Babysitting

It's time to update my blog.  We haven't been on any more RV trips, but we've had a chance to catch up on our Sophie-time.  Yesterday Dave and I had the privilege of babysitting our dear little granddaughter while her mom and dad enjoyed their time away by going to a movie and then to a bookstore. 

Sophie--photo taken by her parents

I'm kind of rusty at my child-care skills, but it's not work when it's your own grandchild, right? We got to hold her all we wanted, play with her, feed her, put her down for a nap, and yes, change her diapers.  It all quickly came back to us! 

The girl likes to eat.   The following three photos were taken by Dave.  I was  too busy to take pictures!

Sophie is five months old now and is great fun to be with.  She's not mobile yet, so we didn't have to worry about child-proofing.  She can turn from her back to her stomach, and did so frequently.  What a girl!

Sophie plays with "Squeaky"

After babysitting for about five hours, Tim and Kiersten came back and took us out to dinner in honor of Dave's birthday which is on Tuesday, September 20.  We were joined by our other son, Jonathan, who came down for the weekend.  We were so happy to spend time with all of them!

Sophie models Uncle Jon's trooper hat

Tonight our sister-in-law, Pam, arrives from Sacramento by way of Spokane.  She will spend a few days with us and we are hoping for sunshine so we can go to Portland's Rose Garden and enjoy some other outdoor activities. 

Motivated by Pam's visit, I gave our house a thorough fall cleaning.  Now I'm all caught up with chores until they start all over again after she leaves!

A Busy Day at Ocean Shores, WA

Today's excursion was an 18-mile drive to Ocean Shores.  We've been here before, but never when it was so crowded.  This is a planned community with a windswept, beachy feel.  Driving on the beach is allowed here.  There were lots of cars on the beach, mostly parked.

Wall-to-wall cars on the beach?  Even though it was crowded, we found a nice spot to sit and eat our picnic lunch.  We enjoyed seeing lots of families enjoying their holiday weekend.  Kites were flying, kids were digging in the sand, and a few brave ones were playing in the cold Pacific Ocean water.  Too soon, we had to leave one of my favorite spots--the beach!

Horse riders were also enjoying the crowded beach.

I liked this kite, an airplane with a rotor.

I also liked this tree, even with all the traffic visible behind the tree.  Cars were leaving, and cars were coming.  What a lively day in Ocean Shores!

Ocean Shores is on the North shore of Grays Harbor and Westport, where we were yesterday, is on the South shore.  Both areas are quite different from each other, and both are worth visiting. 

Back in Hoquiam, I drove out to the National Wildlife Refuge which is located near the airport.  I took a picture of the colorful sign and started on the trail, but then I decided that I was too tired to finish the trail.  Dave and I had gone on a 7.4 mile bike ride around Ocean Shores, and I was all tuckered out. 

I will visit the wildlife refuge another time.  The migrating shore birds visit this area mostly in the spring and the fall, not necessarily on a busy Labor Day weekend!

Hoquiam and Westport, Washington

After officiating his first high school varsity game of the 2011 football season last night, Dave was free for the rest of the Labor Day weekend, so we headed to Hoquiam River RV Park.  This is a new park for us.  It's on the (you guessed it!) Hoquiam River along Highway 101.  For those of you who have visited Forks and Olympic National Park, this park is on the way north on the west fork of 101.   

The RV park is a basic park, with basic gravel sites, but the restrooms, laundry room, and group meeting rooms are nicely kept up.  This park is quiet, just the way we like it!  With our Good Sam discount, we paid $28 per night.  This weekend the park's wifi isn't working, but we have a couple of bars of 3G Verizon cell service, so we are able to access the internet using our phones. 

The Hoquiam River

I wonder if the river really rises this high? 

After hooking up the motorhome, we headed to Westport, a fishing village about 25 miles from the RV park.  Westport was celebrating their annual Seafood and Craft Festival, and we arrived in time to have a late lunch of hot dogs (Dave) and chowder (Carol).  I wasn't hungry enough for the special, a big seafood dinner for $15 or $12 for seniors.  We listened to the band while we ate.

The festival was held on the grounds of the Westport Maritime Museum.

It's always fun to see all the fishing boats at Westport.

It was a picture perfect day in Hoquiam and Westport!

Day Trip to Fort Stevens State Park, OR

The summer heat has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest.  We headed to the coast in order to enjoy some cooler temperatures today.  We didn't have time to get away in the motorhome, so this was a day trip in the car.  Fort Stevens State Park near Astoria, Oregon is about two hours away from where we live.  After loading our bicycles into and onto the car, we left home at 9:30.  We drove west on Highway 26, which is always a nice drive once we get past Portland. 

Our lunch-time view at Seaside

We ate our picnic lunch at the south part of the beach in Seaside.  The weather was cool, windy, and still overcast, so we ate the car, but we enjoyed the beach scenery while we ate.  This part of the beach is rocky, but the beach to the north is sandy.

Another view of the Seaside coast.

