Our Oregon Trip in Less than 80 Pictures

Two weeks in Oregon and we came home with well over 500 pictures to remind us of our sweet trip.  I am learning to be brutal and just let many of them go, but I'm a Macy, and as such, a sentimental pack-rat, even digitally.  I've managed to narrow it down (thank you, Sherry, for your inspiration), and may have even repeated some of the pics posted here, but it simply can't be helped.  I apologize if your picture is not posted below--it's frustrating when you figure out who or what you've missed only after you are 2000 miles away.

Oscar's Nana

Oscar and "The Girls", otherwise known as Trudy and Georgia ( a couple of cozy gerbils)

Elizabeth made a tasty brunch and family came from all over to eat it.  It was wonderful to see everyone, including Aunt Lisa and cousin Lani (who was 11 the last time we saw her!).

John and Uncle John

John's cousin, Tegan, and our nephew, Grayson, played "Animal Crossing" on their tiny hand computers (otherwise known as a "DS"), while Oscar looked on with more interest than I would have liked.

Sweet cousins, Lani and Tegan

 I had to take plenty of pictures -- it's been a long while since we've all been in the same place at the same time.

Grayson showed us, along with Tegan, around OMSI while we were there.  The Ball Room was O.K.'s favorite.

all spaced out

Grayson stayed over at Nana's, continuing to introduce O.K. to the DS world.
 

Oh, that tiny hand computer!!!

 John and his sister, Shana

We also saw a few dear "Portland" friends:

A picnic at Laurelhurst Park with Kelly and Jooree.

Feeding the ducks (before we found out we weren't supposed to)

A yummy barbecue with Dan and Lupine and their 

sweet sweet daughters, Dot and Bina.

A visit with the Grants -- the cutest family ever, pretty much.

Miles and Oscar
 

 John's Big Brother, Tom Jordan, drove up from Eugene to have breakfast with us.

 If you're going to eat breakfast, this is a great place to do it.

 At Allegra's barbecue, we caught up with some of John's old roommates--some visiting from Los Angeles and Seattle.

Allegra's trampoline

John visited his old friend, Tom, and his new(ish) sweet baby, Una.


 

After a week, we were off to Newberg...

Oscar and Gus

Oscar listened intently to the popping of the coffee roaster, as Gum explained how it worked.

 

Darcy and Oscar have a lot in common -- they're both energetic, curious, and often use their mouths to check stuff out.

Uncle John did a lot of this (look ahead for the REALLY nice pics--all his and Erin's)

Eating a snap pea straight from John and Erin's garden

Checking out the compost bin

A Photo Macy pic (click here for more information), and one of my favorites.

(Photo Macy, of course)

 A bit of modeling at the park (See Erin? She's in there, too.)

Oscar and his Uncle John

 We had a tasty lunch with Grandma Williams.

Uncle Pete and Aunt Linsey

O.K. thought they were pretty fun[ny]...

 Watering plants

Pete and Linsey hosted a barbecue at their home, where we got to meet this little guy, Kennady Sunday Williams, just 3 weeks old.

Derin and Andra braved the long drive for their first post-baby outing.  (We're so glad they did!)

 Grandma Williams with her great-grandsons.

Erin, looking ready for her future

Pop came across a strange food "adventure", so we decided to try it.  Anchovies folded and stuffed into a giant green olive.

It wasn't anyone's favorite.

We also got to see Anna, an old old friend I've known since I was six, and her sweet son, Carter, who is just a few months older than Oscar.

A visit with Grandma Macy

 The Andersons arrive from Colorado! (Cassidy, Addison, Paul, and Bailey)

Aunt Erin and Cassidy


And then we headed down to Twin Rocks with the Andersons, Pete and Linsey, John and Erin, and of course, Pop and Sherry (a.k.a. Gum and Gus).  Darcy, however, went to visit her mother for a few days.

We played on the beach.   (Photo Macy)

Photo Macy

Photo Macy

Photo Macy

Photo Macy

Photo Macy

We played games -- like Kubb, as well as a few shin-stinging games of soccer.

We relaxed.

A few lucky aunts had their nails done at Salon Anderson.

O.K. took an unusual bath.

We went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory

Ice cream

We took pictures

And more pictures

And more pictures

Until it was time for us to go.  We even got an Anderson/Carlson white hankie farewell.

We couldn't leave Oregon without making one more stop at Nana's.  After relaxing there for a bit we headed to the airport to catch our late night flight.  Then, after twelve long hours of waiting and flying and waiting some more, we found ourselves back in Philly.

We're already looking forward to next time.    

All Play...

Oscar's main job right now is pretty much to play.  He learns so much from following his own curious path, and we are always amazed (and often amused) at where that takes him.

O.K. figured out how to trigger the sensors that start the sprinklers at the sprinkler park.

He and his friend, Cole, find mud to be a pretty engaging subject.

And then there's the broom.  We're not sure what he likes about them, but "broom" is one of his few words, and he spots them everywhere we go.  Here he's clearly trying something.

I get worried when it is suddenly TOO quiet in the living room, but more often than not, this is what I find--Oscar kickin' back in his reading nook.  As I'm sure you can see, he takes the work of play pretty seriously.

