A visit from Granny K ... a Trip to Carlsbad

In February, Jon's Mom, Kay, paid a quick visit to Roseburg while Jon and I spent a couple of days in New Mexico... Here are a couple of pictures she took while we were away. The first is one of their many walks through the neighborhood. Don't the boys look so mellow?

Imagine Granny's surprise when she discovered Ian with the Desitin? I realize 9 out of 10 kids have their way with a tube of desitin now and then, but for some reason, Ian thinks it's a major part of his daily facial routine

Meanwhile ... Jon & I spent a couple of days in Carlsbad. Actually, it was more time travelling than actual time spent in Carlsbad, but nevertheless ... here are some pictures of our adventures there.

This is what happens when you ride a small ... no, make that ... a mini airline. You get to check yourself in. "All aboard flt #69 to Carlsbad" LOL

The amazing sunrise in Albuquerque ... Such a beautiful morning. Such a tiny plane. This lovely scene is a clever decoy - how could you anticipate the worst turbulence EVER! It was a total white-knuckle-ride for me. Eyes closed, hands clutching the open "white bag" We hit one bump so fiercely that Jon's cell phone flew out of his shirt pocket. The good news is that our return flight was much less "eventful". We had the same pilots on both flights. Great guys. (we should know, since we sat about two inches behind them on both fligths. We were so close, that if they'd had bad breath, we would have known it. ha..ha....

It's windy in Carlsbad to say the least. Jon jumped out of the car to check the flyer and was literally "blown away". LOL

And finally, the crew ... These guys flew us to and from carlsbad ... They literally do it all, check in, load the luggage, fly the plane, gas it up ... (OK, I don't know if they pump the gas, but they did say they gas up in Carlsbad because it's cheaper. LOL) Ah, logging hours ... I'm sure someday, they'll be sitting in their big jets, saying "Remember the good ol' days when we only had 9 people to worry about?" ha..ha....!

Rest Stop ... 20 Mi. ahead

I am not fan of the Rest Stop. Truck stops, fine, (although, I've seen my share of scary truck stops, too) but the average rest stop, I find to be a little sketchy. There may be toilet paper, or not. They may flush, or they may involve a more "natural" plumbing process. You may or may not get to wash your hands ...I don't like the uncertainty and I suppose that makes me a bit of a lavatory snob.

In fact the other night, we were on the hwy, and I saw a sign for the next rest stop, 2 mi. with the next next stop being 20. mi further. I told Jon that they should have a star system for rest stops. Because if the first stop was a 2 star stop and the one 20 down the way was a 4 star, I would find a way to hold it for an extra star or two. Of course, I realize that you could never manage a nation-wide star system. But I like the idea.

A couple of weeks ago, I actually made a quick trip inside one of these treasure coves and I must say, it was 4-out-of-4-star rest stop. Clean, soap AND paper towels ... and c'mon, have you EVER seen this much TP in a road side bathroom??? There were actually seat covers! I couldn't resist and took a photo. I'm sure the woman in the next stall was concerned to see the flash, but hey, this was a once-in-a-lifetime rest stop experience. Way to go, O-DOT!!

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Last weekend we took the kayaks out to a nearby lake. Couldn't tell you the name of it. Jon surely knows, but he's not here... Really, all you need to know is that it's lovely. We went with our friends, the Lander's. Ian napped most of the time in the car, but I confess that I was pretty happy I didn't have to chase him to keep him away from the water while Jon paddled. :) It's the frist time we've had them out here in Oregon. Hopefully we'll get them out again soon - this particular lake was only about 20 minutes from home. With the exception of living off the Long Island Sound in CT, this is the closest we've lived to a body of water in a few years. (Although I do miss paddling around the lighthouse.)

Later that evening, we met up with a group to play Dodge Ball. Man, havn't done that in like 30 years. LOL. It was fun - and Jon played basketball with Ian afterward. As always, Campbell played it cool in his car seat. Boy are we lucky.

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On the Road Again ...

We took a Road Trip down to Medford, about 2 hours south of Roseburg. Our first stop was to the Harry & David Country Store where we took the factory tour. Pretty cool. It was pretty amazing to see how it all works.

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We also drove through Ashland where they host the annual Shakespeare festival. Our next big excursion was in Jackson, just outside of Medford. A fun little town with lots of shops to explore. if we'd had more time, we would have liked to do one of the hiking trails, but needed to get back on the road.

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One the way out of town, we drove by the Temple. Beautiful! It's a smaller temple, but nice to have one not too far away. There's a larger temple in Portland, about 3 hours north of Roseburg.

