Vacation Part 8 - Papa, Grandma & G-G in Oregon

After the trip west and a week with my family, we traveled to Southern Oregon to visit with Paul's family.

Nathaniel loved to go in the spa with Grandma G-G (FYI they set their spa at the temperature of a pool, so it is not hot. I figured mom's like me would want to know that).

Paul's mom celebrated her 60th birthday while we were in Rogue River! We had a "surprise" birthday party for her in the park.

Eating lunch at the Station in Rogue River for Grandma G-G's birthday! The strawberry shortcake it a MUST HAVE!!!!

Nate teaching Grandma G-G how to play xylophone! :-)

G-G teaching Nate how to play the guitar! :-)

Vacation Part 7 - Visiting With Friends

Although our focus for our trip was spending quality time with family, we had the priviledge of visiting with some very dear friends.

Toby...I mean Abdiel & Ashley Robles! :-) Nathaniel was convinced that Abdiel's name was Toby and he wouldn't believe anything different. The funny part is, Nathaniel doesn't know anyone named Toby!

The amazing Zach & Tabitha Badley and their beautiful new little baby Sterling!

My sweet friend, Cheryl and her adorable new baby girl Lauren!

Bob & Cheryl are Associate Pastor at a church near Rogue River. We are so blessed to call them friends!

We were surprised to run into Rusty at the Station! It was great to see him again. Such silly boys!

We had a picnic in the park with Augustus & Karlie Garcia AND their 5 girls!! Nathaniel was in heaven!

Nathaniel and the girls feeding the geese....

...and still feeding them...

It was great to see our long time friend Melisma the afternoon before we left Oregon.

We truly are blessed with such wonerful people in our lives!

Vacation Part 6 - Great Grandpa and Great Grandma

One of the most important stops on our trip was visiting with my Grandparents. My grandma had a stroke this last spring, and I was very anxious to see and spend time with her. We were so thankful for how well she is recovering! Thank you Lord!

Nathaniel really loves his Great Grandparents! Great Grandpa helped him put together an airplane!

Nathaniel likes to smile and say cheese for a second and then quickly look away. As you can see from his smile, this is exactly what he was doing in the picture.

Of course he looks at the camera when he is being silly with a sticker on his nose!

Vacation Part 5 - Grandma Amen, Clare and the Baseball Game

It is always a wonderful time when we are with Grandma Amen (my mom)! Nathaniel just adores her (and so do we)! This visit we visited our dear family friends, Joan & Dave, and went to Nathaniel's very first baseball game!

Nate made another friend. He just loves dogs, and they love him too!

Visiting with Joan at her home. The Robinsons are very special to our family.

Nathaniel at the baseball game. Go Tacoma Rainers!!!

Notice we are representing my son's obsession of Mt Rushmore :-)

CRACKER JACKS BABY!

Nathaniel having his very first taste of cotton candy. Paul kept saying, "Don't forget we need to double brush his teeth before bed." Stink! We forgot!!

Ok, so as I said before, my kid is terrified of people dressed up as characters. Rhubarb the mascot for the Rainers was no exception. He didn't even have to be close for him to start screaming and crying. As you can see from my face, I am trying not to laugh, and of course Paul just wants to make sure to get a picture of it! :-)

Our first baseball game as a family! I promise Nate loved it, although he doesn't look like it in this picture.

Vacation Part 4 - Papa Goodell and Jim

We were able to spend some time with Papa Goodell (my dad) and Jim. Nathaniel was so excited to see them and spent much of his time saying their names just to get their attention and asking to go to their house!

Meeting Papa Goodell at Ivars for lunch in Seattle. Nate ran up to him and gives him and hug and says "I'm Nathaniel!"

Nate's mask from lunch. I thought it was pretty cute!

Papa and Jim gave him a dinosaur. When you hug it or squeeze it's stomach it roars. Nate loves it!

Nate's favorite place to sit at Red Robin was right in between Papa and Jim! :-) While we were waiting for our meal, someone dressed up as the Red Robin came around to visit with kids. Nate is terrified of characters dressed up like that. Luckily the person got the picture and went out of sight.

Nathaniel was telling Papa a very important story. He was very passionate about what he was saying!

Vacation Part 3 - Auntie Heather, Uncle Alvin & Lois Lane (the Pug)

We drove straight to my sister's & bro-in-law's house the second day driving. We spent several days at their house and had such a great time! I noticed as I was going through my pictures that I don't have any pictures of Alvin. :-( I must be because he was always whipping up incredible dinners for us! (The pictures did not upload in order.)

Auntie Heather bought this shirt for Nate at Pikes Place Market in Seattle!

Auntie Heather enjoying a Pumpkin Cookie

Nate and his Starbucks teddy bear from the Original Starbucks

Nate and Auntie. Do you see the hand on the hip? That is a little boy with attitude!

On the waterfront on Lake Union, waiting for Ivars

A must stop while in Seattle

The sister, me, my mom, Lois Lane (the Pug) and Nate on the Everett waterfront

My beautiful boy!!

Nathaniel LOVED to give Lois kisses!

More kisses

Nate making friends at the park. He is quite the social bug!

The coolest swings I have ever seen! Swinging with Auntie Heather!

Daddy enjoying the swings too!

Vacation Part 2 - Still Driving

After driving over 950 miles in one day, we stopped in Kellogg, ID for the night.

The next day (July 27th) we left early to meet my Aunt & Uncle in Spokane for breakfast! Nathaniel with is Great Aunt Joyce and Great Uncle Allan

Vacation Part 1 - The Driving

The day was July 26th...
The time was 4:45 AM...
The place was our van...

The most incredible little 2-year-old traveler

Playing Peek-A-Boo

Look! He's peeking!

The not-so-enthusiastic driver :-)

Vacation Stats

We are back from our first vacation since moving to Nebraska. We spent the last 2 1/2 weeks visiting our family in Washington and Oregon. Here is a little about our trip. Pictures coming soon! :-)

Our Vacation stats:

• We left at 4:45 AM on Monday, July 26th and returned home at about 10 PM on Friday, August 13th.
• We drove approx 4,000 miles.
• We traveled through Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado.
• 1 speeding ticket was issued in the state of Wyoming. I will not mention that it was Paul...oops! I just did!
• We stayed in 3 different hotels - 1 on the way there (Kellogg, ID), 2 on the way home (Salt Lake City, UT and Steamboat Springs, CO) .
• We stayed at 3 family members houses - My sister & mom in WA; Paul's parents in Oregon.
• We had 2 oil changes - 1 in Billings, MT and 1 in Denver, CO.
• We had to have 1 tire replaced in Denver, CO. Somewhere along the way we had a nail puncture our tire straight through. We didn't notice it had happened and we feel blessed that God kept us safe while we traveled. The total cost to replace the tire was only $32 because it was under warranty from Costco! :-) Gotta love Costco.
• I did laundry 4 times (total of 7 loads) to come home with almost all clean clothes.
• Other than sunburns from being on the beach in OR, we all remained very healthy on the trip! PTL!
• Nathaniel is a dream when it comes to travelingr! He was so content riding in his car seat. He played with his toys, slept, danced to music, played I-Spy with mommy and was just all around great to travel with! Every morning he would get up and say, "Go bye-bye?" :-) Nate even continued to be successful with potty training on the road. Every stop I would take him to the bathroom right away and 98% of the time his Pull up was completely dry! Go Nathaniel!!! :-)
• We had such a great time with friends and family on our trip, yet we were so excited to get back home again!