July 14 - July 19, 2014 (Mehama, OR)

Monday we were ready to hit the road with the 5er and a small u-haul truck.  Guess which one I drove.......if you guessed the small u-haul truck you are correct.  Rich gave me my choice and there was no way I was going to drive the 5er through all that Seattle freeway traffic.  It was bad enough being in a small truck.  We got on the road around 9:00 a.m. after saying goodbye to Brandon.  Kris and the boys were at Tall Timbers for a church camp so we had said our goodbyes to them a week ago.  We'll miss our little camp spot on Camano Island.  Thanks again Brandon & Kris for letting us camp out so long in your yard. 

Our trip down to my mom's went well.  I followed Rich in the 5er and we got through the Seattle traffic pretty well.  We used the express lanes and there was a couple times I thought the top of the 5er was going to scrape the underside of an underpass, it was pretty tight in a couple spots.  But we made it through OK.  We stopped for a quick lunch break at a rest area south of Olympia and then made a fuel stop in Aurora and made it to the Phoenix RV park in Salem around 3:00.  We did a quick hook up of the 5er and headed up to mom's to unload the uhaul and scope out the work that was being done around the shop so we could park the RV there.

It was good to see mom again but it was a very quick visit because we had to return the uhaul back to Salem by 7:00 p.m.  The work being done at the shop looks good but it wasn't quite ready for us to bring the 5er yet, so we'll make arrangements to put it in storage while it's finished up.  We got the uhaul unloaded and back to Salem by our 7:00 p.m. deadline.  It was a very hot humid day and we were very glad to go back to the air conditioned 5er and relax the rest of the evening.  It was an exhausting day for the both of us.

The next morning we got our clothes packed up and the refrigerator emptied out and put the 5er in storage and headed up to mom's.  We'll sure be glad once we have the 5er up at mom's and we don't have to do all this packing and unpacking.

We got settled in at mom's and took a closer look at the work being done at the shop.  Hmmmm they had a couple trenches opened up so they could see the water lines to the house and not tear into them, this would be a perfect opportunity to extend the power and water from the shop closer to where we would be parking the RV without having to do a lot of digging.  We talked to the contractor and he was glad to leave the trenches open until we got our project completed.  Sweet....now it was a mad dash to research the best options.  The next several days were spent doing a little more digging which was not much fun in the clay and rock soil.  It sure made us appreciate the trenches that the backhoe had already dug.  Well after several hard days we got the water line extended and conduit laid for the electrical.  Now the contractor can come back and bury everything.  Whew, glad that project is complete.

Water line we added

Water and electrical conduit (on either side of the metal pipe)

New water spigot and electrical box

Our future RV parking spot

On Saturday it was time to attend the long awaited Bailey Family reunion in Lebanon with Rich's side of the family.  We arrived shortly after 1:00 at the Santiam Place.  It was an old church that has been turned into an event center.  The grounds were lovely with lots of pretty flowers and a water feature and outdoor tables and chairs.  The facility and grounds are set up very nicely for weddings.  We had a very nice potluck lunch with lots of good food and visit with family.  Only one sister, Joan and her husband John from Nebraska were unable to attend.  We sure missed you Joan & John.  Shari (neice) & Mike, we missed you guys too, we were sorry that you were unable to make it out.   It was sure good to see everyone.  A good time was had by all.   Here are some pics of the family that were able to attend.

Cori (neice), Sean (nephew) & Rich

Mick (married to Laura, Rich's neice) & Sheila (neice)

Jim (cousin) & Roger (Madeline's significant other)

Madeline (sister), Laura (neice) & Brenda (neice)

Marvin (married to Brenda), Phil (married to Sheila) & Jack (Beth's husband)

Madeline, Connie, Beth & Kathryn

Rich, Madeline, Connie, Beth & Kathryn

June 10 - July 13, 2014 (Camano Island, Lake Stevens, Maple Valley, WA)

It's been a while since I've posted anything, so this will be a brief recap of our visit to Washington to visit kids and grandkids.

We left Castle Rock the morning of June 10th and didn't have too bad of a drive up to Camano Island, we didn't have any major slow downs on the freeway which is always a good thing.  We arrived at Brandon, Kris, Cameron & Calvin's house on Camano Island by early afternoon.  We were set up with full hookups in front of the shop in time to make it to the boys school for an end of the year awards ceremony.  We got to see Cameron receive an award - way to go Cameron

Cameron is the third over starting from the left

Instead of doing a day by day recap, I'm just going to highlight some of our adventures and because it's been awhile, I may have them somewhat out of order.

Cameron was chosen to be on a All Star baseball tournament team so we got to watch one practice scrimmage game and three tournament games.  Cameron plays first base as well as pitches.  Because he is only 10 years old, they are only allowed to pitch up to 3 innings per game. 

