Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #64 – Touring & Spending Time with the Grandkids

  

Tuesday, July 9^th, 2019……  Surprisingly, Lydia got up before me, around 7:00am. She got Rylee fed and stayed up. Her double door going in to the craft room doesn’t have a lock on the bottom so Rylee found out she can just push hard enough and it will open!  So, she spent time sleeping with Kate! I can fix it for tonight.

I got up and showered and dressed and walked butthead. I took off to go to Taco Bell to get some breakfast burritos for us and the girls. We ate and they slept in, but did get going around 10:30am. and appreciated the quick and easy meal. My sister came by and we lounged around and visited until after 2:00pm when the twins headed off with Lydia to go grocery shopping. I relaxed and maybe nodded off for a bit. Kirk came by later and worked by himself and got one more section cleared of weeds. It’s a never-ending job! I’m sooo glad we found him!

The girls got back and we got the car unloaded and the stuff put away.  We had steak burritos for dinner and then watched The Great Food Truck Race. This episode was shot in Ft Myers FL and the girls recognized some of the locations. After that, they said they were tired and headed off to bed. We stayed up a little longer but found we were tired too!    

Wednesday, July 10^th, 2019…...  This morning the girls and Lydia headed off to go to the chicken ranch to get eggs.

My sister went with them and then they drove over to the Santiam River by her house.

Once they got back and ate lunch and rested for a while, we took them out to Sweet Home to see Foster Lake and then headed over to Albany to take them to the carousel. First stop was a tour of the woodcarving shop downstairs. In all of the times we have been there, this was the first time we actually got to see the carvers in action. The girls got to see and touch the animals and see them in their beginning stages.

Next, we went to the paint room and they got to see some animals that were nearly done. Once we were done with that, we finally headed to the grand jewel – the carousel!  

After seeing the work in progress downstairs, I think the girls were really impressed with the final products on display. They each had a favorite. Shelby liked Harriet (the frog) and Kate liked Neal (the greyhound). They didn’t want to ride but they did want to go to the store to get souvenirs. They each ended up with postcards of their favorite animals.

Once we got back from that adventure, we rested until dinner. The girls had said that they liked Chinese food, and Kristie, formally from Kevin’s Diner, had moved over to Wing Ming, so we went and ate there. I think the girls liked it, but they said there was WAY too much food! No worries – we took it home for leftovers!

After we got back, we settled in and watched America’s Got Talent and then called it a night.

Thursday, July 11^th, 2019…...  HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF & HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JEFF & KRISTA!!!!  Today’s agenda was already planned out. I was ready to take Rylee out when she spotted a deer in the backyard. I woke the girls and I caught this shot. If you look hard, you can see the deer out the window. 

I got Rylee fed and walked and the girls and Lydia got ready. We loaded up the car (including Rylee) and met my sister at Shirley Mays for breakfast. I had told the girls about the little pancakes they served and ordered one for them!  

Again, everyone got filled up. Yes, we brought bacon out for monster puppy! Next stop was about 40 miles away – Silver Falls. The weather couldn’t have been nicer for a hike today. We paid the parking fee and set out. Lydia walked with us to the rim of the south falls 

and then took Rylee back with her (dogs aren’t allowed on the canyon trails) to go find a place to kick back. Meanwhile, the girls and I headed down the trail. This was a short trail and led to the back of the falls, which you can totally walk under! It was really nice! We took some pics and looked around a bit, 

then headed back up. Again, we found the park’s store and the girls got some more souvenirs, and then we met up with the other two girls and loaded up and headed home.

The plan tonight was set as well. We left the girls at home to rest, and we headed off to Ace Hardware to pick up our wicker rockers, then stopped by Rife’s Furniture and bought that dining room set we had looked at when Rick and Janie were here. We had received a member’s only flyer that had sale prices plus if you spent over $999.00 you got an additional $100.00 off. Even though we were given the sale price earlier, it was the ad that got us to make the purchase.  We came back and I put the rockers on the two chairs and got them set out, then we rested until it was time to go to dinner. We called the kids and wished them happy birthday and anniversary. Sis came by and we all headed off to Coburg Pizza. Both of us had scratch offs that ended up giving us 10% off the total meal. The girls custom ordered their pizza (half and half) and we got our normal order. Of course, we had to have the dessert pizza, which Penny paid for (thanks, Sis!). We went home full and happy and I think all went to bed early after our long day!