Friday, June 30, 2006

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Monday, June 26, 2006

Pictures, pictures, and more pictures!

OK, I've now gone through all the photos we took on our weeklong Coast Camping Trip and Oregon Road Tour...at least I think I have!  Who knows, there may be more lurking somewhere.


The first batch of photos is from our 3rd Annual Emerald Forest Invasion in Trinidad.  I can't even say how much fun we had.  Though it did start out rough (see post below) it ended great and we got to see beautiful sights and spend quality time with our friends.  We can't wait until next year!!  Click here for photos from the camping trip


Day 1 of Oregon Road Tour--Monday we headed north from Trinidad along the coast into Oregon.  Highlights along the way:  Little Red School House, Paul Bunyan and Babe at Trees of Mystery in Klamath, Ocean World in Crescent City~we got to pet a shark!~, and spending the night alongside the ocean in Gold Beach.  Click here for pictures from Day 1


Day 2 of Oregon Road Tour--Highlights included: checking out the beach and lighthouse at our RV Park a little closer, Prehistoric Gardens, Game Park Safari in Bandon~petting lots of WILD animals~, spending the night in North Bend at the Oregon Dunes.  Click here for pictures from Day 2


Day 3 of Oregon Road Tour--Highlights included: Dune buggying it on the dunes and along the ocean, heading to Grants Pass and a nice campground with waterfalls and swimming holes. Click here for pictures from Day 3 


Day 4 of Oregon Road Tour--Highlights included: hanging out and 'swimming' at the campground~no real swimming done because it was WAY TOO cold!~, Hellgate Jetboat excursion and delicious BBQ dinner. Click here for pictures from Day 4 


Day 5 of Oregon Road Tour--Headed home with a stopover in Ashland and lunch in Yreka.


We had a great vacation but we're also glad to be home.  Thanks for following along on our road adventures!  Until next time....

Friday, June 23, 2006

We're Home!

Aaronellabeach


We just back a few hours ago and now comes the real chore.  Unpacking, washing, going through the 700+ pictures (priorities, you know?), etc.  We wanted to get to it right away but we've been putting it off because we came home to 111 degree temps.  What?!  That cold, windy Oregon coast is looking better and better now!  Aaron heads off to work early tomorrow morning and I've got chores and bills to catch up on.  The vacation is over.....  :-) 


The above picture is one of my favorites so far.  It was taken on the beach in Trinidad. 


Thursday, June 22, 2006

Rogue River Adventures

Dscn1450 Dscn1449 This afternoon we did the Dinner Excursion tour offered through Hellgate Jet Boat Tours.  We first did it on our first anniversary 7 years ago.  We have been wanting to take the kids for awhile and they absolutely loved it!  It's a 4 hour jet boat trip down the Rogue River and they also take you to a place called the OK Corral for a delicious BBQ feast.  You are pretty much guaranteed to get wet and we certainly did. Dscn1448 Dscn1453 Dscn1481 Here's a little video clip of the 360's they kept doing.... 


Doing a 360 on the Rogue VIDEO!!


This was Ella's favorite part...well that is until she fell asleep on the way back up the river.  We must have done 4 of these and she slept right through them!! 


We head back home tomorrow.  It's been an incredible amount of fun but I'll be happy to sleep in my own bed and take a nice long shower! 

Oregon Dune videos

This one should work OK....  Sand Dune video....wheeee!!!!

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Nothing like a little sand in your eyes

Dscn1318 We spent this morning out on the dunes in a rented dune buggy.  So fun!!  Pretty scary too!  We first headed out towards the ocean and rode along the waves for awhile and then headed back to the real dune area and cruised up and down the hills.  Dscn1333 Dscn1354 Dscn1355 Dscn1377 Hmmm...we just might have to invest in some quads or something!  Check out Jacob's face in that last photo!  I'm kinda bummed about the photos I got, I was having some camera issues with my compact digital, the white balance was off or something and they're pretty washed out.  I'm hoping I can work some magic with Photoshop on the other pictures when we get home, but I was excited to post some of them now.


There was the coolest dune ready golf cart at our campground...wouldn't mind having one of those to cruise around in!  Check this out....Dscn1284 it wouldn't  be for any major dune riding, but I could see myself using it to check the mail with!  LOL!!! 


Right now we're at a relaxing campground just north of Grants Pass...the Joe Creek Waterfalls RV Resort.  We plan to stay here two nights.  We're told there is a couple swimming holes and a waterfall within walking distance so I think we're going to head there after dinner.  We're all in need of a major bath after all that sand at the dunes! 

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Gateway to the Oregon Dunes

Dscn1282That's where we are right now!  Kinda feeling a bit out of place, however.  We are literally the only people camping in this RV park that does not have a bunch of ATV's surrounding it.  Hope we make it out of here before we too own a couple of ATV's too!  The Oregon Dunes are really beautiful, not something you see everyday.  We're staying at the Oregon Dunes KOA in North Bend, OR.


On our drive here from Gold Beach today we stopped at the Prehistoric Gardens in Port Orford, OR and the Game Park Safari in Bandon, OR.  Both were really great for the kids.  Prehistoric Gardens was a nice hike through the Oregon Rain Forests and had many dinosaur sculptures throughout.  Very informative and we all know a little more about dinosaurs now.  The Game Park Safari is America's largest wild animal petting adventure.  We got to get up close and personal to many animals you wouldn't normally get to in a traditional zoo or petting farm.  We got to play with a 35 day old lion cub too! 


