A long week away...

Wow, we have been BUSY! To start the catching up process, I need to go back a few weeks and talk about Thanksgiving. 

We had a nice, long week away from home. We headed south on Tuesday afternoon and met up with Dan and Natalie in Corvallis. We haven't been back to Corvallis since the day we moved (almost 2 years to the day). It was fun to drive around a bit and see how things have changed. We enjoyed a delicious sushi dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurant in town to celebrate Dan's recent graduation, and then headed back to their place to play Wii. It was fun to spend time with them again - like old time - but this time we had Gracie to keep track of. We often wish Dan and Natalie lived closer, but we are happy that he accepted a job in Corvallis, so at least they aren't moving any further away. 

After traffic cleared, and when Gracie was tired enough to sleep, we loaded up and headed to Eugene. It was fun to drive our old route to the folk's house... especially with the Christmas lights glittering in the distance on the way down. Wednesday was a quiet day to run errands and get pies baked before Thanksgiving. The Diefenbaughs came down on Wednesday night, and Gracie was thrilled to see her cousins. 

Thursday was full of lots of food, a nice walk through the neighborhood, more food, some fun games, and rest! It was very nice. 

Friday we packed up early and headed west. My cousins, Jeff and Emily, reserved Harbor Villa - a beach front cabin owned by Twin Rocks camp - for the Thanksgiving weekend. We drove west to Florence and then headed north up the coast. It was a gorgeous day (at first) and we had a lot of fun driving through the little coast towns and enjoying the view of the ocean. As we got further north, the sky turned gray and the ocean was really putting on a show. We stopped a few times to eat and take pictures. Gracie did so well, considering we were in the car for about 6 hours. 

At Depoe Bay - I can't remember ever seeing such big waves here.

The waves would crash up onto the rocks causing big sprays. We were covered with ocean mist, but I didn't realize it until I licked my lips and tasted salt. I LOVE the beach!

Grace would watch the big waves, point, and then clap with the biggest sprays happened.

When we got to Harbor Villa we unloaded quickly and headed down to the sand to play before darkness engulfed us. My cousin John's family had beat us there by a few minutes, but we were able to find them on the beach.   

Gracie and Aiden enjoyed the time getting dirty together. This was also the only time we saw the twin rocks all weekend. We didn't have terrible weather, but we were fogged in most of the time. 

Since Jeff works at the camp, he was able to take us all over to the shelter after dinner where we played ping-pong, air hockey, shuffle board, pool, basketball... and where the kids could run wild. It was fun to have little "tournaments" and to learn new games. After a long day in the car, I think Gracie enjoyed the freedom of a huge building with nothing off limits. We headed back to the house to get the kids to bed, and Gracie was out almost instantly. Merrick was really enjoying the book he was reading, so he found a comfy spot and settled in. I joined the remaining awake family members for some very memorable rounds of Bible Apples to Apples, Bible Pictionary, and Yahtzee. I love board games - so for me, this was the perfect end to a long day.

On our second day at the beach my parents decided to come down for the day. We met them at the Tillamook Cheese Factory for some squeaky cheese and a scoop of chocolate peanut butter ice cream. Yum! Back at the house we had a yummy lunch, then headed down to the beach again. It was raining - sideways - so we were soaked head to toe. Gracie didn't seem to mind, and just enjoyed the time to practice her raking skills. 

While we were gone, someone started a fire in the wood stove, so we came back to a nice warm house. Gracie took a great nap, and allowed us some time to work on puzzles and talk to grandpa about our upcoming travel plans. (We still don't know where we are going, but he did have some good suggestions). Since we didn't have access to cable, we were forced to find the Civil War game on the radio. It came in and out, but we were able to hear the thorough pounding the ducks gave the beavers. At least we weren't totally out of the loop. 

Saturday was Carrie's birthday, so after a yummy ham dinner, we sang and shared a birthday cake. Mom, dad, grandma and grandpa all headed home after dessert. Once the kiddos were tucked in, we busted out more games. I think the highlight of the night was a very intense round of Scotland Yard. Yes, we did stay up way too late, but it was fun. We are looking forward to the rematch on New Year's! 

We all packed up and headed home on Sunday morning. The clean up went quickly with so many hands helping. We had such a fun time. Thank you so much to everyone who worked hard to put it all together. Hopefully it won't be a once-in-a-life-time thing. 

Sickness...

We are very ready to have the illness leave our house. I have been sick since election night (and no, the results have nothing to do with it). I came down with a cold - the usual runny nose, headache, sore throat - and it has just hung on for weeks. I has zapped my energy too, and that is no fun either. Gracie got a little sick about a week after I did, but rebounded quickly. She had a small cough and lots of snot, but all is cleared up now. 

About two weeks ago, my left eye started bugging me. I didn't think much of it, my cold must have spread to my eyes. On Sunday (three days later) my mom really encouraged me to call the doctor. I went in first thing Monday morning. They eye doctor took one look and said, "those are really sick eyes. You have a very nasty, highly contagious bacterial infection." Yuck! Evidently the eye bug is going around too. I started the eye drops and felt better a few days later. My eyes still aren't totally better - the infection is cleared up, but they are really dry and irritated. Today is my final day of antibiotic drops, and I woke up feeling relieved that Gracie and Merrick had somehow miraculously not gotten sick. Well, I was wrong. I got Gracie up from her nap this morning and she has the same eye nasties that I had. The good news is that her pediatrician just cleared her to use the same drops that I was on, so I don't have to drive to the pharmacy. Bad news is we are not free and clear, and have possibly been spreading our eye germs wherever we go. Hopefully our friends and family won't be effected by our illnesses. 

