What do you think? Do you like my clever and creative title for this post? Okay, I guess I'm not in a clever or creative mood today. In the time I've spent up there I've figured out why they call it the "Left" Coast. The important thing is that we did have a nice trip to Washington and Oregon a couple weeks ago, and I thought I ought to post about it, if for nothing more than to let you see some of the cute grand kids. I didn't get any of Kathryn or Trevor because they were so busy getting the house and yard ready. I'd already slowed them enough by just being there. Nor did I get any of Melissa, but that's okay, she didn't get any of me. LOL!
First we went to Kennewick, Washington, to Kathryn and Trevor's new home, where we spent the night and talked them into letting Hallie and Megan go with us to Oregon the next day. I was kind of surprised, but they did, and I'm sure glad.
When we got to Dustin and Tamra's we relaxed the first day and played some games and played with there toys, and even played some Wii, but I didn't get any photos of that.
I hope by now that you know that if you click on a photo you can see it larger.
Hallie helped Tamra with some of the cooking. We did eat really really well on this trip - notice I said "well", not right or healthy. But boy was it good.
The next day happened to be my birthday and we headed out fairly early for the coast around Newport. What a WONDERFUL day that turned out to be. If you're familiar with the Oregon coast you know that it's usually cold and damp and foggy and cloudy. Not that day it was P E R F E C T. The clouds were just right, the temperature warmed up a bit and the tide was out quite a way, allowing for lots of FUN exploring and seeing things some of us had never seen before in the wild.
For example both the girls are holding real live star fish in this photo. Of course we returned them to the ocean after the photo was taken. I'm sure Hallie was off finding some other cool stuff like crabs or anemones or something else fun.
Later on Jeanne and Anna had a chance to share a little private time.
Whether it was the sea or the surf or the exercise or Dustin and Tamra's cooking and preparing, I don't know but we shared one of the absolute best lunches that I have ever had in my whole life - no kidding.
I've kind of reserved this blog post for just pictures of the family, but I did get lots of other really great photos at the beach and if you want to see some of them just visit
my other blog here. I do have to say that with the the beautiful coast, the weather and family it was the best birthday that I can remember in my adult life.
Friday we headed back to Washington with Dustin, Tamra and family in tow, and on Saturday we paid a visit to a local Kennewick park that is right on the shores of the Columbia river.
Davis really enjoyed himself just wandering around all the fun toys.
Avery had a great time in the swing as well as several other toys.
Among other things, the girls really enjoyed this tire swing, where they could be together as they played.
They finally cajoled grandpa (me) to get them swinging and twirling as fast as they could go. You would never guess that Anna has to take motion sickness pills to ride in the car, because she was on this thing for probably close to half an hour.
Seems like Campbell is still working on that correlation between dark jackets and hoodies and being hot. He does love a hat or his hoodies all the time. The rest of us were sweating with just short sleeves. The important thing is he did find some toys that thoroughly entertained him. He had a ball.
Sean was moving so fast around the toys I never caught him until he took a few minutes to repose by the side of the river.
THANK YOU Dustin and Tamra and Kathryn and Trevor for a wonderful trip. And thanks to the Oregon State Patrol welcoming committee for reminding me of my civic duties to obey the speed limit. LOL!!!
