A continued story of our summer trip to Oregon...
Day 20 the kids and I left Crooked River and drove down to Lakeview to spend a couple nights with my parents (Ben headed back to Portland and then flew to Mexico to be there for the work week). Our days were pretty lazy in Lakeview, catching up from the previous days of camping. We visited with family, ate great home-cooked food, and went bowling together. On our drive back to Scappoose, my parents accompanied us a couple hours up the road so that we could all have a picnic together at beautiful Collier park.
Picnic time!
Such a beautiful place in Southern Oregon
The creek is fed by a spring, so the water is absolutely freezing.
Only boys could handle the leg-numbing coldness!
The next few days were simple and quiet at our home in Scappoose. Since Ben was out of town, the boys and I used the time to visit friends and neighbors. We were able to see the Willard family another time, play at the park with our Scappoose friends, and visit Ben's Grandma Luscombe.
Day 24 we spent a delightful morning with the Marteney family. They are our "twin friends" as Micah and Mason are identical twins just 10 days older than Sam and Seth. Although we only see them about once a year, Melissa and I always have a great time catching up, and the kids all really love being together.
Also on Day 24, Jeff and Diane came out to Scappoose and we headed to the Columbia County Fair together. We had a wonderful afternoon. The highlight of the day was Josh riding on the swings (pictured behind) for the first time. He absolutely loved it and had a grin the whole time!
We picked Ben up at the airport late on Friday night and then had a nice slow Saturday morning together at the house.
Rosie's new owners were so sweet to bring her out to us again for a few days. Josh thought that it was so funny to have her sit on his lap.
Saturday afternoon (Day 26) we had a Morris family gathering at Jeff and Diane's house. Holly and I had the brilliant plan of doing a birthday party together for all the kids (since they are all summer birthdays) instead of trying to ship gifts to one another. It was fun to have each of the kids get a gift, but more importantly, it was great to be together as a family.
Little Hailey did not know what to think of Uncle Levi's hair.
Present time!
Diane was traveling in Europe for the first half of our trip, so we soaked up as much time with her as possible in the last weeks. She is such a great Grandma!
I love this series of pictures of Josh and Diane together!
They both really love to be goofy and laugh.
And Josh clearly adores her.
Josh also received his early birthday gift from Jeff and Diane: and now he is clearly ready for hunting. He was thrilled!
Day 28 we were able to have a barbecue with our Scappoose friends: the Kessi's, Declerque's and Murphy's. We made them some good ol' Mexican food of chilequias and margaritas. We so thankful for these friends that make space in their lives to visit us when we are home. The kids always pick up right where they left off and it's always so sad to say goodbye again.
Most of the kids (the littlest were playing inside)
Silly picture
Playing soccer in our backyard. We're so thankful for this space for our kids to run around! (Check out the moon!)
The adults visiting on the back porch.
Days 29-31 Jeff and Diane totally blessed our socks off by taking our kids (and their cousin Ellie) camping with them at the beach. That meant that Ben and I got TWO date nights in a row. I used the day times to run some final America errands, to read a ton, and to deep clean some areas of our house (and get rid of stuff that we don't need to keep there anymore...if we don't need it while we live in Mexico, why do we need it at all?). I walked with my neighbor in the mornings, but beyond that, didn't talk to much of anyone...I really needed a social recharge! Then in the evenings, Ben and I went out to eat and one evening visited one of my favorite places in the world, Powell Books.
If you ever visit Portland, you have to go to Powell Books.
Three stories high of new and used books! I just LOVE it!!
Here are some pictures that Diane took of the kids' camping trip with them.
I want to always remember when I dropped the kids off with Jeff and Diane that Josh didn't fuss at all (very unusual for him). Instead he told me, "I know that I don't have to be nervous because it's going to be so much fun!" This was such an answer to prayer for us! It was so nice to be close to family and to let Josh practice being away from us.
Plus, Josh knows anytime that his best friend Ellie is there, it will be a blast!
Diane sent me this picture and my first thought was: what's Sam doing in the water without a plastic sack over his cast? Lol. I guess he was just careful (he only had a couple cast days left anyways.)
When the kids came home we heard all about their fort in the woods behind the trailer. The grass was taller than Ellie!
