A Year

So we've now lived in Oregon for a full year and I still think it is great! I love this time of year since we get such wonderful produce. People, look at all this amazing fresh produce I got yesterday at the market. I also love my new market basket I recently purchased-way better than the bags, because nothing gets smashed. Also, just because I think she is so dang cute, here is a recent picture of our pup-pup who will only be eight month this week, but she is already pretty dang huge!

A trip down south

Since Blake's summer break is wrapping up we decided we need to get in one fast trip out of Oregon. I was sitting in the house trying to figure out what we were going to do and then quickly decided we were going to drive to Half Moon Bay (just south of San Francisco) to visit Blake's mom and stepdad...next thing I know we have the Subaru loaded with Gypsy and we were off. Man, that was a LONG 12 hour drive each way and I'm not sure we'll be doing that again. Our visit with Kathy and Troy was very relaxing and it was very nice being close to the water. Highlights of visit:

-I milked a goat (oh yeah, Blake did too-just look at how VERY excited he was about that milk coming out!)

-I met Bart the llama (just look at those teeth!)

-Gypsy got to play with Jake

-Eating breakfast at our favorite breakfast place EVER in Sausalito (you might think I'm kidding, but we been to the bay area now on three different trips and we've now had breakfast there 5 times...man, I want some of their food right now).

-Seeing massive amounts of seals and pelicans diving in the water to eat loads of sardines.

-Mexican food! We had the first good mexican food we've had in over a year! Someone please move to Oregon and open a good mexican dive.

Visitor take 15

While my grandparents were in town Blake's stepdad happened to be in Portland so he was able to come over for a quick hello. Troy got to meet miss Gypsy and Blake took him to one of the taverns out in the farms for some dinner. Too bad his visit was so short, but it was still nice seeing him either way.

Visitors take 16

Blake's dad and stepmom came the day after my grandparents left so needless to say it was a very busy couple of days (or maybe weeks or maybe even months!). I didn't have my camera with me while they were here so this is all there is in the way of pictures. We drove south one day and took them to one of the major wine areas in the state since they are both big winnos and it was a very clear day and I must admit it was funny to see hills of rolling vineyards all around in Oregon. For some reason most of their visit here is blurry in my mind, but I do recall us eating a lot. HA! Brent treated us to some very yummy meals while they were here-Thanks!

Vistors Take 14

Hooray! My grammy & poppy were able to come for a nice long visit! This was not an easy task of getting them to agree to fly, stay for a whole week, leave their dog, etc. It was so nice having them here and I hope they come again in the near future. We did a repeat of many of the same sights around Portland, but it is a difference experience with each visitor that comes so it makes it worth doing some of the same things over and over again :)

Some highlights:
-We saw a couple of bald eagles in the gorge
-W saw a four-horned sheep
-My grammy made us beans and brought tortillas with her (seriously, OR doesn't know a thing about tortillas)
-It was so hot the day they arrived they purchased a second portable a/c unit so our house is now livable
-Blake and Poppy ate lots of cheese, I mean a lot of cheese!

There you have it, my random list of highlights....I sure have some neat grandparents!