Visit from Auntie M

A couple of weeks ago Aunt Meredith came for a visit. Unfortunately, these are two of the four pictures we actually took that weekend. At the airport. When we dropped her off. LOL

It was great to have her, but of course, we all started getting sick while she was here so, we didn't do much sightseeing. But ... we did have a great time at the new bowling alley. Let me tell you, this was the most amazing bowling alley I've ever been to. Beautiful wood floors, flat screen tv's at the end of each lane playing music videos of songs I actually know, and cheap soda. It was a great time. I should have had my camera. As for for our game... well, let's just say our friend Brannick won both games. but in fairness, he'd been there a couple months earlier at the grand opening. LOL

Holy Re-Gifting!

OK ... So this was hilarious to me. Last week Mimi sent a package full of fun goodies for all. Included was a down throw for Ian. She'd mentioned that they'd gotten it for Christmas, but didn't really have use for it, but perhaps it would be a good size for Ian's toddler bed. Indeed it was.

So ... I was throwing away the platic cover and noticed the gift tag .. and the gift tag under that... and that gift tag under that ... Yes, it turns out that if you start from the beginning with tag #1, that was to someone from "Mom and Dad". Then #2 was to karen from jared and someone ... Then tag #3 was unclear. OK. I'm all for re-gifting, but come on ... Go the extra mile and actually remove the original tag. I thought it was so funny that they each just put another tag on the last. While we'll never know just how many hands have held this throw. We know it started with someone's "Mom and Dad" and ended 5 families later with Ian. I wonder how many "givers" are going to be looking for this thing when they drop on on their recipient. Crazy.

So .... the other day I was checking in to see how naps were going, when I was surprise to see this...
















Yes, an EMPTY bed. A little startling to say the least.
My heart pounded a bit until I walked further into the room to find this...

.............


















Not really sure how he actually fell asleep in this position, or how he stayed asleep. Not to worry, he was quickly snuggled into his bed where I'm sure he was much more comfortable. LOL

Morning bike ride ...

For Christmas, the boys got Jon a bike trailer ... the other morning the sun was shining and the temperature was warm in the upper 50's. So, Jon took the boys on the bike and I walked. Ian has always loved wearing his helmet, it's so funny...

The first few pictures are before the ride, the last, is when we got home and started to get out of the trailer... Ian was so sad to see it end ... tears of devestation. Campbell on the other hand was out cold.

Don't you just love when kids fall asleep during dinner? We typically feed Campbell before we eat and then he lounges in his chair next to the table while we eat. This particular eve, he was so, so sleepy ... we were just trying to keep him awake as long as possible. You can see we were wildly successful. HA!

Four if by sea ... or snow

With Jon having a few days off, we figured we were up for some adventure.

First, we thought we'd head to the snow ... Ian had so much fun (I guess he'd forgotten life with snow in Philly, LOL) Jon thrilled him by filling a cup full of fresh snow for the drive home. He sat in the back eating it like popcorn. it was a riot. HA!

Next, a drive to the coast for some whale watching. 12/26 - around 1/8 is great for watching the whales on their southern migration. We got to the Umpqua lighthouse and they'd already seen 8 - we saw a couple. We think, LOL We should have dug out the binoculars to be sure, but it was fun. From Reedsport, we drove north of Florence to Sea Lion caves - Apparently the largest sea cave. I believe it. It's enormous - you almost forget you in a cave - minus the smell - ha..ha... There were hundreds, possibly thousands of them. (which was funny, because that night I picked up the babysitter and when talking about the journey she said everytime they've gone, there have been no sea lions in the cave. seems impossible to me.) We headed home with two sleepy boys.

Here are some pics of the snow (up towards Diamond Lake off rt 138, about an hour away)

Pictures from the coast (Reedsport area/Umpqua Lighthouse & Sea Lion Caves near Florence)

One morning Ian was banging on the piano. I snuck down the hall to get some on tape - one I did without him seeing, this one, I got a closer look... enjoy. LOL

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Yummmm

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Festive Family Home Evening

Monday night we enoyed an evening of fun with some friends in the ward - it was a full house with lots of kids and tasty treats ... we loved it! We watched a video called The Nativity and then bundled up for some Christmas caroling in the neighborhood. It was great fun. We feel lucky to have met some great people here in Oregon and look forward to more fun activities like this!

Merry Chritsmas!

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Hiking along the Umpqua River

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Deck the Halls ...

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Wildlife Safari

About 7 miles outside of Roseburg is an AWESOME Wildlife Safari ... you tour the many acres via car and there's also a village you can wander with more to see. We ventured out there a couple of weeks ago (I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures.)

We saw so many great animals, lions, bears, zebras, giraffes, elephants, emu, buffalo, on and on ... we were amazed. not to mentioned a little weirded out by a much too friendly emu who got a little freaky with our car along the way. LOL It's a definite must see when you're in Southern Oregon.

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