The evening of Day 31, my sister and her family came for dinner and we had one last hang out time. The kids played to their hearts content, the adults visited well until dark, and it was just delightful. Have I mentioned how nice it was to be around family? Josh cried when his other best friend, Edmund, had to leave again; as I held him, I was crying too. I love and miss my sister so much.
Day 32 Sam got his cast off!
That afternoon we drove to The Dalles to spend a night at Nate and Holly's house. Ben hadn't gotten to see their new home yet and it was so wonderful to all be there together.
We still can't get over the view! We got to watch planes dipping into the river for water to help fight the fires!
Time at Nate and Holly's always means game time. It's so fun now that Sam and Seth are old enough to play with us (and that Josh had buddies to play with while we game)! One of my favorite memories was when Nate and Ben played hearts with the twins; apparently it's a bit of a Morris tradition to play hearts and it's just neat to pass on those traditions.
I sure do love these girls...I had fun doing Ellie and Hailey's hair in the morning.
Day 33, as if we hadn't been busy enough, we headed out to central Oregon to go camping for one more evening (along with Nate and Holly's family). Ben really wanted to go scouting with the boys, since they won't be able to hunt this fall with him. It was Josh and Ellie's first time scouting and they were SO excited.
Ben and Nathan had scoured maps and maps to decide where they wanted to scout/hunt/camp. They finally selected a campground in the Ochico mountains, but also decided to take a small detour on the way there to a lookout, so that they could get eyes on an additional area. Little did they know that this "shortcut" to the lookout was on a nasty dirt road (mapquest doesn't tell you those things). So, our ten minute detour turned into an hour of driving our packed-to-the-brim rental van on about the worse road imaginable, in the middle of nowhere, with no cell reception. Long story short, we finally arrived at the lookout point, but it was totally overgrown, so didn't have view.
Ben was lucky I at least found a beautiful spot for a photo.
By this time, I was in a particularly bad mood and totally miffed at my husband for taking our family on this awful detour (in his defense, he had no idea). Thankfully, Nate and Holly, who were driving a truck with four-wheel drive, also made it to the lookout and we all hoped into our vehicles to continue on to our campground. About three minutes later, the dirt road turned into pavement, and about 15 seconds after that we discovered we had a flat tire. Great. Just great.
Where the heck does this rental car keep the spare? And isn't this much more fun to do with five children in tow?
What a beautiful view to have behind you while you are changing a flat!
Stopping to smell the wildflowers.
Best picture of the event.
Trying to keep the kids out of the way.
Flat tire = perfect seat
So, the tire eventually got changed, I was no longer mad at Ben because I figured he paid his penance by changing a flat tire, and we still made it to the campground with plenty of time to get the tents set up and kids out for a scouting trip with the Dads.
I LOVE this picture!
Poor Hailey girl had to stay behind, but we had fun together. She and I really bonded during our trip home and it was so fun that she liked her Aunt Jamie!
The next morning, Nate, Ben and the twins got up way too early and went on another, longer scout. Holly, I and the littles slept until a decent time and then we spent a quiet, restful morning at the most beautiful campground.
I just loved the meadow that our tents were in.
Josh was all about blazing trails, exploring, and going scouting on his own.
Wildflowers were everywhere.
The sweetest picture of Ben, Seth and Sam. He is such a great Father!
The big boys returned around lunch time; we had a meal together and then packed up. We had a supremely long trip home, as we had to drive slowly on the spare tire to get to Redmond for a change of rental car, and then had to drive all the way home (3.5 hours). We were exhausted! And while it wasn't the smoothest trip, we were still so thankful for our time with family and out in nature.
So, that brought us to day 33 of our 35 days home. Day 34 was a crazy-busy day as all final days at home tend to be. There is always last minute errands to run, final goodbyes to say, bags to pack, and a house to pick up. As a final hoorah, we played at the splash pad in Scappoose with friends that we hadn't connected with yet. We were thankful that Sam had his cast off and could freely be in water again!
The boys' old babysitter, Abby, played so sweetly with them while I connected with my friend Heather.
Day 35 we left home (Portland), to fly home (Monterrey). It was sad and hard to leave, but it also felt good to be back into our life and routine here in Mexico. We continue to feel privileged for this adventure that God has called us to, and thankful for continued connections and support from friends and family at home. And we look forward to next summer, when we can hopefully come back to Portland again for an extended time.
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