Inside the Devil's Punchbowl

Starting Friday morning, my stomach became the Devil's Punchbowl. It churned, it chugged.  It wanted nothing to do with the bagel I had eaten for breakfast.  For that matter, it wanted nothing to do with the sip of water I dared to put into it.

This not only threatened to put a kink into my Friday work week, it threatened our planned weekend at the beach.  Luckily, my body decided to cooperate with our plans and we were able to get down to the beach by dinner time on Saturday.

Of course Sunday breakfast was at our favorite beach breakfast joint, the Spouting Horn.  Less no one believe me about my husband's coffee habits, here's a picture of his cup of cream with a dash of coffee compared to my normal looking cup.

Mason spent some time on Google maps and planned out the rest of the days itinerary for us, starting with a trip down to Devil's Punchbowl State Park.

This little guy was there to greet us upon our arrival, along with some of his buddies.

The tide was out so we got to do some good exploring in the caves and climbing on the rocks.

There's no way we're not going to see what's on the other side of that arch.

The punchbowl itself!

Mama and the kids in the middle of the bowl.

Another shot of the trio.  The red rocks surrounding the bowl were pretty cool.

Of course we had to take the narrow tunnel out of the bowl.  This reminded me of something out of Goonies.

The kids made it through!

Spotted this blue heron who was probably also seeing what sort of sea life was hanging around this fine Sunday morning.

Here's a look at some of the cool tide pools that are all over Devil's Punchbowl.  Lots of star fish, anenomies, small fish, coral...

And kelp.  Did I mention kelp?

Luis and Siena brave the bridge across the little waterway.

After Devil's Punchbowl, next on Mason's agenda was a stop at Agate Beach.  I think it had been years since we had stopped here so none of us were sure what to expect.

What we found was a ton of sand and some cool, small dunes.

I taught the kids how to make sand angels, an important life skill.

And how to run up to the cold water, and then sprint back to warmer ground screaming.

Feet.

Someone got tired walking back to the car.  Daddy gives a good piggy back though.

Completing Mason's agenda, a trip to Newport.  We walked along the shops at the bay front, I got some of my favorite candy, pecan log roll, and we visited our friends the sea lions.

And of course lunch at Rogue.  Mason showed his true Puerto Rican side by busting out the dominoes at Rogue.

After lunch and some school clothes shopping at the outlet stores, we headed back home.  Thanks to some traffic caused by a nasty looking motorcycle accident on Hwy 18, a little girl that needed to go potty, and a hungry boy, we found ourselves in need of a restaurant and being at Spirit Mountain Casino.  The gal at the information table suggested the buffet, which seemed a good idea.  We almost bailed when we saw the long line but the others in line convinced us that this buffet was well worth it.

They were right.  This was the biggest, tastiest, all around most amazing buffet I have ever eaten at.  There was crab, prime rib, sushi, fry bread, you name it.  We would never normally stop at the casino, but it may be one of our regulars from here on out.

Abduction!

Hello. This is Kris' camera. I have been abducted. There are 2 culprits, both about 3 feet tall and prone to excessive giggling.  Upon my initial abduction, I have been made to photograph a myriad of indecipherable configurations.  I can only imagine that this is some sort of acid trip.

Aaaahhh. Barbie!  What are you doing!

Am I being licked!?!

Yes, this is one of kidnappers.  If you see her, approach with caution.  She will photograph at will.

You can't even imagine the hours I had to spend watching this pink pig that the short ones kept referring to as Olivia!

It's the licker!  He's back!!

Whew.  Finally the tongue has been retracted.  This is the other abductor. 

Okay, okay.  I got the camera back.  I was surprised to find 67 pictures saved on my camera tonight when I had only taken 3 all week.  Be happy I spared you all the majority of them.  However, just ask if you'd like to see portraits of each of the kids' pets.

I worked until 9 or 10 most nights last week so I have very little of interest to share.  Thank goodness the kids were busy enough to pick up the slack.

Mason managed to turn himself into one of the seven dwarfs during his bath Friday night.

We went to Luis' work picnic yesterday.  Unfortunately the pictures didn't turn out since someone had "updated" the exposure settings on my camera.  Today was nice.  We got the waverunner back out on the river today.  Nothing is better!

Off To The Races

Apologies for no blog last week.  We were busy but nothing particularly photo-worthy.  We took the waverunner out on Sunday for the first time all year.  It was the first time all year we've really had an opportunity.  There haven't been a lot of nice weekends or nice weekends where we weren't already busy.  It was a blast getting out on the river though.

The kids had fun with daddy working swing shift this week.  They got the sprinkler out for some wet fun.

There's some cheap entertainment.

I got home from work Wednesday night to see that Siena had lost her first tooth while eating a popcicle.  We knew it was a little loose but had no clue it was that close to coming out.  We had to immediately put the Tooth Fairy on high alert.

Tuesday (okay, so my pictures are a teensy bit out of order), Luis took the kids down to PSU to walk around our old stomping grounds.  Lincoln Hall was open so he and the kids snuck into the theater for some stage time.  Clearly, Siena feels right at home front and center.

Mason felt more comfortable at the podium, giving a speech to the audience of his father and sister.