Now I'm off to do some laundry while the kids play at the park.  I hope we get a decent sleep tonight, I'm told the Dunes don't "close" until midnight and our campground has direct access to them.  Should be interesting!

Monday, June 19, 2006

Fun, fun, fun!

Img_0074 Our 3rd Annual Emerald Forest Invasion has now ended!  We had a bit of a rough start but it ended great.  We have a yearly tradition of camping with our friends on the coast at a really nice campground.  This year we had 65 people!  Img_0051


The reason the trip started out rough initially was because Aaron was due to get off work at 8am but ended up getting a call for a fire about 7am and then got home late so that pushed our departure back a couple hours.  Then when we got about 25 miles away, Aaron noticed smoke coming out the back of the truck.  To make a long story short, we had to head back and find a mechanic to diaganose and repair our problem.  Thankfully by some miracle we were able to accomplish those tasks with only a few hangups and we were back on the road by late afternoon.  I have forgotten once again what it was that broke but it has to do with the oil pump and the turbo thing-a-ma-jig.  A minute longer on the road and I think we would have killed the truck due to depleting all the oil in the truck (which the trailer is now coated with).   


So anyhow we eventually made it and had an incredible time!  We are now on part 2 of our vacation and headed North up the Oregon Coast.  I am currently typing alongside the beach in an RV park in Gold Beach, OR.  We are going to continue traveling for the rest of the week until Aaron has to be back at work.  I think tomorrow we're going to head to Coos Bay and see what interests us.  Unfortunately I can't share many pictures because my connection is quite slow and I'm on Aaron's laptop but I will try to update our happenings of this trip when I can.  I'm noticing that most RV parks have Wi-Fi service now...now that's my kind of camping! 

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Bonus fair picture!

It's a tradition for us to get one of these done.  It's just about impossible to fit 5 people into those dinky photo booths!  Not sure what Jacob's problem was in those middle photos, he was fine when we went in and
came out.


Fair2006_1




Camping, here we come!!

Tomorrow we leave for our Annual Coast Camping Trip with our friends.  We have all been so excited and completely consumed with getting ready.  For the past month, Jacob has been asking daily if we're going camping today...finally tomorrow I can say YES!!!  I think we have about 16 or so families going so it's going to be quite a group, but so fun! 


After spending 3 nights on the coast we're going to head North and see where our trailer takes us.  I hope to find some Wi-Fi spots so I can update this page and share some of our adventures.  Until then....

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Picture overload

What to do, what to do?  I am in the process of figuring out the best way to to deal with my photographs.  I just figured out that on average I take 1500 pictures a month!  Really hard to put that many in a photo album, you know?  Not to mention the expense of printing them.  Any suggestions?  Taking less pictures is not an option! 

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Baseball

Last night was Jacob's last game of baseball.  He really seemed to like it and Aaron is really looking forward to when he can join a Little League team. 
Baseball


Ella just likes going to roll around in the grass!


Img_9861

Friday, June 09, 2006

Swim Lessons

Jacob's first session of swim lessons is over.  He really enjoys it and has really progressed well.  This is actually his fourth year of swimming but the first year we feel he's really learning the proper techniques of swimming.  We will start with another session in a couple of weeks. 
Img_9788
Img_9798
When the kids move to the next level they get to ring the cowbell and everyone claps and cheers.  Jacob gets really excited when he gets to ring the bell. 
Img_9802

Monday, June 05, 2006

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

So I had seen this idea for a family photo from another photographer I really love, Tara Whitney.  I thought it would be really fun to try for ourselves to get a nice but different family portrait we could frame.  Yeah. Not so easy when you're using a tripod and a remote control shutter release.  I could totally see in my mind how I wanted it to look.  It just was impossible to achieve with me sitting on the couch!  I can't focus.  I can't adjust settings.  I can't recompose the shot on the spot.  The sun directly overhead didn't help either.   Here's the only one I feel is OK...you just need to ignore Aaron's hand holding the remote!
Familybw

Img_9711


Loved Ella's look in this one...

Img_9697

Sunday, June 04, 2006

I LOVE SUMMER

We had a really fun and eventful weekend!  Jacob had swim lessons, baseball, and we joined some friends for some boating on the lake.  I thought to be a little different I'd put together a video of some of the photos and video clips we took over the weekend.  I didn't put a lot of time into it, just tried to get it done quick.  Because of the above mentioned weekend, I am beyond tired and feel like I've been beat up!  I hope you enjoy....Video of our weekend


***EDITED TO ADD****


I just looked at the video and it's not the best quality so I thought I'd upload the pictures separately too...Pictures from our weekend


 

Friday, June 02, 2006

Rob and Jewel

Abc_concert6_060602_ssv
I feel it is my duty to not only keep you up to date with happenings of me and my family but also on Rob Thomas current events.  With that said, here is another Rob update!  He performed live this morning with Jewel as part of the Good Morning America Summer Concert series.  He will be performing with Jewel throughout this summer which will be a great show, without a doubt.


Here is a link to him performing Streetcorner Symphony...Rob--Streetcorner video


Those of you who were part of our annual camping trip last year will recognize this song from the soundtrack!  Perfect timing for this gearing up and getting in the mood for this year's coast trip. 


Here is a link to him and Jewel performing Stop Dragging my Heart Around...Rob and Jewel video


Abc_concert7_060602_ssv

Abc_concert10_060602_ssh