Family Reunion – Friday

Friday was set aside for shopping.  The girls pilled into my car and we hit two resale shops on Hwy 101 and the Historic Bayfront area.

Not many pictures were taken but here are two from an antique store that had this beautiful, and very expensive, rocking horse from New Zealand.  Our Aussie girls couldn’t resist.

We met the Wayne and Mike at the bayfront before heading home.  They had been checking out the charter for Sunday and eating more clam chowder.

Jody and the other boys hung out at the house all morning.

That afternoon while Wayne and I rested some of the family went  to the Aquarium Village.  Here is Aaron and his new best friend.

And here is Aimee with hers.  Looks a little like Aaron doesn’t he.

 

Here is Aimee with the famous Nessi, the famous Yaquina Bay Sea Monster.

 

 

That evening we drove to Lincoln City to the Chinook Winds Casino for a little game playing and seafood buffet.  Jody took those under 21 to the arcade and the rest of us went to the casino.  Aaron and Michelle had never been to a casino before and they got their first taste of playing blackjack for real money.  We had a blast watching them.  Everyone got their fill at dinner and we headed back to Newport.

Family Reunion – Thursday to Tillamook

We decided to get up early Thursday and drive north to Tillamook – home to the Tillamook Cheese factory.

As we rounded a corner north of Lincoln City we came upon this beautiful view with a pull out.

These are the three rocks in the background.

Here we are milling around.

  

The Kubo family decided that they wanted a family picture so here are Jody, Lois, Nathan, Aimee, Joel, and Aaron.

 

And here is the Reay family, Nola, Matt, Michelle, and Mike, Michelle’s fiancé.

Here are both families combined.

Matt and Michelle wanted a picture with me.

 

If you noticed the flowers in Aaron’s hair in the family picture, they were there because Aimee decided he needed some decoration.

 

The cousins all had fun kidding around with each other.

 

We took the scenic route to Tillamook via Cape Meares.  We stopped at the Cape Meares Lighthouse.  It is the shorted lighthouse on the Oregon coast.

 

As you walk down the path you can clearly see  the top of the lighthouse.

 

I guess these are the rocks that the lighthouse is warning of.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finally arrived in Tillamook and after a picnic lunch we headed to the factory.  It has been in business over 100 years.

Inside the lobby was an old VW bus the almost everyone pilled into.

 

I think the man facing me is the rabbi who is in charge of making the kosher cheese.

 

This young man is making the sugar cones for the ice cream cones.

We all got to taste the various kinds of cheese that they make here.  Then everyone bought cheese for dinner.  We drove straight back to Newport after stopping at a sausage store and settled in for a wine, cheese and sausage dinner along with some shrimp that we had brought from the Texas Gulf coast. Yummy!!

Family Reunion – Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday evening after we had driven back from Portland with Lois and Nola and their families we took everyone to Nana’s Irish Pub for Corn Beef and Cabbage and other assorted Irish food.  Here we are around the table at Nana’s

 

After dinner Lois, Nola, Michelle, and I went grocery shopping for the week.  Then we all sat and visited for a while and before heading off to bed.

Wednesday morning was a late start and we decided to explore Newport.  We drove up to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse.  You will recall from previous blogs that this is the lighthouse we went to.

There are two places to see at this National Park.  One is the lighthouse and surrounding tidal pools and the other is a handicapped access to some other tidal pools.  We got our wires crossed and one car load went to the light house and the other to the other tidal pools and then we reversed locations.

Here are pictures from the area around the lighthouse.  First there is an area where there are seals resting on the rocks.  They weren’t here when Wayne and I came up by ourselves.

  

These are the tidal pools near the lighthouse.  You have to go down a series of stairs to get to them.  Today there were lots of people strolling around.

Here is our group with Jody in the white hat, Nola standing, Aimee in the dark shirt and Nathan and Matt in white shirts.

Nathan and Matt got really close to the water.

Here is a picture of a couple of  star fish in one of the tidal pools.

Although the handicapped area has paved access down to the tidal pools the walk down is still very steep. 

Here is Michelle getting ready to go down

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lois is busy reading about the tidal pools and Aaron is enjoying the view.

Here are Michelle, Mike and Lois coming back up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we traded places our group wend down to these tidal pools.  Here is Nola coming back up.

Here is Aaron at the tidal pools near the lighthouse.

 

Mike and Michelle have lots of pictures together

Everyone got to see the dock from Japan from the lighthouse but we couldn’t find an easy way down to get close to it.

  

Since it was lunch time we headed down to Nye Beach to the Newport Market for clam chowder and other goodies.  It was wonderful as always.

That afternoon Jody took the boys to the kite store to buy kites.  Their experiences with the kites will be a blog in itself.

We fixed dinner at the house that night and sat around and visited.  There was a beautiful sunset.

The Happy Family at the Happy Clam

On Tuesday, June 26, 2011 we drove to Portland, Oregon and picked up the two daughters and their families for a week’s family reunion.  Lois and her family had flown in from Australia and Japan after seeing Jody’s family in San Jose, CA and Nola and her family had flown in from Texas.  This is the first time in many years that the girls and their families have been together.

This blog is pictures of the family hanging out at The Happy Clam which is the house that was rented for them all to stay in.  They were taken over several days.

This is the living room corner of the second floor.

And this is the dinning room area.

This is the view towards the bridge and our RV park.

This is the view out the channel to the Pacific Ocean.

From left to right are Michelle, Matt, Lois, and Aimee preparing dinner one night.

Here are Wayne and Mike, Michelle’s fiancé, talking on one of the couches.

Michelle, Matt, and Aaron chatting after dinner.

Aaron, Matt, Joel and Michelle deep in conversation.

Nathan, Aimee, Jody, Nola, Lois and Michelle after dinner.  Nola is looking to see if there are more dishes to be cleaned up.

Lois, Michelle, Matt, and Aaron at the table with Wayne and Mike in the background.

 

Matt, Aimee, Aaron, Nathan, Jody, Michelle, Lois, Joel and Wayne at the table.

 

Joel, Nola and Mike were on clean up duty.

Nathan, Michelle, Wayne , Lois and Aimee at the table with Nola and Mike in the kitchen.

Nola and Mike in the kitchen and Wayne Lois, Jody, Aaron and Aimee at the table.  Joel is waiting to finish clearing the table.

The house proved to be the perfect setting for our reunion.