Swim Banquet

Ben and Carly's Swim Banquet... every year their swim club has a nice dinner at the end of the summer swim season where they give out the awards for the year.

Ben and Coach Chris

Carly and Coach... well, you know.

Every family was supposed to bring a dessert and I believe we are all well aware that I do not bake... that's why I have Rochel. She was kind enough to make COOKIES for the event... which were a HUGE hit. Carly and her Posse were, of course, the first in line at the dessert table and they each grabbed one, along with many of the other actual swim team members. And of course, everyone at our table. Truth be told, Carly was running around saying to everyone, "Did you get one of these cookies? My aunt made them!" and another very fun note: said cookies completely matched the decor of the event! HA! How Martha-Stewart of you, Rochel! There's a Halloween party coming up... you know, in October.

Carly got a trophy, too...

In other news... there was a swim meet the morning of the banquet and Ben took first in 2 races, tied one race, and 2nd in another race. He was neck-and-neck with another 10 year old boy who was on the summer swim team... hoping he joins the year-round team because that kind of competition really seems to motivate Ben. He IS a McGregor, afterall! We will be participating in "Official Meets" through out the year this year, as Ben moves up the ranks in the swimming world. Carly did really well, placing first once, tied for first once, and second once, and third once... did you get all that??!?!

New season starts Monday... aaahhhhh, our afternoons on the steamy poolside. I mean, working out in the gym. Can't wait!

08.13.09 and 08.14.09

08.13.09

Driving BACK to Seattle

Just a day of driving in the car... back to our "Base Hotel" in Seattle. We drove about 5 1/2 hours to get back. We stopped at Walmart in Portland, looking for a book. They didn't have it, so Ryan said, "Let's just check Target, it's 2 miles away" (we brought our GPS from home, which was INCREDIBLY handy!) So, we are in Target (in Portland) and we saw some of our friends from TAMPA!!! Can you believe that?!?!?! I will reiterate... life is NOT random! We "randomly ran into" Koral and Simone Bowman... Simone just "graduated" from Lee Elementary last year and her mama was the PTA president a couple of years ago and we have been friends ever since! Simone actually won our "McGregor-for-a-Day" auction a couple of years ago and they spent a fun filled evening at the movies with us! Isn't it CRAZY that we saw them?!?! I must say, if I was going to see Koral ANYWHERE, it would be in a Target! Ha!!!

Just as we came into Seattle, it started raining... the FIRST rain we had seen in nearly 2 weeks! Keep in mind, this area of our country sees more rain than ANYWHERE else! We were really blessed with GREAT weather.

Yet another Drive By Pick for dinner... Italian food at Casa Mia, and completely delicious! One last stop at Safeway to replenish our lunch supplies... Ryan took the kids swimming at the hotel while I repacked our suitcases for what I hoped was the LAST TIME! Off to bed...

08.14.09

Seattle...

Combining Days here, since there isn't NEARLY as much fun to share... Ryan took off for the airport around 10am (returning our rental car on his way)... the kids and I were going home the FOLLOWING day since our tickets were SO MUCH CHEAPER if we stayed another day (even with an extra hotel stay!). Since we had no transportation, we had planned on hanging around the hotel...

There was a VERY nice park across the street that we went to (Angle Lake Park) and the kids played on the monkey bars while I called my friend Ashlie (in the hospital recovering from surgery) and my mom, and my sisters... and texted Ryan. (You know, REALLY watching my kids at the park). Then they went swimming at the hotel... we ate a picnic lunch, then took showers and hung out watching TV, which they hadn't done much of the last 2 weeks!

Walked back to the park and played for a while, then walked down the street and ordered a pizza for dinner and got Slurpee's from 7-11. Nice Healthy Dinner. My favorite part was the slurpee.

Got everyone settled in for bed and we were all whining about Ryan not being there! What babies we all were! We really missed him alot!

Up the next morning at 3:30am to get to the airport (via our hotel transportation shuttle) for our very early morning flight... and caught one last picture of the Elusive Mount Rainier, which was the Perfect End of our VERY FANTASTIC vacation!

Actually, going to Ti'Juana Flats when we got home, THEN Torrey coming over to spend the night was the PERFECT end of our Very Fantastic Vacation...

Actually, seeing Eli the next morning was the perfect... Ok, enough!

08.12.09

08.12.09

The Oregon Coast and The California Redwood Forest

It feels like we went EVERYWHERE on this day... probably because we did! CRAZY! We headed back onto the 101 by 9:30am and headed further south down the Coast. I was pumped up with my coffee from The Human Bean. Mmmmm...

