Oregon Trip, July 2014--Reunion for Jay's Side

Last Monday we started with a fun week: going to Oregon to have a reunion for all of Jay's siblings, his parents, and his grandma, Manny. We were so excited to have all the family together.

We decided to rent a little "Corolla or similar" from Hertz so we would have cruise control and not have wear and tear on our aging pickup.
I drove away in a 2014 Mustang. They were out of my size, so I got a free upgrade. There were actually a lot of people at the rental place when I went and the guy in front of me was really a jerk, so I suspect that the employees decided to give me the upgrade over him. Be nice to employees. They can get you places.

We took 2 days to travel up there, which was nice. Manny lives near Portland and so Tuesday night we had dinner with her, Andy, Mom, Dad, and Uncle Cory. Little Foot got to see his mom, Annie, so there were family reunions for the humans as well as the pets.

The next day Jay and I went to Cannon Beach and the town surrounding it. The town had a lot of cool little shops. Many were dog friendly and had water outside, which was helpful since the dog came with us. The beach was beautiful and windy. 

That evening we met Natalie, Chad, and their kids. Late that night Amber and Todd and their bunch arrived too, but I was asleep by then.
We spent the next days spending time together at the beach house, eating lots of food, going to Gearhart downtown, and the beach.

My camera had been having problems, so I didn't always have it out, but I wasn't the only one with a camera.

At the beach and the river we went to, Little Foot learned how to dig and swim--2 things he's never actually done before. This old dog is learning new tricks. Hopefully he doesn't use this new found knowledge to dig up the yard or under the fence.

We drove home in 1 day. We were pretty tired by the end because we're wimps and 10.5 hours seems like a lot for us. And then we started playing "spot the tomato." Some produce truck must have been periodically dropping its wares. There were occasional tomatoes here and these for several of our final miles into the city. Either that or the tomatoes are aliens come to take over the planet.

When we were in downtown Gearhart, Chad rented us those pedal-powered "cars" and we biked around. That was fun, though a lot of work. We just had to get some ice cream afterwards, especially for the kids. Actually, the kids couldn't reach the pedals.

At an antique store Andy bought little Seth a hot wheels bus (along with other Hot Wheels in a Ziplock). Seth obsessed over that yellow school bus the rest of the trip! It was very cute :) When I wrapped him up as a burrito (picture somewhere below), I later found that he held onto the bus inside of the blankets the entire time.

Looking out the Mustang window

A lizard at home stopping me from turning on the water.

Sakura played approximately 1 million games of Sorry while we were there--the furnished house had games.
Seth thought he should play too. This is him using the board as a race track. See the little white car?

Little Foot at the beach

Little baby footprints, courtesy of my youngest nephew.

We waded that river

Cousins

Annie, although 14 years old, kept trying to run away and escape back home. She's fast for an old lady!

Happy's position made me laugh so much! She's fighting so hard to stay dry!

Natalie and Happy

Happy is swimming to Jay

This dog has anime eyes. Little Foot has a spot on his back.

Chad was watching his kids across the lake.

Jay and Natalie in the water with Happy while the kids played in the pools in the background.

One child was annoying the other, so I asked if they wanted to be burritos. They did. Guess what? Wrapped like that they got along better.
They were watching Fivel