Back to Real Life

Here we are. Back from our trip. I'll have to go through all of the pics and post some for you. For now, I'll just give you the top five things we loved about our trip to Oregon.

1) The Scenery. Everywhere you go is just beautiful. We loved the river and the trees. The vineyards and the orchards. The tree farms and the flowers. Everything was just amazingly beautiful and green even though we weren't there during the summer when it is all in bloom.

2) The Safari. It is a drive thru safari where all of the animals roam freely and can walk right up to your car. It was a lot of fun. The drive there. . .well, it was long and wet and we wondered if it would be worth it. It was! The sun came out about 20 minutes after we got there. The kids loved it and so did we.

3) The Van. Totally worth renting. Super nice. When we picked it up it only had 2500 miles on it. Brand new, Dodge Grand Caravan. The Gent wants a mini van now. lol It was perfect for the drive. The kids were so good because one of us sat back there with them and could entertain them. And we could all ride together once we got there which D and The Boy loved!

4) The bridges. So many different kinds and made out of so many different materials. My sister says that she loves to take pictures of the bridges and I can definitely see why. They are everywhere and they were fabulous. Too bad we couldn't stop at every one for pictures. With a car full of kids, sick of driving, stopping for pictures came far and few between :-(

5) Our family :-) L and I have always been so close and when she moved to Oregon we didn't know what to do. Before it was talking on the phone every day, coming over at the spur of the moment and letting the kids play. Now, we talk on the phone sparatically and web cam but it just isn't the same. D and The boy are best buds. I think D will miss The Boy's mauling and hugging every other second. The Boy had to be right by him every step of the way. He had to sit on his lap, give him a hug, kiss him or just touch him every step of the trip and Dariun was just secretly loving, I mean hating it. Dn would tell us every other minute that The Boy wouldn't leave him alone. And it was true! The Boy couldn't get enough of him. It was so good to see them and hang out like we used to. Long drive and all, we're glad we could visit!

We had a great time. I'll bust out the pictures soon! As much fun as it was, we are glad to be home!