Mason has been looking up local race tracks on Google Earth lately and was anxious to go down to PIR to watch some racing action.  We got there in time to catch the drag races.  Not exactly real drag races, mind you, but the type where anyone can show up and race their cars.  Regardless, we had a decent time.

We walked around the pits some, checking out the race cars that had seen some action earlier in the day.  This Fiat was my favorite.  It looked a little like Luigi from Cars.

This was the other highlight.  The guy in blue made a sofa car.  He was driving it arond the pit area.  It actually gets up some pretty good speed and makes some nice donuts.  It also reclines for your driving comfort.

Guess which of our kids was more excited to be there...

For me, the highlight of the night was watching this bug blow out and get towed off the track by a dirt bike.  That's not something you see everyday.

After the races we went to dinner at one of our old haunts, Mickey Finn's in Woodstock.  Mason ordered this beauty of a sandwich - grilled peanut butter and marshmellows. 

We spent most of today hanging around the house, but ventured out in late afternoon to checkout the annual town festival in Gladstone.  There was an area with small rides for the kiddos, a band playing oldies, and the usual carnival vendors and food.

Mason, who used to be afraid of the pony ride, was front and center today, choosing the biggest horse to ride on.

Siena found the swings more to her liking.

Both liked the inflatible maze.

And the slide.  The slide was a lot of fun.

Both went on the kiddie merry-go-round.  Mason hung on for dear life the whole way, though he stated upon getting off that "I wasn't really scared".  Sure.

We all shared an elephant ear while listening to the music.

We went to my parents for dinner after the Gladstone festival.  In exchange for a hearty dinner and dessert we helped them move my dad's office furniture out to the living room in preparation for some new flooring set to be put in next week. 

Another good weekend in the bank! 

Millie's Letter

This letter was recently found tucked up in a drawer of an old piece of furniture that my parents had given to my cousin Suzy.  I got a great deal of enjoyment out of reading the letter and thought I'd share it. 

This was written by my grandmother Millie in 1939 to her sister Hannah.  Millie was in Roslyn, where she had grown up, at the time and was around age 19.  Hannah was attending Walla Walla College.

I'm typing this letter exactly as it is written.

Roslyn Washington
June 28, 1939

Dear Hannah,

Thank you so much for your letter.  It came a day late.  Tell me, are you in love?  Or did you just forget to stamp it too?

It's so hot here.  I guess it's about half as hot down there in that bake oven, isn't it?  Mamma said that if you think you'll be too tired at the end of a quarter, you'd better quit now at the half.  It would be a lot better than to ruin your health? Don't you think so?

Next week I guess will be camping.  We'll have to go camping when you come home.  That'd be fun, huh?

Well, papa got his teeth.  He doesn't even look the same.  You'll sure be surprised when you see him.  He's having quite a time with them but I guess they'll be better once he can navigate them around.  We hope so, anyway.

So your beau is 25 yrs old?  You should have sent him a cake with candles on it.  Bet he'd have liked that.  Hope he comes down there for the fourth so you'll have some entertainment.  Anyway, will be thinking of you.

The mines are working fair.  Not less than two days, so that's not too bad.  Clarence gets an extra one each week.

I was just interrupted by a knock on the door.  A nice young man said "I'm fron Davises' and I came to check up on the Hoovers!"  I was going to say "I haven't seen him for sometime" but it struck me that he was talking about vacuum cleaners.  Oh, well.  I guess it's all in living.

I'm reading "Gone With the Wind".  I have 900 more pages left.  That book, it just wears me out packing it around.  I just got it last night.

Old Mrs. Momb (Mum) to hou was buried Friday.  One notice down town said 1 o clock, the other said two.  Mom & Mrs. Toche said they'd go to the funeral - and when they got to the church, the funeral was over.  They said that was the first funeral they'd ever been late too.  I guess the undertaker went by the 1 o'clock sign.  Mom & Toche went by the 2 o'clock one.

We are going down to see Inez's baby today.  She came home from Dallas yesterday.

Dale had his curls cut off and he is strictly a boy now.

Flora moved again yesterday.  She is living in the middle house of those 3-alike below our church.  They had to move out of that other one because the owner wouldn't pay the water for the past 16 months and it was going to be shut off the first of July.  Helen kept the baby up here all day yesterday.  It sure has grown since she put it on the bottle.  And it's a lot better natured, too.

Why I didn't go to Dorcus was because of a surprise party on Mrs. Bergman.  I'll explain when you come home.  It definitely was not L-O-V-E.  I couldn't do justice in explaining it on paper. 

Can't you make any phonograph records to bring home.  I would like to hear you on one of them.

The town is dead as usual.  The only thing that is happening is that Druids' Hall is being torn down.  Pretty soon Roslyn will just be empty lots.  I guess Marco bought it so he could use the lumber for his new (?) house. 

Tootsie got a permanent.

Guess I'll close now.  Did you ever see such a messy letter in all your days?

For further news read the Miner.

Paster Anderson (Big Anderson) just called on Mom.  I guess he thinks she is straying from the flock.  She hasn't gone to his meetings for a coon's age.

Write soon,
Love,
Mildred