We drove until we got to Bandon, Oregon,

which I had read about extensively in my Oregon Coast research. ADORABLE town!

We found fantastic beaches and amazing rock formations!

We walked on the beach for awhile (and took ridiculous amounts of pictures!)...

the kids did some REAL rock climbing, which they loved!

We moved on to other scenic areas

(Face Rock... which is an Indian legend that an Indian Maiden was cursed and had her face frozen in the ocean...).

We explored the very quaint town with fun shops

(that was a funny tshirt we saw in one of the stores... yes, Ben had "issues" with the tsunami evacuation signs!) and streets, and ate a picnic lunch near the wharf.

The weather was ridiculously gorgeous, about 70 degrees!

We headed back to the 101, and stopped many times along the way to take pictures and enjoy the scenery.

We stopped at Nesika Beach (because there were bathrooms there!) so the kids could go swimming in the Pacific Ocean...

I'm going to have to post a video here because it was just so very funny, and SO FUN for all of us!

(ok, the video isn't working... so I will post it later...)

There were 2 older couples that walked out to the beach ahead of us and sat and watched the kids from their beach chairs... when we were leaving they THANKED us for the entertainment! HA!

Ryan was NOT planning on swimming with them, but those waves are strong, so he didn't have much choice. The water was VERY cold, and the wind coming off the ocean EVEN COLDER, so it was a chilly experience all around. BUT so very fun. Since it was so cold, I neglected to put sunscreen on anyone and we all got FRIED (we were only out for about 30 minutes!)... it reminded me of that day over 20 years ago when Sue and I and Tracy took that girl Liz (who worked with us) to Hampton Beach for the day... it was cold and overcast and I don't recall there being any sunscreen there, either, or VERY LITTLE... we all got sun poisioning and I think VERY PALE Liz nearly had to be hospitalized. Anyways, our sunburns reminded me of that! (Subway, the life of the Party!)

Both kids ended up with about 1/2 the beach in their bathing suits, and were still removing grains from various "spots" later at the hotel that night!

More scenic stops along 101,

then we headed into California!

For about FOREVER I have wanted to see the Redwood Forest and the HUGE trees... Finally I had an opportunity!

We drove down the Redwood Highway and saw some pretty enormous trees.

Again, something one just has to experience as the pictures can't do it justice...

and everything smelled so fantastic, and well, once cars stopped driving by, the silence was deafening.

That was so cool! (above, that's Ben and Carly at the base of a tree...) It sounds wrong to even call these trees "Majestic", it just isn't grand enough. You. Must. Go.

Headed NORTH on the 101 this time and cut over to Route 199 on our trek back towards Seattle. At some point, we had to start heading towards home (so sad!) 199 is VERY scenic as well, but with even more winding, sheer dropoffs than 101! Many places with no siderails... I'm glad Ryan was being so careful! I was a little nervous.

Drive By Dinner Pick again... and once again, GREAT! "Wild River Pizza", and they cut the pizza into about 40 diamond shaped pieces... not sure why, but the kids really loved that. We were able to eat outside, which was very fun for us.

Stopped in Roseburg, Oregon for the night (which is off I-5)... we were so TIRED we didn't care WHERE we were! What a fun, satisfying day (minus the sunburn!)

Give me the gum!

Another note from Carly... ha!  So, they got home from school today and both kids stomped up to their rooms.  Apparently there were "Issues" on the way home.  As in, Ben got gum, Carly didn't.  He made sure she knew HE was the "lucky one"...  So once home, a little voice says, "there's a note for you... on the stairs...." 

HA!  I love love love notes from Carly.  They are so very entertaining for us.  Sometimes, Gum Madness pays off for us, afterall!

Ryan added in a little more information on the Madness:  Ben was smirking and smacking (keep in mind Carly LOVES gum, serious Love) and she was tattling and upset, so Ryan said, "Ok Ben... share your gum with your sister!"  Well, that made them go "Eeeeewwwwwwww" for about 4 minutes, then Carly the Gum Lover goes, "Ok, we can share the gum".

School Started!

Ahhh, the First Day of School. Love it. I believe it snuck up on me this year, however. Suddenly, it's here.

Ben started his first day by WORKING... he signed up to be on the Morning Show and well, since his DAD run's said Morning Show, he was an anchor on the first day of school! The 5th graders rotate jobs all year long so everyone does everything, but ironically enough, Ben's a natural as an anchor! He did a great job this morning, along with all his friends...



