Monday was really, really, really hot. Late afternoon, we went to the grocery store and bought a container of ice cream and some popsicles and headed to a fun playground here in Newberg.
Some pictures of said popsicles in action at the playground:
The ice cream was also excellent.
We’re on the last major stage of vacation 2012, and we are back at Champoeg state park. This time we are staying in two yurts which are a little more primitive than the cabins we stayed in here a couple of weeks back. They don’t have an outside light, so we ended up cooking the tail end of supper on the dark. Each yurt also only has one plugin. Good thing we have two power bars in the van of plenty.
The four girls are in one yurt and Lori and I are sharing the other with Brock and Davison.
Behind the yurts is a solid wall of blackberry bushes, with quite a lot of accessible, ripe berries. I had a bunch of freshly picked berries on my muesli this morning.
And here is a picture of Brock playing with his cars by the yurt.
One of the trip hi-lights for Davison was being able to spend a couple of says with his cousin Ian. Ian is the son of Lori’s sister Aimee. Aimee’s family and friends are still grieving her loss last year to cancer.
Here are some pictures from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
And a final picture from Regatta Park (where the really fun playground and the Devils Lake beach were located), the very unique sculpture at the entrance of a whimsical dragon, made out of metal and rubber.
Here’s a short video tour that Lori took of the vacation house that we are staying at in Lincoln City.
Thursday was a beautiful day here in Lincoln City. We did a shopping trip to the outlet mall and then to Robert’s Bookstore, a wonderfully eclectic place. I purchased the Curious George paper doll book for Brock, and fun design coloring books.
We went to the beach in the afternoon and had a fun time.
Friday was overcast, and ended up being another of those vaunted rest and relaxation days (for Ben anyway, who managed to polish off a sci-fi novel – Warhorse, by Timothy Zahn – and playing Ticket to Ride on the iPad).
Aunt Marta, cousin Ian, dogs Bailey and Oliver arrived Thursday afternoon to hang out for a couple of days. Ian and Davison are having a lot of fun together. (The auto-guess function on my phone keyboard initially wrote the word ‘fun’ in the last sentence as ‘gin’, which I hastened to correct.)
Tuesday ended up being a rest and recuperation day as well, as will probably be the case for the rest of the week.
The major hilight on Tuesday was the playground and nearby beach on Devils Lake.
I don’t have any pictures of the playground as a whole, but it was a very unique one, with lots of interconnected wooden structures. We played a bunch of different games (grounders, kick the can, sardines), but none of them really worked with this playground. I’m sure there was an excellent game that would have worked there, but we didn’t come up with it.
The kids had fun wading at the nearby lake; Brock fell in and got mostly wet.
In the evening, we went to the beach to watch the sunset. It was pretty windy, and quite chilly.
And then it was back to the house, for a late evening soak in the rental house hot tub.
Wednesday was more of a utility day: getting a van tire fixed, shopping at the outlet mall, going to Newport to the Fred Meyers, lunch at MacDonalds, trip to the beach (it was pretty windy) and home for supper.
We got to the vacation house in Lincoln City late on Sunday night. Monday was sort of a rest and recuperation day. We made a couple of grocery store trips, and here are some pics of more fun activities…
Brock actually wasn’t wave jumping, but picking up sizeable rocks on the beach (of which there was no shortage), and heaving then into the water. If you look closely, you can see a stone in mid-flight. And since I am pondering the words I am using – is there a difference between ‘rock’ and ‘stone’? The picture in my mind is that stones are rounded, whereas rocks are more like jagged lumps. If that is the case than Brock was throwing stones into the ocean.
Davison had some aiming issues with the ball and would swing it like mad and then toss it to his left. I kept edging to his left in a hope of getting near to the thrown ball, but he would keep turning to face me.
One of our ‘must-do’beach activities is playing ‘ I Declare War’. To play, a stick is found, a large circle is drawn on the sand and is then subdivided (like a pie) with a slice for each player. Each player names their country – in the game pictured above the countries were named Yaria , D, Kalamazoo, Geridos, Crunchy, and Captain Carter (someone has watched some Stargate episodes recently). One person starts with the stick, says ‘I declare war on’, names one if the countries and throws the stick onto their land. Everyone runs away except the owner of the country thus declared. As soon as the owner of the declared country touches the stick, they yell ‘Stop’and everyone ceased running immediately. At that point the stickholder chooses someone to go to war with (by throwing the stick at them – under handed, in a nice way of course) but had to remain on their own territory while doing so. If the target is hit, the thrower gets some of their territory; if missed the thrower loses territory. To claim territory, you have to stand wholly inside your own territory, stand straight with knees straight, bend over with stick in hand, and carve off as much territory as possible. Then it’s time to declare war again and stay the cycle over.
