Our trip back home from the Redwoods was beautiful and very, very long. The scenic, twisting roads up the coast didn't do any of us any good. When we finally got to the Oregon coast we decided to give ourselves a long break with a lot of fresh air. The beach was gorgeous. By some miracle, the fog that we had been driving through for the first half of the trip, disappeared and blue sky stretched over blue water. As pretty as it was, a biting wind reminded us that we were far north from the Golden Coast.
Austin doesn't like to leave anything to chance. The other two like to live a little closer to the edge.

A couple of days after we got home, we got a wonderful visit from Russ, Kari and the kids. They were on their way home from their own family reunion and arrived in town just in time for our ultrasound. We all crowded into the small doctor's room and we were all able to see baby-boy Jones in his first televised appearance. We spent the rest of that day just hanging out. The next day we all took off to the Portland Zoo. (Well, not all of us. Robert had to get back to work.) My kids all brought out their cameras and so I got ready to apologize to everyone for how slow I knew we were about to go. Fortunately, Russ and the boys all brought out their cameras and we set off at a leisurely pace through the zoo, taking million pictures at every turn.
Look at the cute, baby bear snack.

Ride 'em cowboys!

Ethan and Danny.
Ethan and Ben.


Jacob....And one little cowgirl. :)

The kids were in love with the penguins.
One of my favorite, wild exhibits.

The crew.
Awww.


Hey bunny.

Near the end of the day we took the train over to the Japanese Rose Garden. The train ride was nice and relaxing (I get more tired then the kids these days) and the Rose Garden was really beautiful.

Russ and Ethan.

Kari & Austin.

Me and my entourage.

And a couple of forced smiles to finish us off.


Thanks for coming and spending some time with us! We love you guys. And I promise anyone else who comes to visit at least one day of fun as well. :) After that, no more fun. Just cleaning my bathrooms. Any takers?