Oregon vacation, and Isaac.
A long post with many detials on the family vacation to a reunion in Oregon and Idaho. Also a note about a Hurricane.
Vacation to Oregon and Idaho 2012: Where yet another family reunion takes us out of town.
This is the second family reunion of the year that we have attended. The first was for Peytons Dad’s family. This one was my Moms family. Of course it is much more time and expense to get out to my folks in Oregon so we took a week and a half inspite of the crazy amount of demands on my time due to work. Fortunately we made plans far enough in advance when I wasn’t suppose to be busy my boss let me go anyway. I also didn’t have to work which was good since half the time I didn’t have good cell reception or internet, sometimes neither.
Wednesday, Aug 1st. We took off late in the day, had about a 6pm flight. It went well enough, a few delays through the airport and we didn’t get to Boise till after midnight which all things considered isn’t too bad. We stopped in Denver at the same terminal as always, ate at a fancy sort of restaurant, I can’t remember the name but we often eat there when going through Denver. The food is good, I just never want to pay that price. We finally got to bed around 2. Portia was excited that we got to fly on two planes. She really likes planes.
Thursday, We took advantage of the fact that we didn’t have to do anything and were close to Grandmas to pop over to her place and go watersliding. Due to the fact that we got in so late and like to watch Olympics we didn’t get there until right around the girls nap time. This was also caused by a shopping trip for groceries since we were warned it is not as well stocked as in our youth. Due to fewer visitors and grandmas diet there is not a lot for the crowds that any of our families constitute.
The watersliding was fun. I went down with Portia and then Loreley. Portia did not enjoy the first trip, too fast and unexpected. Loreley didn’t cry but was obviously caught of guard and didn’t know what to think. Loreley then went in for a nap but Portia stayed out to play. It took a while for her to warm up to it but by the time she was cold from the water she was quite enjoying the experience. It went from her crawling down the entire length the first time to a quick push off and a good slide and enjoying me scooping her up at the end. Laena got a few pictures and her an Patrick had a lot fo good sliding. Mom and Grandma enjoyed the show.
Friday, We took advantage of the proximity to some old friends and got to see Valerie…used to be Dame in the morning. Our kids got to play with her kids. Portia had fun with a girl her age and the other two kids enjoyed playing on the playset across from Laena. Much later in the afternoon we finally the rest of my family show up for the trip up to Hagerman where the Hatch family reunion was. Unfortunately we didn’t quite make it to the airport when we blew a tire. The worst part was the tire had the audacity to hit the cooling lines running back to the rear heater in the van and spill coolant all over the road. That caused a lot of delay and rearranging, eventually resulting in my dad riding back in a tow truck to fix the van while we drove up to Hagerman in the Mercury, arriving at midnight. Another long day.
Saturday, the reunion was in full effect. I always enjoy the hot breakfasts and good meals. The food is there all day for snacking and the meals are good with planty of options and food. I usually manage to get stuff though not always at the time I would like. The drinks could have improved this year, there was a lot of tang. I played Volleyball and Portia really enjoyed a game where you through bolos at a gate with three rails. She of course cheated, or rather played by her own rules but she really enjoyed them. At the end of the day we had the program where Peyton and I had some special parts. It was kind of a fun program that people enjoyed. It was short but still too long for Grandma which was having throat problems evidently. Fortunately we had video.
Sunday, Yet another nice breakfast with crepes. This was time for people to pack up and go home. There were lots of staggered departures. We were on the later side. It was a lazy morning with a little more fun. On the ride home Peyton dozed while Mom and I talked the whole way. I am kind of excited about the prospects of her plans with the flowers. I hope things work out for her. It will take a few years but might turn into something really good for her. We wound up staying at Moms, not ideal since we had only half our stuff, but at least we got to bed before midnight.
Monday, whitewater rafting day 1. We had another blowout on the way up to horseshoe bend. Evidently 8 years is the maximum for tires, they just don’t last after that. Fortunately this time there was no coolant lines to bust open so a quick change and we were back on the road. We started at beehive and had a lazy float down the river. It was largely uneventful and boring for the majority of it. That meant however we got to take Portia. It was a little difficult dealing with her in the raft but she loved getting out in and being in the water. I got to Kayak a little and took her through a small rapid, just a few ripples. She seemed to enjoy that well enough, again though she really enjoyed the river and playing in the water. The last rapid got me, I charged into it but got stuck and before I could figure out how to get unstuck the river figured it out for me. Not a bad day but we wore out a couple of kids. They did enjoy the cookout that evening and Portia had a great time chasing cats with a beach ball.
