We flew in Friday, July 3 and headed on down to my mom's beach house that night. 24 hours of travel door-to-door. We adjusted to Oregon time over the weekend at the coast with my mom. We watched the local parade - 100 years this year, so classic - and participated in the games on the beach. Nathan joined in a "coin hunt" in the sand and the other kids ran in 50-yard dashes, horse races and relays. Kevin even ran in the dash for "boys over 30". Such a fun small town 4th of July atmosphere. We had a bonfire on the beach with s'mores (of course) and watched the fireworks. Loved it.
Monday it was back to Lake O, all of us staying at my mom's condo. - Kudos to my mom for dealing with 7 extra bodies for 2 weeks. She does so much to help make our stays enjoyable. Getting favorites like root beer and Chai tea, supplying towels and other utility stuff and making yummy meals (when we're not out running around). - We spent Monday doing some errands and miscellaneous things, and Kevin and the boys went to the West Lynn skate board park.
Tuesday after lunch Kevin and the 4 boys went to his parents' ranch for a visit. They stayed until Thursday afternoon. (He'll add more about that in another post.) While the boys were gone, it was time to get some shopping done. Charlotte had a list of things to get while in America. So she, my mom and I went out Tuesday afternoon - to Target and some places in Washington Square. Wednesday, Charlotte and I headed to NW Portland, starting the day with chai tea, hot chocolate and pastries at St. Honore's with my friend Marissa and her daughter Bella. Charlotte and I walked and shopped around NW 23rd for a while and then took the trolley to the Pearl. We had lunch at Piazza Italia, very yummy pastas, with ice cream next door for dessert. From there we headed to Powell's Books before meeting up with my mom for a ride back to LO. We did a little more shopping Thursday morning. Between all the trips we managed to find nearly everything on her list, and a few extras!
Thursday the boys came back from the ranch and we all went to our house - the Levin's house for now - for play/swim time and a BBQ. It's always fun with the Levins and the boys were very happy to get back in the canal. They jumped in, floated on rafts, kayaked, canoed, swam and jumped on the Keating's huge water-trampoline. After a delicious dinner, we boated over to the other side of the lake for ice cream at Tillamook Ice Creamery (I think it has a new name?) It was a such beautiful night! (Thanks Levins!)
Friday morning we hit the road to Seattle to see all the cousins' families. We stayed with Eric and Ann-Marie's family and spent Friday catching up with them. Saturday we went to watch Travis' game - they won - and I spent some of the time with myfriend Noemi. I got to see her new home and catch up. Afterwards we were back to E and A-M's and had such a great night eating outside on the patio, talking about everything and nothing, and feeling very much "home" with them.
Sunday was the big Foster/Clarke cousins' reunion. We headed over to my brother, Jack's, house. There were 22 of us - my mom and aunt, me, my brother, and Kevin's 2 brothers' families. 11 cousins aged between 14 and 8. We had a big brunch at Jack and Renae's beautiful home and then went to see the M's play against the Rangers. It was a blast to be there all together, and it was Charlotte's first experience with Major League baseball. (She learned lots of details about the game from Kevin's brother, Eric, while watching Travis' game Saturday.) She was a super Mariner's fan, foam hand and all. The kids had fun throwing popcorn at each other, goofing off and walking around during the game. Oh, and watching the game, too. After the game we drove back to LO.
Monday morning we dropped Kevin at the airport and then spent our week meeting up with friends. The boys had lots of time with their buddies: there were a bunch of sleep-overs; we spent a few afternoons at the swim park; we went to a 1 am showing of the new Harry Potter movie; I had a couple of good hikes and lunches with girlfriends. It was a great week of catching up with a bunch of our favorite people. There are some people we were hoping to see that we just didn't find a chance to see. It's always tough to try to get in as many visits as we can while staying sane and not overdoing it.
Overall it was just what we needed in the way of a touch of "home". While we'll make the most of this last year ahead in Belgium, we'll be very happy to move back next summer!
