Oregon Coast/Seattle 2010

Kevin and I took his sister Tammy and his mother JoAnn to the Oregon Coast and then on up to Seattle. We drove to Multnomah Falls which is so beautiful and then on to Portland. The next day we visited the Rose Garden which is beautiful too and then drove to the Pittock Mansion. I loved the mansion. We toured the home and I was asked to play the piano....I was nervous and very unprepared but made myself do it. I wish I could have been alone in there and I would have played all night! Then we drove to Seaside to stay the night and captured the most beautiful sunset!

The next day we drove to Cannon Beach. What more can I say? If you haven't been there, you really must go! I could have sat in a chair and stayed their forever....with a good book, pizza and Sprite Zero! Ahhhhhhhhhh. Then we drove to the Cape Meares Lighthouse. It was quite a walk down and quite a HIKE back up....I thought I might die. But the view was fantastic! Then we drove up to Astoria. I love Astoria! We toured the Flavel House (the bedroom of the owner felt very haunted to me) it was old and creepy and not kept up as nice as the Pittock Mansion. We found the "Goonie" house.....if you haven't seen the movie, you need to - it's a classic! Tammy and I walked out on the pier to see the sea lions...sooo many of them, they were loud!! Then we drove up to the Column. It was 164 stairs straight up and I actually did it! Great view. We stayed the night in Lacey, Wa and ate dinner at the "Red Bicycle" which had dueling pianos!

The next day we drove to Seattle. We went to the Space Needle, JoAnn had never been before so it was really fun for her. It was a bit cloudy. We ate at Ivar's and took the ferry to Bainbridge Island. I love any kind of boat or ferry! Then we went to Pike Market but they were closing so we only got to see the guys selling fish and a few of the flowers. Tonight we ate at Ivar's restaurant right on the water. We found a GREAT park with a view of the city and the Space Needle at night!

The next day we rode the train(?) or lightrail...whatever it's called into Seattle and watched a Mariner's game. It was great. The last day was just a lot of driving, everyone was tired and it was good to get home. I think JoAnn had the time of her life and she's still telling everyone about it! Thanks again, Kevin for a great trip!

Eagle Fun Days 2010

This was the best Eagle Fun Days Ever!!! It started out on Thursday when the family drove up and we went to dinner at Big Jud's. Yummy!

Friday morning we went on our annual hike, this year to Camel's Back in Boise. It was a beautiful day and it was a very nice hike....a couple of hills that took your breath away (at least mine) and a nice little stream that most were able to cross with the help of a downed tree. We followed that up with yogurt from Blue Cow - our favorite!!! We had lunch at the house and then went swimming at Eagle Island Park. It's sure been upgdraded since our last visit. The grass was very nice and the sand clean but the water was still freezing. Most of us got in and it wasn't too bad. Very relaxing! Friday night was pizza night and drive-inn movie night. All day we had wind and we were worried we wouldn't get the drive-inn in but we did. It was a little cold but so, so fun. We watched "Up"...the animated film. We had popcorn, licorice, cookies, skittles....all sorts of junk. Fun!

Saturday morning we had breakfast of bacon, eggs, pancakes and leftovers from Friday. Then the guys loaded up the bins full of water and chairs and we headed to our parade spot. It's nice once you get set up so you can just "people watch". The parade is getting smaller every year and the water part is getting smaller and the fire trucks don't make an appearance anymore but everyone still has fun. We had two newbies this year - Kyler and Peter - and they had a blast! Everyone was soaked and now have some great stories to tell. For lunch we had deli sandwiches then Kevin and I started preparation for Fear Factor! We had five games. Game one - Pinch an Inch...where teams had to put as many clothespins on their faces as they could in a minute. Zach and Michael's team won. Game two - Bon Appetit. Teams had to roll a dice to choose either Mexican or Asian plate. Items like tongue, stomach, eel, octupus, quail eggs, sardines etc. Yummy! I think Kyle and Shawn won that one....sorry can't remember. Game three - Snake in the Grass - teams had to search through boxes of dirt and worms to find two bolts and nuts, get the nut screwed on to the bolt while blindfolded. This game didn't work out so well.....oh well. Game four - teams had to roll dice to pick four items plus a liquid to be blended together and then they were timed to see how long it took them to drink it. Hmmm I can't remember who won that either....Game 5 - the granddaddy of them all....Who Pooped in the Pool? Teams had to get in a pool of poop and search for golf balls and throw them out using only their arms....no hands. It was.....um......interesting and smelly. Zach and Michael won this one and the whole Fear Factor. There were prizes for everyone who participated and I think they all had fun. We then had a bbq and luckily everyone still ate after all of that disgusting food ingested earlier. Later that night we played Apples to Apples and each time your card was chosen, you got to pick a prize out of a bag....always a hit!

Sunday morning, scones for breakfast and then we went for our annual "walk" down by the river. It was so pretty and quiet. We walked part of the way on the flooded walkway in the freezing cold water. We saw one snake and refrained from scaring Shawn to death. We had lunch before sending everyone on their way. Always a tearful goodbye. We loved, loved, having everyone here.....it's a houseful of noise, chaos, laughter and we miss every minute of it. Life is back to normal and preparations are already ongoing for next year. Families are the best!

