A trip to Oregon - Post #1

 It has been a long time since Erik (my brother), Courtney (my sister), and I have all been in the same place at the same time.  In fact, I have been with Clint for about 11 years and he had never met Erik.  Crazy!

Early this year we decided to make it happen.  So, we all picked some dates and decided to meet at Dad and Marsha's house in Oregon.  It is the perfect place for all of us to meet.  Lots of outdoor activities, lots of great memories, and just a beautiful place. 

There ended up being A LOT of us.  There was Me, Clint, Kimber, Dane, Courtney, Olivia, Naomi, Chloe, Erik, Lisa, Evan, Owen, Erica, Dad, Marsha, and Mom.  WOW, what a group! 

Luckily Clint and I just purchased a new (to us, but certainly not new!  More like a 1992!) pop up tent trailer.  We weren't in the market for one, but we had outgrown our tent and the price was so good we couldn't pass it up. 

So, we hooked it up and used it for the 8 days that we were there!  It worked like a dream!  Dad and Marsha live way out in the woods (no electricity, snowmobile home during the winter, etc.) so it was a great place to set up "camp".

Of course Dane loves the tractor, as did all the kids.  Gramps was super good to them and let them go for several rides.  The act of riding up and down in the bucket is now known as "the redneck carnival ride"!

Dane and Gramps

Don't look down!

While we were there some of the neighbors came over and got a picture of us.  Mom hadn't arrived yet, so sadly we missed her in the picture.  Kimber wasn't really cooperating, but amazingly enough the rest of us came together and stood still long enough to get some pictures!

My Dad is an accomplished roper (From actually roping cows in Nevada.  He was a cowboy for years.)  Olivia worked hard to figure it out and made some definite progress.

 

How were they doing that???

 A couple of the days that we were there, we went up to the State Park at Wallowa Lake.  It was a nice place to hang out, visit and let the kids play.  Here is one of the resident deer that hang out in the park.  The tourists really like them, but they actually can be real nuisance, so we always chase them off and don't feed them.  Too bad there is no hunting in the park! :)

 Our poor deprived (yeah right!) child Dane had never roasted marshmallows before.  In a moment of weakness before the trip I bought these monster marshmallows thinking they would be good.  They actually were too big and didn't stay on the sticks very well.  Dane took about 3 bites and was done.  But, he was so excited about it and did seem to enjoy the experience!

 While at the Lake there was a lot of fun to be had.   Here they are playing Frisbee...  poor Kimber is always behind, but she kept at it!

Bones getting some love from Evan

 Wrestling also proved to be a lot of fun.  I think poor Gramps was getting ganged up on!

Dane trying to out run Uncle Erik and Owen

Wasn't quite fast enough!  Here is Uncle Erik tickling Dane!

Some of the days we split up and did things in different groups.  One day Dad, Erik and I took a 10 mile trail run up Slick Rock while everyone else went fishing at Salt Creek Summit.  Clint is so patient and was able to help the kids catch some trout.  They all had a great time!  Below is a picture of Clint showing all the kids how he fillets the fish.  Dad, Erik and I had a great time as well.  This run was a warm up for the longer trail run we did later in the week!  Both Erik and Dad are in amazing shape.  I know that they had to slow down a little for me, but they did so without complaint.  Erik took his camera and did a great job taking pictures.  He is going to send me a jump drive with those photos so I will have to do another post later with some of those pictures.

That day Marsha, Lisa, and Courtney did a bunch of laundry.  But, then of course I come home with my icky running clothes.  I know I will need them again soon and I don't want to bother Marsha to do more laundry (it's a pain with starting the generator, pumping water and such) so I decided to do it the old fashioned way.  Yes, with a baby on my back!  Clint had to take a picture cause he said that anytime you can take a picture of your wife doing laundry in a bucket...  you just can't pass it up!  (Marsha was so sweet though and assured me that in the future she would happily do another load for me!  She spoiled us!)

While I was slaving over the laundry, this butterfly came and was drinking the water from the pavers.  Since Clint had the camera handy, he was able to get a few great shots.  Lisa also took some wonderful pictures of this visiting friend!  I will have to post the other picture on my next post because my computer is a little temperamental and didn't feel like cooperating on that download. 

Kimber was quite fortunate on this trip and all of the kids (and adults of course!) treated her wonderfully.  Here is Naomi watching over her!