The prom is over - the dress got done in time! I was still trimming off the threads as we were taking pictures, but it did get done. Syd went with a group of girls this year - six total. I was their chauffeur for the evening, driving them in my "sporty" Suburban. I wish I would have gone with a group of girls to my prom. They really sounded like they had so much fun. They went to dinner at the Olive Garden. I waited for them by knitting my sock and reading my book. I'm starting a new series. Well, it's actually an older book, but new to me. A is for Alibi, by Sue Grafton. Yes, I could have gone with them to eat, but after the stress of making that dress I opted for quiet time by myself. Then off to the prom. It was held downtown, and I do not like to drive in downtown traffic. But I made it just fine. I get home - ahhh, finally relax - but no, I realize I haven't fed the dog for Syd. She is dog sitting and had asked me to feed the dog tonight. Off I go to feed and play with the puggle, Mercedes. I get home, and Syd calls. It's time to pick them up. Mom and I drove to pick them up. Yes, they want to go to Denny's. There we are, at Denny's at midnight. Mom and I got a separate booth and enjoyed watching everyone come in all dressed up. Finally got home around 12:50, and can you believe the Easter Bunny hadn't come to our house yet? I got to stay up a little longer just to make sure our house is ready for when the Easter Bunny does get here ;o

Ok, enough rambling, I'm tired. I'm going to bed.

We now have a 14 year old! Actually, her birthday was yesterday, but we went out to dinner tonight. She wanted to go to the Olive Garden for dinner. We planned well this time, arriving at 5:00 pm. If you get to the Olive Garden at 5:00 or earlier you stand a pretty good chance of having little to no wait to be seated. This time we had no wait. She certainly is growing up!

Tomorrow is the high school prom. I am frantically making a dress for Syd. I kept thinking I had plenty of time, and really, I'm sure I do, but now it is crunch time and I am starting to buckle under pressure. All I have left to do is the hem on the bottom of the dress, but there is the dress hem and two ruffle hems. The ruffle hems I am not looking forward to, as they are made out of a material that REALLY unravels. I'll post pictures soon. All I have to say is I hope they don't make prom the day before Easter again! What were they thinking???!!!

We made it safely home from our trip on Saturday. We were on the road and headed home by 10:00 am. Clay was nice enough to stop in Florence so we could take a quick visit to a yarn store we'd heard about, the Happy Kamper Yarn Barn. It's located right on Hwy. 101, on the north side of Florence. In fact, we passed it and had to turn around. We're so glad we stopped here. The owner was the nicest lady, and invited us to sit down and have a bite to eat (homemade quiche, looked delicious!) or drink. Both Syd and I bought some sock yarn. We hit snow when we got to Mt. Shasta, and again about an hour out of Susanville. We're glad we didn't bring the trailer with us with the snow. We really didn't want to leave Oregon this trip. Every time I'm there I think about moving up there. I love rainy weather, but living in it I wonder if I would get sick of it. Maybe Clay would let me live there in the summertime, with the kids. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder! Well, I can dream anyway.

Today I went with A to a bug/snake exhibit. He actually held a snake! Of course, a little bribery never hurt, and we went to McDonald's for lunch that day. I was so proud of him. My little man is growing up so fast. Today he was so tired on the way home he fell asleep in the car. As he was falling asleep I sang lullabies to him. He says, "Mom, don't sing me baby songs," to which I replied, "I AM singing you baby songs" knowing he couldn't do anything about it, as he was half asleep already. When they're little you can't wait for them to grow up, and when they grow up you wish they were little again.

On a sadder note, yesterday I attended the funeral of the daughter of a family I know. This was the first funeral I have been to for a young person, and it was very hard. She was only 22 and left behind a husband and two month old baby girl. I don't think I had a dry eye the whole time. Not many people did. This has haunted me since she passed away. I need to remember to cherish the time I have with family and friends, to not be so quick to criticize. We have such a short time on this earth, and should be grateful for what we are given. I feel for this family but strongly believe they will be with her again. Our children are a precious gift; something I need to remember more often.

