Project: JUNE - Day 30

On the move! 

Here are Lucas and Poppy running through the super long grass in our backyard this morning. 

"On the move" could probably be the theme for the June we have had.  We were busy almost every day of the month.  We spent a bunch of time in the car, with a trip to the zoo at the beginning of the month and then the BIG drive south for our Great Oregon Vacation.  All total, I'm estimating that we drove about 1,800 miles, most of it in the Saturn (Good thing it had low mileage when we got it last October!  Bad thing it gets, at best, about 21 miles the gallon...). 

I've enjoyed blogging every day for the last month.  At times it has felt like a chore.  Okay, to be perfectly honest, more often than not it has felt like a chore.  When I decided to do this, I knew that I'd have to stick to it, otherwise I'd be mad at myself later if I flaked out.  I've learned that most of the time, I'm pretty boring.  Never mind, I didn't learn that, I already knew it. ;-) I doubt that I will blog every day in July.  But I think that I've got some momentum going now, so I don't think I'll go as long between blogs as I have in the past.  This has been fun.  I'm still debating whether or not I have what it takes to blog every day for an entire year.  Who has that kind of time!?  Maybe if I wasn't so long-winded (or should I say long-typed?) it wouldn't be so bad!  I suppose we'll just have to wait and see!

Project: JUNE - The End!

Project: JUNE - Day 29

We're still recovering from the super-long trip yesterday, so today is a small post.  Maybe I'll have the energy to wrap June up in style tomorrow! ;-)

I had my phone handy when we were crossing the state lines yesterday, so I could look like the corny tourist taking pictures of all the "Welcome to..." signs.  I'm kicking myself now for not stopping at least once to get Lucas and Poppy's picture taken in front of the "Welcome to Oregon" sign.  Dang it.  Next time, we will definitely have to get that done!!

We woke up in Oregon, then about 10 miles after leaving my parents' house, we drove into California.  But not for long!

After driving through some twists and turns, we made our way back into Oregon.  Then we spent the rest of the day driving...driving...driving through the 9th largest state in the country.

A really long time (and several stupid, bad wrong turns) later, we finally entered Washington, close to 6pm.  And it would still be another 5.5 hours before we finally got to our house!!

Project: JUNE - Day 28

Three states, 615 miles, and 15.5 hours after leaving Brookings this morning, we are home.

And it's raining. What a typical Washington welcome.

Project: JUNE - Day 27

Tomorrow we will make the long drive back to Washington, so today we went to say goodbye to my grandparents.  We didn't call ahead, so we were lucky to find them hanging out in the garage, shelling peas.  My grandpa shared a few pods with Lucas and Poppy and they both really enjoyed it.  Thankfully, Poppy was in much better spirits for picture-taking this time! 

Smiles all around!

Lucas decided to practice his "cheese" face while Poppy giggled at Great-Grandpa.

The winning picture!!  Wow, both kids smiled and looked in the general direction of the camera at the same time!!

Something must have been funny.  These two were cracking up!

Aw, hugs for Great-Grandma!

And then hugs for Great-Grandpa, too.

Project: JUNE - Day 26

I'm having a rewind day, today.  Our vacation is quickly coming to an end (dang it!), but I have yet to write about or share pictures of the day we spent with Holly and Brad in Roseburg on the way to Brookings.  They were nice enough to let us stay with them after our long day on the road.  This meant that they had to deal with two kids who had been cooped up for about 11 hours!  After an evening of fun, we visited both of them at work the next day.  Brad showed Lucas and Poppy a "real" police car (the one Brad drives is "secret" according to Lucas, since it doesn't have the huge row of lights on top).  Then Holly let Lucas spin around in her office chair and he got to wear some fancy "bracelets."  After that, we began the drive to Brookings, but made a detour through Wildlife Safari on the way out of Roseburg.  We had a lot of fun driving through the animal park and then spent a couple of hours wandering through the petting zoo before leaving Roseburg behind.  And now for the pictures.  Duh, I always have (a lot of) pictures!

Our night in Roseburg included Brad dressing Lucas up like a real Douglas County deputy.

And Poppy showed Aunt Holly her cool Japanese shoes.

The next day, we went to visit Brad and Holly at work and Brad made it possible for Lucas to experience a REAL police car up close! 

The lights were flashing.  Poppy wasn't sure about Uncle Brad, but Lucas was one happy boy!

Then we went upstairs and down some hallways and after feeling thoroughly lost, we found Holly and she took us to her office.  Here's Lucas, testing out her chair and her special "bracelets."

Thanks for entertaining us, Holly!  You might not have fancy police cars or a tin foil helmet like Brad, but you have an "Ewok," a super cool chair that spins in circles, and those rad bracelets.

Then it was on to Wildlife Safari.  After going through half the park with both kids seeming less than interested in the back seat, I went against my better judgement, got them out of their car seats and let them ride in my lap up front.  What a treat!  They were both pretty thrilled!  Here we are, watching some giraffes walking through the grass in the distance.

And then we had a traffic jam.  Yes, this giant camel decided to plant himself firmly in front of us...for over 10 minutes!  We just sat there and watched him and Lucas and Poppy laughed a lot about it.

Watching the camel, and waiting for him to move!

Poppy got to drive a little, too!  She looks like she knows what she was doing.  It must be all that practice she's had in the race-car carts at Home Depot!

Walking through the petting zoo, Lucas turned into a little sheep.  I don't know what's up with his smile.  Your guess is as good as mine!

