What a way to start the Summer! In June Justin and I were able to go up to Oregon for Grandma Sellers funeral. It was actually a happy event. We have been praying for Grandma to go home to her family members that are waiting for her on the other side. It was a beautiful service acknowledging Grandma's accomplishments throughout her life. It was also like having a Sellers family reunion. All of the Girl Grandkids sang a musical number "I often go walking" and the boys were able to be the Paulbearers. It was fun to be able to see all the cousins that we rarely get to see. We love you and will miss you GRANDMA !!
We were able to take a trip up to Reservation Lake which is about 4 hours away from us to go camping. The lake was BEAUTIFUL !! We were supposed to spend 2 nights there but it ended up only being one. Talan decided to get sick in the middle of the night and didn't want to chance it the next night. He tends to go down hill really fast. It was fun, but next time I don't think we will go that far. As you can see Talan wasn't liking one second of camping. The girls were so excited to go fishing in the lake. They were hooked once they caught their first fish. As you can see Quincy was so hesitant to touch that fish, but was going to do it no matter what, and there was no way Kalei was going to put a finger close to that slimy thing. Do you blame her ?!?!
The first big official summer trip was going up to Utah for the 4th of July festivities. My sister and I attempted the long drive with all 4 of the kiddies. The drive wasn't too bad, they did very well. We stayed with my sister Malia and her husband Brad in Orem. My mom, dad and uncle Ben surprised us a couple days later and drove up to spend the 4th of July with us. We had a lot of fun attending the parade and watching the fireworks.
We took the kids to Park City where Malia and Kalei attempted the new roller coaster ride up by the Alpine slide. I was a little bit nervous for Kalei to go on it but she LOVED every second of it. The ride slowly takes you up to the top of the ski lift and once you get to the top you make a turn and book it all the way down the roller coaster as fast as you can. I thought it was a little scary myself, but I would much rather do that than the Alpine slide. So if you ever take a trip that way, try the roller coaster ride versus the alpine slide !!
Of course, there was a lot of this on that trip.....but as long as he was eating he was a happy camper !!
In August the David Young family had a little reunion with all the siblings and their families. We decided to attempt the drive up to Oregon and take some time to do fun things with the kids along the way. We took the long way up going along the coast of California. It was so pretty, the weather was beautiful. It took us about 31/2 days to get to our final destination. BUT, it was so much fun being able to spend time with the kids and do some fun things as a family.
1st PIT STOP.... was Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, CA. There are so many things to see and do at this aquarium. It sits right on the coast in Monterey. It is very interactive for the kids. The kids enjoyed the touch pools, where they got to see and feel the kinds of animals you would find in the ocean.
After going through the aquarium we took a pit stop at the Nestle Toll House Cafe down the street for a yummy treat !! They have the best ice cream sandwiches. You get to pick whatever 2 cookies you want and then any flavor of ice cream for the middle. Needless to say the were DIVINE !!
2nd PIT STOP was in Bandon, OR.....we stopped at the "West Coast Game Park". They had a huge petting area with all kinds of wild safari animals. We were able to buy animal food and feed most of the animals. The kids were also able to hold a couple week old Oselot. He was so cute !! One funny story...they had a huge Chimpanzee there with a sign by their cage that says something like "caution, do not taunt the animals, when they get excited they throw things including their own fecies." Well some visitors next to us decided to taunt the animals and guess what happened...you better believe it...they chucked their own POOP at them. It was pretty disgusting !! Note to self...do not taunt the Chimpanzees !!
3rd PIT STOP.....Coos Bay, OR.....we took a little hike down to the tide pools at the beach to look for some animals. We didn't see much, just a dead crab and a bunch of anemenes. BUT, we still had fun...who wouldn't, it's the BEACH!
4th PIT STOP...was in Lincoln City, OR....where we met Jacob, Morgan, Sage & Keiger at the Aquarium. I must say it doesn't really compare to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which was awesome...but it was still a lot of fun. The kids were excited to FINALLY see some of their cousins. However, they did get to see some Sea Lions swimming back and forth in the water, which they quite enjoyed. They also had some fun glass tunnels that you could walk through and see the fish swimming all around you, along with some more touch and feel pools.
LAST and not least we had to take a slight detour up to the Tillamock cheese factory before making it to our final destination in Salem, OR. Unfortunately, we made it there a little too late to see everything in production. We did get to watch them package up HUGE blocks of cheese and of course had to pick up some cheese curds and YUMMY ice cream on the way out. They do have the best peanut butter chocolate ice cream !!
LAST and not least we had to take a slight detour up to the Tillamock cheese factory before making it to our final destination in Salem, OR. Unfortunately, we made it there a little too late to see everything in production. We did get to watch them package up HUGE blocks of cheese and of course had to pick up some cheese curds and YUMMY ice cream on the way out. They do have the best peanut butter chocolate ice cream !!
FINALLY...after all that driving we made it to our final destination SALEM, OR!! We were ready to see the rest of the family and start our fun little reunion with everyone. Due to some bad weather we had to change our plans from camping by Mt Hood to staying in a friends condo in Eagle Crest, OR...which was AWESOME !! We didn't really care where we were as long as we were able to be together. There were a lot of fun things to do in Eagle Crest including games outside, hikes to the waterfalls, swimming in the community pool/huge splash pad and of course lots of laughs and giggles.
After our little trip to Eagle Crest we headed up to Portland for the OMZI childrens museum. They had dinosaurs on exhibit at that time. We were able to go to the planetarium and learn about the planets and our solar system. They had a huge kids area for them to wander around doing different activities from playing in sand, playing in water, making fun crafts, playing house etc. You name it they had it. I think we spent a huge majority of our time in the play area. So much for the dinasours. It was very entertaining and as long as they were having fun who cares !! Another day we went to the State Fair in Salem. We took the kids to a little clown show that was fun and then to an awesome acrobatic show. Of course we had some yummy fair food and checked out all of the animals. The kids topped off the long week by going fishing !!
A BIG THANKS to Nani & Papa for making this happen. We had such a fun trip !! What a way to end the SUMMER !! :) Here is our family picture from the photo shoot we had while we were there. What a good lookin' family !! :)