Tuesday, We return to the river, barely. There was actually a fire up by banks and by the time we were ready to leave the road was blocked beyond the parking lot where our car was parked. I Kayaked down the river which did not go near as well as I hoped. I got dumped out a couple times, I really struggled getting back in the Kayak, the life-preserver didn’t do me any favors. I honestly didn’t know which was trying harder to kill me the Life preserver or the river. I don’t think I am going to try that again until I get a life-jacket that fits and a little practice with the Kayak. It was still fun, I was just done with the whole life jacket thing by the end. We got a much later start than planned also which frustrated Peyton. She isn’t used to the fact that none of the plans made by my family work out as planned. I think the percentage of completion has improved since my youth even if the smoothness of the plan hasn’t. We managed to hit a couple of restaurants and I was able to game with Kyle although it kept us up way past bedtime since they have really odd hours.
Wednesday, we had the opportunity to visit with the Heidbrinks. It was good to see them again. Their lives are always full of some drama or another; I don’t know how they deal with it. It seems always at least one of them is trying to find work and half of them are fighting battles at work. There are also plenty of other little battles they are fighting. It is always good to see them though, they certainly keep busy. I think a fair amount of the day was just play catch up.
Thursday, we were scheduled to go to Omas house and play all day. We didn’t get the early start that I wanted but we did get there by lunch. We din’t get around to playing games because we were to busy playing with kids but I did make pizza including a goat cheese and chicken with artichoke hearts for my Oma and Tante Tina that turned out really good. Another thing that happened was I got another truck. We finally put Opa’s old truck in my name. Since he had a stroke he won’t be driving it anymore and Oma wanted to downsize a the things she has to keep track off. We also got to Skype with Marianne. Peyton took a moment to pop over to the Dames who it was fun to talk to but we had to impose on a little bit since Loreley had a major blowout. Fortunately since they have so many grandkids they were well prepared for the eventuality. Peyton and I then went and caught a showing of Batman which I thought was a good end to the trilogy. Didn’t quite strike the cord that number two did and it didn’t quite excite me as much as number one but definitely was worth seeing and I enjoyed it.
Friday, a game day at moms. We actually got to play a few games while the kids were napping. Laena has a lot of fun games. We enjoyed playing them while we made bread pudding out of a glut of hotdog buns. It turned out quite well in spite of the fact we forgot sugar. Pretty much everybody enjoyed it. I enjoy playing tabletop games and wish we had more opportunities to do so. After we put the kids to bed Peyton and I went to the drive in where we were joined by Laena. It was a double feature of Brave and Spiderman. Brave we had already seen and while not the greatest Disney film was good enough that we wanted to stay up late and see it again. I really enjoy the 3 little boys who wreak all sorts of havoc. I thought it was done well. Spider man I still didn’t enjoy. There were some elements I thought were well done, some things I enjoyed, many things I didn’t. Peyton summed it up pretty good with I don’t know why they felt they needed to do it again. I still haven’t found a spiderman movie that I truly like.
Saturday was the flight home. It was a later flight and the drop off at the airport went fairly well. The girls were again well behaved and Portia really enjoyed flying on the plane. Neither of the girls slept particularly well but on the last flight we were able to spread out. I had a row with just me and Portia and Peyton had one with just her and Loreley. The biggest hiccup was the Denver airport where we tried to mix up the food option but that didn’t work for us very well. We were also crammed in a little end of the airport with 2 flights getting ready to leave at the same time. We got home around midnight, again the girls were well behaved, we went straight to bed and had a lazy morning to recover from the long travels.
As I type this I am experiencing Hurricane Isaac who is not particularly well behaved. In one sense this is good because it never really got organized to gather a lot of strength. On the other hand it has been giving the hurricane center a miserable time to try and track. Right now it seems to be stalled to the south of us. That is not a good scenario. It continues to pummel areas that are not ready for an extended battle, the best part about hurricanes is how well they travel and move on and therefore die out over land. We are not getting the brunt of it but sitting just north of the hurricane is not the best position to be in. We are some of the lucky few who continue to have power at the moment. I don’t know how much longer that will last. Hopefully the hurricane moves on. It will be interesting to see how this progresses. I don’t think we will have too much trouble in our area. South of us however is certainly another matter. We just had an inch of rain over the last hour, this will not be pleasant if it lasts all night.