From Hammond Basin, looking across Young's Bay north to Washington

As we drove a few miles north on Highway 101 to Fort Stevens, the sun began to peek out and by the time we began our bike ride, the sky was entirely sunny.  We first stopped at the Hammond Basin which is a very big marina with a good view of the Columbia River and all the ships heading in and out of Astoria as well as many seasonal fishing boats.  We discovered that there's a 5-mile paved bike path along the river from Hammond to Warrenton.

The Warrenton bike path along the Columbia River

While the sky was still clearing, we drove to the south jetty at Fort Stevens and climbed up the viewing tower.  It's always cold and windy there, but the good view of the ocean is worth putting on a jacket.

South Jetty viewing tower

View from South Jetty looking north

View from South Jetty looking south

Finally we drove on to our destination, Battery Russell, where we parked the car (for free) and went on a ten mile bike ride on the paths at Fort Stevens and through the campground.  It's a wonderful place to camp and some of the sites even have full hookups. 

Battery Russell

After the bike ride we stopped in Astoria to have an early dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Stephanie's Cabin.  It's located along the Columbia River.  We didn't see any big ships, but we saw a couple of pilot boats coming back to town. 

The wreck of the Peter Iredale ship at Fort Stevens

We arrived back home around 6:30, tired from our long drive and long bike ride, but happy that we had experienced an exhilarating day of sights and activities!

A Week's Worth of Travels

Dave and I have been gone for almost a week, but I haven't had a chance to post a blog.  Well, I've had chances but I chose not to do it--procrastinating again.

Last Thursday we visited our son Jonathan in Bothell.  We stayed at Lake Pleasant RV Park again.  This time we had reservations and needed them because the park was quite full.  Jonathan bought a new-to-him car the day we arrived, so he took us for a ride.

Lynden is a Dutch-themed town.

Friday morning we drove north to Lynden, WA and stayed at Hidden Village RV Park for two nights.  This campground was okay.   The sites are fairly close together are are arranged with two sites facing each other.  That's good since it means we don't have to look at our neighbor's sewer hose, but it's bad if you are friends with the people you are facing.  We happened to be placed next to a large group with one site, four cars, one trailer, one large tent, three dogs, six adults, and numerous children and teenagers.  Even if they were trying to be quiet (they were not) there's no way that the noise couldn't have spilled over to our site.  We tried to change sites, but the park was full.   The reason we chose that park is that we attended a wedding near in nearby Everson.  Jonathan's best friend of eighteen years, our former neighbor, Ryan, married Malorie in a beautiful outdoor wedding at the home of friends on Saturday.  Jonathan was the best man and gave a touching toast to the bride and groom.  Both Ryan's mother and I were moved to tears as Jonathan recounted a few of the adventures that he and Ryan experienced together, as well as meaningful times he spent with both Ryan and Malorie.

Jonathan returning down the aisle after seating the groom's grandmother.

Ryan and Malorie were both German majors and said their vows in German.

While we were in Lynden, I visited the quaint downtown and was again impressed with how clean and neat the town was.  I visited my favorite store there, the Homespun General Store and found out that the store will be moving to a new location across the street.  Flowers were blooming everywhere along the streets.

One of Lynden's spacious, clean streets. 

Sunday morning we had planned to spend a few days in Hoquiam, but on our way south on I-5, we discovered a leak from our toilet.  Added to a computer hardware problem that was waiting for Dave at home, we decided to come on home.  The two problems turned out to be easy to fix (that's my talented husband who's good at fixing things).  On Monday afternoon we were able to head north again, this time only 80 miles north to Centralia.  We are staying at Midway RV Park, but once again it will be time to leave for home on Wednesday morning.  As Dave's football-officiating season gears up, our RV travels will diminish.  We've had a lot of fun times this summer!

Flowers in Lynden 

Rodeo

Last Wednesday night, Dave and I went to the Deschutes County Fair in Redmond, Oregon.  The main event that we attended was the rodeo.  Since the price of the fair ticket ($10 for me, free for Dave since seniors were free on opening day) included the rodeo, we couldn't pass up the chance to go to our first rodeo.  We were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed the rodeo.

The event started promptly at 6:30 pm with the entrance of a limousine containing the emcee, rodeo queens, and some of the better known rodeo participants.

The emcee was a great announcer.  He explained what was happening in each event so that we weren't totally in the dark about the competitions.  This announcer, making no apologies, opened with a prayer in Jesus' name.  Before he prayed, he said, "this is how we do things around here."

The rodeo was patriotic and family oriented.

The rodeo queens were impressive, especially when they rode their horses around the arena.  Look quick, because they go fast!

One of the queens opened the rodeo by singing the national anthem.

A drill team performed...

...and then it was time for the events.  We saw bucking bronco riding, both with saddles and without, calf roping, breakaway calf roping (done by women), and steer wrestling. 

All events happened very quickly and it was hard to snap a picture before the event was over!  We didn't stay for the whole rodeo because we wanted to have some time to see the rest of the fair, but we now have a new sport to follow--rodeo!

The midway rides were run by Funtastic, the carnival that our blogger friends, Ali and Ron, worked for last spring and summer.

This ride looked fun and different:

This fair was a lot of fun, especially since we were camped next door at the RV park and could walk back and forth.