Family Birthday Adventure Vacation

Jack turned 7 on August 1 and Annie turned 9 on August 4. Following the tradition we started last year, we went on vacation rather than having a party. This year we visited the Southern Oregon coast, staying in Coos Bay. I was actually born in North Bend, which is right next to Coos Bay, and lived there until I was 5. My dad grew up there and had a lot of family in the area and every summer, we would stay at "The Ranch," family property along a peaceful river full of swimming holes. Lots of great memories. Most of the family is gone now, but we did drive up the river and find the Ranch. I think there is still a cousin or two there, but no one was home.

Anyway, we also visited a couple of fun places, including a Wildlife petting zoo, which was amazing. When you walk in, there is a large open area where lots of deer, goats and other animals are wandering around, waiting for you to feed them. They are very tame (and very pushy). There are also some exotic animals in enclosures (lions, tigers, something that starts with "Cata...." that looks kind of like a dog-sized guinea pig with a big nose. We also got to pet a baby lion and Jack got to hold a baby lynx (since it was his birthday). Bethany fell totally in love with a baby goat, who allowed her to carry him all over the place.

The next day we drove down to Klamath, California and visited "Trees of Mystery," which sounds pretty kitchy, but was actually a nice walk through a redwood forest with lots of info about the trees. At the end of the trail there is a gondola ride that takes you to the top of a ridge with astounding views. We were really proud of Jack, he did almost the entire 1 mile trail by himself. His walking is getting better every day.

The weather was mixed, but the kids got in a lot of swimming in the motel pool, which was probably the highlight for them. On Wednesday, we drove up the Oregon Coast. Bad idea - we will never try to do that in one day again. Poor Annie, it was her actual birthday and she spent most of it in the car, never her favorite thing. We did get to stop and see my sister and her family, who were staying further north on the coast and then drove up to our house on the WA coast. It rained on and off but it was relaxing and the kids spent a lot of time playing with their new Zhu Zhu pets. If you haven't seen them, they are little furry toy hamsters and they are darned cute. They zip around and make cute noises and drive Maggie the dog crazy.
We also found out that eight dollars worth of quarters will get you 197 items from the claw machine at Chico's Pizza. Yes, that is correct, 197 plastic bracelets, frogs, tops, pieces of candy, etc, etc. Of course, the real value was excitement for the kids as they piled up their booty.

I took a ton a pictures, too many for the blog, so will probably make a slideshow once I get through the piles of laundry, etc. Here's one picture, though, of BB communing with a llama (or maybe an alpaca?). All in all, a good vacation. It's back to the real world tomorrow, unfortunately.