My Fantastic-Wish-It-Wasn't-Over Vacation!

So my vacation was so incredibly busy, that I didn’t stop to “twitter” as much as I thought I would…hence, I have a really long blog to let you all in on the wonderful time I had traveling to, staying in and coming home from Oregon! Hopefully you’ll enjoy reading it because I sure enjoyed remembering it!

I left out on June 26th…Max was tied in his doggie booster seat in the front passenger seat. Jonathan was in the back seat with his DVD player and box of activities. The cooler was loaded with water and snacks and music was at my fingertips. It seemed to take almost the whole first day to get out of Texas! LOL The excitement was definitely electrifying. :D We arrived in Albuquerque without a hitch, and our hotel room was wonderful. We checked in, got a good night’s rest and left for Las Vegas the next morning. The second day was the shortest portion of the trek cross country, but I mistakenly booked a hotel in Vegas that was not pet-friendly. Without the ability to move that on the way to Oregon, I was stuck with limited options – hunt around for a pet-friendly hotel and spend money I knew I didn’t have, or sneak the dog into the hotel. I opted for the latter and the guilt was punishment enough that I really didn’t enjoy our luxurious accommodations! Huge, comfy room, gorgeous marble and glass bath, 52” HD TV, a great view of the city lights at night and several very yummy restaurants just downstairs. The next morning, we left in a chaotic, messy car that had it’s first major spill (coffee through my seat and all over the floorboard and a puppy mess in the back seat). It took me over an hour to get the car suitable for driving – though still in desperate need of shampooing and a more thorough cleaning! Then we headed out to our final destination – Grants Pass, OR! This last stretch was the longest, measuring 900 miles and over 12 solid hours of driving. We arrived in the early morning hours of Tuesday and despite being pretty tired, I was bubbling with joy!

On the drive over, much of the scenery was flat and barren. But I can still picture the skies of deep blue, the beauty of rolling hills, the wide variety of animals, the painted clouds, and majesty of the mountains and rock formations! It swelled my heart to see what God had made and it was wonderful to enjoy it with my son – even if we did have to sit in the car for hours on end, three days in a row to witness it all! :D

Upon arrival, I wasn’t able to see my brother because, fortunately for him and unfortunately in the timing, he was hired and started a new job the night we got there. So my beautiful sister-in-law let us in and we went to bed. A few hours later, I woke up (out of habit or excitement, I’m not sure), and called my mom to plan out our day. We decided against the river trip and opted for lunch, a movie and walking downtown instead. It was so great! We visited George’s and took in the nostalgia of their long-standing yummy popcorn. I marveled at all the shops up and down 6th street. Our last stop was the old time soda fountain for drinks and an ice cream. I could hardly believe it was still there! I loved that place as a kid! (I hardly went, but I really liked it when I did go!) We rounded out the day seeing Toy Story 3 in 3D. What a great first day at home!

Wednesday, I woke up more sore than I had been in I can’t remember how long. I couldn’t believe how sore all that driving made my body. I felt like I had done a million push-ups and I had knots in my calves the size of Texas! LOL I spent the morning with my friend Teri and her kids! Jonathan had a few lessons in how treat girls – which were sweet and funny! And I got to visit with Teri, catching up on all the wonderful things the Lord has been doing. It was blessing to see her sweet face and know, that despite the challenges of the past couple of years, she is still holding strong. I am so inspired by her!

After that, it was low key time with my brother Richard for a bit while we waited for my sister Brandy to get back from the Portland airport with my other brother Douglas, who had just flown home! When they arrived, it was the most incredible feeling to have all four of us walk in to Richard’s house at the same time. Looking around, I couldn’t believe how grown-up we were...how different we were and yet how familiar, warm and great it felt to be together again. The jokes, jab and jeers set in pitting brothers against sisters and we filled the late part of the afternoon with hanging out until Richard had to go to work! :D Later that night was the first night I got to see my littlest nephew! It was only for a few minutes and he was tired and ready for bed when we got there, but it great seeing him in person - even cuter than his pictures!!

Thursday, we hung out some more and I got to see my other niece and nephew - Kaylee and Shayne! Then that evening I went to a church meeting with my mom. It was that evening, that I marveled at the changes God has made in my mom over the past few years. He’s grown her, made her heart tender and created a friendship between the two of us that I now treasure beyond words. We were able to share a bit of the common struggle we share of food addiction. I regret I spent more time talking than listening; my heart was so excited, I think my mouth got a way from me a bit. Yet, the memory of sitting at the table, sharing with my mom is one of those precious moments, I will treasure for a long time.