4th of July

Yes, I know it is the 18th.  It has been a busy week, and it is also getting a lot harder to find enough of the uninterrupted minutes necessary to post to this blog.  That said, here's a very short story of our fourth.

We met up with Patrick and Robert at Independence Hall to watch the 4th of July parade.  It was HOT, but fun to see our dear friends, as well as a bunch of old cars, costumed dancers, and local princesses.

Somebody nearby gave Oscar this patriotic hat.

Later, we lit a couple of sparklers.  It became clear that O.K. isn't quite ready for those yet.  Maybe next year...

Off to Massachusetts!

After leaving Aunt Jane's, we headed to Groton, Massachusetts, a small town just outside of Boston.  Our friends, Charlie, Rachel, and their one year-old son, Ryely, left West Philly for this quiet place just a few months ago.  Their goal was to find a place they could rent that would also give them some land on which they could grow some food.  But they are really there because Charlie will soon start his job as an astrophysicist at Harvard.

John and I got our hands dirty helping Charlie plant some tomato starts.

Ryely and Oscar watched each other eating dinner (the parents enjoyed a lot of tasty food after the boys were in bed).

 Another pool!

Charlie and Rachel are awesome parents -- and Oscar thought they were pretty cool, too.

Rachel's not much for having her picture taken, but I managed to get one or two when she was too busy to notice.

Oscar received these sweet dinosaur rain boots from our dear friends.  As you may remember, he likes his boots.

Before we knew it, we were back in the car, heading home.  Once again, Oscar was a real trooper for the long hours in the car.

He even slept a little.

Visiting Aunt Jane

Our first road trip of the summer was up north to visit Aunt Jane in New Haven, Connecticut. We arrived Sunday afternoon and didn't depart until Tuesday morning.  It was brief, but filled with lots of fun.

 We were a little worried about Oscar being in the car for about five hours, but he did really well.  He even took a short nap!

We took a walk down Aunt Jane's drive.  Her home is surrounded by tall quiet trees.  Nestled into those trees, however, are a bunch of noisy birds and bugs.  We saw all kinds of colorful birds visiting the bird feeders around Aunt Jane's house.

Aunt Jane had all of her kids over the night we arrived for a barbecue.  Here's Sarah (and Oscar, sort of) unloading the dishwasher.

On Monday, Keith and Aunt Jane took us to Devil's Hopyard to hike around for a bit.  It was HOT, but beautiful.

John and Oscar cooled off some by the water.

 Aunt Jane was the only one wearing water-proof shoes, so she took Oscar out into the creek to look at some rocks.

Oscar was pretty interested in Irma, Aunt Jane's fourteen-year old [and very patient] pooch.

 Monday evening we went over to Susie's house (Aunt Jane's daughter) for pizza and a swim in her pool.  Oscar wasn't sure about a swim at first, but he warmed up pretty quickly.

Aunt Jane loaded us up with snacks for Oscar (and us) for the next leg of our trip up to Groton, Massachusetts.  We had a wonderful time and look forward to returning soon!

Catching Up

School ended just a few short days ago.  It's Sunday now, and I'm still getting used to the idea that I'm NOT going in to school tomorrow.  The last two weeks have been incredibly full, and I'm grateful for the chance to take a breath, sleep a little more, and begin to attack the we-can-do-that-this-summer list.  Now I also have time to catch up on this blog.  

On June 7th, Christine and I went to the award ceremony to receive the Marci Resnick Teacher Fund grant.  The previous year's recipients presented the work they had done using their grants.  It was so inspiring that, before they were even done, Christine and I were busy scribbling notes back and forth about our own plans.  The award was presented by the son and husband of Marci Resnick, a teacher who passed away a few years ago and the woman this grant honors.  Their words about Marci Resnick were very moving, and their thoughtful comments about our grant proposal validated what we hope to accomplish.

Christine, myself, and Terri (another grant recipient from our school).

Back to catching up, let me throw in a little Oscar news.  He continues to astound us with new words, interests, and talents.  He says "daddy", "bird", and "cookie" pretty clearly.  He repeats words he hears much of the time.  He can scale the couch (and get in to the "no-touch" zone on the shelf behind it) in less than two seconds.  He reads books to himself endlessly, though he won't sit and be read to for more than half of a book (the teacher in me is so hoping this will change soon).  Ironically, there is one exception, a goofy "Toy Story 2" book I brought home from school because I don't allow my third graders to read books based on movies (it just isn't quality literature and it's below their reading levels).  Now, this sub-par book turns out to be the only book Oscar will sit still for--I read it to him four times IN A ROW last night without a single wiggle.  He is also really into playing in a new homemade "water table" (basically, a plastic tub filled with rocks, plastic animals, and water).  I am endlessly fascinated with how toddlers make connections and try stuff out.  It is really fun to watch.

My last day of school was Thursday, though my last day with students was Wednesday.  It has been a pretty good year, overall.  While I won't post many pics of my class on this blog, I can't help posting these:

A friendly game of tug-o-war amongst the third grade classes (and we won!).

And this picture pretty much expresses the spirit of my class this year -- I had a really sweet bunch and I will miss them!

We are looking forward to a fun-filled summer.  Though I work so much during the school year, I am thankful to have the summer off.  We'll do our best to post more of our adventures (big and small) as they happen.