Bandon with the Apreotesi Family - September part 1

 
We spent a few days in Bandon on the Oregon coast with Mario’s dad, his girlfriend, Mario’s sister Galina, and her fiance Brian.
 


The first evening we wandered down to the beach, which was only a few blocks away from our vacation rental, and reacquainted Josh with the ocean. It took him a while to get used to the idea of playing with the waves.



 


The next morning we went to the beach again. 

Scout wasn’t quite sure what she thought of it all. 
 
 Josh had to find his courage again, even though we had just been playing this game the night before.
 

I LOVE this shot - it shows a lot of the relationship Josh and I have.

Screaming. Just because we could. :)

He especially loved climbing on the rocks.

 

Mario and his sister Galina.

 
 
After lunch we met up with Mario’s dad and played some more.

 


 
After that, we spent a night in Hillsboro with Nic and Hailey, part of Mario’s family. They live on a ranch. Josh LOVED playing with their four lovely girls, and continued his fascination with chasing any animals he could find. At their house, this consisted of cats, chipmunks, dogs, and chickens!

Oregon!

We spent our first day back in Oregon with my dad playing at Lake of the Woods. If you can’t guess what Josh did at a lake with a rocky shore, you need to read my blog more. :) He also loved chasing all of the animals we saw - deer, squirrels, butterflies, etc. 

Josh looking for animals to chase - there were a lot!

Love that Grandpa Riggs!

Dad watched the kids for us so Mario and I could use his jet-skis together, and then his wife Jeri watched the little ones so Dad could give us an awesome ride on double tubes behind his boat. It must have been at least a decade since I rode on tubes behind a boat. Holy monkey was it ever fun!!!! 

We had a blast at the lake and then headed back down to Grants Pass to spend a few days with Mario’s mom. Everywhere we went there were animals for Josh to chase. He has always loved dogs, but now he LOVES dogs. Leslie’s dog Penny was Josh’s best friend (not from her point of view, but he was having a ball!) and he chased her non-stop around the house the whole time we were there. 

Josh and Brian, Galina's fiance.

Josh and Aunt Galina

Every time we go back to Grants Pass from our city lives, I am struck again at how dark and silent the nights are when you live in the country. Since when we left Alaska true night had not really returned yet, I was really looking forward to seeing my first stars in months, but there was a blue moon (when there are two full moons in one month) during our first few days so there weren’t any stars there either!

The next day was very, very memorable. We dropped the kids off at my mom’s and had a day off. Like a REAL day off. To put this in perspective, the first time I was away from Josh for more than a few hours was the night I spent in the hospital giving birth to Scout. You could say that wasn’t much of a night off and you would be right. This was our first whole day together without kids since August 2009. It was amazing. We went for a run together. We went out to eat and actually got to eat. At the same time. While our food was warm. We went to see a movie. We got a couple’s massage. We saw another movie. The day was remarkable. I had forgotten what it was like. I can’t say I didn’t miss my kids, and I can honestly say that I wouldn’t change my life (and I’m not just saying that because I feel like I should and don’t really have a choice at this point). But it was so, so very nice to have a day with Mario to remember what it’s like to just be me.

Then it was my mom’s birthday. We made delicious cheesecake crepes with fresh peaches for breakfast and spent the day at Crater Lake. We came home to enjoy my mom’s most favorite summer meal - BLTs with tomatoes fresh from the farm and hot buttered sweet corn.



 

 


When we make a visit to Oregon, we usually have a hard enough time as it is just finding time to visit with family. Coordinating schedules between four separate households is difficult. So even though we have friends in the Grants Pass area (Mario and I both grew up in Grants Pass and went to the same high school, if you didn't already know that), we very rarely (read: never) have time to see any of them when we're in town. This time, however, an evening magically opened up and we had the chance to visit with Luke and Carinn and their beautiful daughters. It was just like old times at the Foutz house, except when Luke, Carinn, and Mario used to come over back in the day, there weren't this many little whippersnappers around!







 

The next few days we spent golfing with my dad, 

Nice photo, Mario!

and he took us to this awesome little campground near the Oregon Caves,  

 

 
we went down to the Rogue River with Mom,

Hanging out with YaYa by the pool.

Oregon is amazing. I'm reminded every time we go back how much I love it!

grilled with Mario’s dad as per tradition, 

Poison oak, my old nemesis! We meet again!

 and went to Lithia Park with him too, 

Grandpa, couldn't you find a bigger rock?

 
 
played in the garden at Mario’s mom’s house


where Josh loved Grandma’s fresh strawberries and even tried a cherry tomato.

 

This was his "I want a strawberry!" dance.

 
 
And then he kindly decided to share his blackberries with Scout (whether she wanted them or not). 





After a few days of varied and wonderful family activities, we headed to Bandon to spend some time with Mario's family.
(Thanks for taking such wonderful family shots, Brian!)