Oregon Vacation

We had an amazing vacation this past week as we traveled up to Oregon to visit family and friends. Our journey began with a 13.5 hour drive from Fountain Valley to Grants Pass, Oregon! We drove over night so the girls would be sleeping, which was nice for them but rough on Mike and me. As we get older we notice that our night vision is fading...I thought that only happened after 60 or something??? We arrived in GP at 8:30 in the morning and had enough time to eat a wonderful breakfast, hand the kids over to my parents, and head off to bed. I think it's safe to say Meadow could have cared less if we were there or not! With the park at my parents house and all the fun toys she was in heaven.

We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and enjoying the beautiful scenery at my parents house, and enjoying all the help with the kids. Diapers were changed, meals were fed, and baths were given...such a nice break that Mike and I needed!

On Monday we headed up to Crater Lake to meet up with Grammy(Sharon) and Linda to spend the afternoon. We had a great lunch and walked around taking in the breathtaking views. Sharon and Linda were in Ashland for the Shakespeare festival and decided to spend the night at the Lodge at Crater Lake.

Tuesday Mike and I ventured out, without the girls, and did some wine tasting. What a great time for us!!! Unfortunately our wine tasting skills aren't what they used to be and we were done after 3 wineries, but it was gorgeous! We stopped at 2 wineries that were very small and the actual wine makers were the ones pouring the wine. One of which Mike might even do business with in the future. (can we go anywhere without Mike talking shop???) We stopped in town on the way home and had lunch overlooking the river watching everyone float on by.

Wednesday we were treated by my parents to a white water rafting trip down the Rogue River. We were both really excited to sit in the boat and hit some great rapids. What we weren't expecting is that they would convince us to run the river in our own single man kayaks. This seemed a little scary at first, but after the second rapid we were both stoked to be navigating the river on our own. It was the two of us, one other guy, and the two guides. We stopped after a few hours for lunch, and then were back on the river. As we headed down, we came up to our only class 3 rapid. I started to get a little nervous, and after I saw the rapid I was very nervous! The boys decided to go ahead of me, mainly because Mike was so nervous watching me head down the rapid that it was hard for him to focus on what he was doing. Smart move on his part, since in the second small rapid I hit I flipped my kayak and was out on my own. Now to my credit, I got myself turned around and had my toes and nose in the air, but if I'm being honest I felt like I was drowning! I couldn't see where I was going and was only above water for split seconds at a time to gasp for air and then I was back under. Mike made it down the rapid no problem, of course, only to have his celebration quickly ended by our guide yelling, "your wife is swimming!" According to Mike his heart sunk in his chest as he watched my little feeties head right towards a giant boulder. With no skill on my part I moved around the boulder and was spit out the bottom of the rapid, and was able to swim over and catch my favorite visor, much to the dismay of our guide! He pulled me onto the big boat, and I decided to spend the final jaunt down the river relaxing in his boat and catching my breath. He said that I swam the rapid the exact way he would have taken his kayak down. So even though I am disappointed that I couldn't make it down in my boat, I am glad I made it out unharmed!

That night we had a great dinner at my parents house, stayed up late playing cards, hearts, and finished our evening sitting outside looking at the stars. Living in Southern California you forget how beautiful the sky is at night and we were just amazed at the sight, and the silence.

On Thursday we packed up the kids and the car and headed up north to Lincoln City, Oregon where cousins John and Amy were at their family beach house for the weekend. The drive took us a measly 5 hours, but it was SO worth it! It is called a beach house but it is actually perched on a beautiful lake just 2 miles from the beach. We spent 3 days hanging out with John and Amy and their daughter Ava; Cousin Janna and her daughters Talia and Savai, and Mike's childhood friend Hunter, his wife Stacy, and their daughter Mila. A packed house with 6 adorable little girls! It was so fun to watch them all together, and even more fun when they went to bed and we stayed up talking and playing cards/yahtzee. We definitely want to make this an annual trip to get us all together!

That Sunday we drove back down to Grants Pass to stay the night before our long drive home. It was so nice to see my parents one last time and get a little break from the kids before it was back to reality. I miss my mom and dad everyday, but it is so worth it for us to have these incredible trips to their house where we get to spend so much quality time with them. It's a special time for us, and I can picture our girls telling stories of visiting Mena and Papa in Oregon, much the same way my mom tells me stories about spending time on her grandparents ranch.

We left Monday morning, and after many stops, we made it home to FV just after 11pm. Although we were both tired from the drive, we have finally come home from a vacation feeling rested and rejuvenated.

And so, there is our long tale of our Kraber family road trip.

Let me give one last shout out to Mike...it is his 36th birthday today!!!