A couple of years ago, we had a coast guard helicopter land nearby while we were playing it. I’m not sure why, maybe people throwing sticks at each other or something.
On this last Saturday, Rett and I, along with a couple of friends, attended the Monday School reunion. It was an interesting experience, with running into a lot of people I barely remember. But perhaps one of the most memorable moments occurred on the drive to Edworthy Park, where the reunion was being held.
Rett, Robert Griffiths, and I were in the car, heading west on Bow Trail, a four-lane, partitioned highway. We ran into some construction, which was frustrating, as the two lanes were reduced down to one. After some waiting, we passed the squeeze point, and the road returned to two lanes of traffic. However, after going a little bit further, all the traffic inexplicably all turned right at the same intersection.
The reason became apparent as we approached the intersection.
This massive patch of missing concrete spanned all the way across both lanes of traffic, and was completely unmarked by any signs at all. We got close enough to notice it, then like the rest of the traffic, turned right to wind our way around the far right side of the hole. (Far right side being the farthest from you in the picture.)
As we came around the far edge of it, a mini-van drove straight through the gap at about 50 KM’s per hour, and absolutely got destroyed. The front bumper was left behind, as well as all the radiator fluid. The rims had right angle dents about an inch deep, and all the airbags went off. We pulled over at a bus stop a little ahead of the accident, and tried to decide what to do.
It wasn’t as if the person had hit another vehicle, and that witnesses were needed, but we decided to get out, and check if the man inside the van was ok or not. It was at this point we noticed a large white van, similar to ours, about 15 feet in front of the mini-van. It too had blasted through the trench, and had been similarly decimated. Three of its four tires were flat, and the front end of the van looked like it had hit a concrete wall.
By this time we were at the mini-van, and checking on the driver. There was a roar of an engine, and I turned just in time to see a small Mazda accelerate into the construction. I had about enough time to cover my eyes as the damage ensued. I was super grateful that the Mazda was only going about 30 KM or so. If it would have been going faster, it would have flipped over completely. The edge of the pit it had fallen into was probably about 12 inches deep, and if it had hit it going any faster, worse badness would have resulted. As it was, however, the car somehow managed to take less damage than either of the vehicles before it.
A little shaken up, Robert, Rett, and I ran and grabbed some spare pylons from the surrounding construction, and started to create a wall in front of the hole, as traffic began to realize that there was actually a hazard. We were luck however, as a bus almost hit the hole, just managing to stop by a couple of feet.
A cop had arrived by then, and expressed his appreciation for our help. He was also able to locate some ‘Road Closed’ signs, farther back up the road, where they had been moved aside by someone unknown. I figure they must have moved them fairly recently. The firefighters were able to state that the entire area had been marked off the night before. But if there were three accidents in under 5 minutes, that would suggest that the signs must have been moved just before we got there.
Anyway, it was a pretty harrowing experience. It is eerie to have accidents occur, not because of other drivers, but because of what you have learned to trust and depend upon. The road itself.
This time the fact that we were late was not our fault.
An update on how our vacation is going…
On Friday we packed up all of the stuff from our two cabins into our one van and hit the road to the southern Oregon coast. Our weekend visit coincided with the annual “Cranberry Festival” in Bandon. Our friends, the Avery family was coordinating the float for the local Republican candidate in the upcoming congressional vote and invited Davison, Heidi, and Mikaela to be part of the float. here is a picture of the float with Davison sort of visible on the right hand side.
Brock hung out with the rest of us watching the parade. He ended up being the only little kid on the street corner, so scored big time on the candy being thrown out (all off which was forgotten in Bandon when we left, which is okay as it wasn’t particularly healthy).
Incidentally, Art Robinson, the republican candidate, is a home-schooling father who wrote his own curriculum which we had purchased probably about 12 years ago.
At Bandon, most of us (except Heidi and Mikaela who stayed with the Averys) stayed in a small cabin by the harbor. It was walking distance to old town Bandon, so a few shopping trips were made to craft booths and to the local farmers market.
We spent Sunday afternoon with a home fellowship in the Bandon area (among whom we have developed strong friendships over the years), then picked up Grandma Dana (who was hanging out with Aunt Marta) in North Bend, and drove up the cost to a rental home in Lincoln City, about a 3 hour drive.
Near the end of our OMSI day, Ewe made it to the turbine hall, where there are a whole lot of really fun activities.
The ball room had lots of air pumps, hoses, and scads of little blue balls which are propelled by air power.
Not much of an activity, but a photo-op was the space suit…
and at the back of the hall, a crane simulation that the boys really enjoyed.
There was so at OMSI that we didn’t get to, that we are planning to go back when we are in the Portland area in another week and a bit.