Pat's two-month catch up post!

The summer is almost over. Can you believe that? Gah.

Well, I told you that I took a vacation and even posted a way cool picture of me below, (It's not everyday you can read a Readers Digest while sitting in a folding chair with your feet propped up on a rock in the middle of a relatively warm river in the Eastern Oregon Mountains) I have yet to give you the pictures and story to accompany it.

In my last post I discussed how Dustin managed to fly his way up to Oregon for a much needed and deserved vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Orton for three weeks before we showed up to crash his party.

Well this post takes up the story the party gets crashed.

The Orton Family Reunion/July 4th --

We showed up at the Orton Family Reunion to find our Dustin doing what he does best -- hanging out with his buddy and cousin Klora Thueson. I told Dustin to put his arm around her and this was the best I got.

The reunion is held at the 4-H center in LaGrande Oregon every other year. It's a fabulous place with lots of trees, open grass and in this case -- cousins. Here we have Dustin showing Kyle Thueson and Noah Orton how to be Cowboy/Superheros adept at foam sword play.

The is Kelsie Acor held by her Mom, Angie Acor. Out of all the pictures I took of this cute little baby, this is the only one in which she's kinda smiling. We'll hear more from her later.

This is Krista Thueson. I'm not sure a little girl could get any cuter than her. I need to work on her being a fan of Uncle Pat. We're not quite there yet.

The Reunion was great -- low key, lazy and a lot of fun. I've always enjoyed hanging out with the Ortons, they're such warm, affable people that it's hard not to just sit around and talk shop with them.

Tubin/Relaxin on the Grande Ronde River --

Since my time in LaGrande was short, Wayne and Janie (i.e. Mom and Dad) arranged for everyone to do my favorite activity -- tubing the Grande Ronde River. I had done it once before and had a blast many years ago.

Well, five minutes into the float, I realized that my tube had a big leak in it. So, I bid the main body of tubers adieu and got a ride to the finish line where I got a camp chair and soaked myself in the warm, lazy river. It didn't take long before my two awesome neices -- Cassidy and Kadyn Acor found me and took up residence in my chair.


This is Noah Orton getting some tubing action. He stayed there for at least 10 minutes -- no small feat for this little guy.

Dustin also managed to hang out on my lap in the middle of the river. It wasn't too long after this that he was off catching frogs. (Stay tuned for a special blog post -- August Critters -- which will chronicle all the strange creatures we caught during our vacation)

Fun Day at the Lay Homestead


The next day we visited the Lay Family Homestead - which is the place where Karli's Great Grandparents move and settled many years ago. It's a beautiful area complete with a campsite, creek and lots of critters to hunt and play with.

We had a great day, it was very relaxing and calm.

Moving West --

It wasn't long before we started on the second leg of our trip. Here we have the kids in front on Multnomah Falls.

We even took the ten minute hike up to the bridge for a better view. See us waving? It wasn't long before we were at Ken and Joanne Smith's home to visit and plan our next excursion to the Oregon Zoo. I haven't been to the Oregon Zoo for years and it was amazing to see how much it had changed. First off they added a cool new exhibit. Secondly, they now make sure that you (as a human being) feel totally stupid and responsible for the sad state of affairs currently taking place in the animal kingdom. That part really turned me off....

Here is Dustin and Kristen fighting over an interactive display at the zoo. As you can see, Dustin won this round.

Here is my beautiful wife, Karli. Can you believe we've been married for 17 years this Friday (August 21st)? She's my amazing friend and I can't imagine life without her. Love ya Babe.

And this is what she married -- a big fat guy who makes funny faces. If you look real hard you can see the gum in my mouth. Sharing in the frivolity is Joanne. We had a blast with them.


Isn't Krissy pretty?

Here's a picture of Dad/Ken Smith with Dallin. And yes, Dallin is taller. He'll be caught up to me soon. Darn him.

Here's my beautiful bride again, being the silly, happy girl I married.

More zoo shots. I think they're all looking at sheep here. Since when are sheep exotic zoo animals?

On our way home from the zoo we stopped in to see Bucky and his wife Chrissy and their two boys. Here's their oldest - Zachary.

Before we left for the coast we stopped by my Mother's grave and I shared some sweet moments talking with the kids about the grandma they never got to know in this world. I love this photo.

The Oregon Coast - Fort Stevens --


Our next stop was Fort Stevens, Oregon. Here we are trying not to shiver on an early low tide morning.

We managed to catch up with the Halcrow family (who had brought Anne Marie Darrington). On this morning, finding shells was the number one priority.

Dustin, Chelsea and Alyssa have a bucket. They're good to go.
The shells were elusive... but this group managed to find a few.

Kate and Maddie -- what a pose.
This just in -- The wreck of the Peter Iredale is still there. Here's Dustin standing in front of the proof.

Pretty soon Mom and Dad and Great Grandma Craner showed up to join the fun.

By the end of our beachcombing excursion we'd picked the place dry of sand dollars and any other shells we could find -- whole or not.

The Oregon Coast -- Cannon Beach

We moved from Fort Stevens to my all-time favorite beach -- Cannon Beach. Before we went to the sand, we managed to hit the salt water taffy shops. Here is a picture of the kids eating their self-purchased candy. Except for Dallin. He's texting instead.

Oh OK... now we have his attention.


The Halcrow family in front of Haystack Rock.

Kristen managed to get wet on her first foray into the surf -- even though she had express orders to not get her pants wet. Of course, Karli had to remind me of all the times I went to the beach and got completely wet and so that made this ok.
I love this picture of Tammy and Christopher. I'd frame it if I was her.

Here's Dustin, embarking on the alltime favorite male pastime of digging a hole.

Proof that Brandon got wet.
Yes, they're getting wetter. And the day was NOT warm. Of course, that didn't matter.
Allysa had a great time.
Dallin managed to get completely soaked. Here he is shivering in the cold but looking quite debonair. I mean, does this picture make him look hot or what. It's a good thing I gave him all his handsome genes -- huh Dallin?

Mom, Dad and the Dog. In that order. Unless you forget the rock behind them. We loved spending time with them -- even the next day when we woke up to a typical torrential downpour and they helped us pack up our tent and get us the heck out of there.

I left on Monday morning to go back to work, but the family drove back to Oregon for even more fun.

Kristen celebrated her 10th birthday when she got back. She got this awesome soccer ball for our upcoming soccer season (more on that in later posts).


Dallin was able to play in Grandpa's band. I love this picture.

Of course, he was also required to play the washbasin bass as well. Sources tell me that he actually got quite good at it.
Here's Kadyn, Cassidy and Krissy showing off their support of the High School Musical Franchise. It's nice that our hard earned dollars are going to support such a noble cause.

The family took a trip to swim in Catherine Creek and had a blast ... for the most part. Here's a picture of Dustin sitting in time out in the middle of the river.

Kate was also able to make this beautiful dress with Grandma. Isn't she cute?


Kristen also got this birthday dress. Even though she's way cute in this picture, It's hard to see all that corn behind her and know that I won't get any of it this year. Sigh. Maybe next year. And here are my amazing inlaws. I'm so thankful to be a part of their family and to have them play such amazing roles in my kid's lives.

Which brings us to the last photo of Kelsie Acor. This silly girl smiled like crazy until a camera was put in front of her. Then she turned solemn. Like this shot, which came at the tail end of a lengthy photo shoot orchestrated by Karli and her sister Angie. Can't you just hear Keslie saying 'I'm about done here." ? I know I can.

So, there is my catchup. I'm now going to bed.