I did not post between the 17th and the 23rd of last month as my sister and family had come to stay with us for a week. The boys enjoyed climbing the hill that is
basically our entire backyard. Uncle
Roland had introduced Gary to the blackberry bush. Each day he would climb the hill and grab a
few berries and bring them back to the house.
They arrived on Saturday night and went
with us to church on Sunday. Those who
served in the nursery LOVED BJ and were hoping for his return the following
week. (Kayla and Bill do have beautiful
children)
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| My brother-in-law took this pic just over a year ago. |
Gary and Anna were in the same primary class. I sat with them during singing/sharing time.
I briefly described our Monday. Picked blueberries and separated cars. Roland went with Bill who drove his car to
Canyonville to purchase a camera from a pawn shop before going to the Big City of Roseburg. I drove our car. Kayla and I would have taken all four kids
had we had the room for three car seats and Jenna in back, but as we did not,
BJ got to tag along with Roland and Bill.
Anna and Gary each sit in boosters which are easier to move from one car
to another than I imagine BJ's car seat is
 |
| not the exact car seats, but a more spacious illustration of back seat |
.
We spent the next two days on the road
with them. Two cars. Anna and Jenna were in our car and the boys were
with Bill. Neither Kayla nor I wanted to
drive. And I don't suspect either of our
husbands wanted us to drive. But I still
wanted to visit with my sister while we drove.
The next best thing was to have each sister ride with the husband of the
other. I was in the car with Bill on the
way to and home from Watson Falls and Coos Bay and Kayla rode with Roland.
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| starting trail to Watson Falls |
We stopped off at a view area and took
pictures of North Umpqua River before we got to Watson Falls.
We took pictures on the boardwalk in
Coos Bay and went to a street fair before driving to Sunset Bay State Park. Anna enjoyed some chocolate covered bacon.
She would not share with Bill.
It was a task trying to get Anna to
leave the beach. She told her dad that "her
heart was in the ocean and she had to find it". Unbeknownst to Kayla and Bill, the keys to
their car were locked inside. Now, I
don't mention this to embarrass them, but to continue the story of the
"heart in the ocean"
As Roland and Bill worked at trying to break
into the car (each has car rescue service card - unfortunately we did not get
reception at the beach) and as the kids were get anxious, Bill told Anna she
could return to the water, but that when he called her she would have to come right
away.
When he called out to her the second
time, she said it was okay to get out.
She had found her love and her heart and everything was okay. I thought it was cute so thought I would
share it.
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from hd wallpaper |
As with most children, BJ warmed up to
Roland right away. Roland is a kid
magnet. I haven't known a child yet who
doesn't love Roland.
The boys liked Watson Falls. The girls liked getting wet at the beach. The
adults were tired of being in the car.
We stayed home for the next two days. The dads helped the kids make
pizza
Afterward the whole gang (except Roland) went to the pool for a swim. I had an invalid check and had to return home
for another, but I wanted the rest of the family to get all that they could and
asked the manager if they could go in while I ran home to get the check.
By the time I had returned with the
check, there really wasn't enough time for me that it was even worth getting
wet. So I just took pictures. It's nice to have Bill in some pictures than
as he is often the one behind the camera.
We learned that BJ loved going down the
slide. After a while he got bored just
going on his bottom, however and thought it would be more fun going down on
some other body part - which did not go over well with either Bill or Kayla or (I
would guess) even the lifeguards Time for BJ to enjoy having a nap.
As we left to go to the dressing room,
Kayla announced, "WE are not coming back here tomorrow. At least BJ and me. If Bill wants to bring the kids, he can. But it will have to be without me."
We learned that BJ's first was
"Google" He is quite proud to say "Okay, Google" and rattle
off something the rest of us are unable to detect but the phone always manages
to find something. While visiting with
us, and the phone in his possession, Google told him about "pronouns"
which I don't believe he even cared about, but he was quite pleased to have the
phone talking to him.
Their last full day with us was on Friday. I had planned on driving Kayla over to the pool as the group had left their unused pool toys behind. I started to back out of the driveway - forgetting that about another car being there. I scraped the side of my car next to Bill's and asked Kayla if she could have him move it for me. Kayla returned with the keys and BJ; she decided just to drive their car so that she could tell people that she had actually driven in Oregon. We allowed BJ a few moments of pleasure as he played in the baby park. The rest of their time with us we we either played games or watched programs and visited.
It was a short visit. Jenna and I realized that there was more we
had meant to do while they were here with us.
Jenna is now going through cousin withdrawal I think even worse than
before they came. I'd love to let her
visit with them for another month. It
would be awesome if we could all three return for a visit.
