Oregon Family Reunion Part 1

This is the great house we all stayed in near Tillamook Oregon for our week vacation. It was perfect for the 25 of us, and it had a great safe play area for the kids outside.  

Mike made a grand appearance Tuesday morning, riding Dad's motorcycle from the Portland airport.

We were happy to have everyone there...except Ryan, who was at soccer camp.

Our first day at the beach was cool and windy.

Cool Oregon beach view!

That is one big tree that recently had gone down!  And pretty shallow root system.

This evening we enjoyed delicious donuts courtesy of Scott and Elisha.

 Couple of outing shots.

 Poor Katie didn't get to run around with the kids at this point....her foot was still very sore.

 Happy to be there!!

Fun Time with the Johnsons in Vancouver

It was so wonderful having Lisa and the grandkids with us for a good chunk of time!!  We were able to do some fun touristy things, shopping, Downton Abbey watching, and have time for regular home activities, and lots of visiting.  I think that was my favorite part!    

 Thanks to Groupon, we did the UBC Botanical Garden canopy walk. That was pretty cool.

 Then we headed down to Spanish Banks to walk along the beach and have lunch.  The tide was so far out, and it was very muddy.  There were many "Eeww"  sounds being made as we walked along.  Matt was especially NOT fond of the gooey mud coming through his toes.

Another day we went downtown to Gastown and Canada Place.

 Cenntenial Beach is a fun place to go for hotdogs and marshmallows.

 The tide was totally in, this time.

 Groupon helped out again with a trip to play miniature golf.  Matthew played more like hockey...kind of.

 Poor Brian.

A Little Accident

 Friday evening August 2nd, David took Katie for a little ride on the motorcycle to meet Lisa dn I at Target.  I wondered what was taking them so long, when I got a call from David telling that they had been in an accident and were being taken to the Delta hospital by ambulance.  He said that Katie was fine, but that he was in pain in his low back.....the area which had begun to bother him again.

 

 Actually, they put Katie on the stretcher because of her size and precautionary in case of any neck injury. David  was surprised they didn't put him on the stretcher, but he does like to minimize his injuries.  When we got to the hospital, we found that Katie was on a stretcher, and David standing by her.  She had a badly sprained foot..luckily not broken and has healed fine.  David's back is a different story so far. but we are very grateful it wasn't worse!

 Lisa got light-headed and nauseous, and had to rest a bit before we could head home with our family.

 The bike only looked like it had some scratches, but turned out that it was a write-off!!  We didn't know that before we took it on our trip to the family reunion a few days later, and let Mike and the boys ride it on the Oregon coast.

Baby Kate and fun in Reno

I flew down to Reno on June 1st a week after baby Kate was born.  I had been sick for almost the whole week before so I was anxious about going down there sick.  I just barely got well in time to go, thanks to a blessing and not doing anything extra besides work!  ( It was too crazy  at work not to go)   Then the next Thursday, David and Brian flew down, enjoyed the weekend, and we all flew back together on Sunday night.  It was so fun to be there with Dan's family.  Thanks so much for letting us come!

Sunday morning...she is a little over a week old here.

First bath for Baby Kate.  She certainly was the center of attention!

Photo Shoot Time!

The kids all wanted to hold her for awhile.

It was nice to hear Dan play the piano again.  He still plays very well.

I taught Annie about Honeysuckle!  They have a whole bunch in their yard!  I have always loved the smell of honeysuckle, plus it brings back great memories of my childhood because we had them in our yard.  I taught her how to pull the string down to taste the  nectar.    She then showed James.

Annie and Leah love to draw!!  Annie wanted to draw with me one day, so we went out into the yard to find something to draw.  We tried these roses....it was harder than I remembered.  One time Leah and I drew a puppy with a tutorial from YouTube.   It was fun drawing with Annie and Leah.

One small room is called the Play Mobile room.....it is also a singles bedroom when they need it to be.

The weather was hot and wonderful while we were there.  The evenings were so nice to play outside in.

Annie and Leah both like to play a little baseball.

Here's Leah's "mean look."  Remember Dan's mean look?

What is growing out of your head, Brian?

Fun watching the Just Dance moves!  Annie and Leah knew all the moves.  They are also great at coming up with their own routines.  Cute little dancers.  AND we got to be there for their dance recital "Snow White"!! So fun to be there for that.  Our pictures didn't work, so you'll have to see Dan's!

Saturday after the dance recital, we drove up to Lake Tahoe for dinner and fun.  Beautiful place!

The sky was amazing on the way back to Reno!

Isn't that cute...her holding her bottle!!

Sunday morning....a week after I first got there.  She is more alert and awake a little more often.