Hopefully the next post will be shorter and sooner.
Vacation to Oregon and Idaho 2012: Where yet another family reunion takes us out of town.
This is the second family reunion of the year that we have attended. The first was for Peytons Dad’s family. This one was my Moms family. Of course it is much more time and expense to get out to my folks in Oregon so we took a week and a half inspite of the crazy amount of demands on my time due to work. Fortunately we made plans far enough in advance when I wasn’t suppose to be busy my boss let me go anyway. I also didn’t have to work which was good since half the time I didn’t have good cell reception or internet, sometimes neither.
Wednesday, Aug 1st. We took off late in the day, had about a 6pm flight. It went well enough, a few delays through the airport and we didn’t get to Boise till after midnight which all things considered isn’t too bad. We stopped in Denver at the same terminal as always, ate at a fancy sort of restaurant, I can’t remember the name but we often eat there when going through Denver. The food is good, I just never want to pay that price. We finally got to bed around 2. Portia was excited that we got to fly on two planes. She really likes planes.
Thursday, We took advantage of the fact that we didn’t have to do anything and were close to Grandmas to pop over to her place and go watersliding. Due to the fact that we got in so late and like to watch Olympics we didn’t get there until right around the girls nap time. This was also caused by a shopping trip for groceries since we were warned it is not as well stocked as in our youth. Due to fewer visitors and grandmas diet there is not a lot for the crowds that any of our families constitute.
The watersliding was fun. I went down with Portia and then Loreley. Portia did not enjoy the first trip, too fast and unexpected. Loreley didn’t cry but was obviously caught of guard and didn’t know what to think. Loreley then went in for a nap but Portia stayed out to play. It took a while for her to warm up to it but by the time she was cold from the water she was quite enjoying the experience. It went from her crawling down the entire length the first time to a quick push off and a good slide and enjoying me scooping her up at the end. Laena got a few pictures and her an Patrick had a lot fo good sliding. Mom and Grandma enjoyed the show.
Friday, We took advantage of the proximity to some old friends and got to see Valerie…used to be Dame in the morning. Our kids got to play with her kids. Portia had fun with a girl her age and the other two kids enjoyed playing on the playset across from Laena. Much later in the afternoon we finally the rest of my family show up for the trip up to Hagerman where the Hatch family reunion was. Unfortunately we didn’t quite make it to the airport when we blew a tire. The worst part was the tire had the audacity to hit the cooling lines running back to the rear heater in the van and spill coolant all over the road. That caused a lot of delay and rearranging, eventually resulting in my dad riding back in a tow truck to fix the van while we drove up to Hagerman in the Mercury, arriving at midnight. Another long day.
Saturday, the reunion was in full effect. I always enjoy the hot breakfasts and good meals. The food is there all day for snacking and the meals are good with planty of options and food. I usually manage to get stuff though not always at the time I would like. The drinks could have improved this year, there was a lot of tang. I played Volleyball and Portia really enjoyed a game where you through bolos at a gate with three rails. She of course cheated, or rather played by her own rules but she really enjoyed them. At the end of the day we had the program where Peyton and I had some special parts. It was kind of a fun program that people enjoyed. It was short but still too long for Grandma which was having throat problems evidently. Fortunately we had video.
Sunday, Yet another nice breakfast with crepes. This was time for people to pack up and go home. There were lots of staggered departures. We were on the later side. It was a lazy morning with a little more fun. On the ride home Peyton dozed while Mom and I talked the whole way. I am kind of excited about the prospects of her plans with the flowers. I hope things work out for her. It will take a few years but might turn into something really good for her. We wound up staying at Moms, not ideal since we had only half our stuff, but at least we got to bed before midnight.
Monday, whitewater rafting day 1. We had another blowout on the way up to horseshoe bend. Evidently 8 years is the maximum for tires, they just don’t last after that. Fortunately this time there was no coolant lines to bust open so a quick change and we were back on the road. We started at beehive and had a lazy float down the river. It was largely uneventful and boring for the majority of it. That meant however we got to take Portia. It was a little difficult dealing with her in the raft but she loved getting out in and being in the water. I got to Kayak a little and took her through a small rapid, just a few ripples. She seemed to enjoy that well enough, again though she really enjoyed the river and playing in the water. The last rapid got me, I charged into it but got stuck and before I could figure out how to get unstuck the river figured it out for me. Not a bad day but we wore out a couple of kids. They did enjoy the cookout that evening and Portia had a great time chasing cats with a beach ball.
