Thursday, August 15, 2013

Oregon My Oregon Summer Va-Ca Pt 2

Every year we spend a day at the beach. We start off by having breakfast at the casino, Cory's favorite part ,then when head to the beach. On the way we pass a cute little farm that has always been closed, but this year we lucked out and it was open so Grandma & pa Potts treated all the kiddos to pony rides, a first for our wee Sophie. All the kiddos LOVED it and would have been thrilled to ride on for many, many more rounds.
When we got to the beach the forecast said it was going to be in the 70s, but it lied! It was foggy, windy and all around freezing (as can be seen by the girls facial expressions). 
The wind was a sharp chill that went right through you and trying to set out the blanket was a difficult task in of its self because it just wanted to fly away.
We just all cuddled up as much as possible and enjoyed the warm-less sunshine and pretty beach. Some of us couldn't warm up as much as preferred, because certain munchkins were coat thieves. 
After 30 minutes or so it seemed that things warmed up a bit, or we were just became numb to the cold I am not sure, but the kiddos definitely began to really enjoy more of the beach-y fun. After a little running around in the cold wet sand the kids came back up to our dry sand to be buried & to warm back up. It was a pretty day, I just wish the wind would have stopped to we could have enjoyed it a lot more!
Another kiddos favorite when visiting Oregon is to ride on the carousel. Each kid ran to pick our their own horse, luckily they were all next to each other.  Both Phoebe and Cami were thrilled to have a horse that had a type of cat on the back, which they wanted to point out for all passing by.
After the carousel ride we walked over to a fun little splash pad in the same park where the kiddos ran around cooling down from the hot day. Sophie was our most water logged bug, while Josh saw to it that he left nearly as dry as he arrived.
After the park we ran home, ate dinner, and threw the whole gang in bed so Cory and I could visit the yummy little cake shop I took all the kiddos to when we stayed last winter, it was still as delish as always!!! 
When in Oregon we MUST partake in the great blueberry harvest, it is what we plan our trip around every year! Phoebe was much better at picking berries this year, she even filled about 1/4 of a bucket all on her own before demanding that we should have brought her a chair and an umbrella (even though it wasn't a sunny morning). It was the twins first year for berry picking and wow, they were extra "special" helpers. Cami got in the field and helped me pick about 12 berries before needing me to take her on the long trek back to the bathroom, although it was better than Josh who just had an accident right there in the berry row, then told us he needed to potty (...umm I think it's too late for that son). When all had pottied we got down to the mad berry harvest, well some of us anyway. Josh got quickly bored and just decided to sit as pull all the grass out, which was at least more productive than Cami who kept dumping what little berried she had in her bucket out on the ground for us to step on so she she could wear her bucket on her head like a hat and poke us with a stick she found on the ground. When being a berry picking nuisance became too much for Cams, she took a little cat nap in the middle of the row. In spite of all the extra help the kids were, we still managed to pick out 40 lbs of berries in about 1 1/2- 2 hrs. On the way out I also just had to buy some of the largest most delicious black berries I have ever seen/tasted!
 
Upon coming back home we found Sophie curled up on the chair sound asleep even though it was only 11am, I guess grocery shopping with grandma was just exhausting!
On the way back to the car from picking berries Cami fell in the gravel and scrapped her knee all up. She was eternally saddened by her wounds so when it came time to clean her up and put at band-aid on it we gave her a cookie to soften her pain and it seemed that just by holding the cookie was enough to to console her a bit.
The kiddos love hanging out with Grandma and the dogs on their bed and one night as we were walking by we had to take a pic of the whole gang just hanging out together.
The Saturday before we left we took the gang down to our old home turf, Eugene. It had been several years since Cory and I had visited, about 5yrs. There was tons we wanted to see and do while down here. First on our list was to partake in the unique yummy goodness of VooDoo Doughnuts. We all got different yummy doughnut goodness and I would love to go back again and again to try them all.
After eating we strolled though the classic Eugene Saturday market to look at all the fun tie dye and see the cool locals who hang out downtown. After shopping and strolling there we we waddled on over to spend eternity and way too much money in our beloved Ducks bookstore getting all new duds, as some of our old shirts and clothes were getting very dated. We then stopped in to swim & eat with friends. We sadly missed seeing Josh last year so it was nice to be able to get a Josh & Josh  pic again this year! 
After a cool dip in the pool we headed back to campus to eat and then take a stroll. It was a prefect evening! The sun was setting and it had cooled down for the day. Most everyone was gone so we had the place practically to ourselves, it was AWESOME!!! Our little future duckies loved flashing their "O"s and yelling Go Ducks! They got a kick out of following all the Puddles tracks down the sidewalks and running in and out of all the O shaped bike racks.
We made sure to stop by the new buildings on campus and check out all the coolness and I just had to take a pic of the kids under the welcome new student banner because it will be too perfect to display at their high school grad party right before they attend the UofO. It just shows that they really were true ducks from the very start.
Before heading out of town we stopped by my favorite ice cream parlor, Prince Puckler's, for delicious cold treats. While there some firefighters also came in for some creamy goodness and they gave us all badge stickers, which is why we have them all in the pics. We truly spent a whole day in Eugene and LOVED every moment.
The day before we left Grandpa Potts had bought these ridiculously large marshmallow pops for the kids, which about made me sick from the super sweet small, but they didn't seem to matter to the kids, they LOVED them!
In the evening we had a little early b-day party for Cory where mom made a delicious BBQ dinner and we sang and had yummo cake. We also got to visit with Uncle Rob & Aunt Lucy one last time before heading back home.
Going home is always a bit sad because they kiddos don't get to see Grandma & pa Potts that often, but it is always nice to get to sleep in your own bed again.
Thanks for another super fun Family Trip Oregon, on of my most favorites yet!