Our Vacation, Thy Creations, and Our Relations- Part 8

Road Trip!

Goodbye, mist.

Goodbye, covered bridge.

Goodbye, slug. It apparently wanted to come with us but we moved it before we left. 

We drove along the Southern part of the Oregon Coast from California. We also wanted to drive along the Northern part of the Oregon Coast to Washington. So that's what we did. We drove to Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area. We got a kick out of the signs that all called it that. It's not just a natural area, it's an outstanding natural area. I'll be honest. It was outstanding. We spent so much time there looking at birds and seals... and the lighthouse. We didn't even make it down to the tidepools. 

We were able to use Lucky's National Parks Pass to get in the area. I loved it. We got see different kinds of cormorants and we even got to see an oystercatcher- lifer for Jeremy, Nichole, Lucky, and I.

At one point we were watching nesting cormorants (and the nearby seals) and realize that some of the cormorants had eggs and some even had babies in their nests. So awesome.

I love how much the common murres look like penguins, even waddling around... until they take off flying. Not so much like penguins in the air. Tee Hee.

We found out about Yaquina Head Lighthouse because Jr. went there with his cousin and grandparents on his Oregon trip. My parents showed us pictures of the birds they were able to see and get pictures of with just their cell phones. We definitely wanted to go because of that and were not disappointed.

We got to celebrate International Kissing Day and Play Outside Day, July 6.

We drove by the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Wow, that place is busy. Glad we got our cheese curds at Face Rock Creamery. I remember going to the Tillamook Cheese Factory once when I was a kid and it was not like it is now. Huge line of people waiting to go in, overflow parking, crazy busy.

 

We were hoping to stop at Haystack Rock since a few days before we left we introduced a couple of our children to Goonies. Unfortunately, Cannon Beach and even Ecola State Park were so full we didn't stop and only got glimpses of Haystack Rock as we drove by. Oh well. 

We continued up through Astoria, once again pointing out the setting from the movie. We crossed a looooooooong bridge into Washington and took a huge break at the rest area on the other side of the Columbia River before continuing on.

Welcome to Washington.

I told you the doll head made its way around on our trip.

We made it to our final destination of Jeremy's parents' house.

They had a bubble machine to entertain Jet when we got there and root beer floats (one of Jeremy's favorites).

I'll share more of our wonderful vacation later.

Wonder-ful Celebrating

After our crazy Summer with the 7 Wonders of the World Balloon Art Exhibit at Thanksgiving Point's Museum of Ancient Life (you have no idea how many times I said that while making YouTube videos this Summer), and after things calmed down a bit, we got together with the other balloon artists and had a celebration to thank everyone for their hard work.

And of course we couldn't do this sort of celebration without themed food.  So I would like to share with you the foods we had based on the ancient wonders of the world and the modern wonders of the world.

 Hanging Garden Salad with Lite House Dressing

(the salad even had flowers on it)

Golden Apples (because of the Greek myth where Atalanta chooses to follow Artemis but later has to get married because during a footrace she slows down to pick up golden apples her suitor throws in front of her)- for the Temple of Artemis

Zeus Juice (we forgot to get a picture of the pitcher of orange juice we made up for the party- sorry)

Mousse-aleum Cake (okay, so it was chocolate pudding cake, but close enough- we did not feel up to making chocolate mousse with all the other things we were doing)

Colossus of Rhodes Rolls

 Great Pickle Pyramid

 Chichen Itza Pizza (you can even see the shape of the step pyramid on the left pizza)

 Petra Floats

 Colosseum of Croutons

 Egg Roll of China

 Taj Mahal Cheeseball

We wanted to be respectful of the statue of Christ the Redeemer, so we didn't have themed food for that Wonder, but we made sure to say a prayer before we ate.

It was so nice to celebrate with our friends in a relaxed atmosphere where nobody had to be pumping up and twisting balloons.  We just got to eat and chat and play a little Phase 10 toward the end of the evening.

Our family also had it's own little celebration at a different time.  The kids were real troopers this Summer with me dragging them to Thanksgiving Point every week, sometimes multiple times a week.  They were awesome.  So we took them out to the Olive Garden to say Thank you.  Great kids.
It was fun.

Oh, no.  Jr. Jr. says drinking Sprite turns him into a Daddy-eating piranha. 

During the process of preparing this blog post, I realized that with the ancient wonders of the world I blogged about in July, I forgot to put a picture of the balloon Lighthouse of Alexandria.  It should have been between the Colossus of Rhodes and the Great Pyramid of Giza.  Oh, silly me.  So here is that picture of the Lighthouse of Alexandria for your balloon viewing enjoyment.

I Love Second Chances

I mentioned in August that I didn't have time on National Lighthouse Day to make the mini lighthouse from FamilyFun Magazine.  Well, lucky me, September 14th is the anniversary of when the first lighthouse in America was lit in Boston in 1716.  Hurray.  We had enough time for planning this time.
This project was also in the August 2011 issue of FamilyFun Magazine.

We made 2 1/2 lighthouses.  The 1/2 is because halfway through making his, Jr. Jr. decided he was tired and wanted to go to sleep.  So we paused and as soon as I got him down from the table, he started running around with the other kids.
I put on Pete's Dragon (because a lighthouse has a big part in it) and the kids sat down to watch.  Pretty soon, Jr. Jr. leaned over and fell asleep on the couch.

We paused the movie and the older kids finished their lighthouses (with some help from Mom).

They did a great job.

I love finding reasons to celebrate.