Friday, I finally got to spend some substantial time with my brother Richard and spent the day hanging out with him and my nephew Landon! The few bits of time I had spent with Landon up to this point, he had been dealing with the changes in his little world – daddy’s all of sudden not around all day (because of the new job), daycare, and strange people are in his house that seem to want to invade his space, talk to and play with him all the time! LOL Poor little guy. It took him a while to warm up to us a bit. But on Friday, with my brother off from his new job, things were “back to normal” enough that Landon opened up a bit and we got to see more of his adorable, fun personality. Mind you, for those of you who don’t know my family, Landon is about 19 months old. He was entertaining us with his knowledge of all of the animal sounds – dog, cat, bear, elephant, tiger, sheep, ducks, chickens…it was so super cute! Then he showed us the “butt dance” and “spaz” – which, I’m sorry to say the following words won’t do them justice…you just have to experience them for yourself! LOL His butt dance is a very rhythmic little wiggle where he puts his hands on his bum, bends his knees and gives us a little dance! “Spaz” is a hilarious motion where my sweet nephew, on cue, widens his eyes, tenses up his little body and shakes like he’s stuck his finger in a light socket. I just about fell on the floor the first time my brother showed me the move! Landon loved entertaining us…well…as long as mom or dad was somewhere in sight!

The weekend at home was filled with shopping, cooking, cleaning and having family over for cookouts! Our family reunion was on Saturday…supposed to be around 12:30, most everyone arrived by 2:30/3pm LOL. We had some great burgers and hotdogs thanks to Richard! Yummy! I baked cupcakes and bought decorations, thinking I was going to have the kids decorate some of them, and I would do the rest. However, it ended up the kids decorated one each and the adults had a fantastic time decorating the rest! It was awesome! I saw my cousins Brian and Lori and my aunt Debbie and uncle Rich whom I haven’t seen in ages! Lori I hadn’t seen since my leave after bootcamp 11 some years ago! It was crazy to see everyone all grown up. My cousin Brian had a son about Jonathan’s age, so him, Jonathan and my nephew Shayne all got to play together. We hung out till early evening and then got to cleaning up – after all, we had a scheduled repeat of the same thing for the next day!

Sunday, for the 4th of July, my mom, Jonathan and I went to a church meeting held down at the Riverside Park. If I’m not mistaken, a couple of churches – maybe more – got together and held services down there. They had baptisms in the river. It was great! We sat at a picnic table near the playground and held a little family devotion for Jonathan’s benefit, then we cut him loose. Mom and I read through Romans 7 and 8 and talked about our struggle against the flesh and the victory through Christ. As we were heading out, I ran into one of my friends from our school days and her mom. Sarah and Janet Mathis were at the service that morning and it was great that I was able to pass along my gratitude for David (father and husband) when he was the youth pastor at the church in Wolf Creek when I was growing up. He was one of several people the Lord used in my life to bring me to Christ! And it was great to see Sarah with her lovely girls (and a baby on the way)!

I was so blessed to see so many friends while in Oregon: Teri, Sarah, Olivia, and Sierra! I got to catch up with them and see how lives had changed and people had grown! It makes me long to live in Oregon again – where I would be closer to all those I hold so dear in my heart!

But anyway…back to my chronology of events. So Sunday morning after church, we headed out to Sunny Valley with my cousins. We had a great time when we took all the kids to my uncle and aunt’s house. My sister and her whole family met us out there. We played in our old swimming hole down at the creek and I thought it was pretty funny to see my city-fied self and son march through the poison oak and brush trying to get to the swimming hole! All of us reminisced about all the times we went down there as kids…the blackberry picking…the hot summer days…the long gravel road…how we foolishly jumped from several spots along the creek that now loomed rather dangerous looking from our new grown-up perspective. It was awesome remembering the simplicity of life back then and it made me long even more to live there. My heart wants Jonathan to have those kinds of summer days – catching crawdads and playing in the creek, walking along the driveway picking blackberries….playing in the woods, watching out for rattle snakes and catching lizards. Ahhh…life really was simple back then.

We had lunch and toured my aunt and uncle’s house. The wood, being harvested straight from their property, was absolutely gorgeous and it was great to see how much they had done on their house since the last time we visited. Then we headed back to my brother Richard’s house, where we had Candace’s side of the family over. They drew a four square court and set up badminton outside! The guys made a new game out of running and sliding across over-sized exercise balls…hopefully I can post the video…it was seriously funny! :D My sister and I got to hang out and really talk for a long time that night. Eventually, I think we were told to quit talking and come enjoy the fireworks! Jonathan had a blast lighting them! It was so sweet of them to include him that way! The night rounded out with Guitar Hero and I had another perfect day of vacation!