On January 9th, Kevin and I hosted a "Surprise" Birthday party for Tammy's 50th Birthday! It was so fun and we really did surprise her. All of her siblings and their families came including her mom and best friend Kelly. Many of her work friends drove down to see her too. Scott and Rebecca just happened to be coming up that weekend so they decorated and were able to enjoy the fun too. We ate lots of food, she opened lots of presents, played games and mostly laughed .......A LOT! Scott made a beautiful DVD of pictures of Tammy and her family from childhood on.....including a very memorable picture of our late Grandma Sherner! Sun morning, we had scones and then a BBQ in the afternoon.

San Francisco 2009

Kevin, Zach and I recently returned from a trip to San Francisco. We arrived on Thursday and walked down to Fisherman's Wharf. We took a tour of the bay on a ferry which took us under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz. It was windy but I love being on the water!! We visited the Aquarium, Alcatraz (which is very fun), a Modern Art Musuem (very weird!!), Chinatown, Lombard Street (the crookedest street in America), Little Italy (good food), Castro (very fun!), Haight Ashberry (very scary - to me anyway)and walked all over the city. We walked across the Golden Gate Bridge which I also loved! Kevin navigated us through the city pretty well. We used all types of transportation - the Bart, cable cars, trolleys, buses and a town car to get back to the airport. We ate lots of great food - fish & Chips, Chowder in a bread bowl, Chinese food with things we weren't sure what they were, Pizza, In & Out Burger and even Burger King...hahaha. We saw things I don't think you are supposed to see......homeless people digging through garbage cans, a guy using a building for a bathroom, crazies talking to themselves, a guy and girl almost getting into a fight on the bus, cross dressers, prostitutes (we're guessing) and everything in between.

We also saw the most beautiful sights - the giant Golden Gate Bridge, the city from Alcatraz, sea life at the aquarium, beautiful victorian homes, Lombard street, just beautiful scenery. It was a great trip - thanks Kevin for planning it!

We had the best time in Vegas! Kevin and I, Pam and Chris, Tammy and Ted all left on Thursday morning. As we arrived in Vegas we discovered that a limo was just a little bit more than the shuttle so we hopped in the limo. The driver took us on a tour of the strip and told stories from his 50 years in Vegas. How fun. We stayed at the Excalibur hotel.

We walked around a lot looking at everything, including the M&M Factory. Saw Elvis (shocker!) and Michael Jackson. A few of us toured the Titanic Museum which was great. We all went to the shark aquarium which was really fun. We ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. We walked all over at night which was an experience. We saw so many things we never should have seen.....however, we also watched a water fountain show which was spectacular! The walk back to the hotel was so tiring!!!

The next day, we went to the Wax Museum and took so many fun pictures. Tammy and I karoakied (spelling??) and were judged by Simon Cowell and yes, we got our golden ticket to Hollywood! We also decided to use the bus pass. Fabulous!!!!!! We went to "Slots of Fun" which is a cheaper casino and we all played blackjack on a table for about 4 hours!!! It was sooooooo fun. We were loud and had a couple of great, fun dealers. We ate at the hotel buffet today which was really good but we were exhausted. Walked around some more, saw a statue guy who was so cool......and dragged ourselves back to bed.

Sat, we went to the old strip - Fremont Street. Again, thankful for the bus pass. This is the part I remembered from going to CA with my dad when we were very young. The Golden Nugget, etc. It's now covered and they do a light show at night which we missed because a few of us were too tired. Kevin taught us how to play Roulette....it was so easy and so much fun with a good dealer. We did really well there. Kevin put down $5 and walked away with $30. He gave me a few of those dollars and I walked away with $20. We are big time gamblers I'll tell you. It was just so fun to play for so long with so little money. We took a taxi back to the airport and flew home. It was a great trip and I can't wait to go again.

Sunset in Eagle Idaho 06/19/09

Can you believe that? Outstanding!

Eagle Fun Days and Family Fear Factor

We just finished a great weekend with most of my family coming from Utah. Everyone arrived Thursday night and we had 12 people sleeping at my house. Friday everyone went hiking to Table Rock while Pam and I did the shopping. Friday night we went to Big Jud's. Scott ate the Big Jud and fries which gets his picture on the wall (2nd time). He didn't get sick...yea for us! Then we went to Michael's work Blue Cow Frozen Yogurt. It's so fabulous! We watched an old scary movie from the 70's - Bad Ronald....very funny because some of us could remember seeing it when we were kids and it freaked us out.

Saturday morning was the waterparade and two of our guests hadn't been before. The weather was very cloudy and tried to rain but held off for the parade. Everyone was soaked. Later that day, we had "Family Fear Factor". They were divided into teams and the first game was to chew 7 saltines completely and then to try to blow a bubble with bubble gum....very hard. Next they had to find tootsie rolls in a mess of sauerkraut and kimchee. Very gross. Then came the food! Without knowing what it was, they had to eat three different kinds of things.....(heart, gizzard and ham hoof). Then the gagging began and luckily nobody threw up since we were indoors thanks to the rain! Then for a beverage they got a great concoction of beets, pineapple and green beans. Wow some of them could just down in like nobody's business. The final event was to find quarters mixed in with lots of change and crickets! I had to be sure none of those pesky critters escaped in my house. It was great and I'm sure something that will be talked about for years. Then we had the fabulous BBQ - cooked in the rain of course - and dessert. What a great day.

Sunday we went for a nice walk on the greenbelt where we saw three snakes...not so fun. I think everyone was exhausted but had such a great time. Thanks Kevin for all of your hard work in planning and cooking and making sure there's a little something different and exciting every year!