RV Trip!

About a week and a half after we returned from Massachusetts, we set off for our next adventure of the summer: a road trip to the Oregon Coast in a rental RV.  The main impetus for going to the Oregon Coast was that KLC's mom wanted to have some of her ashes scattered along a particular stretch of beach where they would often vacation as a family when KLC was younger.

Of course, we wanted to honor her wishes, and we decided to do it in a way that we thought she would approve.  Rather than just drive straight there and rent a house or hotel, we chose to rent an RV in Portland and then drive to three different campgrounds along the coast before ending up in Lincoln City where we would meet other family for the scattering.

It was our first (and probably last) time renting an RV.  Especially a 30-ft one.  Somehow we managed to avoid hitting anything or anyone while driving this enormous house on wheels.  We were also able to give the twins a taste of 'real' (aka, tent) camping by using the new tent that my parents got the twins for their birthday last month. Along the way, we went to a maritime museum in Astoria (see the pic of J in the Coast Guard survival ship), explored a shipwreck, visited the Tilamook Cheese factory, and saw some spectacular scenery.

The morning we scattered her mom's ashes, it was clear and blue -- not a given on the Oregon Coast at any time of the year.  There are a group of seals that sun themselves across the bay on a spit of sand at this particular spot.  One of them was bobbing around in the water not far from where we gathered.  I got the feeling it was Ruth giving a wave to say hello and glad we could make it.

Vacation in MA

Last week, we traveled back to Massachusetts to visit with family and friends.  Our goal is to get back East every summer, but with pregnancies and very small babies, this is a little tricky.  Since we didn't make it last summer, we were very excited to get there this year.

There were lots of cousins and new friends to play with and so the twins had a blast.  Iver was his happy self and was thrilled to be held by so many new people.  We (meaning KLC) took a ton of photos on the trip, which hopefully we'll get organized and uploaded soon.  In the meantime, I thought I'd share a couple that I took with my iPhone, which is probably the right vehicle for my photo-taking ability (which is not very high).

Note to self: consider buying the extra seat once the babies get to be about, say, 10+ months old.  Iver was a trooper with the flights, but he's just a little too big to sit on our laps for 6 hours.  And, unlike the twins, we can't give him a video or books to entertain him.  The good news is that he was entranced with the airplane safety card.  I think that kid knows more about how to exit a plane than anyone!