Oregon Vacation

I'm going to try and keep this as short as I can, but I don't want to forget anything either.

 

DAY 1:  On Wednesday, October 16th we took off and headed to Oregon.  Jeremiah couldn't sleep so when he got up at 2AM we just went ahead and got ready then headed out (3:01AM).  The kids got up and used the bathroom, but went right back to sleep in the car.  By the time we got to Boise (at 7:34) the sun was just making its appearance to the East.  We fueled up and took off again.  We made it to Pendleton, OR for lunch around 11. This is when we would have been in Boise had we left at the originally scheduled time.  We were 2/3 of the way to our destination and the kids were doing awesome.  We began our decent, so to speak, into the West.  As you move from the East to the West in Oregon things go from boring and bland to beautiful and BEAUTIFUL.  (as a side note.... it is even more BEAUTIFUL in the Autumn- but I think that's just plain the BEST time of the year anyway)  We arrived at Scott and Sonia's place, where we were staying, by about 3/3:30.  We unloaded and sat down for a little bit to just relax.  That night we had pizza and visited and had a fun time.

On our Hike 10/17/13

 

DAY 2: Thursday, October 17th we got up, showered and got ready for the day before heading over to Jeremiah's dad's place.  We were ready early so instead of heading over earlier than scheduled Jeremiah took us to a place he use to go running and we went for a hike.  It wasn't a huge hike by any means, but man was it gorgeous.  Everything is so green and the trees are so huge, covered in moss.  We were driving through the morning fog to get there and it was like we went through a curtain exposing the sun as we came around one bend in the road... the mornings are just the best when there is mountain, rivers, trees and a crisp Autumn sting in the air. After our hike we drove over to Bill's place.  This is the house Jeremiah grew up in.  We had brunch, visited, walked all around his garden area in the 1 acre yard, the boys played pool and Jeremiah got to watch his buffalo hunt video with his dad... we got there around 11 and didn't leave until close to 3ish.  We were going over to Anita/Darren's for dinner so we decided we'd just go over there early to visit.  It was a pleasant evening visiting and catching up and they were so excited to see the kids.  We haven't seen them since I was pregnant with Kaiya so that was the first time they got to see her and hold her.  We had dinner and headed home (to Scott and Sonia's) just in time for the kids to crash, and therefore, we all went to bed.

 

Day 3:  Friday (THE BEST DAY)

We took off about 10:30 from Corvallis and headed to Newport on the coast... here's our day in pictures.

Spent a little bit of time watching these mean beasts bark and fight with each other before heading to lunch at Mo's.  This is one of the requirements I had on our trip was Clam Chowder from Mo's and YES, it is that good. 

 

After lunch we went to this Candy shop where Jeremiah brought me the first time I'd gone to Oregon, let alone over to the coast.  We got tons of taffy that time, and this time the kids each got a lolly pop and we also picked out some taffy to have for our drive home.

After the fun at the waterfront we went across the bridge (pictured above) and over to the Oregon Coast Aquarium... we walked all over this place for over and hour...  

 

 Next on our "check list" was the tide pools/lighthouse...

 

 

That part didn't last long... we walked down the stairs to the tide pools only to have EVERYONE (the kids) have to use the bathroom by the time we got down there.... so we walked back up and when we got finished with the bathrooms they wanted to head over to the beach somewhere so they could see and TOUCH the beach/ocean water.

 THIS WAS THE BEST PART OF THE WHOLE DAY....

 (above: the lighthouse we were just at in the background) All of us at the beach.

I've got sooooo many more pictures on my phone/camera it was hard to pick just a few... which means I may very well come back and post more later on if I feel it necessary. As the sun was dipping into the water than evening we were stripping the kids of their wet clothes and getting them buckled in for the drive back to our home away from home.  We stopped at WINCO for some sandwich necessities as well as some chips for our late dinner.  We all ate and then the kids played for a little while before bed while us adults got to visit and decide what was going on the next day.  Bedtime came and everyone slept great... It was a WONDERFUL DAY.

 

DAY 4: Saturday, October 19th

 

We took it slower this day.  We'd packed so much into Friday that we wanted to just enjoy a slower pace.  We got up and Scott/Sonia (I don't know who actually did) made us French Toast for breakfast.  We all got ready for the day and went down the street to a playground where the kids could just run around and play like kids (and adults) do.  We played there a good long time until noon when Emerson (Kenai's new best friend... Scott's son) had to get ready for and play a soccer game. 

 .... Playing Hide and Go Seek....

 Kenai and Emerson



We said our good byes and they left for home while we left for Darren and Anita's house.  we were spending the night there so we'd packed the car and fueled up for the drive home the NEXT morning.  We got to their house and Gabe, Jer's older brother, was just getting there with his girlfriend Emily and not 10 minutes later Anita and Sabrina, Jer's older sister, got back with food from Kin Tin's (sp?) the BEST EGG ROLLS I'VE EVER HAD.  We get food there every time we're up to visit.  After we ate it was time for pumpkin carving :)

 She got mad because we wouldn't let her use the knife by herself.

 The finished pumpkins... I helped Kaiya, Sabrina helped Kenai and Jeremiah helped Kotah.

IT was such a great night... the kids finally went to bed after 9, Gabe and Emily had to leave and the rest of us stayed up visiting until we were just too tired.  The next morning we got up, had breakfast and began the long drive home... we didn't get home until close to 9:30, which was GREAT timing.  It helps when the speed limit can be 80 the majority of the drive home.  Until next time Sudyka family, ( and Gatherums) We love you all and had a wonderful time while it lasted.