Steve's family came to visit and took us with them down to Newport for the week. We had the time of our lives! First - however - Steve and I invested in some seriously delicious farmer's market strawberries. These are not just any strawberries (I know what you're thinking - strawberries are just strawberries - but no). These are HOOD strawberries. They are quite the little gem here in Oregon. They are more of a brittle, small and bright red kind of strawberry that are only in season during the month of June - they don't travel well so that's why Oregon gets to keep the goods. Sometimes being an Oregonian really pays off big. ;) Steve and I made some serious jam and have been enjoying the "fruits of it" - pun intended - since! Steve's family came just in time to enjoy it as well. I inherited a bread maker that a friend was getting rid of - so we've had some homemade (according to my book) bread to go along with it. Yum yum yum! We may just live off of this all summer long. ;)
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| Steve's sporting the beard look, and super excited about strawberry jam. |
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| The fruits - we had even more but shared with friends. :) |
Another great perk of living in Oregon - am I making you all jealous? - is getting hook ups to go get a tour at the Nike Factory and then employee guest passes to their store where everything was at LEAST 50% off - we had some fun there. They call their headquarters the Nike Campus - and it truly was big enough to be. I couldn't believe how many buildings they had - including a big lake that they were all surrounding. Steve's internship led him to meet a PT who's husband worked there and offered to give us a tour. Cha ching! They had these plaque statues throughout ALL the walkways of athletes that they have sponsored and then memorabilia from the super famous ones inside their buildings. We had a great time - and an even greater time in the store. I got some workout clothes and Steve and I both got some new workout shoes for dirt cheap - well maybe not dirt - but $40 for $100 shoes is a pretty good deal! I also got some cushy flip flops that are my new favorite thing. Anyway - we had oodles of fun.
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| We all stared at this person forever trying to figure out if it was a statue or a person because she wouldn't move! What do you think? |
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| This astro-turf field is made from all the rubber from recycled shoes! |
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| Of course there's a Tiger Woods building |
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| Celebrity parking! |
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| Ross very happy to be escorting two lovely ladies. ;) |
Saturday we headed to Newport. The condos were right at the bay front with a breathtaking view of the bay and a gorgeous bridge. There were boats everywhere. We felt like we were living in some ritzy apartment with that view. We got settled in and taught the White family the game Bohnanza...it is a great game - especially with a family full of deal breakers. :) We had a good time though. Sunday we enjoyed some church and relaxed with our beautiful views and explored the bay front a little bit, making plans for the next day.
During this time - we shared a room with Ross...we've learned it's no longer safe sleeping in the same room as him. If he wakes up in the middle of the night - which he DID - he immediately sees us and screams and screams until we grab him and put him in bed with us...in which neither Steve nor I sleep with a rolley polley Ross flailing everywhere in his sleep.
Monday we headed to the beach where Ross proved to be the ultimate beach bum. He LOVED the sand and the water - which was SUPER cold - but he kept going back for more! Grandma and Grandpa White got him some buckets and shovels and he was happy just digging in the sand as long as we would let him. In fact - whenever we were back at the condo Ross would walk around holding the bucket and shovel, walk up to Steve, and then whimper waiting for him to take him back to the beach. We also had some fun flying kites - that's a big thing here in Oregon on the coast - everyone flies kites - and I must say - it's pretty fun. We just had cheap ones with short strings - which by the end of the trip ended up all being tied together to make the ultimate kite.
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| Ross and Grams playing in the sand |
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| And flying kites with Gramps |
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| The "sewer" ran all the way into the ocean. ;) Okay maybe it was just runoff from the rain. |
That night we were rewarded for reading all the Ensign talks from the October Conference and headed to The Chowder Bowl where we had the most incredible clam chowder I have ever put into my mouth. We had ordered entrees as well, but were so satisfied by our chowder that we had to box them up to take home. It was DELICIOUS - so much so we went back on Wednesday for more.
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| Best chowder in the world |
Tuesday we headed to the aquarium which was totally fun. Ross had been quite the walker lately - and coming with that has been his own agenda on where he wants to go. Guiding him somewhere is pretty much impossible with him. If he wants to go see the rock instead of the sea lion doing tricks - he's going to see the rock. If he thinks the dirt is more fun than the jelly fish - he's going to play in the dirt. It's going to be very interesting seeing how this affects us in the future.
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| Awesome sharks! |
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| So Meghan was complaining all week that some bug had bit her cheek because it wouldn't stop itching...and just looking through our pics...it seems we caught it on film! Look closely. :) |
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| The seals! |
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| Ross and his own agenda. |
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| So they had those clean freak shrimp in the children's play area that would clean in between your fingernails... |
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| Eww! |
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| Claudia wasn't too sure about them. |
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| I lasted about five seconds before freaking out. |
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| Touching sting rays too! |
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| Ross trying to be a beach bum again. :) |
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| He loves a good rake and shovel...you think he'll be helpful in our future garden? :) |
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| Selling fish |
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| Even grandparents get exhausted from their grandson. ;) |
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| A beached whale on our boat! |
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| Grandpa trying to get Ross's attention |
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| And he's got it! |
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| Yes - she's gooching the pirate! |
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| Doesn't Thomas make a great mermaid? ;) He sure knows how to strike a pose - and look at that golden hair of Claudia's! |
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| Let 'em out! Let 'em out! |
After Ross's nap we decided to head to Japan...yes that's right - Japan. We visited a Japanese dock that had washed ashore from the tsunami forever ago. It floated all across the ocean into Oregon! Of course we all had to touch it. And we didn't even need passports...yes - that was a hilarious comment - I know.
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| You can see the dock from here too! |
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| Cutest grandpa and grandson pic!! |
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| Yes - we're that awesome! |
We then did a take-2 of the beach day where Ross would scream when we took him away from his sand bucket and shovel to go play in the waves, and then scream when we took him back to go play some more with the sand. We then did another take-2 of the Chowder Bowl - totally satisfying. We ended the day with watching Heavyweights - a favorite of ours. Steve's family had to leave the next day so we stuck around and did a little more touring.
On Thursday we went to the Undersea Gardens...don't ever go if you're in Newport. It's like a big fish tank with a diver who swims around while a bunch of teenagers lamely read a script about all these sea animals that they didn't have in their "tank". We were a bit disappointed...and even more so when Ross took a complete head dive giving himself a bloody nose. Afterwards though we went to a gorgeous Lighthouse that was built in 1840. It had a beautiful view and a super cool beach below.
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| One of the guides told us there were around 100,000 birds sitting on this boulder! |
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| These stairs are 170 years old! |
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| The lighthouse now runs on electricity. |
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| This beach was all from lava rock made into cobblestones from the ocean. Whenever the waves would go out they would smash together making it sound like bones breaking! |
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| Ross picking a cobblestone to take home...look at that belly! |
Overall we had a GREAT vacation and enjoyed being with family. It was especially fun for Steve's family to spend more time with Ross. They seemed to enjoy him quite a bit and he adored all of them and the attention. We have to detox with him every time we leave family because he doesn't understand why he doesn't always have a big audience applauding him and doing whatever he wants to do all the time. Every kid needs a fan club though right? :) We love them and had so much fun!
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