Pickup farmin'. Just like the big fancy-pants farmers do it!

Katie Takes Oregon, Part II.

So after another long sleepless night in Sciatica Land, it was time to start the new day with a good healthy breakfast.

Erica made sure her nose was properly squooshed.
And Anna and Jonathan got some reading in.

Then I made everybody some quesadillas.

And Katie got some tummy time.

And I talked to Nathan about my MRI results (Dr. Koko was off visiting a new grandbaby.): Big ol' herniated disc. Which is what we had expected. We decided to go ahead and make an appointment with the back specialist. It was Friday and they got me an appointment for Thursday. So 6 more days of misery, minumum.

Then we drove off to do more walking.

We drove up the side of Roxy Ann. There were no red lights.

Eric and Erica practiced their stoic man and baby pose.

And then we walked.

And looked.

And walked.

And walked.

And posed.

And looked some more.



And posed some more.

And got teased by Eric.

And got educated by Eric.

And then more posing.

And more walking.

And then we drove back home.

Then I went to the store with Jeanette. Because it involved walking. This sign made me laugh.

And then we watched some more basketball. Except for Erica, who was put in her cage.

Anna was nice enough to make a visit.

The next day everybody decided to go have fun without me. Or else I told them to in a fit of Percocet induced euphoria. I don't really remember. But I stayed at the house all day watching (incredible!) basketball and playing Splinter Cell and taking Percocet.

While everybody else headed for the coast. The kids had a nice ride. Except for Anna, who is faking:

Apparently they stopped to eat some food.

Or at least sit around in a restaurant.

Eric accidentally smiled in this one. I guess nobody's perfect.

Then they apparently went to a parking lot which happened to be by the ocean. Somewhere.

They apparently stopped to regroup, accidentally getting a picture sans parking lot.

Phew! They fixed it.

Oh how sweet, Katie's first trip to a parking lot.

Oh wait, my mistake... Katie's first trip to a parking lot by the ocean.

And then they completely forgot about the parking lot in this picture. Weird.

Then they went to the plant rehab center. Tragic.

Luckily there were some clean plants also on display.

They apparently let Katie take this picture.

It's hard to tell, but I think Eric might have screwed this pose up too.

Katie and Anna by a river.

Anna and Jonathan on a log.

And Anna by a tree.

They got back late, but with enough time to catch most of K-State's struggle with Wisconsin. I'm glad the 'Cats lost in another battle of a game. And to a higher seed. How embarrassing it would be to have your team get absolutely destroyed by a much, much lower seeded team, perhaps a team that even had to play it's way in to the tournament. Anyhoo the 'Cats fought hard and we were all very proud of them. Pullen, Kelly: thanks guys. And we will see you next year, Coach.

Katie Takes Oregon, Part I.

We got up the next day and immediately set out for Donut Country. It was very exciting to see that the driveway was all wet, and not because someone had their lawn sprinkler set wrong.

We had a nice time at Donut Country.

They specialize in Donuts.

Erica liked her donut.

And Betsy liked her donut.

And Anna and Jonathan washed their donuts down with some milk.

Katie was not impressed by the donuts.

We parted ways outside so that I didn't have to sit in the van any more than absolutely necessary. I had a very nice walk through the rain over to Jonathan's pre-school.

Having dropped the kids off we set out for Target. Erica seemed happy to have the backseat to herself... and her ginormous car seat.

Erica really enjoyed looking at clothes to give to her new friend, Levanon.

There is a law in Oregon requiring every business to sell wine. This one had a funny label:

And we wondered for what occasion this wine was appropriate:

We dropped off the van and walked over to pick up the kids from day care. It started raining again on the way over.

So I got another lovely walk through the rain.

The sun came out just in time for us to go back inside.

Then we went to the library. We parked by the river. They have a river, right there in the middle of town. I found that a little odd, since where I come from we keep our rivers tucked away in maps and in different states and in history books.


We had another nice walk.


After the library we all had some down time.

And some quality time at home that evening.





The next morning was a lazy one. Well, after I threw up my breakfast. Because nothing goes with severe leg pain quite like vomiting.

Eric is pretty popular these days.

Jonathan sure did like Katie.

That afternoon Betsy fulfilled a month-long quest to find eyelet.

And we passed an interesting sports field.

Then we went for a walk in the park.



Oregon also has scenic overlooks scattered everywhere.


Anna and Jonathan found a lookout with a "really good view."



There was much child petting all week long.

Is there anything better than a perfect teeter-totter buddy?

Katie enjoyed the park.

Maybe not as much as Jonathan.





I didn't hate the park. Which was pretty much the best I could say about any part of the trip. Because I was pretty miserable. Because of the sciatica.

It was all worth it to see Anna have so much fun with her cousins, though.

I walked with Jeanette over to the wonderful little grocery store which I love. It did not cheer me up. Turns out they had to declare bankruptcy. Recessions are stupid.

That evening everyone took turns looking at Katie during the big game.



We had fun cheering on the 'Cats.

Katie celebrated halftime with a good thumb-suck.


And Anna finished another chapter book.

It was a good two days.