04 July 2008 – Friday

For me it was a really laid back 4th.  Somehow I managed to miss the big parade. The rest of the family left me reading in the hammock while they went. I did not realize that I had missed it until they got home. Bummer.

The rest of the day continued to be quiet with everyone reading, the kids watching TV, napping and not doing much. Tom worked some on the office – he tore out the last room that is going to be remodeled.

In the evening we all went to the highschool and watched the fireworks. I tried to take pictures but only a couple of them came out well. I have been very lax about taking pictures since I got home. There was one little scare when Shauna realized that Kelli was not following her. She quickly found her but it was tense for a while because it was quite dark and a large crowd.

Mary was a trooper and walked to and from the fireworks.

05 July 2008 – Saturday

We went to Salem so we could go to the Farmer’s Market. Even knowing about where it took us a number of tries to actually find it. We did get to see more of Salem than we usually do but I think we could have done without the experience. It is a nice market but we were not really into buying much. I bought one plant – I should have bought a couple bells but didn’t – and we got a couple of other small things. I did not think that there were as many interesting things as usual but perhaps because we already had so much to take home, I was not really looking closely.

Back home we had another quiet day. Taylor’s ankle continued to hurt but she did not think it was really bad. As the day wound down I started packing the car and by the time we were getting ready for bed it was 95% of it was packed. All we had to do was throw in a few things we needed for the night and we would be ready to take off tomorrow morning. We said goodbye to everyone before going to bed – we told them they did not need to get up to see us off at 4:30 in the morning.

It has been a great trip and it was fun to be with Tom and his family. William and Kelli are growing up very fast. Shauna’s business is doing great and Tom has become very good at building things for the office and home.

We did not do as many things as we sometimes do when we visit but I think we both enjoyed just relaxing and not having any real responsibilities or plans. The next time we come we will do more traveling and sight seeing but this time it was just relaxing and getting our dental papers filled out. Shauna says that I will need more work when we come back in August or September.

06 July 2008 – Sunday

The trip home was interrupted by me getting a speeding ticket – and expensive one – about 2/3 of the way across Oregon. We had also got stopped not far from Tom’s house by a policeman because one of our tail lights was not working. I should have realized that was an omen and been more careful the rest of the trip. But other than that the trip went quickly and without further trouble. The car got about 28 miles per gallon even at freeway speeds.

It was great to visit the Oregon Piers but it was also wonderful to get home.