Sunday - We load up the truck .... wait. Back up. Truck? We don't own a truck. Well, Sunday morning Tim headed out to help with parking at church. About ten minutes later the rest of us got in the van to head the same way. However, the van wouldn't turn on. Dashboard lights came on, headlights worked, but the engine wouldn't start.
We hop out of the van, leave a message for Tim to pick us up, then start walking toward church. We make it more than mile, though I'm carrying Naomi for the sake of speed, when a friend from church drives by and offers us a ride. Needless to say, she was my best friend for the day because carrying the 30 pound Nomes-a-licious up the hill we'd just climbed kinda wore me out.
Anyway, we come home & I post something on Facebook about our little adventure, thanking our rescue driver, and how we're loading up Tim's car for the camping trip we had planned. We didn't want to forfeit our trip, so we opted to cram into Tim's car and deal with the van when we got home. I'm an efficient, minimalist packer and Tim's good at spatial things, so we managed to get all of our gear into Tim's car. Of course the kids knees would have been at their chins and there wouldn't have been enough room for anyone to inhale deeply, but we were still going to be able to go on our trip.
Right about the time we got it all loaded, we got a phone call from a friend offering us their truck. How awesome is that?! So, Tim unloaded the car, took off to swap vehicles, loaded the truck, and we took off for the Cape Lookout State Park. We arrived around 4:00. One kid felt carsick on the drive and puked within two minutes of putting their feet on solid ground. Then we spent the evening relaxing, roasting marshmallows, and walking around the campground.
Monday - From a blogging standpoint, it was a very boring day. From a mental health standpoint, it was wonderful. We did a whole lot of nothing. The boys rode their bikes around our loop countless times, Naomi got one bike lap in, I read a book and took a nap, Tim did Sudoku at the fire, we spent a couple hours at the beach, ate taco bowls with Fritos, and hit the sack at a reasonable hour. It was great!
One reason, but three examples, of why I don't have any great beach pictures of the kids -they're always bent over.
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Tim & I - Yes, I know the glasses are all wrong, but I seem to have an abnormally large head and this is the first pair in years that doesn't crush my skull. Comfort trumps fashion.
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I love this one of Tim!
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Tuesday - After breakfast we head into town for a visit at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Silas has been there twice with the church's grade school group, but it was the first visit for the rest of us. We watch cheese get cut into blocks and packaged, then head downstairs for some samples, shopping in the gift store, and eating ice cream. The bargain shopper in me cringes at buying five cones for the same price I could get three cartons, but it's all part of the fun. Plus, it probably tastes better when you eat it at the factory. Right? Ok. I also find a couple "W" magnets to add to our collection. By "add" I mean "double". We now have four "W" magnets.
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Pistachio
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Coffee
Mint Chip
Orange Sherbet
Caramel Toffee Crunch
After the factory we headed to a city park to let the kids get some wiggles out, then stopped in at the Pancake House for lunch. I think their fries just bumped Mike's down to second place. Maybe not. I'll probably have to have a few more servings from each place to make an objective call on that one. They were perfectly crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and not too greasy. I ate way too many!
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Tuesday afternoon was naps for the Tim, Devon, and Naomi, a book for me, & puzzles for Silas. Then Silas and I went on a walk (me)/bike ride (him) and played Rack-O while everyone else continued to sleep.
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That night I ran into a family that had gone to Simple Faith, our church in Ashland, had moved to Portland a few years ago, and was camping about ten spots down the road from us. We hadn't seen them in five years and it was fun catching up!
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Later in the evening the boys & I went to one of the campground programs. This particular one was about the various rocks you can find in the area and the boys were impressed. We wrapped things up with some time at the fire, then went to bed.
The token family picture. The miracle? We got an "all eyes open, everyone looking toward the camera, no silly faces" shot on our first try!!
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Wednesday - The kids woke up about 7:00 and we pulled out just after 8:00. The plan was to visit the Tillamook Forest Center on the way home. The reality is that we got there almost an hour before they opened. We opted to skip it this time and just head home. Bummer.
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The carsick kid didn't get carsick. Excellent.
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We had to pass our old neighborhood on the way home, so the kids ask to drive by the house we used to live in. We see one of our old neighbors and the kids all get to pet her dog, which they've missed doing.
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Then it's home. I get laundry started and give Naomi a bath. Tim & the boys unload. Everyone helps put stuff away. Devon gets cleaned up while Silas makes lunch. Silas gets a shower. All three kids go down for naps. I get a shower. Tim meets the tow truck as it takes our van off to get fixed, then he cashes in his freebie birthday burger coupon at Red Robin. I take a shower, fail at an attempt at napping, and get this blog posted. Whew! What a day!
3 comments:
What a great time!! I wondered if you were camping when I hadn't seen you around the net.
Love your family pic! Glad you had a great time.
Sharon
I'm glad the van issue didn't dampen your spirits. Looks like your family is a camping type of family.
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