My parents, Heather, and her kids came up to visit us last week. They arrived Wednesday in time for a late dinner. I was able to arrange my work schedule so that I was done with work for the week by the time they got here. On Thursday the seven of us hiked Spencer Butte while Joshua was at school.
We found a number of banana slugs along the trail, which we thought was pretty exciting.
The leaves on the trees were starting to change colors and the trail was beautiful and quiet.
It was misty and sprinkling for most of the hike, and got more and more misty as we approached the summit.
There wasn't much of a view from the top, but it was still pretty with all the fog in the trees. It was also quite windy and the wind was blowing the mist around so the view was constantly changing.
On the way back down the trail, we found the largest banana slug we saw on the hike. Micah's foot, which is almost as big as mine, is in there for reference. It was a big slug.
Back at home, we cleaned up after the hike and got ready for Joshua's final birthday dinner of the year. Joshua and Natalie took care of the barbecuing together.
Friday morning we were pleased to find that not only did it stop raining for awhile, but the sun came out. We took advantage of that by going on a walk around the neighborhood. After lunch we went to Cabela's to look around and get fudge and to Joann. Dad and the boys were excited to discover there was a Woodcraft store in the same shopping center as Joann, so they headed over there. After we finished looking at fabric, Heather, Natalie, and I were waiting in the van and it really got stormy. It was pouring rain and there was thunder that shook the van. We returned home to find that Joshua had beaten us back and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing board games and drinking hot beverages. There was a also a little before dinner sing-along with Uncle Joshua.
Saturday we found a local farm where we could pick apples. They also had a hay maze that the kids explored, a farm store, a hay ride, and a pumpkin patch. We had planned to go to the pumpkin patch too, but it ended up being a mile down the road, so we decided to just pick apples.
There was only one row of apple trees, but they had a number of different varieties and there were plenty of apples for us to pick.
Heather and I can't resist an opportunity to pick fruit together.
After the farm, we had a quick lunch then headed for the coast. We got a lot of rain on our drive over, but when we got to the trailhead for Hobbit Beach it had mostly stopped. The trail was just as good this time as it was a couple months ago when we first discovered it.
It was cool and windy at the beach, but not bad at all and we had the whole place to ourselves.
Joshua had been working with Natalie and Micah on cartwheels, so they were excited to do a bunch on the beach.
We found this waterfall at one end of the beach.
It was a beautiful time to be at the beach.
Joshua had taught the kids how to play Quoridor that morning, so Micah suggested they turn it into a beach game. That ended up working well. The rain hit just as they were getting ready for their second game, so we quickly put on ponchos and put up umbrellas and headed back to the van. It was about time to be thinking about food anyway, so the timing wasn't bad. Even with our rain gear, we got pretty wet walking back to the van and were glad we had brought dry pants and sweatshirts.
We had dinner in Florence at Mo's, followed by small scoops of ice cream from across the street.
We spent a quiet day around the house Sunday, with lunch at Eugene Mongolian Grill. That afternoon, I got lots of help taking the paper out of my hexagon quilt. It was fun to have a project to work on together, and so helpful for me.
Things got cozy as we got close to the end.
Micah kept making funny faces in the photos, so we all joined in.
After dinner, we had a whole crew of helpers in the kitchen. Joshua washed the dishes, Evan rinsed, Natalie dried, and Micah put them away. We finished the day with apple dumplings and a food trivia game. Monday morning, everyone got up early before they headed back to California and we returned to work. It was so fun to have them here to see our new house and more of the area and, of course, to spend time together.
