Tolman Reunion, Lincoln City, Oregon

Well, I've been preoccupied with other things (soon to be noted on this blog) and haven't had a chance to post for a while. On July 20, my family headed West and spent a few days at the Oregon Coast. We had an absolutely fabulous time. My younger sister, Tara and her family came. My mom and dad came and brought my older sister's children. The only thing that would have made the trip better is if Aimee and Todd could have come and Jud and his family could have come. We really, really missed them. Maybe next year.

Here's a little recap of some of the events: We stayed at my friend, Michelle's, house. She was kind enough to let us use her beach house--again. It's very close to the beach so we had several walks down to the beach to play in the water. The weather wasn't bad for the Oregon Coast. A little windy and a little overcast, but actually kind of pleasant.

On Sunday evening we had a little birthday party for all the grandkids that were there. All of them have birthdays in June or July so they each got each other a "Dollar Gift." It was a lot of fun. Kyler especially got a kick out of the noise-makers. We also especially celebrated Zane's birthday and Maggie's birthday since they were just that week. Zane, once again, hadn't had his nap and the party was past his bed time so he wasn't super happy in the beginning. But after opening a few presents and some help from his Daddy he was back to his happy ol' self.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to.

All better!

Monday we made a day of it. We started by visiting Alder House Glass Blowing. It's a great little place off the beaten path. The woman there gave us a great demonstration of glass blowing and my dad had to go back the next day and buy the piece she made. Then we headed to Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Zane was sleeping so I stayed in the car with him. I hear the rule is you have to be 48 inches and able to walk up on your own. I think with a little persuasion my dad was able to convince them that Kyler really needed to go up whether he was carried or not. I think it would have broken his heart not to be able to go to the top. He seemed to really enjoy it up there!

We also went to Newport to the aquarium. After about five minutes we lost Kevin. I really was not surprised when my mom got a text-message saying that he was in the theater watching "Secrets of the Deep" or something like that. I think Kevin could spend all day in certain museums and I think he enjoyed this one as much as the kids did. Zane also had a great time. I never thought I'd let my kid crawl around on a public floor like this, much less lick the glass people had been walking on, but hey. . . what can you do? He was really giving those fish down there a good story.

Tuesday everyone but Mom and I and the babies and Eli went on a whale watching charter. They said they saw a great whale. Unfortunately Tanner and Tara got a little green in the gills, but they were good sports about it. We spent the rest of Tuesday at the beach and playing in the water.

Wednesday we cleaned up and headed for home. We had to stop at the Evergreen Aviation Museum to see the Spruce Goose. Of course, Kevin was lost again in about 5 minutes. He could really spend all day there. He was a good sport though and left when we got hungry. Zane really liked the education center there and had a good time playing on the little planes.

We played games every night, stayed up too late, ate too much, but had a lot of fun. If only everyone could have stayed a few more days.