Our last day here! We tried to finish up on everything we wanted to do. We needed to move out of our room this morning because it was already booked for this weekend. In the meantime, the room we were moving into wasn't ready yet. We got to pack everything up in the suburban and wait a couple of hours for our new room to be ready. We went and picked up my glass float. This was so fun, if you ever have a chance to do this, and you think it sounds fun, I say do it! E has been wanting a bonsai tree for a while now. There is a shop in Lincoln City, Roots 101, that sells bonsai trees, so we bought one there. The people that work there are very knowledgeable and took the time to show us how to care for this tree. Unfortunately, these kind of trees don't always tend to live, especially your first one, so I am thinking when we come back up here in June we may be visiting this shop again. Lincoln City has an outlet mall that we visited today. That's a place I'd like to come back to. They had a book store that has great prices. For lunch E and I went to a Thai restaurant. She had been wanting sushi on this visit but Thai food was a good substitute. I've never had Thai food before, so I got to embarrass her when I asked our waiter what to do with the bean sprouts they served with lunch! We went to Lincoln City's Museum, which we all enjoyed. They had a children's section that A and E had fun in. A harp that actually played, and a giant kaleidescope were our favorites. The yarn shop S and I had visited earlier this week had a knitting group that was going on today from 5-7 at their shop. We went and knit there with the group for an hour. The ladies were all so friendly; we didn't want to leave! We will definitely be back to this store, and hopefully meet some of them on Ravelry. Dinnertime - our last in Lincoln City. They actually still have a restaurant called Lil' Sambo's. Since Clay used to work at a Sambo's when he was young, we went there for dinner. We're really glad we did. There's nothing like good service when you go out to eat. Plus the food was good, too. We had rain off and on all day today. The view in this room is even better. We're higher so we can see more of the ocean. It's amazing how you can actually see the storm off the horizon over the ocean and see it move inland.

We're leaving in the morning for home. I hear there's a chance of snow down on the floor, with chains mandatory up in the mountains already. I like the snow, but I love the ocean!

Thursday - hard to believe our vacation is already half over. More, actually. Today we went to Lincoln City to find a couple of scrapbook stores. The first one we went to was out of business. Found the second one close by, but there was a sign that said they didn’t open until 10:30ish, depending on the weather. Ahhh, the hours of a small town business. Went in to Joanne’s Fabrics, came out around 11:00, and they still weren’t open, so we just left. Must be a sign that I really don’t need any more scrapbook supplies. At 1:00 we drove to the glass float studio. I got to make my own glass float! That was sooooo fun, well worth the $$ I spent. The guy that helped me was great, too. Didn’t make me feel overly incompetent at this glass blowing stuff. What surprised me the most was how little air you actually blow into the glass. At first it’s like blowing out a candle - very softly. I get to pick up my float tomorrow after it dries in a type of hot kiln. Did you take a guess on what color it is??
Lots of rain today. We went back to Newport to go shopping at the Bay Front, and hit a yarn store there. Got some alpaca sock yarn. S got some worsted yarn to make a headband. She’s making up her own pattern. Went out to dinner at a restaurant in Lincoln City. Got back to the room and just hung out. It was a little rainy and too cool for the beach. You know me though, I love rainy weather.
We switch rooms tomorrow. They had this one booked for the weekend already when we booked our room. It’s not too far from this one. The kids are loving this. I know it will be sad when we go back and reality sets back in. A is already missing his teacher - hi, Ms. N! As I am writing this, it’s very quiet, with the tv on low, and I can hear the ocean waves, and the rain splattering. That constant background noise of the ocean makes for a great night of sleep. The other day I slept 10 hours!

My favorite color for a glass float?

Yep, another great day at the coast! Went for a walk on the beach in Lincoln City. Still didn't find a glass float. We went to the visitor's center today and they told us there are 10, yes 10, floats hidden every day. With five of us you would think we would have a pretty good chance of finding them. Tried going to a beach we thought would be less populated but it's hard to find parking close to the beach, so we went to the beach we went to a couple of days ago. It wasn't crowded because it's not the busy season, but there were quite a few people on this beach today. I am determined to take home a glass float, even if I have to make one myself. And that's exactly what I plan to do. On our way to Waldport today we stopped by a shop where you can make your own glass float, and I signed up to make one tomorrow. Hmmmm, which color do you think I'll make it? Purple?? I may just surprise you! Post a comment to take a guess as to which color I will make. Clay and the kids went crabbing in Waldport, while I went geocaching. Even found a couple! I am loving this sport. Lots of walking today, made me feel not so guilty eating the nachos and pizza! Today there was a little sun, mostly cloudy with some showers.

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Adam gets an email from his teacher, and emails back to her - all by himself!This is what vacation is all about!

