Our Oregon Trip

Well, I see it's been a while since I've come here to write.  I took a week off to go visit my mom up in Oregon.  

Rosanna, Mom - in the center, and Angela
Taken a couple years ago. 

I knew that she was not doing that well since her stroke in April.  But I didn't know she would die the week I was there.  
How sad is that?  
But then I have to look at the big picture and praise God that he mercifully took her. 

Bird Bath at Mom's house. 

It was so fun to see her.  She couldn't speak loud enough for me to hear her but I was able to kiss her face and tell her I loved her and what a wonderful Mom she was to me.  She smiled so big when her granddaughters were in the room with her.  She loved her granddaughters.  And Serena made her laugh when she prayed and thanked God for giving her a "loud Grandma".   

I will always treasure my last visits with Mom.  She just the best thing since sliced bread.  But I bet she was older than sliced bread.  Wait here - I'll look it up.    It came out in 1928 and mom was born in the 30s.   So she is the best thing since sliced bread!

While we were there - we did a lot of visiting with Erik.  He's such a cool guy.  They have been married about 30 years.

Major Visiting going on here - Erik, Me, and my daughters, Serena and Angela.

Here's a funny that happened to us.  Using the GPS on her phone, we tried to find the Skate Park. (My daughter Serena wanted to skateboard - since they have a different style of parks there than we have.)  Well, it took us to the center of a Freeway overpass!  

Really???

And then it occurred to Serena - the Park was directly UNDER the overpass!

See?  Right under the freeway!!

Serena  - doing her thing - Skating!

See how they painted murals on the support columns to the freeway.

Rosanna - hanging out watching Serena skate

Way Cool, Right?

Hospice was great!  They really took great care of my Mom, making her more comfortable.  They also brought in a little bed quilt.

I'm sure it came from the local quilt guild or one of the local churches. It totally transformed the room, bringing life and color into it. And making the place more homey.  

Another funny thing that happened to us was Angela cracked an egg to cook for Rosanna.  Check this out.

Doesn't that look like a dove?

How about now? 
We thought that was so cool.  
Especially since birds are one of my Mom's favorites.

We did take some time to go antique shopping.

 Sometimes I just enjoy wandering these places.  

There's also the Skinner House 

 Check out those stairs!  Such a cool house.  



 This is all we were able to see of it.  It was closed at 1:00 and we happened across it at 1:03.  But we still enjoyed the hike up to it!

So that about wraps it up for this post.

Hope to see you next week!
Linda

Aquarium Fun

Lily climbed up these rocks and Violet helped her.  I thought they were so cute, I'd take a picture, that's when I realized there's a huge wave behind them.   It's staged - it's just painted on the wall.  How cool is that?  And look at those faces?  I love this picture.  

This was taken at the Aquarium of the Pacific.  (That's in Long Beach, California.)

Wonderful place - so fun.  Especially with 4 grand kids in tow.

It was the nice break I've needed.  

They had these blue jelly fish that glow in the dark.  They were about the size of a fist.

The jelly fish move so gracefully, and slowly.  So totally cool.
That's my daughter Serena in looking at the them. 

 I noticed some sharks swim quickly and some swim very slowly - this guy with all the teeth was a slow-poke.  It made him seem so calculating, and predatory.  

Can you believe the size of these seahorses?
They were so cute and adorable with their little tails hanging on to the plants and even other fish.

No trip to the aquarium would be complete without a tickle-time.  Yep - little Lily is getting it good.   

Now back to sewing?

Okay - see you soon,

Linda