Oregon (August 2010): Day 4 ~ the BIRTHDAY!

Okay, maybe I should clarify, we could not celebrate my Dad's birthday on his ACTUAL birthday because I was sitting in class that day (and he had to work).  So we celebrated his birthday the Saturday before the BIG day.  His best friend drove down from Canby for the event. 

We had lunch together.

 The "cake" that I made for him.

The birthday boy!

Best friend Mike with his wife Vicki.  Our family have know each other for 20+ years.

My Dad's birthday gift from myself; a feisty three year old.  She sang him a special song.  I wish that I had video of it.  It was so sweet!

Grandma and Kate.

Mike was playing with his iPhone and recorded this video.  There is not really anything specific on it, but it is fun to watch all the same.

This was my last day in Oregon.  Kate and I were homeward bound the next morning.  It was a nice visit.  I would have preferred to have my entire family with me and to have stayed longer, but it was not meant to be.  Being there for my Dad's birthday was the goal and we achieved it.  It was a wonderful visit. 

Oregon (August 2010): Day 3 ~ Beach Day!!

I had to go to the beach while I was there.  I love the beach; the sand. the water, the smell of salt water, the taffy.  It was the only thing that I wanted to do while in Oregon.  I don't think that my parents were all that thrilled, but they took us anyway. 

We waited for the best possible day and off we went.  We went to Florence which is closest to my parents current home of Eugene.  When I was growing up we lived in Portland and always went to Cannon Beach and Seaside, but they were too far.  The weather was warm, 80+, but really windy.  Here is Grandpa keeping Katie warm.  She was also tired.  We were on the look for the perfect taffy to take back home.

We walked along the docks were we saw crabs and other fresh fish (including tuna).  Katie was not impressed.

This little guy wanted to say "hi" too.  Katie liked him.

We saw the Coast Guard practicing maneuvers.

And then we hit the beach.  It was so windy.  Too windy to really enjoy it.  I was so bummed.  But my parents held Katie while I ran around and enjoyed the feel of the sand on my feet.  Which was AMAZING.  So warm, so soft.

My awesome Dad.  He is the reason why Katie and I made this trip.  The celebration for his big birthday is to be the next day.

So, despite the wind chill I rolled up my pant legs and headed into the water.  It was 'refreshingly' cold but I am glad I did it.  I wanted a day at the beach and I got it, although not exactly how I imagined it.  But I was happy.

Really, there are very few good descriptive words for the Oregon Coast.  The few that I find adequate are breath taking and awe inspiring.  I love the Oregon Coastline.

Here are my parents trying to protect Kate from the wind. I think that they enjoyed the snuggle time with her.  But it was too much windy for the adults and most certainly for a little girl, so we headed back to town and got some lunch.

This picture is so cute.  She was jamming out to the radio.  Happy little cutie-pie!

Oregon (August 2010): Day 2 ~ Eugene

So... I am finally getting to blog about the trip that I took almost two months ago.  Thank you for being so patient!

Our second day in Oregon was beautiful!  But our little native New Mexican Kate was too cold for the Oregon summer weather and wanted jeans and her coat.

We took her a farm nearby that has the most amazing activities.  Years ago I took the boys there for a hayride and a pumpkin patch, but since we were about more then two months out from Halloween they had flower picking (we did not do this.  They also have a tree farm to cut down your own Christmas tree).  You could also feed the goats.  Katie loved this and spent a lot of time (and several dollars) making these little guys fat.

They had a playground that she enjoyed with toys she had never seen before.  Why do they not have tire swings in Albuquerque?  Or Merry-go-rounds?  Those were always my favorite growing up.  It was fun to watch Kate experience them.

Oh, don't forget the tractor!

Then we finally had her convinced to go inside to the farmers market.  So amazing!  I loved all the beautiful produce that they had to offer.  I wish that we could get berries like this is New Mexico!

The biggest zuchinni I have ever seen and the price!

This farm grows all of the produce seen above.  Plus many more that I did not get pictures of.  They also sell a local companies honey and jams.  Oregon honey and jams are the best because of all the fresh berries and beautiful flowers for the bees to use in their honey.  I wanted to bring some home so badly, but was afraid that the jars would break in my luggage.  But I did bring home some flavored honey sticks for Brandon (raspberry, strawberry, marion-berry) and he LOVED them. 

And no trip to Oregon is complete without getting some local hand-dipped ice-cream.  This was Umpqua ice-cream which is so, so, so good. 

Oregon (August 2010): Day 1~ the travel

Kate and I went to Oregon for a few days this month. We went because my Dad was turning 60.  Yup, that's right, the big SIX-O.  Kate was his birthday present and I was her method of transportation.

Kate had never flown before and I was a bit nervous, but she did really well.  She did have some complaints at the end of the longest flights (we had several transfers and layovers) but I was very happy with her attitude.  She even endured the layovers really REALLY well.

Getting ready to take off.

So ready to land, get out, and run around!

So happy to be out of the plane and in Denver...

but it did not take long before she wanted to get our of the airport and to someplace more fun.

The sun was streaming right in on while waiting in the Phoenix airport.  She got creative to keep the sun out of her face.

She was really excited when we saw the above sight from her window and I explained that this mountain (Mt. Hood) meant that we were there (essentially) and that we would be seeing Grandma and Grandpa soon.

Grandma and Grandpa were flying in the same day as we were from a visit they made to Des Moines.  They were visiting their mothers (my grandmothers).  We were actually in Denver at the same, but we had different airlines and therefore different terminals.  We were scheduled to land in Portland about the same time (kate and I 20 minutes later than them), but my parents flight was delayed by an hour and so I was able to meet them at their gate since I was still on the right side of security.  That was a fun experience that is rarely had anymore.

After that we picked up my parents car and headed down south to Eugene.  They have been living there the last few years.  It is nice to go to any part of the WIlliamette Valley, it all feels a bit like home, but Portland is my home.  I grew up there and I miss it.  I wish that there had been more time for me to spend in Portland, but there was not.  As you will see in later posts we were quite busy.