Oregon My Oregon 2012 -PART 1

In the middle of July us Ferguson's made our annual homage to the motherland of Oregon. For the last 2 years we have made the trip in 2 days, but this year we chose to get up and leave at 4am and make the trip in one day and it was AWESOME! The kids were great and we only made one 45 min stop the whole way.  When we got to grandma & pa Potts' house we even have reserved preferred parking for us. This kids were most excited to see Tillie & Louise (grouchy as Phoebe calls him) and they just were trilled to lay all together watching the dogs.

The kiddos were thrilled to have a big yard to play around in and while grandma and I were out getting pedicures daddy and he kiddos had fun making forts and playing with Grandpa Potts' bubble machine. All that fun must have worn them right out however, because I went down stairs later to find Phoebe and grandpa taking a nap together.

On Saturday of our visit we had a BUSY day. We started off way early with family pics in Portland which turned out way cute, as can be seen in a few samples below, but went a bit long for the kiddos patience. Aferward we found a a delicious breakfast cafe by the temple on Lake Oswego where the adults got to somewhat peacefully eat & the kiddos enjoyed chocolate panckes that looked devine and colored under the tables (as long as they aren't running around the restaurant or screaming I count as a relaxing win in my book).

We followed pictures and breakfast by our annual carousel and park trip this kiddos LOVE LOVE LOVE that carousel and grandpa even splurged this year and the kiddos got snow cones, which they late one table spoon of and gave to us. Note to self, not buying them these next year.

When we got home the fun didn't stop there because then grandpa hooked up his cart to the tractor and we all got a ride around part of the neighborhood.

Phoebe commented several times on the tractor ride that that day had been the best-est most fun day EVER!

Sittin' in the Shade Sippin' Lemonade

In the beginning of July my sister-in-law threw a fun Lemonade pool party for all the cousins. We had everything lemonade! Including about 9 varieties of lemonade to drink and cookies, bars, cupcakes, & ice cream lemonade flavored treats.

Our kiddos had a ton of fun eatin' and playin' he whole warm afternoon away! Phoebe dug in the sand and built princess towers. Cami on the other hand swung in the swings, her favorite activity anywhere, & her and Josh both bounced for hours on the tramp and ate tons of treas. Sophie just spent the day crawling and eating whatever treats were left in her reaching level. Non of my kiddos actually swam, but they usually never do so it came as no surprise, but we all did have a ton of fun!!!

Our Ghost Adventure & Pioneer Roots

This summer I had a goal to try and do some fun activities with my family so in an effort to I downloaded a summer bucket list and on it was visit a ghost town. since I had never been to a ghost town before I thought the kiddos and I would love it and in fact I found out there was one not to far from us which brings us to a soaking wet day in Ophir, Utah. Ophir is actually still populated a LITTLE bit s it isn't a true ghost town, but it still had a on of cool old buildings that had been restored for the most part.

Although Ophir for the main part was an old mining own they still had a tiny one room school house for all the miners children to addend, unfortunately it was locked so we couldn't go in, but the kids loved the old bell outside of it.  we also got a kick out of all the "old" outhouses around the town complete with faux boots inside as if they were still being used.

The town is open and he buildings are unlocked on Saturdays, but we didn't know that so we just admired all the old buildings and train carts in the rain from the outside, at least we had the place to ourselves! Josh also loved that on EVERY building there were beware of snake signs, he made sure to point all of them out by hissing at me. Oh, I didn't mention Ophir is in the foot hills of the mountains and so the town is straight up and down (alomst LITERALLY) so you can see how my niece Michaela and I had to just drag Sophie's stroller behind us up on the gravel roads because here was NO pushing it up.

After Ophir we made another soaking historical stop on the way home. This time a the Bristol Grist Mill, which is an old pioneers flour mill. We learned house the pioneer manufactured flour way back in the day.  They also had several other little houses that we got a tour of including the old the personal homes and setup of some of the pioneer, blacksmith's place & the textile manufacturer.

The Mill was a fun little place for the kid with lots to see, some activities to participate in and several free roaming chickens that all the two year old kiddos got a kick out of. Even though the rain was quite prevalent the kids LOVED this day even miss Sophie who just spent the day in her stroller SOAKING wet she didn't complain.

We finished our fun wet day with a picnic lunch. When we were as waterlogged as possible and it was time to head home my kiddos all complained and sill begged for more. This was a fun day that I could see doing once again.

Fergy Fourth of July & Cousin Carnival

As with every 4th of July we started off the holiday at the Bishop's pancake breakfast. The kiddos always love this because all their friends are there and they get to ride in a golf cart in the parade. This year for the first time we brought Phoebe's tricycle and she & Josh took turns riding it in he parade of kiddos.

After the breakfast we headed to grandma Fergy's house for the cousin carnival where each family had a carnival game booth set up and prize for all the cousins to visit. We even had popcorn, cotton candy and peanuts for our carnival food & then what carnival is complete without some kind of stuffed animal you can win???

As you can see all the kiddos were thrilled with all their prizes even if the caterpillars were a bit creepy looking.

After the carnival we had our awesome hamburger buffet, always one of my favorites, especially when they manage to recruit the best grill chef around.

The afternoon brought lots of great swimming, relaxing, napping & oh the traditional HUGE-O Fergy water fight.

We chose to head home this year enjoy the perfect view of the RSL stadium fireworks from the comfort of our bedroom window.  This was the twiners first time watching fireworks and they LOVED it as you can see by Cami's smile.

I have always loved being able to relax with awesome food, family & fireworks on the fourth and this year once again delivered it all!