We had a little (negative) excitement the other night. Our monkey, aka Grace, had climbed up and was sitting on a kitchen chair. Merrick and I were making dinner, so we didn't see her fall, but we heard it, and came around the corner to scoop her up and saw her little bloody mouth. We think she fell and bit her lip in the process. She was amazingly, and though she bled for quite a while, she only cried for a few seconds. Once the bleeding stopped, I took a picture of the damage. She was pretty wiggly, but you should be able to get the idea. I'm just glad it wasn't any worse, and her teeth didn't seem effected at all. 

Caught up...

My house is a disaster. 

I'm exhausted from our trip to the zoo.

I should have taken a nap.

I should be eating dinner with my family. 

But instead, my blog is FINALLY caught up!

Here is a list of the posts from today. You can click on these links and it will take you right where you want to go. 

• Back to the zoo...
• Surprise! Happy birthday, Marisa...
• Pump-it-up...
• Date with daddy...
• Pretty girl...
• Trick-or-treat...

Back to the zoo...

Lately we have been watching Planet Earth and Gracie seems to really be interested in it. There are times she will bring me the remote saying "mon-keys." Yesterday I decided it had been too long since I had been to the zoo, so we made plans to go today. Shannon and Sophia were supposed to join us, but Sophie woke up sick, so it just ended up being Gracie and me. We had a blast! 

Measuring up next to the bald eagle.

Playing in the log tunnel - daddy told me she was pretty good at this now.

She loves this owl ("ow-oh"), but you can't use flash photography, so he's really blurry. Sorry.

Black bears were all snoozing.

The polar bears were out dancing. It was fun to see them up and moving around. 

Show-off.

This was the first time I got to see the baby elephant. Gracie and Merrick and been, but not me. He is getting big - and is so cute. 

These volunteers had two different birds of prey out on exhibit. It was fun to see them up close. 

The Orangutans are always a favorite. 

I know that no one really cares about all of our trips to the zoo, but I want to document so we remember. Gracie loves it there - and gets so excited when we get into the parking lot. I am so glad that we have the membership (thanks to grandma and grandpa Brownlee). It is definitely getting used plenty around here. We can't wait to go back!

Surprise! Happy birthday, Marisa...

For the past few weeks Drew and I (with the help of many other friends) have been working together to pull off a suprise birthday party for Marisa. We had procrastinated, but luckily were able to get quite a group together on Sunday night to celebrate. Marisa's actual birthday isn't until Thursday (the 20th), but we were hoping that having would throw her off even more. 

We all (meaning the party guests) met at the McMenamins on Cornelius Pass. They have a great upstairs area that you can reserve for parties without having to pay to rent a room. I would recommend it for anyone needing a place to feed 40-50 people. Anyway, we sat around visiting while we waited for the Colemans to arrive. Drew texted Shannon to let us know they were walking in, so we were ready and waiting to yell... SURPRISE!

Walking into McMenamins - thinking she was meeting a few friends for pizza... SURPRISE!

The boys left their cool table by the window to come over and wish her a happy birthday. It was about 115 degrees upstairs, so they were glad to have a table near the open windows.       

            

Baby Ephraim made a fine addition to the planter. It was fun to have a weekend with Forrest and Amy in town. I wish they lived closer (hint, hint). 

Tori and Shara - a rare occurrence to see either of these friends. Shara lives in La Pine and Tori has a job that keeps her pretty busy. It was fun to have them both here. 

Making the rounds and greeting all of her guests.

The birthday girl.

Faith and Marisa.

The Merritt girls...

...the whole Merritt clan (minus Sydney).

Matt, Kendra, Marisa and Drew.

Me and Shannon - I think we both really enjoyed a night out with our grown up friends. Our girls, however, had a blast together at Shannon's mom's house. 

Pump-it-up...

Gracie and I met our friends for a fun morning of bouncing today. We headed over to Pump It Up - an indoor bouncy castle play area - where the kids (and adults) can bounce, jump, bounce, slide, bounce, rock climb... did I say bounce? Anyway, it was fun to finally have a play date with our friends and get out of the house to burn some energy. The girls - and Mihiretu - seemed to really enjoy themselves. Anytime we mention pump it up to Gracie she gets her funny surprised/excited look and then starts "bouncing." 

Here are a few pictures from our morning. I stole all of these from Shannon. I did have my camera, but I never got it out and actually used it. Oh well. 

Date with daddy...

The other morning Merrick decided to take Gracie to the zoo. Merrick is really enjoying his new found flexible work schedule! It was a quick trip, but they had a lot of fun. Most of the animals were hanging out in the little viewing areas, but since it was so wet, the glass was pretty foggy for them. 

The eagles were so close - and their habitat isn't enclosed so they felt within reach (and probably were).

Gracie's first time through the log tunnel. What a big girl!

The cougars were huddled together for warmth.

Gracie and Merrick's first time "meeting" the baby elephant. 

The giraffes were also inside staying dry today.

Pretty girl...

A few months ago Merrick's mom bought this adorable dress for Gracie. We put it on her for church today and she was so funny in it. You can tell by the pictures that she thinks she is really pretty.