Then it was Poppy's turn.  Her smile was also a little on the funky side.  It must have been all that traveling...both of them forgot how to smile after too much time spent driving!

Project: JUNE - Day 25

We did a really touristy thing today and drove south from Brookings to Trees of Mystery in Klamath, California.  It was another lovely day (we've only had morning fog TWO of the days we've been here!) so the hour long drive down the coast was very pretty.  We got to see Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox and we walked through the trees. 

Sitting on Paul Bunyan's boot.  He talks to the people who walk by and Adam got him to say "Hello, Lucas!"

See?  The trees must have been interesting to get all of us to look up at the same time.

Lucas and Poppy got to ride a turtle that had been carved out of wood.  Lucas was actually much more impressed than this picture lets on. 

And look!  My dad got in on it, too!  If you know my dad, you know just how out of character this is for him!

Lucas and Poppy walking through one of the big trees.

The four of us in front of the "Cathedral Tree."  They perform weddings here several times a year.

Poppy looking up at the big trees.

Poppy playing peek-a-boo with Grandma.

My Lucas.

Riding in the Sky Trail up the hill.

At the top, we had the chance to get out and wander around for a few minutes.  In this picture, the ocean is way out in the background.  You can't really tell that it's there because it just looks white, but it is!

Both kids liked watching the huge wheel turning when the little cars (or "buckets" as Lucas called them) came in to let people off and then load them back up to head down the hill.

On the way down, my mom wasn't as scared as she was on the way up (I have been forbidden from posting any pictures of her looking terrified), so she got to hold Lucas.  He loved riding in the "bucket."  He said "I'm flying in the sky!  I'm having fun!"

Walking toward the exit, we found this wood carving and got my dad to stand with it.  It is called the "Pooped Logger," but I channeled my inner 14-year old boy and had my dad cover up the "ed" so it became just the Poop Logger.

On the way out, we took the traditional tourist pictures with Babe...

And with Paul Bunyan!

Then I let Poppy run to Paul and give him a hug.  She sure loved him.  Can you find her?  She's pretty tiny here...

Project: JUNE - Day 24

Today we had a special visit with my grandparents.  While my grandpa showed Adam some pictures of Japan during World War II (he was there with the Coast Guard) Poppy and Lucas had so much fun walking around with their 90-year old Great Grandma outside in the sunshine.  She showed us all of the flowers that are blooming and then we looked at some boats from the side of the house.  Lucas liked holding Great-Grandma's hand. :-)  Poppy's the wild one, she didn't want to hold hands with anyone!

Lucas is almost as tall as Great-Grandma.  And he probably weighs about as much as she does, too!

We found a ladybug and Lucas got to hold it on his finger.  It was pretty exciting for the boy who is terrified of bugs!

There it is! 

After she took us on a tour through her flowers, my grandma took us over to her garden and she picked strawberries for a while with Lucas.  It was such a treat for Lucas and Poppy to eat strawberries straight off the plant!

Lucas helping Great-Grandma find some good berries to put in the bucket.  He did find a few that were still very green.  He picked them AND ate them.  And he must have liked them because he didn't complain!

Poppy made a mess.  Goof thing she had a red shirt on!!

Both of my red, sticky-faced kids after gorging themselves on strawberries.

Sadly, Poppy's stranger anxiety is still in effect.  This was the nicest picture I was able to take of her sitting in Great-Grandma's lap.  We'll probably visit again in a few days, I'm hoping for a better outcome then!!

Project: JUNE - Day 23

We're still enjoying our vacation in Brookings, and today we made the journey south of the border to Crescent City, California and visited Ocean World.  Ocean World is a little, privately owned aquarium that has been in Crescent City since 1964, but this was my first time ever going!  Lucas and Poppy both had a lot of fun.  It would have been nice if we would have been able to go at our own pace, but they operate it as a guided tour.  So our tour-mates got to witness several meltdowns of epic proportions coming from our little diva.  Poppy always knows when to perform.

Petting a starfish.  Poppy liked it, Lucas didn't.

Lucas touched this little thing (I think it was an anemone, but I could be wrong) once, but he said it was sticky and made his hand dirty and he wouldn't touch it again for a picture. 

Shark petting!  We got to touch this leopard shark as it swam around the special petting pool.  Both kids really had fun with this.  Poppy made several attempts to throw herself in with the shark, but then gave up and just enjoyed patting him as he swam by.  Lucas liked this more than I thought he would, and he kept moving around to get another feel!

Watching the sea lion show.  Earlier in the day, we got Jack in the Box and went and had a picnic at the beach (in gale force winds...not my brightest idea), but while we were ordering at the drive-thru, Lucas yelled "I would like to see a sea lion, please!"

Good job, Mom!  My mom was holding onto my camera most of the time we were wandering through Ocean World and she took all of these pictures.  She did a great job catching the sea lion flying through the air.  Poppy was so excited to watch this particular part of the show and kept yelling "WOW!  WOW!  WOW!"  But when the sea lion stopped moving and barked a little, it scared Lucas.  He said "I don't like that noise.  I want to go home."

Poppy enjoying the show.

After the show was over, one of the resident harbor seals (who did nothing in the show, by the way) slid up some stairs right to the edge of the fence and Lucas and Poppy both giggled and squealed for a few minutes as they stood a couple feet away from it.

Only a few more days before we have to make the trip back to Washington.  How does time always go SO fast when you are on vacation!?