Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Oregon

Off to Oregon we flew to help cousin Rachel celebrate her high school graduation. What fun we had at aunt Sarah and uncle Tim's houses. We loved spending time at the beach, as well as swimming in the pool and getting soaked in the hot tub. Cousin Matthew has some cool games too. That's the life!

Oregon, here we come!
Crossing the Rockies

Portland Cartlandia: Voodoo Donut stop

Here is a food truck for pasta girl

Those Voodoo donuts rock!


Silverton, here we are touring the garden
Brothers by the pond

Dr Tim proudly showing the hazelnut grove

Admiring the nursery orchids

Feeding the Jantzen family is not for the faint of heart!

Brownies time with LaBlueHair,
aka cousin Kristin

Preparing strawberries
with aunt Sarah's nifty tool

Flossing anyone?

Cousins just rock!


Relaxing on the balcony
Pretty girls in the hot tub

Hot tub princess

Should we play water basketball Matthew?

Pool Basketball is on!

Let's go Alex!

Who added all those bubbles?

Relaxing in the pool

Breakfast lineup

Playing on the Wii

Just Dance: "Cake by the Ocean"

Coffee at Pacific City

Silly guys

Alice & Mark

Selfie while waiting for my family to come down
the dune, so that I can take pictures of THEM

Playing in the waves

I love these waves!

Maman, can we bring that rock home?

Fun at the beach on a gorgeous day

Siblings sans (full-time) farm boys

Building a huge sand castle with two moats

Teamwork

Working hard after climbing up the sand dune

Great job builders!

Pretty view

Dinner time

Matthew tells the best stories

Relaxing in the hot tub

Hot stuff: girls are lining up already.
Should we build a moat?!?

Cool surfers

Enjoying the beach

Looking for starfish and crabs

Look at this rock!

Morning walk on the beach is more inspiring
than the one in humid Kansas!

Beach treasures

Run, Alex!

Salem Konditorei oh my!

Kafe und Kuchen time

Who's counting calories?!?

Champagne cream cake for papa

Marionberry mousse cake for Maman.
Papa is in heaven already...

Barney's blackout chocolate cake for Sophie
red velvet cake for Alex

Glockenspiel Restaurant in Mount Angel

Eating German food after the Konditorei cakes.
Is that really reasonable, folks?!?

Cuddle time

Graduation party grand master Sarah

Enjoying Rachel's party

Congratulations graduate!

Party time!

Opening presents after a long day

Bye, Oregon! We'll be back to see you all!

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Animals

Off we go for a few days. Who is going to watch the house?

14 unicorns: too many to name

1 gorilla named Grapes

and 1 stingray named Sandy

Cousin

Papa's cousin Marty came for a quick visit. Great time catching up with the Minnesota family!

Cousin time!

Sophie showing Gigi her playroom

Georgia Blues, Alex,
Gigi (waiting for her chocolate pudding),
and Chocolate Girl

Thanks Georgia Blues for showing me
your fun phone games!

Who can floss best?!?

Dragon Boat

The Dragon Boat Festival was hot and steamy like it usually is every June. Alex and Sophie got roped into being part of the dragon parade this year.

Parade

Looking good!

I have the tail of the dragon!

Good job!

Checking out what the make up artist did

Yes, that's what I asked for: pretty kitty

Almost too tall for the dragon boat race

Zoo Camp

Last week kids had fun at Zoo Camp. This is annual expedition that they look forward too all year long.

BFF

Leilah's first camp: welcome to the club!

See you next year!

VBS

While spending time at the farm was great, the kids also enjoyed attending vacation bible school in Beatrice. Papa and his whole family attended and helped out for many years. Fun to see familiar faces and make new friends.

Here is the gang patiently waiting
for the Sunday service to start

Barb taught kids and their parents for many years

Fruits of the Spirit

There is a joy in me

Farm

Maman had a few days sans kids and husband a couple of weeks ago. It was so nice sad that I almost forgot to blog about it... A trip to the farm and Homestead National Monument had the kids in awe. A big thank you to uncle Vern, aunt Dolores and Farmer Katie for making their day!

I climbed the silos again

Katie and Dolores showing us the garden

Getting ready to check out the bees

The farm now has four beehives

Alex got to be bee assistant

Welcome to the new Homestead Museum!

Learning about pioneer days

Lots to learn

Taking a break

Crossing the chocolate-color creek

Some odd-looking pioneers right here...