On Thursday we headed up to Salmon, ID for the
Moultrie Family Reunion. Even though Maddie and I were not feeling well it was a fun trip. This was the view that greeted us when we walked into our motel room. It was right on the river and across from a picnic area. It was beautiful. I loved leaving the sliding door open so we could listen to the river going by.
The kids had a great time. They quickly made friends with their cousins and each one of them had one that was just their age. One of their favorite things to do together was climbing up into the tree house.
Jeni got to ride a horse after the parade but for one reason or another she was the only one that did.
This is
Caden, a cousin just Nathan's age.
Maddie and Kendall had a great time playing together and hunting for
strawberries.
Grace just had fun toddling around. Look out world, here comes Grace!
Nathan had fun playing lawn darts with his new idol - Caleb. He was looking for Caleb the whole last day and tagging along with him whenever he could.
We ended our trip by going up the mountain and into a campground around this little lake. We had fun watching some of the older cousins wade out into the frigid water and catching a fish in a T-shirt!
It was raining a little bit. Jeni was in heaven because I let her play with the umbrella, but it did made it a little tough to gather and hold rocks to throw in the lake.
Getting ready to go. Goodbye everyone and goodbye Salmon! We had a great time.
...things get a little bit messy. There was spagetti all over the girls, all over the table, chairs and floor. They had a wonderful time!
Keri stayed down for a week and then on August 8th we loaded our kids in the car and followed them all back up to Vancouver for a visit of our own. We enjoyed seeing their new house and letting all the kids play together. One day of our trip we went out to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. I love the huge tanks they have where you walk through a tube in the middle of the aquarium. You are surrounded by fish and they have these windows built into the floor so you can also see what is underneath you.
Grace didn't like walking on the windows in the floor so she keep trying to run away and find something else to entertain herself with.
Time for a break!
Another night Keri took our kids and Bob and I went on a dinner cruise on the Willamette River that runs through Portland. It was a really fun way to see the city and a fun date!
Later we went out to Pacific City beach. The weather was perfect and even though the water was cold we still had a great time.
Nathan loved playing in the water this year. Last year he would run away from the waves and hated it when they got him. Not this year!
This is a huge sand dune at one end of the beach. Bob and Jeff took the older kids all the way up while Keri and I entertained the babies down on the beach. Once Nathan finally made it to the top he decided that he needed to roll all the way back down.
Anyway, good times were had by all and we were very sad when the 15th rolled around it was time to say goodbye and make our way back home.