I'm sure Ryan's family will agree, he couldn't look MORE like his Dad (at the same age) in the picture above, huh?!?!



That's Greg editing... he's been in Ben's class since K-5 and his mom also teaches at Lee... she will be Ben's afternoon teacher this year.



Ryan directing the kids... he is so patient with them! The "news show" they put on every morning is actually really pretty good!



And Carly... heading off to 2nd grade! Notice her hand-me-down backpack that she loves so very much.






Their school is Lee Elementary School of Technology and World Studies, and every grade level learns a different continent each year... 2nd grade is Australia. Carly and her teacher, Mrs. Bowling... last week we went to Sneak Peek where you meet the teachers... which is kind of humorous for us "Hi Mrs. Bowling-who-we've-known-for-9-years" She said she was pretty happy too get a McGregor! Sure helps the kids transition to new classrooms when they know their teachers so well already!


No pictures of Ben in the classroom... 5th grade, you know. Plus, he was "tied up" with his new job.

They got home around 4pm today and ALL were excited about the great day they ALL had! (Yes, even Ryan!)

08.11.09

08.11.09

Oregon State Capitol and The Coast

Our hotel was only a couple of miles from the Oregon State Capitol, so we were able to arrive there just as it was opening for the day. Really fabulous grounds! 

We enjoyed walking around for quite a while before we headed inside. 

Beautiful flowers and fountains were everywhere.

We were fortunate enough to be able to climb up 121 steps to the "Pioneer Gold Man" on the roof. Apparently the passageway had been closed for about 7 years and had recently reopened. We climbed the very steep spiral staircases that led to the roof.

 The view was spectacular!

Afterwards, our tour guide gave us the Inside Tour of the building, which included many interesting facts, and fantastic murals all over. 

Lots of covered wagon paintings around this capitol. It was neat to think of the early settlers coming to this amazing land.

I think the grounds were about the prettiest we have seen yet. 

Super soft, cool, GREEN grass. And my most favorite statue EVER. The man riding a horse and reading a book! Made me pretty happy to see what Ryan would have looked like if he'd been born in the 1700's.

We headed over to Highway 101 after our Capitol visit.

 Seriously? 

There's not much I can add to the experience. Except I'm so SORRY you can't even GRASP with these pictures the amazing beauty. YOU MUST GO....

This is Cape Foulweather... which made us laugh for very obvious reasons... This was actually our first glimpse of the Coast.

The Devil's Punch Bowl (above)  When the tide comes in, it is completely filled with water which fills in via that "small cave" in the upper right corner of it... I say SMALL, but a good sized boat could sail right in there...

Driftwood Beach... yup, it's really called that.

Above... Devil's Churn

It's really hard, in pictures, to appreciate the MAGNITUDE of all these areas.... the picture above is taken from the top of a cliff... it looks like a swimming pool!  If someone were sitting on the edge of those rocks, you couldn't even be able to see them!  Also above, that is Devil's Churn.

Hiking down to see Devil's Churn a little closer... a pod of whales were playing just past Devil's Churn and we enjoyed watching them... they are quite a bit harder to photograph.

This is the Spouting Horn (above), it's an ocean geyser... water rushes in to those caves to the right of it and forces water and air through the cracks, the pressure creates the "Spout" every few minutes... we enjoyed watching it!

Heceta Head Lighthouse (above)

The Sea Lion Caves... 

And yes, Ben worried and worried over tsunami's... He had a plan to get us out safely at the first sign of danger... and yes, he knew those signs, too.   Hmmmmm.  Preparation is everything.  I'm thinking he'd make a GREAT Risk Manager someday... or perhaps FEMA would appreciate his services?

We eventually got off the road (it was a very hard thing to do... but it was getting dark) and found a hotel outside Coos Bay... mostly because we wanted to stay in a town that shared the same name as Carly (we've called her CooCoos for years!). Found another Drive By Pick restaurant, this time for seafood, and it was EXCELLENT. We were quite pleased with ourselves for our great Dinner Luck. We found a Baskin Robbins because we decided we needed ice cream cones, and what do you know, it was $1.50 cone night! Score! Back to the hotel for BED... with sweet dreams of the Oregon Coast. Again, you MUST go.

Oh, we were quite certain that at some point during the day, we saw a weasel run across the road! Weasel Sighting. FYI.