Oregon Trip (early August)

In August, the kids and I, as well as my nephew Donny and my niece Hannah, took a quick one-day trip down to Dallas. We started off with a visit with my Grandma. Donny hadn't seen her in several years, so they enjoyed some catching up. The little kids enjoyed the wheelchair swing and had to be careful not to get it going too high. ;o)

After our visit, we grabbed some Taco Bell for dinner and took it over to the Dallas City Park.

I couldn't believe it when I glanced over and saw Ben drinking his Taco Bell drink this way:

I couldn't believe it because he had done just about the exact same thing, almost exactly three years previous in the EXACT same spot (seriously, just feet from each other! And if you know how big the park is, you know how crazy this is!)! What makes it even weirder is that these are the ONLY two times we've been to the Dallas City Park with the kids and the ONLY times I can ever remember Ben drinking from a cup this way! Ha! (Here's the original post, if you are interested)

Ben at the end of July in 2010

It was hard to pull the kids away from the park - as I said it's very large and they kept wanting to explore (there are multiple play areas and walking trails). But we finally corralled everyone back to the van and headed about 20-25 minutes away to my cousin Jayne's home to spend the night. We hadn't been there in quite some time, as we normally stay at my aunt's house but she was out of town. The kids really had a good time and I enjoyed some extra visiting time with my best friend-cousin, which we've rarely gotten since having kids! And I slept decently well considering my circumstances...sharing a room with SEVEN kids! ;o) In the morning, Jayne's older boys took us on a hike through the woods on their property.

Micah is was such a sweet big brother to his littlest sister Tabitha!

Then we packed up and headed back into town with a quick stop to visit Grandma and then off to the Polk County Fair! On our way there, we took the long way through town so Donny could see his "old stomping grounds" and especially his home. He hadn't been back to Dallas since his father had surprised his family with a move to Montana (the boys were taken straight from summer visitation at my sister's here in Washington to Montana, without getting to pack their own things or say good-bye to friends or to the home they spent their whole lives in up to that point). He told me the visit was almost therapeutic for him and he was very glad he had come and got to see it all again.

The Polk County Fair is the stereo-typical farming country fair if there ever was one. And I LOVE it! :o) I spent many summers with my cousins at the fair - every day it was open and often sleeping in tents in the camping area at night, since my cousins were so involved with 4-H and had animals there. One thing that I think is pretty cool is that there is a HUGE playground (how many fairs have playgrounds?!?) and only three carnival rides...that are almost constantly EMPTY. I'm not joking. These are frugal farm families - they don't do rides. Rides to them are a huge waste of money to them and there is plenty of free, longer-lasting entertainment available. Yup. I love it. I don't think I ever went on a single ride at the Polk County Fair in my entire life. I hope I haven't spoiled my kids too much by letting them do a few of the $1 rides at our Thurston County Fair!

Yes, they actually "kissed" after I took the picture!

Cousins at the fair!

Once again, it was hard to pull ourselves away from the fair and we stayed later than planned, which meant we hit Portland traffic on the way home. :oP But we had so much fun, as always, at my "home away from home," as I fondly felt about that area during my childhood. As I used to say, I may have been born a Washingtonian, but I am an Oregonian at heart! ;o)