Monday came and it was time to head to the coast! I couldn’t go back to Texas without seeing the ocean. And God made it so that my brother Richard and his wife Candace BOTH had the day off, so everyone except my sister and her family were able to go hang out in Brookings at Harris beach that day! On the way there, my well traveled puppy decided the road was a bit too winding for him, and he threw up on me…that was seriously gross! Just glad I had an extra shirt to wear and lots of baby wipes to use for cleanup! :D lol When we arrived, it was 70 degrees, a bit windy, and the most gorgeous blue skies we could have that day. Stepping onto the sand, the funniest site erupted. My dog Max who has never been on sand – EVER! – began to jump around like he was having a seizure, absolutely freaking out at the feel of the ground beneath his paws. I felt so bad for him, but I couldn’t pick him because I was doubled over laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe! Poor puppy! But no worries, the torture was short-lived and he got used to the sand and found driftwood to play fetch with!

We set our stuff down and headed to the water, where my insane brother Douglas dove straight into the arctic waves of icy, bone-chilling water. My barely recovering puppy was washed back up on the shore, and looked so sad, sopping wet and covered in sand. Jonathan wasn’t having any more of that kind of cold water and headed back to the warmer parts of the beach. After taking video of the breath-taking scenery, I settled into watching my son play soccer with some “big boys” on the beach and playing fetch with my now dried off, warmed up and settled in puppy! We didn’t stay too awfully long. The winds were pretty fierce and as majestic as the scenery is, sand gets into everything and that gets uncomfortable pretty quickly. So after the soccer game and a brief, unsuccessful meeting with a fellow Chihuahua, we packed up and headed into town for lunch. (That other chihuahua was the catalyst for Max to finally warm up to someone other than me, when my brother and Cassie – Candace’s sister, were his only refuge from the pursuing Chihuahua who wanted to play) – another funny moment to remember!

Oh…side note, my crazy brother Doug, also made an incredible short film as the star of “Which Sea Gull is going to eat my Chip?” He guessed wrong, and it was pretty funny to watch! And my other brother Richard got bird poo on the head…yes, we love our baby wipes!

We headed to Wild River pizza for lunch, where Jonathan exercised his leadership skills in schooling some fellow kids his age. After he had to leave their kids’ game of pool to eat his lunch, a couple of them came up to Jonathan and while I didn’t hear about the problem, Jonathan’s wise response was “Don’t tattle tale, just play nice together”. LOL

That night, I went to see my childhood friend – Sierra! I got to see and hold her new baby and talk for a long while. We reminisced about crazy nights where we snuck out to meet in the woods…just because we lived on neighboring hills…friends we had through the years and what everyone was doing and how we had changed or stayed the same. After that, we went to bed pretty tired and I got up the next day to my last day in Oregon. I couldn’t believe it had gone by so quickly. I did miss my husband, but I so could have stayed another week! (or more) I met Olivia at the park that morning and we had a good time catching up and playing with the kids! We even fed the various birds down by the river. That night we had an impromptu b-day dinner for my niece Kaylee!

It was so great seeing my sister’s kids and hanging out with them throughout the week! Shayne reminds me so much of Jonathan. He’s a lot more verbal, but has the same tender heart, the same love and energy for life and all things active. He is all boy and is very much an outdoor kind of kid! Kaylee is the shy, quiet one. She’s pretty girly, but definitely can hold her own with the boys. Very affectionate and eager to please. And I absolutely love shopping for her as the only girl in the family! She is my reason to buy pink!!! LOL I loved being with them and have resolved that at least letter writing and pictures will have to be frequent, so I can keep our families tied more closely than the past five years. If I can’t be the aunt Shannon living nearby who takes them to the movies, to the park and out shopping…then at least I can be a good pen-pal and send awesome gifts for Christmas and birthdays!

Overall, I can’t say enough great things about my trip. With exceptions unworthy of noting, every day was a perfect day. The cold crisp mornings, taking in the fresh air scented with pine trees and freshly cut Oregon grass, seeing deer just off the front patio, the endless greenery, the quaint shops and small town life all around me….the countless stars in heaven every night that weren’t drowned out by city lights. All of it was purely magnificent! Spending time with my family and seeing how friendships have formed over the years between siblings and parents…growth that has brought us a long way from the chaos and dysfunction of our pasts…healing the Lord has provided and continues to provide in amazing ways…the joys and wonders of being a part of this family that I hadn’t before appreciated with such depth and gratitude! I am in awe and already miss them all more than I can say. I’d give just about anything to go back or even move back, but I have a blessed life here in Texas that I love too. My life here is established and wonderful and filled to overflowing with graces from the Lord. So unless the Lord moves us, I’ll just have to make a point to visit home often and count myself among the few who can have so much in more than one place. I have a mountain of blessing here in Texas and another there in Oregon. I love you my dear family and precious friends! I’ll be back again soon – Lord willing! :D