Oregon Trip

The kids and I spent the past three days down in Oregon, staying at my Uncle and Aunt's farm. We had multiple reasons for our visit: (1) my sister had a court hearing over parenting plan issues that I had been helping her with, (2) the annual Valentine's Party my aunt hosts for all the little cousins and their mamas, and (3) visiting with my Grandma.

Some of the highlights were:

• The court hearing went about as well as we could have expected and we now await the judge's ruling by mail.
• We had fun visiting with Stephen after the hearing and Abby was pretty impressed with his motorcycle.
  

• Lunch at Abby's Pizza with my Grandma before my Dad and sister headed back to WA. Abby loved spotting her name all over the restaurant and Ben especially loved the long walk back to great-Grandma's retirement home. Great-Grandma was very impressed that Ben ran the WHOLE way!
  

• Fun on the farm: chasing Fluffy the cat, feeding the cows some hay, swinging, jumping on the trampoline, making Valentine's cards with Aunt Sandi, taking a bath in the pink bathtub, and more!
  

• Another visit with Grandma in the evening. Abby gave great-Grandma a concert, singing about 10 songs for her. Ben happily clapped along and kept saying, "More, more!" :)
  

• And, of course, the annual Valentine's party with all the little cousins. Abby loved decorating the cookies and interacting with all her cousins. Unfortunately, my cousin Jayne and her three children couldn't come because of illness, but I did get just about the best picture I've taken so far of the little cousins with everybody looking and smiling...except Ben who was having a horrible day (teething, I think). We're already looking forward to next year! :o)

• Our best car ride back from Oregon yet! No stops, no traffic, Ben slept from Salem until home and Abby even took a nap for the last hour.