Today we got an early start. Woke up around 6:30am and left our room around 7:45 headed for Albany. We originally planned a trip to Albany so that S could see a friend of hers who is visiting family in Albany. Unfortunately they didn’t get in touch with each other, so we made a morning out of it by going to the Jerky store, the dollar store (can you believe we make a special point of going to the dollar store there? Everything really IS only $1 - there’s no sales tax in Oregon). We also went to the cemetery. My grandparents are interred there. Even though so many years have gone by, I always remember the times I spent there as a kid with my grandparents, much to the chagrin of my kids. They get to hear the same stories whenever we pass a certain landmark. It’s a part of life that things must change, but the older I get the more I seem to reminisce about the “good ole’ days.” After eating lunch at The Original Breakfast (they only serve breakfast items!) we headed out to Monmouth for a tour of Western Oregon University. We had time to kill, so we stopped at a nearby Lavender Shop. Everything was purple - my favorite color - I went crazy! They had lavender chocolates that were yummy. Lavender soap, lavender tea, lavender soda. Everything lavender. Then on to WOU. Nothing like a tour of a university to make you feel old. We really liked the campus. Clay took Erin and Adam for a drive around Salem while we were there. Couldn’t believe how many coffee houses/drive thrus there are in Monmouth. Our tour guide told us there are nine of them, for a town with the population of 9000.
Now we are back in our “login” as Adam likes to call it. Enjoying the view of the ocean. It is so calming and relaxing. We are truly taking a vacation from everyday life!

Glass Floats/Your Name Here?

We've been taking pictures of signs that have names of or mean something to people we know. Search this blog to see if you find a sign that has significance for you!

This morning Syd and I woke up early and went for a walk on the beach. We didn’t find a glass float, but did have fun and a good walk while we looked for it. We talked to one of the locals today who said they may not put them out every day, and also that there are people who stay up all night until people put them out on the beach them come and take ALL of them. What a let down :-(
We drove to Waldport today, and ate at the Salty Dawg near the dock where we go crabbing. We stopped at Whittler’s Workshop and were pleased to see it is still open, it just isn’t open today. Syd said she wanted to drive over a bridge while on vacation. Clay had her drive from Waldport, over the Alsea bridge, to Seal Rock. He sat in the back seat and said, “I could get used to this.“ We drove back to Newport and had to stop at our favorite fudge shop in Seal Rock. There’s an older couple and a lady (possibly their daughter?) who must be the owners - they’re there all the time. Got some fudge for dessert, but it didn’t all last until dessert time. In Newport we hit Pirate’s Plunder, and tried a yarn store, but it was closed on Mondays. From there we visited the Rogue Brewing Company. Clay tried some of their ale, while the rest of us had rootbeer - they make their own there, yum! Then went into town and shopped at the Kite Store where Clay bought a nice sized kite. Make sure to ask when he’s going to fly it when you see him! We got back to the room around 3:30, then Syd and I took a quick trip to find a yarn store in Lincoln City. The store is called Nestucca Bay Yarns. It’s right on Hwy. 101. Very nice shop - so helpful, and the girl working there invited us to their knitting club this Friday night. I hope we have enough time to go there!
Tonight we had crab for dinner in our room. It got windy and rainy as soon as we got to our room, and didn’t let up until after dinner. Once it got back we hurried out to go geocaching. We had two we wanted to find, but couldn’t find the first one. We did find the second one - our first Oregon cache! This was so fun, I want to find more. Going to bed early tonight so we can get up early and head out to Albany in the morning. We’re going to Monmouth to look at a college for Syd there.
I'm getting the hang of this blogging, and really like it. We are having a great time!

We're here!

We left our house about 7:30 am. We wanted to leave by 7:00, so half an hour late isn't bad when you're on vacation. Stopped in Medford to get gas and eat lunch (I was good - had a side salad and half a chicken sandwich). We didn't get to find any geocaches on the way there, but I did take a couple of interesting pictures. This picture was taken while we were on hwy. 89 - I think. At first it just looks like trees and snow, but keep looking and if you tilt your head to the right it begins to look like a man's face. See it? We also drove by Mt. Shasta. It is such a big mountain close up. It looked very windy, like the snow was blowing off of it.

We arrived in Lincoln City around 5:30 and found our hotel right away. It is so nice, so far we really like it. Nice and roomy for the five of us. It has a kitchen, a living room area, with two twin beds behind the that area, and a separate room with another queen size bed. We went to Mo's in Lincoln City for dinner (parmesan sole with steamed green beans, and had to have a cup of clam chowder), then took a quick trip to find the beach access from our hotel.

Still figuring out this wireless internet and laptops. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will work. We're hoping to get up early and look for glass floats on the beach!

Packing Day

Today's the day - the rush day before vacation. I pack with a list. I make a list of what I need to pack, then wait until the day before we leave to pack it all. Today we've been washing clothes and packing, packing, packing. I think we're about done except for the things we need to use tomorrow morning and then pack.
I'm attempting to stay on the WW program while we're on vacation. I'm boiling eggs right now, taking instant 2 pt. oatmeal, and have packed 1 and 2 pt. snacks in baggies. Anyone have any good ideas? Please comment them - I need ideas!

Make Room For More

More blogging, that is. Already have a blog, but want to make this one more personal to share the happenings with our friends and family. For knitting and scrapbooking/card crafts, check out my other blog at www.stitchnscrap.blogspot.com.