Another Oregon Trip

I know my faithful readers are probably getting tired of reading about our trips to Oregon to visit my relatives. You know the deal by now: visits with my Grandma, staying on my uncle and aunt's farm, a quick visit with cousins, yadda, yadda. Right? And probably all the pictures are starting to look the same by now too and you probably just want to skip over this post, right? So, I decided rather than repeat all the other posts about trips to Oregon, I would try highlight what was different about this trip from the others. So, without further ado, here are things that were different and unique about our recent trip to Oregon earlier this month.

• Hannah, my niece, came along with us this time. It was lots of fun (and quite squishy with three across in the front seat of my mom's car!). 

• Friendly Bull. As we "helped" feed the cows one evening, I found out that it's possible for bulls to be friendly and some even like to be petted...although I suggest not trying this with just any bull! ;o)

• A First. Jake enjoyed his first ice cream cone.

•  Gilbert House. Okay, so stopping at the Gilbert Discovery Village was not different from our last trip (we have to use our free pass as much as we can! :), but we did get to play outside on their coolest-biggest-awesomest-ever playground a lot this time since the weather was warmer than our last trip in March!

• Family Dinner. My aunt Sandi invited some of my cousins over for a big dinner. It is rare that I get to see my cousins Jeff and Alysun and kiddos when we travel to Oregon since they live a bit further south than we usually go, so that was extra fun. My nephew Stephen also joined us for dinner and it's always nice to seem him too since we don't usually get to see him on our trips to Oregon for the same reason (however, he does come visit us fairly often...actually he's hear right now as I type this :).

• Babies. I started the day babysitting my sister Debbie's 3-month-old son Aiden before we headed south, and ended the day meeting my 2-month-old second-cousin Tommy.

• Puzzle. Every time we visit Grandma at her retirement home, there is a different puzzle sitting out in the lounge area that the folks can work on whenever they want. Well, we noticed that this time it was fairly close to being finished and we couldn't resist finishing it off! It took a group effort (Abby did get a few pieces by herself!), but we did it!

• Splitting Up. Instead of going as a big group every time to visit Grandma, we split up for several visits so that those visiting could have a calmer, more focused time and so that the kids didn't have to go back and forth so often. One one such visit, Abby was one who stayed back and she ended up getting to make cookies with Aunt Sandi (and, boy, were they ever delicious!!).

• Apples. Right before we left for home, Uncle Paul starting thinning some of the apples off the tree. Ben thought this was great and joined right in...first by Uncle Paul dumping some on his head (which Ben thought was hilarious :) and then by getting to pick some himself.

And that, my friends, is what was unique and different about this most recent trip to Oregon...it's amazing all that I came up with during an only two-night trip! Actually, it's amazing everything we fit in on such a short trip! And I hope you're glad not to have to see one more "4-wheeler ride with Aunt Sandi" or "walking around the farm" or "playing toys with the cousins" picture. ;o)