seeing our old house. Our swing set is still up. They are using the garden box I built and our wheel barrel is still out in the back. I miss that house, but I don't think I would move back to it.

Friday brought us a long 12 hour drive from Portland to Salt Lake city. That was exhausting, but the kids did well and the drive was well worth it. I was able to see my college roommate who was also in town. We went out that night just us and then Saturday morning we went out with our families. Right afterwards we left and headed to St. George and then on to San Diego.

We stopped in Baker, CA to get gas, change drives and eat. They had a Bob's Big Boy. Damon was so happy. They even have the same dessert they used to. Damon thought he had died and gone to heaven. I just thought I had died because it was so humid there.

It was a great family vacation. Next year we will NOT be going on a road trip.

Birthday Princess

Our baby turned 4 today. We can't believe it. It seems fitting to celebrate her birthday at the place she was born. We are staying right down the street from our old house. Our friends, who we have shared to many birthdays to count, came and we had a lovely taco dinner and a great cake. Lily had a great birthday and a fab cake. We love you Lily!

Road trip day 4-5

Friday morning was a very lazy morning. After a nice breakfast we made it over to Tillamook for some great, great ice cream. What can get better than that. We drove past a fruit stand and stopped. We got to sample some fruit and veggies and ended up buying lots of fabulous Oregon raspberries and blackberries. I had forgotten what they actually taste like. So sweet and yummy.

We went back to the house and headed out to the beach. Again the crazy kids went in the water. This time they were in their suits. Adam learned how to fly a kite and spent the whole time doing that. When you walked on the sand it made a squawking sound. I kept looking around for seagulls.

That night we made smores and the kids had a slumber party in one room. The adults took on "The Newlywed Game". That was pretty funny. Damon and I lost the game. I guess we don't know each other as well as we think.

Saturday morning we cleaned the house and then headed out to Seaside. We did some shopping (tax free! whoo hoo!!) We went to the beach, walked the promenade, rode on the carousel and got some salt water taffy.

It is hard being back in Oregon at our favorite time to be here. Damon keeps asking if we should move back. It is really beautiful here and so simple. It isn't some booming metropolis, but it is very comfy.

We decided we couldn't wait any longer to see Harry Potter. We left the kids, went to dinner and then hit the movies. I haven't passed judgement on the movie yet. I am on the fence with it. It is great to be back with friends. We haven't stopped laughing since we have been here.

Still on the Road

Day 2 and Day 3 of this crazy road trip went relatively smoothly. After our night in San Jose we headed into the Bay area and hit downtown San Francisco. The missions that we saw on day 2 were further apart in location and style.

Mission Dolores was a simple mission was a really cool cemetary. The Basilica next to the mission was absolutely amazing. They had stained glass windows depicting every mission. Pope John Paul II spoke there once. Lily didn't want to go inside because it was to dark and scary. Another comment that came across was, "Why are there so many pictures of Christ with blood all over him." All of our kids aren't used to seeing Christ depicted that way. The bummer about San Fran was leaving the city on the Golden Gate Bridge and not being able to see it at all due to fog. Maybe next time.

On our way out of San Francisco we were driving up this one street that kept getting steeper and steeper. When we finally reached the top we all started screaming like we were on a roller coaster. My sister was on the other walkie talkie and was a few cars away from us. She asked why we were all screaming, then about 20 seconds later we heard their car all screaming as they descended the road down. I can't even imagine driving a stick shift in that town.

Mission San Rafael was cool because we had a docent that gave us a tour of the place as well as lots of history. It was a nice mission, but very simple. Lily thought the chapel was cool because it was pink. She is such a girl.

The Sonoma Mission was out in the middle of nowhere. We also took a slight detour. I blame google maps for that. It only took us 10 minutes to correct that problem. The mission isn't owned by the church, but is a state park. It seemed pretty true to form and again very simple. They had barracks across the street, but after the water fight my sister and I got into we opted to go to the Ben & Jerry's store with the kids. My parents and Damon went to the barracks.

On our way to Medford, Oregon we stopped in Redding, CA. We have stopped in this town more times than I want to remember in all kinds of weather. We have even eaten at the Denny's before. We got to the hotel in Medford and went swimming. We are all getting pretty sick of being in the car. We had a nice leisurely morning and then headed out to Rockaway Beach on the Oregon Coast. That drive wasn't to bad. Everything turned green and we couldn't tell which way we were going in the forest. Julie called and asked where we were and we told her, "the middle of nowhere with lots of trees." Here response was, "Welcome to Oregon." After a 20 mintue mistake, again from not so clear directions from google, that took 50 minutes to correct, we made it to the beach house.

It is said that "it's not in the destination you reach, but the journey to get there." When we stopped in Salem, OR to get gas we also stopped at McDonald's. What's a road trip without them. So we ate there and this picture is along those lines of the journey. As well as playing in the play land for a half hour. My dad would have never approved of this growing up.

We headed down to the beach, which is hard to call a beach because it smells like pine and there are pine trees instead of palm trees. The water temp is usually around 50*F, but that didn't stop Noah and Mallory who got all wet in their normal clothes. We were just happy that it was sunny. Our beach house is in the forest, but then you cross the street and go down a little slope and then you are at the beach.

Stay tuned for more.

And We Are Off!

We have started on our 2876 mile road trip. We have completed about 500 of it so far. We left this morning at 5am and only got stuck in moderate traffic. After going about two hours, Lily starts gagging and Noah starts complaining about his tummy hurting. Everyone got Dramamine and everyone settled back down. We had a minor set back with traffic in L.A. We new it was coming so it wasn't that big of a deal. After the San Angeles Forest one feels like they are in the middle of nowhere.

In the middle of nowhere we saw many things. We saw thousands of cows, lots of fields on growing things, aqua ducts, two lakes, one brush fire and lots of trucks hauling things like tomatoes, apples, garlic and my personal favorite, onions. One could smell that truck before you can see it.

We arrived in Santa Cruz around 12:15pm and ate lunch. I didn't get a great impression from the people in Santa Cruz. Not very friendly, hippyish, very plain looking and definite supports of the current head Socialist. The mission there was small and simple. It fit the town perfectly. While we were there we were able to meet up with my parents and the Mortensen's.

We headed up to Santa Clara next. That mission is much grander and ornate. It had a beautiful rose garden and this extraordinary chapel. The kids got really excited because they saw a real live Padre.

Our last stop was the mission in San Jose. This mission resembled what was originally there and had the feel of a mission. It was built in the late 1700's. This mission also had a really old cemetery on the side of it.

We learned that the Spaniards started the missions to teach the locals, mostly different Indian tribes, their customs, culture and religion. They wanted them to be self-reliant (which is great), but wanted their support for the motherland (Spain). Very interesting.

We finished up the evening at Applebee's for dinner. The kids all ate for $.99. What a bargain. They thought they had died and gone to heaven when the desserts came out. We got back to the hotel and swam to burn off all the extra sugar and now everyone is tucked in and snoring.

Next up...San Francisco, San Rafael and Solano.