We also got to attend the Father's Day Fishing Derby with Jeff, Sabrina, Jessie and Elsie.  It was a lot of fun, though we did get rained on pretty good at one point but that didn't stop the fishing!

from left to right - Grandpa, Granny, Elsie, Jeff, Jessie & Sabrina enjoying lunch before fishing begins

Let's see, who's fish is bigger?

Grandpa helping Elsie with her fishing line

Grandpa heading down to help bring in the fish

Elsie, Jeff & Jessie with another fish

 We also got to visit with Jessica and Garry several times, twice at their house and once up at the 5er.  Our camera is broken, so we didn't take a lot of pictures.  Jessica and Garry fixed us lunch for both visits, we were treated to fajitas on one visit and grilled peanut butter & honey sandwiches on the next and if you haven't ever tried one, you should, they are very yummy.  It was so nice visiting with Jessica & Garry and seeing how happy they are together.  As a parent it is always so gratifying to know that your children are happily married. 

Jessica & Garry

We were house guests at Jeff & Sabrina's and the girls for several days over the 4th of July and got to celebrate the 4th with them as well as Brandon & Kris and the boys and Jessica & Garry.  We had an amazing BBQ dinner with BBQ'd burgers with three different types of meat as well as some awesome home made ice cream in three flavors (coffee, chocolate chip cookie dough and fresh raspberry) it was all very yummy.  Then their whole neighborhood gets together and pools money for a neighborhood fireworks display which was really quite amazing.  The show starts around 7 p.m. with the kids fireworks, ie. smoke bombs and sparklers and that sort of thing and then progresses to the "grown up" fireworks and doesn't end until around 10 p.m.  We really enjoyed being able to spend the holiday with all the Washington kids and grandkids.

Family sitting around before the fireworks show begins

More visiting before the show begins

Neighborhood kids with "poppers"

Jessie, Mary & Erin giving away cupcakes they baked from scratch (chocolate banana, cinnamon & apple chunk and vanilla/lime)

Jeff lighting sparklers for the kids (Calvin, Elsie and Cameron are to his right)

Jeff & Brandon starting the "grown up" fireworks part of the show

Jessie doing her "chicken" imitation.  She has her legs and arms in the sleeves of her sweatshirt, she's very limber and agile and did a pretty good chicken imitation as well.  =)

Big fireworks being set off

I wish we would have gotten a picture of this, but at the end of the show, all the kids pitch in and help sweep up the mess off the street.  It was amazing to see how they just jumped in with the brooms and went to work, it was a real community effort.

The next day we played tourist with Jeff/Sabrina & the girls as our tour guides.  We drove into Seattle and rode the monorail to the Science Center and spent some time checking out the exhibits, had some lunch, walked through Pikes Place and took in the "gum" wall on our way to ride the big Wheel.  We had some yummy gelato and got to visit the office where Sabrina works.  It was a very fun day, especially since we didn't have to drive and had our very own tour guides.

Jessie & Elsie making their contribution to the gum wall

Grandpa, Granny, Jessie & Elsie getting read to ride the big wheel

The big wheel that we all rode, there were amazing views from the top

While we were at Jeff & Sabrina's, we helped them finish up a backyard project they were working on.

Grandpa, Elsie & Jeff putting together some benches for the fire pit

Sabrina spreading gravel

Grandpa has a lovely little helper

Water feature (three pillar stones under bay window) and fire pit project completed.  Jeff and Sabrina did an amazing job, it made a lovely addition to their backyard.

While we were in Maple Valley, we went and had a nice visit with my aunt Rosemary who has recently moved to Maple Valley to be close to her daughter. 



Aunt Rosemary & me



The other special thing we got to do while in Maple Valley was listen to Jeff teach at church one Sunday.

We spent the majority of our time on Camano Island helping out Brandon and Kris with some projects around their house.  Kris' parents came up to watch one of Cameron's All Star games, so we got to spend some time visiting and getting to know her parents better.  Calvin and Granny spent some time trying to pick enough huckleberries to make a pie.  I think we finally got enough, we just didn't get the pie made before we had to leave.  We also took care of Cameron & Calvin's chickens for a week while they went with their parents to Spokane to a conference.  Here are some pictures of the projects we worked on during our time on Camano Island. 

Kelly's brickwork project

Kris & Calvin & Cameron planting veggies in the garden

Kris, Granny & Calvin planting pumpkin seeds

The fence in the background is Rich's handy work.  He dug approximately 26 post holes by hand as well as put up the fence boards. 

Some of the fence posts that Rich dug for the fence around the garden as well as more of my brickwork in front of the gate. 

This wasn't our project, but Brandon cleared out trees and brush and enlarged their backyard, it looks like a park now, it's really nice.

Brandon leading worship at Tidelands church.  Brandon is not only the pastor but also the worship leader.

Camano Island sunset

We really enjoyed our time visiting our Washington kids/grandkids but now it's time to pack up the 5er and head back to Oregon for a Bailey family reunion with Rich and his sisters.