Summer Vacation | The Medley Family Reunion

It's been two years since we've been to Eureka, 2 years is too long! We were so happy to be able to make it out this year and to partake of the Medley Family Reunion. Ellie was surrounded by cousins and second cousins and third cousins. She immediately took off and ran through the forest with all the kids. Jared and I were able to spend a lot of time with Grandma Jeanie and Grandpa Dee which is always a number one priority. We had a wonderful 4th of July filled with all sorts of activities for the kiddos, a BBQ and fireworks of course. Lots of visiting, perfect weather, lots of food and a beautiful location. It was PERFECT!

our OWN 4th of July parade. 

whoever decided to make weeding Grandma Jeanie's garden and "activity" is a genius! 

It took Lucy a little while but she finally warmed up to everyone. 

She's still into dinosaurs, no end in sight.

She was perfectly filthy by the end of the day. She passed out on the drive back into Eureka every night. She played hard all day for 10 days straight!

Missing 4

The conversations between these two range from politics to woodworking. I think spending time with Grandpa Dee is Jared's favorite thing.

Ellie and Mason getting a nap in before fireworks.

Summer Vacation | Eureka Part 1

Jared and I both look forward to one thing when we head to Northern California and get REALLY excited whenever we hit the Redwoods! The drive from Portland to Eureka was windy so we made lots of stops and its totally worth it. We never try to make the best time on vacation. We want to stop and see all the fun tourist stops and it really makes it fun for us and Ellie. We got to Eureka and headed straight for Grandpa Dee and Grandma Jeanie's house. We were met by a lot of family members and it was perfect. Ellie fit right in and began running around and swinging on rope swings. It's exactly how we envisioned our time here. 

Summer Vacation | Portland

Whenever we have time for a vacation we either choose to go to Eureka or Salinas. This time around we were headed for Eureka and we were happy to be able to make a pit stop in Portland to see Gideon and Katie. 

We headed East from Ogden and Ellie asked us "if we were there yet" after we had been on the road for 20 minutes. We ate dinner in Idaho Falls and spent the night in Boise. We got an early starts, stopped in Baker City for a park stop, stopped for lunch in some other Eastern Oregon town and finally felt like we were getting close once we started seeing the Columbia River. Eastern Oregon was dry and flat and blah. It was a relief once we hit the gorge and started seeing why Oregon is so great. 

We loved spending time with Gideon and Katie. They live in an absolutely beautiful community with numerous parks and trails. We spent our time walking to the park, the kids rode scooters and bikes, swimming, splash pad, more parks, Target run, good food, and lots of laughing. We are so happy to have Gideon and Katie back on the West coast and we now have a pit stop on or Northern excursions. 

Dino Rawr...Jared took a slow motion video that had us in stitches!

Farmers market and balloon animals. A sword, snake and dinosaur of course.

Katie and I matching, a normal coincidence.