Tuesday, We return to the river, barely. There was actually a fire up by banks and by the time we were ready to leave the road was blocked beyond the parking lot where our car was parked. I Kayaked down the river which did not go near as well as I hoped. I got dumped out a couple times, I really struggled getting back in the Kayak, the life-preserver didn’t do me any favors. I honestly didn’t know which was trying harder to kill me the Life preserver or the river. I don’t think I am going to try that again until I get a life-jacket that fits and a little practice with the Kayak. It was still fun, I was just done with the whole life jacket thing by the end. We got a much later start than planned also which frustrated Peyton. She isn’t used to the fact that none of the plans made by my family work out as planned. I think the percentage of completion has improved since my youth even if the smoothness of the plan hasn’t. We managed to hit a couple of restaurants and I was able to game with Kyle although it kept us up way past bedtime since they have really odd hours.
Wednesday, we had the opportunity to visit with the Heidbrinks. It was good to see them again. Their lives are always full of some drama or another; I don’t know how they deal with it. It seems always at least one of them is trying to find work and half of them are fighting battles at work. There are also plenty of other little battles they are fighting. It is always good to see them though, they certainly keep busy. I think a fair amount of the day was just play catch up.
Thursday, we were scheduled to go to Omas house and play all day. We didn’t get the early start that I wanted but we did get there by lunch. We din’t get around to playing games because we were to busy playing with kids but I did make pizza including a goat cheese and chicken with artichoke hearts for my Oma and Tante Tina that turned out really good. Another thing that happened was I got another truck. We finally put Opa’s old truck in my name. Since he had a stroke he won’t be driving it anymore and Oma wanted to downsize a the things she has to keep track off. We also got to Skype with Marianne. Peyton took a moment to pop over to the Dames who it was fun to talk to but we had to impose on a little bit since Loreley had a major blowout. Fortunately since they have so many grandkids they were well prepared for the eventuality. Peyton and I then went and caught a showing of Batman which I thought was a good end to the trilogy. Didn’t quite strike the cord that number two did and it didn’t quite excite me as much as number one but definitely was worth seeing and I enjoyed it.
Friday, a game day at moms. We actually got to play a few games while the kids were napping. Laena has a lot of fun games. We enjoyed playing them while we made bread pudding out of a glut of hotdog buns. It turned out quite well in spite of the fact we forgot sugar. Pretty much everybody enjoyed it. I enjoy playing tabletop games and wish we had more opportunities to do so. After we put the kids to bed Peyton and I went to the drive in where we were joined by Laena. It was a double feature of Brave and Spiderman. Brave we had already seen and while not the greatest Disney film was good enough that we wanted to stay up late and see it again. I really enjoy the 3 little boys who wreak all sorts of havoc. I thought it was done well. Spider man I still didn’t enjoy. There were some elements I thought were well done, some things I enjoyed, many things I didn’t. Peyton summed it up pretty good with I don’t know why they felt they needed to do it again. I still haven’t found a spiderman movie that I truly like.
Saturday was the flight home. It was a later flight and the drop off at the airport went fairly well. The girls were again well behaved and Portia really enjoyed flying on the plane. Neither of the girls slept particularly well but on the last flight we were able to spread out. I had a row with just me and Portia and Peyton had one with just her and Loreley. The biggest hiccup was the Denver airport where we tried to mix up the food option but that didn’t work for us very well. We were also crammed in a little end of the airport with 2 flights getting ready to leave at the same time. We got home around midnight, again the girls were well behaved, we went straight to bed and had a lazy morning to recover from the long travels.
As I type this I am experiencing Hurricane Isaac who is not particularly well behaved. In one sense this is good because it never really got organized to gather a lot of strength. On the other hand it has been giving the hurricane center a miserable time to try and track. Right now it seems to be stalled to the south of us. That is not a good scenario. It continues to pummel areas that are not ready for an extended battle, the best part about hurricanes is how well they travel and move on and therefore die out over land. We are not getting the brunt of it but sitting just north of the hurricane is not the best position to be in. We are some of the lucky few who continue to have power at the moment. I don’t know how much longer that will last. Hopefully the hurricane moves on. It will be interesting to see how this progresses. I don’t think we will have too much trouble in our area. South of us however is certainly another matter. We just had an inch of rain over the last hour, this will not be pleasant if it lasts all night.
Hopefully the next post will be shorter and sooner.